ceremonies are held in orthodox communities around the world to mark christmas we report from outside russia's main cathedral where thousands are joining all night service later in the program. also headlining this hour rock's president calls on the occupied city of. rebel in. the city on friday is the army gathers forces for a full assault on the extremists got the latest on that developing story. boarding to the graylands oldest christine. companies for the first time as the country seeks cash and independence we look at the debate them sparked by the decision. also britain's prime minister toughened up the rhetoric on immigration but too little too late says critics they claim he's only looking for votes.

just past eleven pm this is r.t. international broadcasting around the world live from moscow very good to have you with this sunday we're approaching actually christmas the christmas celebrations here in moscow now and in russia if you just joined us we're going to talk through this will but it's a sort of talk through before the streamed live on our website. from the russian orthodox church hi there father to go to our correspondent in crisis a cathedral because that's of course where it's all based on ideas that we're going to catch up with her later and just give you a plug you'll be with our correspondent a bit later talking is through this in about fifty five minutes or so as we stream

it live on our website but for the uninitiated if you like people watching around the rest of the world that don't know what's. johnny the seventh is christmas day is now what happens and what happens on this service tonight first of all it's december twenty fifth according to the do in calendar when was in use by all humanity or european humanity since these are only in the sixth century sixteenth century i'm sorry it was changed to what we call gregorian calendar by paul gregory there are differences a little you know that has disparity of the day but in essence is celebrated and so there is a similar quintus father i'm going to break and i said we are hoping to cross over to. the pictures you saw a glimpse of them earlier on our correspondents there as well and refresh the crossover because here is it this time yeah great either tell us what's happening or sort of pictures from within the cathedral just take us through what's about to happen before we talk again to father joining us here this.

well this is a very important night for all russian orthodox believers special vigils are held in the around ten thousand churches and monasteries all across russia of course included in this cathedral christ the civic is to draw but you can see behind me this is russia's main church where the ceremony is let's buy patriots of moscow and all russia kirill every year around five thousand villagers attend the ceremony here but of course this is a big cathedral but not all those who want to attend the ceremony may. make it in and this is why we see people gathered outside despite the called and that is they say to it please have an opportunity to hear the bells ringing especially for today's mass for this christmas night. a very important a holy relic was brought here from the greases after his mourners three part of

the magi gifts that couldn't a christian tradition of were given to infant jesus when he was born this is by a group of distinguished foreigners that travel to see him and to all know him as king and starting tuesday morning and for the whole week after wards all those who want to come here and see it will have this chance back to you. from birth to from a chorus from the russian orthodox church where the again. how does it differ a christian celebrate christmas as you said you can explain to us why the date but do also dogs christian traditions differ from other christians. originally the same tradition there is the same story the same gospel other denominations might have changed to during centuries were as they were those are strived to right here the essence of what i don't mean so most to some extent to

the. we write into at least four thousand and it still proves extremely popular amongst the followers that the cathedral always good indeed churches and cathedrals across russia as well the right and across the world as well those who do most would come to date tonight to the church of cathedrals to attend the service to pray together in one hundred take holy communion in the divine liturgy which will place just as it was your favorite. person oh yes yes of course of course but. every. so take us through i mean we're going to explain all this in depth on line with our correspondent sean in a minute we'll go back to those pictures and we'll carry on bring a bit of a flavor i continue talking to you so what is the typical service entailed. of this particular service which had takes place tonight can consist of

a compliant greek line. maidens and the divine little will take about maybe three to four hours maybe more in monasteries with longer in churches and cathedrals might be shorter so the obvious. circumstances related to the question are how well we work with the services. are we require strength to get past this even children little children or elderly people who would come to the service and those who cannot stand they would sit down but normally people stand up and i guess what i was going on to with the question is this one of your favorite times of the year because it's extremely important how many of the docs. point is that like for the clergy it's not only the important time but. a target tiresome time the most demanding time to turn any any feast any celebration requires on the cool extreme concentration of

the arrest of. whatever resources physical resources emotional resources which are all we have separately since surely given the fact that we have been fasting for forty days the advent faintest is for everyone not only for the womb and for the larger mass course and how does that pan out i mean obviously this is christmas day then starts tomorrow when the service is over you're allowed to eat a little more then how does that work again for the uninitiated that screwed up see we do not enforce fasting anyone we just call people to flee and be practical administration of fasting the rule of the asking what to eat and which number in which amounts and which qualities well depends on personality little children or sickly people or pregnant women or women with little children or people conducting hard physical work but it depends it's a pastoral issue it's a pastoral this season of past pastoral advice which will give christmas day

