breaking news this hour here on r.t. international the e.u. announces its halting work on a trade agreement with ukraine's government saying kiev's arguments have quote no grounds in reality. that's coming from the spanish capital right there shaken by violence as riot police clashed with demonstrators calling for an end to a draft bill that would see huge fines for anyone taking authorized around the. island celebrates shaking off international lenders to become the first country to break free from a bailout program the government warns of challenges still ahead. delivers his annual state of the nation address saying russia will stand firm in order to

protect its values but it's not aiming to impose them on anybody else. it's already international law from moscow i'm shy thanks for joining us straight to our breaking news for you this hour here on the program we are now getting reports that the e.u. is calling a halt to negotiations on a trade deal with ukraine. is now on the line for us from kiev alexi its rory here in moscow i hope you can hear me ok what's behind the decision what do you know sort of. what we do know for a product the official from the european union group responsible for argument especially in the ethan direction stuck on fuel a. word indeed

going to the government regarding its. their arguments have no ground in reality. the prime minister of those of three days ago that. the discussion is conditioned on the only clear commitment by clinton to sign this. deal and they have received so far from the ukrainian side obviously. first of all comes only just three days after the delegation from the government. and brussels. to which way it looks very positive about. will be signed in the future in some future. which is what the president and the government have been saying all along that they will find these people eventually. some two days later it's. different to create a huge problem for you nic robertson who is going to be saying that integration is

still the problem that ukrainian. opposition has nothing to worry about the euro situation. that is on the breaking news just in from kiev without the shift key thank you. of course we will be following the developments for you on this story bringing you the very latest updates as soon as we get them meanwhile mass rallies being gathering steam in kiev this week but with the opposition on pro-government activists showing up in the thousands just a short distance away from each other outside the capital continues to attract foreign politicians with u.s. senator john mccain the latest to arrive. to make sure that. every effort is made to make sure that ukraine is aligned with here that's all right now he's a long there with another u.s. lawmaker to meet with ukraine's opposition as well as government officials and they are planning to tour the opposition protest camps ukraine's president has in the meantime suspended the deputy security and defense secretary as well as kiev city

chief being investigated for allegedly ordering the use of force against demonstrators two weeks ago parties paul scott is in kiev he went to meet some of the protesters right there on independence square. conditions to talk temperatures alone protest this time. we are here to fight for our freedom it is our right because ukraine must be we will stay here until victory. at the end of the day the majority of people who are here are protesting against this government a government made of the band. for more than three weeks demonstrators have come down from independence square initially unhappy at the government postponing plans to forge closer ties with europe but their focus has since widened now a change in government is the goal as expressed in this tweet from one opposition leader vitaly klitschko who says the main issue is the resignation of president

yanna coaches putrid administration. followed police attempts to remove protesters blockades and choose day night despite apparent orders not to use force some scuffles broke out america's top diplomat john kerry said washington was disgusted by the events while assistant secretary of state victoria nuland took to independence square to hand out food and move drinks to both police and protesters sanctions were even threatened all policy options including sanctions are on the table in our view but obviously that still is being. e.u. foreign policy chief catherine ashton was also in town holding talks with both sides leading some to question why there's such a high profile presence of officials from washington and brussels review paean union should should back off you should recognize that the democratically elected government of the ukraine which has. made

a decision in should respect that decision but often the e.u. doesn't respect the decisions of democratic nation states we see that when they've been asked to vote again other nations in various before and the same is being happy is happening in the ukraine in an effort to break the deadlock president code which came face to face with opposition leaders concessions were made including an amnesty for all prisoners arrested during the demonstrations he also promised that there's no alternative to closer e.u. integration saying he could be ready to sign the association agreement by march that's if they can agree on more favorable terms for ukraine's already weak economy well tensions have been heightened over the last twenty four hours or so following the arrival of thousands of throat government supporters who were staging their own rally just yards away from independence square but sides remain resolute but only one making conciliatory noises signaling that this political standoff is far from over. r.t.

