an e.u. commissioner tweets that integration talks with ukraine have been put on hold but kiev wants official confirmation meanwhile there are still thousands of pro and anti-government protesters on the streets of the ukrainian capital. the american people would want. to support the people of ukraine. and u.s. senator john mccain joins other american and the politicians who are putting their full support behind the ukrainian opposition. also this week syria is shaken by another wave of atrocities islamised rebel forces are said to have massive dozens of civilians in the latest series of attacks. and desired in the city's three year long bailout program the prime minister thank citizens for

their resilience but warns the economic situation won't change overnight. and i welcome watching international with me. now a senior official has tweeted that trade dealing with ukraine have been frozen because kiev's demands are unrealistic but a member of the european parliament who is at the opposition headquarters in kiev says that that statement sent by enlargement commission a steffen few is not true and. has more. we have a statement by one of the european officials who is responsible for the enlargement of the european union particularly doing eastern direction with the staff and feel able to eat more on his official account that i quoted words and deeds over the

korean president and government regarding association agreement with their being a union of a further and further apart their arguments have no grounds it reality with the global list of the only also went on to say that several days ago in brussels when he was meeting a delegation of ukraine's government he had the warrants that any further discussion about the association deal this condition doggedly are committed by the greater side of the deal i did not know the wording of the signing this deal has been put on hold because the greenside had no uncertain that after this latest statement by the european official also puts huge pressure on the coverage because he has been saying all along continuously during press corps this is the leaders with the european officials and the opposition that the train would not step down from the euro integration. he was fully expecting to sign your association deal right now in the year is the future meanwhile the protests are continuing everywhere across the brain more than definitely more than one hundred thousand

people are now in the central square of the iranian capital and we're watching the situation to see how the latest statements by european officials late may or may not anger the protesters even more. well ukrainian president viktor yanukovych told u.s. senators john mccain and christmassy that his country still on course towards e.u. integration so let's take a look now at what that could mean for ukraine and the possible reasons why. nothing has been signed yet a senior diplomat says that kiev is demanding too much cash from brussels to pay its debt and kick started struggling economy signing the deal would also mean huge bills for ukraine to modernize itself to european standards and those could run so i would twenty billion dollars a year the foreign affairs editor of chronicles magazine told us that the e.u.'s offer is designed only to the blocs. political aspirations. be you offered very dubious agreed which would have zero.

european industrial products without the possibility of your ministry thanks for the least and the longer the e.u. will doesn't exist as a group and we're looking at. all. your central europe which is germany austria benelux perhaps. the. geopolitical interests in ukraine all along varying numbers of pro we demonstrate is a still on the streets of kiev but the opposition leaders will debate whether or not to continue protesting on monday supporters of president danny cove which were also back in force coming to kiev from all over the country for the weekend high profile e.u. and us politicians have meanwhile made it clear they are aligned with the

opposition american senators john mccain and chris murphy of their now mccain says the u.s. could take action against the ukrainian government we do not want to impose sanctions it is not our desire to do show but obviously the american people would want to react. to support the people of ukraine in case of violence and that's just what we have done in other cases throughout the world before mccain and murphy's arrival assistant u.s. secretary of state victoria nuland handed out snacks on kiev central square away stay but what are high profile american and european politicians doing there among the protesters will legal expert and blogger alexander mcwhorter's told us why he thinks these officials are constantly turning up in the ukrainian capital. but the reason they are there is bluntly because i think these people want to detach the

ukraine from russia as they see it and they think that by supporting the protesters and here they might actually achieve that the problem with that strategy is that it's simply not working the bonds between the ukraine and russia economically and culturally ethnically are simply too strong and i think for american politicians and indeed european politicians to go to the ukraine and to try to do that is actually very unwise and very dangerous and he simply exacerbating making worse the differences the divisions in the ukraine which are already very great. plenty more and how the situation is unfolding in ukraine on our website r.t. dot com has also got a live updates timeline which gives you a pretty thorough breakdown of everything that is happening across the country.