involve this is he's a time maybe as it is in the west to put your feet up a little eat a little more. the essence of the spell of christmas a spiritual force in the brain or it's. reached the point. jesus was the microphone officer second. the second oldest. microphone back on you here it is just. called it thank you very much so. if we are going back to what we discussed on christmas day right it's just that microphone used to do with us tradition with all the television. can. show people. food entertainment. family joy meaning friends getting together with friends and relatives also any sort

of activity related to her. to celebrate. we'll be here during the me twelve days twelve days of christmas which begin with the christmas day and finishing up these layers on the feast of the epiphany that has a festival festival people are really in the street so it'll be a very interesting thing for views around the world if not five what's happening there take a look at these places to have the ongoing live commentary from you with our correspondent sean thomas joining us from where i live pictures streaming for the next hour or so from a chorus thanks for coming in to see it for me very happy christmas to say this is well run thank you very much about the small microphone from. your great service and. thank you for. so christmas mass at the crisis seventy three to an incredibly beautiful service were already streaming it live on our website r.t. dot com follow macarius but to go join our correspondent sean thomas to take him

through it if you haven't seen it before you say no well worth logging on for it. iraq's prime minister is calling on the residents the city of fallujah to drive the insurgents the city has been occupied by al-qaeda militants since friday when they declared it an islamic state that is the army prepares for a major assault on the city with several is strikes already carried is artist paul is sleep. is not the elements with al qaeda links have overrun the iraqi cities of ramadi and thousands of residents are fleeing these areas as government forces launch airstrikes and fire artillery shells the iraqi prime minister nuri al maliki has vowed that government forces will not leave this area until all these extremist elements are to quote him eliminated but he does admit that for now the government has lost control in these cities in recent days the militants received a boost as they were joined in the fight against the baghdad government by sunni

tribesmen and what is interesting is that it marks a change from the years prior to the u.s. withdrawal when major sunni tribes turned against al qaeda what we witnessing now is that they join forces with these al-qaeda groups against the shiite led government now the american administration has been slammed for creating the situation there are many who predicted that once the u.s. forces withdrew from iraq they would be a vacuum that would be created and that this would be fulled with extremist elements the u.s. secretary of state john kerry has promised support for the baghdad government but he has ruled out the possibility of boots on the ground he has said that the u.s. would not send troops back to that country to quote kerry he says that this fight is the fight of the baghdad government iran has also said that it is prepared to me and military support to the baghdad government and say troops to help fight al qaeda there while in neighboring syria the al qaida fighters who are embattled with

the syrian president bashar assad in recent months have been gaining ground and gaining strength. first time fluid has been at the center of fierce fighting during the war in iraq to become a stronghold of the american resistance koku she's one of those who fought in fallujah. the echoes of political mistakes of the past. i've come a long way since my time in illusion in two thousand and four and been able to step back and you know i've been involved in a lot of various efforts here in the united states to help veterans with p.t.s.d. and things like that so i guess it's incredible to see you know a lot of the predictions that those of us who understood what the war was about at least figured out and we got home coming true now because when you understand the nature of war as a racket you want to stand the true motivations behind the united states invasion occupation when you want to stand what kind of government was installed in iraq

your stand it was really only a matter of time before this happened and it was spoke to the president of the u.k. lawyers so sation told us the country's prime minister and his cabinet completely failed to save the country from ruin. isn't being able to stop the terrorist act which is the taking the lives of the civilians in that he is now accusing the tide there which is someone else that being the one who is causing it he is the government is totally incapable of controlling she didn't go that itself except the people that are being put and very tight slot because the government is allowing people to go out beating anybody who comes out in the street even raising their voices this is really a tragedy the un says twenty thirteen was the bloodiest year in iraq since two thousand and eight with more than eight thousand people killed in the term or panto comes going to special section dedicated to keeping tally of the violence in the devastated state and the human cost it pays every month.

greenland is given a green light to all exploration of the north east of the country an area previously untouched by industry the move comes as the cash strapped country searches for a way to fix its economy and give it independence parties lectures e.s.q. takes a close look at the pros and the cons of decision. drilling and oil exploration off the western coast of the country particularly has already been underway for some time by the likes of shell chevron and exxon mobil but b.p.