kiev ukraine. let's take a closer look at how the events have unfolded in kiev it was over three weeks ago a government decision not to sign an association agreement with the e.u. spog public outrage protesters flooded central kiev paralyzing the city and attempts to disperse the crowds turn violent right on the night of november thirtieth the next day opposition protesters stormed the presidential headquarters driving a bulldozer right into the police caught on there and the pro e.u. protests then turned anti-government but the opposition failed to push through a no confidence vote against the cabinet now foreign diplomats. descending on kiev to lend their support to the crowds meeting with the opposition even offering some snacks to keep them alive and well during all of this but the government is seeing plenty of backing as well as with mass rallies taking place in its favor now tens of thousands of people have turned up to show their support for president viktor. activists have arrived in kiev from all across ukraine to rally for stability and

show trust in the country's government well the european parliament has called for a snap election in ukraine as a way to appease the opposition protests. the editor in chief of the jungle newspaper says the e.u. are simply fuelling the divide even for. only a tactic to further increase the tensions and because. the e.u. and behind need to all have. the blood they want the whole thing i think they want to rein back in the western food as it was after the orange revolution with european government agreed to any snap the leg we have snap elections. in you know hundreds of thousands of people who went on the streets demonstrating against. the taxpayers' money being squandered on banks there's no we don't

have the these demonstrations down in our media. or club debate and russia's foreign minister has criticized the e.u. for putting pressure on saying it has nothing to do with the interests of the ukrainian people get online to r.t. dot com for more on that story. it's good to have you with us here on r.t. international the spanish capital madrid has become the scene of bloody violence as police brutally clashed with protesters right outside the parliament. which is basically speaking for themselves at least twenty three people injured after a thousand strong rally was hijacked by a mob that attacked police vehicles the protesters set cars alight hurled bottles

several arrests they were made crowds and circled the congress building furious over a draft law that would see demonstrators slapped with hefty fines. doris says the protesters are not afraid of the government and they will continue to make their voices. she said we need this is only the beginning we need a lot of much to stop the terrorist nation. this year to end without at least starting to demonstrate against john c. and yes this is only the beginning because it will take some months to be considered and adopted yes it could have easily achieved what we want i mean it's not the last time we need more people as this protest was mostly spontaneous if you want to make a horse's head now we wanted to say look if you always want to be able to shut us out you know you can we are going to be very happy that. some spaniards have decided to literally live in caves stuck between a rock and a hard place the cave dwellers are being forced to leave their subterranean homes

r.t. reports from the city of granada where citizens are defending their right to stay put. her on the program ireland marks an important milestone on its road to financial recovery this weekend after three years of receiving loans from international lenders the country is the first to successfully exit or eurozone bailout the irish prime minister and the county is expected to give a televised address later today let's get more on it now artie's tester australia joining us live here from dublin and good to see you expectations for the prime minister's address. well he is going to be speaking to him in a televised state address basically showing a confident face trying to boost morale after three years of very difficult times here in ireland again they're receiving the last installment of their loan today it officially will be exiting that international bailout making them the first euro

zone country to do so down two thousand and ten we know they received eighty five billion euros in that bailout after a property crash as well as a banking crash taking that decision to support their banking sector really is still a controversial decision here and the people know that in that decision three years of very very deep you had salaries go it down and you had their benefits of being slashed a lot of deep spending cuts so what the government really is trying to do is say that this today is symbolically stepping out of what they call the shackles of the kreutzer hoping that this will really give that morale boost to the people whoever they are there is no illusion here that there are still high unemployment that have to be tackled as well as the very high number of people skilled young workers leaving the country moving to countries like australia or canada to pursue better opportunities there that we've seen some of the businesses here construction businesses starting all over again here in dublin however when you go just one hour out of the capital the story is really different now if the people who are bearing

the brunt of those policies would be quick to say that this cannot be seen as a complete success story in terms of how austerity policies are viewed then i think again today the speech of the prime minister kennedy will kenny will be a very symbolic one but come monday morning the irish people will say that nothing really has changed in terms of how they live their lives as you know we are seeing some excitement over this whole bailout but you talk about employment you talk about people struggling for the future there already people are saying well look this is good news but the future is still. no it really is uncertain and what's interesting is that b.b. irish government has decided not to have any backstop or not to have any access to future funds in the e.u. saying that the island can really stand on its own at two feet said the difficulty there you still see high unemployment and that's not something that they can quickly change overnight and again the government already said that austerity

policies are actually going to be continuing so if this is to be seen as a success it's going to be a psychological or morale boosting success in terms of exiting again the more closely monitoring of the troika economically there's still a long long way to go for are going to really be calling itself success. in dublin thank you. well we are highlighting the headlines of today of the week the russian president vladimir putin giving his annual state of the nation address this week he touched upon topics ranging from the economy to international politics he's also been championing russia's traditional values and stressing the country is capable of defending itself. going off as more it's traditionally become the place to be to find out the president's vision of the president and his plans for the future every year russia stop politicians businessmen economists and elites gather