in syria government forces have attempted to reclaim the town of address near damascus this week that has al qaeda linked fighters have reportedly carried out a series of massacres there our sister channel r.t. arabic filed this report. r t sources in the military say radical islamist fighters and toward the town of address and massacred local civilians according to the latest figures at least eighty people were killed in the districts which the syrian army has now liberated entire families were killed other families were kidnapped and are being used as human shields in the battle against government forces. militants from jabhat al nusra and the army of islam seize control of all the streets and cross roads very quickly snipers took positions on the roof and houses they carried out the massacre the first reports said twenty had been killed but today we're receiving dated

figures it's a horrifying situation and a scene of murder atrocities and fear r t sources in the military also say that some of the kidnapped families have been transferred to areas south of the town they're now being held in strategically important zones which the rebels have been using as a base of operations in these places are heavily fortified sources also say the total death toll in address may in fact increase because the syrian army has not yet liberated the entire town international affairs and defense analysts not just says they believe that without america's support the. leading element in the resistance movement. well it's important to first realize that the east let me strudels they don't want peace they don't want. to be settlement of this you don't want them don't want to take over syria by force if

necessary if the government doesn't surrender first sunday the damascus is now going to sprint or so we have a situation we united states great britain there were favoring their peace talks in geneva two if they were not so the. tree is syrian army but that doesn't include according to them these let me say none the less in my opinion in the u.s. government they would like to bring down the moment in syria at least to destroy the country so i would say that if the americans go support the east let me just the east let me just are i want to be the leading elemental the resistance of the rebels meanwhile according to the u.k. based siri syrian observatory for human rights the syrian city of aleppo has become a target of airstrikes which have claimed at least thirty six lines fifteen of the victims are said to be children please stay with the latest updates from the war

torn country. in the wake of violence by lack exit the country's prime minister has made a televised address to the nation in which he thanked citizens for their patients and resilience doesn't go to a powerful signal internationally that ireland is fighting back but the spirit of our people is a strong as ever. and they can he also stated the government will now focus on creating jobs and making sure the country never returns to a culture of speculation and greed but he also warned the economic situation isn't going to change overnight r.t. says for syria explains why. the people know that in that decision they endured the three years of very very deep us terry you had salaries going 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's 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 some of the business is your construction business is starting over again here in dublin however when you go just one hour out of the capital the story is really different than has come through the worst of the crisis but we shouldn't underestimate the size of the crisis it faced because of the enormous holes in the banking sector which in turn resulted from very cavalier lending by the banking system irish state citizens and taxpayers have had to pick up the bill for the mess the banking system with 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 moral do sting success in terms of exiting again more closely

monitoring of the troika economically there's still a long long way to go for our land to really be calling itself a success. now still ahead a protest about protests. spanish capital a campaign against a draft law that would impose tough fines for unauthorized demonstrations turns violent as people accuse it of attacking democracy also. in less than a week. we've been married and we've been on married. straight he has high court strikes down the country's first floor allowing same sex marriages later on in the program we'll look into other setbacks for gay rights in several countries. russia's president made it clear this week he's ready to defend traditional values during his state of the nation address. and also said the country does not aspire

to be a superpower or to lecture others on how to conduct their affairs but is ready to defend itself whenever necessary peace can off has got the details it's traditionally become the place to be to find out the president's vision of the present and his plans for the future every year russia stop politicians businessmen economists and elites gather at the kremlin to listen to his address first head just returned from there as well and here are some of the key points why the world had to meet russia isn't looking at dominating the rule but that doesn't mean it has to stop protecting its sovereignty and traditional values. 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 but that it precludes the movement backwards downwards back towards chaos i depart beric state. diplomacy was another point in the president's speech or specifically recent breakthroughs with syrian chemical weapons and the raney a nuclear program that many analysts agree these are examples that diplomacy still works by the time when russia. suggested. the process of chemical disarmament stars in syria. very few countries in the world were keen to support the so-called obama option which would have been yet another bombing of yet another country so i think this is a very important lesson. lesson on how prices of this stuff 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 also talked about the president's message was simple without a threat from iran what's the point of building it. moscow does see the shield as a threat to its national security and putin says powering up russia's military is one of the ways to protect against it. you know when you look at what you do see it unless it was more sinister that it's 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 that we've got all the potential needed our military doctrine as well as our military equipment allow us without a doubt to ensure russia's security finally it referring to the current situation in ukraine which you said moscow respects the desire of those partners who want to be closer to the e.u. as long as decisions aren't made by hotheads and are based on dialogue you've got to get off r.t. moscow another have staged a violent protest in madrid venting their fury over draft floor that could enforce