at the kremlin to listen to his annual address firsthand just returned from there as well and here are some of the key points. had to me. but that doesn't mean it has to stop protecting its traditional values. through it like a star on the biggest we know that there are even more people around the globe who support our position in terms of ensuring traditional values these are the values of traditional family and the value of human life including religious life that is not only material life but also spiritual of course this is a conservative position but the point of conservatism is not that it hinders the movement forward and upward but that it precludes the movement backwards downwards back towards chaos and a barbaric state. he was another point in the president's speech or specifically recent breakthroughs in syrian chemical weapons and the rain in nuclear program many analysts agreed these are examples that diplomacy still works by the time when

russia. has adjusted to the process of chemical disarmament stars and syria. very few countries in the world working to support the so-called obama option which would have been yet another bombing of yet and as a country so i think that this is a very important lesson. lesson on how the crisis of this time should be sold u.s. plans to build an anti missile defense system in europe one of the biggest sticking points in moscow's relationship with washington was of course once and talked about the president's message is simple that a threat from this building in. moscow does say the shield is a threat to its national security and putin says powering up russia's military is one of the ways to protect against it you can still go nuclear when you don't know what you do see it unless it was more sinister that it's what no country should harbor illusions of achieving military dominance over russia we will never let it

happen russia is ready to meet those challenges both political and technological we've got all the potential needed we are military doctrine as well as our military equipment allow us without a doubt to ensure russia's security finally could be for. into the current situation in ukraine putin said moscow respects the desire of those partners who want to be full suit to the e.u. as long as decisions on me by cut heads in a beast and i love you go slow fourteen months ago are still to come for you here on the program on international a fresh. spot on the syria turkey border as one hundred twenty kurdish civilians are reportedly taken hostage by islamist rebels the ethnic minority once again caught in the crossfire of. deliberate torch is on its epic journey to such

a. one hundred twenty three days. through two thousand nine hundred ton two cities of russia. relayed by fourteen thousand people or sixty five thousand killings. in a record setting trip by land air sea and others face. a limp the torch relay. on r t r c dot com. this is the media leave us so we leave that maybe. i will see motion security for your party there's a bill. for shoes that no one is asking with the guests that you deserve answers

from it's all on politics only of our t.v. . from the top stories over the weekend of today here on artsy international australia's high court has overturned the country's first bill allowing same sex couples to marry less than a week after it came into force and another blow to gay rights india held a law criminalizing of homosexuality nature now reporting on the growing number of countries rejecting gay marriage. most western countries already recognize in some form the right of gay couples to get married in adult children but in other parts of the world there is the opposite train in less than a week. we've been married and we've been on there it's really just days after the

nation's capital allowed same sex couples to get married the high court there struck down that decision saying the original for a said no right to decide the matter to live in a relationship of loves and trusts to do any seven australian couple of fans saw their marriage or not. australia's high court ruled that gay marriage was illegal because the marriage act only recognizes marriage between a man and a woman and only the parliament can change the legislation the most recent attempt to change the law in the australian parliament failed last year polls in the country show support for gay marriage stands at fifty three percent. i'm all for that absolutely in my saying that you know history written jumping through hoops to try to make sure that every tree on the planet has its natural environment so. that we would be challenging the definition of marriage which creates exactly that environment for a child requiring that it's between

a man or woman india the supreme court is just me gay sex illegal again since the nineteenth century india has had a ten year center. on the statute books for carnally course against the order of four years ago a lower court on constitutional the supreme court just dropped the law back into force by making the similar argument don't really enjoy only the nation parliament has the right to change it but with the overwhelming majority of indians against same sex marriage and with a conservative nationalist group leading in the upcoming elections in a legislative change in the next two years is highly unlikely you have. all the communities of this country. and you. see something similar. how long same sex marriage.

the most powerful the population. changes in the constitution in the tug of war between those who are and those who are not allowed to say i do the conservative view on marriage seems at least at the moment to be prevailing in many parts of the world. and i was lined up all the stories we're covering for you on our website including this one right here a miracle for stream conditions for others a severe winter storm is forcing government offices in some parts of the middle east to close down all the people left to enjoy the. scenery you can log on to watch the dot com to check out the pictures on the video that. surveillance causes even more controversy across the globe you can head to our website to find out what an english has invented to pass down the street detective. on the program a style of life is under threat in an ancient settlement in spain. renewed attempts