tough action against unsanctioned rallies. about two dozen people were injured and seven arrested when angry crowds attempted to surround the spanish parliament activists condemned the proposal which would impose hefty fines for offenses such as burning the national flag calling it and an attack on democracy the baileys likely to pass into little with strong support from the conservatives and hold a majority in the legislature. and in southern spain a cave dwelling community is also standing its ground hundreds of activists formed a human barricade this week to resist being forcibly removed from their homes the residents say the government wants them to make way for a luxury resort to see cafe know when to meet the fine setlist.

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 burrowed into a mountain the residents of the hill of san miguel have going to herded dozens of caves into bona fide homes we've believed in here for two years now and really not a word community it's the kind of place when 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 their lives are long and lay their eggs that we've done nothing for them don't we don't cover everything here. but those who have made their home here may have their days numbered although they've lived here for years now the city council has been fighting to get them off the land. these are in

proper houses and it is a residential area of the city the caves are unsafe for any humans still have and they could collapse at any moment. it's an argument this resident simply doesn't buy one 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 united fans here and that's why because he's already. said with the ox 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 and have for a. big satisfaction to. the city council wants to clean up the hill years ago developers announced plans to turn this area into a tourist attraction and we think that's what's really behind the eviction but for

now only eight caves are facing the risk of eviction burma is one of the residents who could lose her home she too suspects and i'll tear your motive. this is the council wants to shut down the killings but they don't want to tear them down that's why we think they really just want to get 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 made a very clean not so say the residents the city council isn't likely to abandon its plans to the residents but for the people living in the caves of san miguel giving up is simply not an option reporting it were not a space for our tape. the captain of now saudi arabia delivers a severe punishment political and sentenced to four years in jail for three hundred lashes and a travel ban after calling for a constitutional monarchy and criticizing the ruling family head to r.t.

dot com to get the full story also there following the hippie slogan make love not war can be punishable as an italian protester may end up being caught are to kissing a riot police officer you can read all about that on our website. it's proving to be a tough month for gay rights this week astray is high court overturn the country's first law allowing same sex couples to marry before that india upheld legislation that criminalizes homosexuality while correlations overwhelmingly voted against same sex marriage in a national referendum. as this report. 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 trend in less than

a week. we've been married and we've been on there it's in australia just days after the nation's capital allowed same sex couples to get married the high court there struck down that decision saying the regional authorities had no right to decide the matter in a relationship loves and trusts twenty seven australian couples then saw their marriage annulled within days 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. and offered it absolutely amazing that at the top in our history britain were jumping through hoops to try to make sure that every tree on the planet has its natural environments from far east 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 in india the supreme court has just made gay sex illegal again since the nineteenth century india has had a ten year sentence on the statute books for quote court only into course against the order of nature four years ago a lower court found it on constitutional the supreme court just brought the law back into force by making a similar argument of the australian judges only the nation's 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 few years is highly unlikely you have about a old. just process the law all the communities of this country feel that albert allegiance does that all france and each of the means is thing europe is seeing something similar this december voted in

a referendum to outlaw same sex marriage two thirds of the mostly carefully population there approved 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 get a check on our team. elsewhere lawmakers in yemen have called for a stop to u.s. drone strikes the nation's parliament passed a motion banning unmanned aerial attacks however it's not a binding vote in this just to recommend to the government the initiative comes days after one attack reportedly hit a wedding motorcade and killed civilians i will earlier political activist medea benjamin told r.t. that drone strikes which you claim to be weakening al qaida are actually pushing more people to join it every time there's a drone strike that's the best recruiting tool for al qaeda and killing people in a wedding party i am sure that this will lead to not tens but probably

a hundred people joining al qaeda and this guarantees the cycle of violence will go on in perpetual war the drone strikes actually are a support to al qaeda it doesn't get rid of al qaeda some international news in brief now at least twenty one people are dead and twenty injured on the bus and collided in tag city that is according to philippines police reports suggest that the bus fell from the elevated highway in the manila suburban fell on top of the van because the still trying to pull people out from the wreckage the accident left traffic jams in the area. an israeli soldier has been killed in a shooting along the northern border time northern border story with lebanon he was treated at the scene but died after being transported to a hospital israeli military says that up to seven bullets were fired by a lebanese sniper following the incident the lebanese army was reported to be on

high alert in the area. left wing candidate michele has been elected as president of chile for a second time she won the presidential race by a wide margin leaving her center right rival far behind actually became the first she really had to serve two terms since the military rule of general augusto pinochet in the country's capital santiago supporters of the newly elected president celebrated her victory waving flags and sounding car horns. elsewhere hundreds of clashed with police in romania's capital bucharest crowds angry over a bill that would shield lawmakers from corruption broke through a police cordon and headed for the government's headquarters under the proposed law would no longer be subject to investigation is over allegations of graft the country's president has condemned parliament's decision to approve the bill. this week a delegation from saudi arabia allegedly visited israel to discuss mutual concerns

over the recent iran nuclear deal reports have long suggested that the two former foes are pulling closer together over distain for u.s. policy policies in the middle east including a thaw in its relations with. earlier we spoke to a saudi prince and he believes the u.s. put its own regional interests a with those of its allies there. the onus of a battle is a problem that i believe the main reason for the change in america's alliances in the middle east is issue of the nuclear program and that's a shift in the u.s. approach to iran from one of confrontation to one of containment this is the main reason even if it does come at the expense of america's strategic allies like saudi arabia and israel it is of utmost importance to the u.s. and its interest in the middle east us foreign policy takes care of its own interests but our strategic alliances with israel under nonpermanent alliances like with saudi arabia the american interests are much more important to washington than

alliances let's not forget that saudi arabia and israel always need washington support militarily and on the intelligence level as well as many other aspects they need the u.s. see and they rely on it. but this week a court in bahrain sentenced twelve anti regime activists to fifteen years in jail they had torched a car warehouse in february but their supporters say the tough sentence underlines the gulf kingdom's continued pro-democracy clampdown with fear is that the country is spiraling into a dictatorship former bahraini parliament member. charged with inciting terror for criticizing the monarchy here and he says the authorities also politicians into not working with human rights groups the problem then is very very thick to understand we have absolute. family and we.

were by the people of floor an inclusive political system that has the power to people rule of law was never meant. illegally low to the international community to stand on your own forces biased police and courts that is walking for you so i think is just part of that. on this month on part of the thread some feel is so that the position of the activists not to join the movement that calling for simple rights universal rights of the people to be equal to have a big need to participate in important because system and to have the binocs meant that this paired with everyone. will have more news for you in about half an hour time in the meantime though it's a cross talk with. me

people know me as. a mobile forty one thank you sadly i've got no other family no. i'm still looking for my call to get a life. for my place in the world. i literally have no place to live. no. chewing on the bread that you bought with the last money you were able to beg and all i can say is get out of here. there are only two possible outcomes to the situation you never get a miami and it's all about fancy cars hot chicks the other option you die in the ring breathe deep breathe deeply.

hello and welcome to crossfire all things considered i'm people of all. the scandal that keeps on giving the steady stream of snowden related leaks no longer surprises but the all encompassing scope of spying still does even online gamers have not been spared although while the powers that be are hesitant to rein in the n.s.a. in fact they appear only want to make legal what is now illegal is it time for an international bill of digital rights. to cross the surveillance state i'm joined by my guest suzanne no soul in new york .