to evict dozens of cave dwelling families from their homes throughout the week dozens of activists have been protesting the fiction they deem unlawful and. when one of the rather unconventional. hammering out an existence on the outskirts of granada sprucing up a front yard with some of the best views in town it's an eclectic community that's literally borrowed into a mountain the residents of the hill of san miguel have converted dozens of caves into bona fide homes. we've laid out here for today is now and then we need not a look in here it's the kind of place where neighbors helped each other out. it may not be a life of luxury there's no running water or electricity but for residents like anna that's not a problem when it does that i believe long and lay the eggs that we've done

nothing but i'm done we've done everything here. but those who have made their home here may have their days are numbered they lived here for years now the city council has been fighting to get them off the land. these aren't proper houses and it is a residential area of this neighborhood that the caves are unsafe for any humans it's not going to happen at any moment of it it's an argument this resident simply doesn't buy for the one time tony opara has lived on the hill of san miguel for more than eight years he believes the city is over exaggerating the dangers in order to help developers get their hands on the land. of the one of the first dance here and that's why your house is because you sort of already. i think of it said with the yards to protect the roof. they need to be done even in

a venue and he's willing to do everything to keep on living here for a. big. house where you're coming from you given the city council wants to clean up the hill years ago developers are now. plans to turn this area into a tourist attraction and we think that's what's really behind their vision. for now only eight caves are facing the risk of eviction irma is one of the residents who could lose her home she too suspects and i'll tear your motive that would be like giving us the city council wants to shut down the king but they don't want to. that's why we think they really just want to give the land to use it for their own purposes another concern cited by the officials is sanitation the caves they say are dirty and the area has been described as a slum that sits above the city we may be ready not so they the residents the city council isn't likely to abandon its plans to evict the residents but for the

people living in the caves of san miguel giving up is simply not an option reporting or we're not a space for our to health and of and we're coming to you live from moscow this week in syria al qaeda linked rebels reportedly abducted one hundred twenty kurds from a village close to the turkish border the wanni a kurdish she would rights activist now explains the reasons why kurds are being targeted by the islamist rebels. image or do you think you know that civilians are from the village of north. sixty one north east from various with job. holes in it going to. also a supporter of secularism in syria or egypt at religious sectarian or a program of the armed groups or an oppositional down position of kerry seems to me is there is a. tendency which is directed toward establishing a multi-religious and multi sleep it would indeed traditional seating to stand. by

let's give you a recap of our breaking news this hour here on our team international as we show you live pictures of anti-government protests the e.u. stopping all activity on a trade deal with ukraine saying it can continue to work with the country's government and the man in charge of e.u. enlargement stephen fool he says kiev is arguments for not signing the agreement in the first place i have no grounds in reality he tweeted that the words and deeds of president in a code which are far apart and work on the deal is now on hold. government asked for financial aid and compensation for the losses that kiev may suffer off a signing of the agreement with the e.u. we'll bring you all the updates on this breaking news story here on our to international as soon as we get them. all right up next here on the program the story of a russian soldier who threw himself on a grenade to save his comrades he is a hero just a moment. as

we all know the holidays are a great time for families to get together and sometimes on the elko gets flowing they're also a great time for us to argue about everything from politics to religion with the ones we love but if you happen to be an n.s.a. agent and the government has an official list of talking points that way you could win those family arguments for sure yeah that's right the government is now giving n.s.a. agents lists of very corny talking points going to firedoglake so that way they can convince their relatives over the holidays of just how awesome effective and necessary the national security agency truly is the spite all those little revelation thinks of mass spying by snowden trust me talking points exist for a reason political social and religious organizations and use them so that when their members who may not be the best debaters on the planet can defend the positions of the organization and i would have no problem with the if they gave this list to agents they could answer questions from journalists but when the

government wants you to propagandize your friends and family over christmas and thanksgiving it all seems kind of cultish to me that's just my opinion. you know what i am janey yeah gunner with the assault section of the second platoon third special forces unit. and we're always on the alert for a long conflict because if we get intelligence about militants in the neighborhood it's usually reliable for them with the squadron has played a part in conflicts before but this was the first attack of its kind on terrain like this. when we were expecting them we were ready for them at any moment but it was a very difficult area and they were able to open fire first. was not. used to

the. armored one for a special forces soldier thinking is paramount but if that's how he makes the right decisions. during that five militants tried to outflank the three soldiers led by up all four and started throwing hand grenades at them sergeant gagne up off covered one of those grenades with his own body. of course i was frightened but i tried to compose myself i was thinking somehow i had to come back because mom was waiting for me this is a thought the cams you down mom's waiting. x. is a serious number for their. every.