and its partners will now explore the concession in the north east which amounts to thousands of square kilometers some believe there may be a huge reserve of oil there up to one hundred ten billion barrels potentially the largest in the whole of the arctic the decision of greenland leadership is a complete u. turn from what it said only nine months ago when a moratorium on any further drilling was imposed due to environmental concerns the latest move is understood to be tightly connected with greenland strive for independence from denmark for now it's been relying solely on its faltering fish industry and grants from copenhagen but it's also known to have vast reserves of diamonds gold rare metals as well as having the world's second largest reserves of fresh water but clearly it's the black gold which could make greenland both economically and politically independent and the government is happy to have more international oil giants on board to boost these ambitions however not everyone is as thrilled to colleges have already blasted the move pointing at b.p.'s checkered record describing the arctic environment as very fragile they say that even a minor oil spill in the crystal clear waters of greenland could cause

a major disaster b.p. officials say they will take several years to carefully prepare for the challenging exploration work given the intensity of environmentalists criticism it's almost guaranteed that this period will be marked by the protests of those opposed to any drilling in the arctic. they will discuss this for an issue from mr greenland he said the drilling project of vital importance to the country into the well being of its people. one has to understand that first of all the the green economy todays is heavily dependent on block grants from the danish government almost forty percent of the government budgets and low budget this is block grant from from denmark green and society needs to establish new new economic activities and since the opportunities and the christian children limits it to with regards to for instance expanding the fisheries or create jobs with an active

culture or tourism it's all very even demitted we have to look at the mineral success well we know from all of the world and from history that needs to get on to you that the environment will not be harmed but you need to calculate how big the rich case and also in terms of legal nations greenland is known for being one of the countries in the world with the toughest three collegians on on on the environment but at the same time you need to be aware that you cannot count sheet for a while that the environments of are big enough to harm same time so trying to establish so on in kaname and to to be as much the economic union politically independent we need to explore all the sources of economic activity. like sparkles at the u.k. immigration under the microscope when we come back after the break.

thank. the. crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want.

you can promise is pushing for a cap on european immigrants to britain they also says there needs to be cuts to wealth of migrant workers but critics claim david cameron simply trying to win over voters who are increasing leading to the right mountain sarah first reports. part of these wider plans that the prime minister has to renegotiate britain's relationship with europe and the prime minister insisting that he's already made progress on those renegotiation plans he came under some ridicule on twitter from the ukip leader ninety four hours he said david cameron seems to be trying to sound

like me the difference is that i believe what i say now of course that might cause some confusion amongst the public and it's felt by many that the conservative party line on immigration has been somewhat confused because you've had the borders opening up. garia romania at the beginning of the year and say possibly a bit of confusion the prime minister's strong words over what his plans for the future are with that renegotiation and of course the big question is that whilst the prime minister might be saying all of this putting these very tough plans on the table the big question remains as to whether the e.u. would accept these terms if we negotiation and a lot of people feel that quite simply that won't be acceptable to the other members of the. party who say brussels will not give britain what it wants. if he wants to make the changes that he suggested he has to actually get treaty change and agreement from all the countries and they've already

had the european commission in the form of barroso he said that won't happen the only clear solution is to get your control of your borders back in order to do that you have to leave the european union politicians are not listening to people in the streets or in the places around the country go to lincolnshire for example they are telling us that they have difficulties in their community because it's changed now that's not being racist is actually being realistic and listening to those people all that we suggesting you keep is that anyone who comes to this country has to be able to afford to work here pay taxes and contribution to this country but we have to have a sensible immigration policy which brings the best in and ensures that they stay here and pay for the future of this country in the same way that indigenous people do a thousand hardy swimmers one chile beach in poland one record to break what you get. get this they all showed up to brave the icy depths to make them to give this

book of world records the perseverance paid off in the sunshine and they made it into the guinness book of records who got the pictures to prove it purse could the rise of the machine be led by drones the u.s. military predicts that in a matter of years unmanned aircraft will be able to carry out missions without human command to get the details that are to home. the leopard is one of the symbols of the upcoming winter olympics in sochi there's a reason for that to the mountains of the caucasus are home to the endangered creatures who are fighting tooth and claw to survive i want you to find it was being done to help. stealthy hunt is resourceful scavenger is. the smallest little while can't one start these mountains in the caucuses. now the soul of three elusive and skillful predators are being introduced to their natural habited after fifty years thanks to the caucuses nature reserve leopard center.

it's part of a program linta the sochi twenty fourteen winter games that aims to preserve and improve the region's wildlife and environment. though the animal has been spotted in the russian caucasus a few times there is no viable leopard population there our program is designed to start a new population of the persian leopards in the caucasus mountains and to restore the species in its natural habitat there has been success here two cups born at the national park in july with the first ever born in captivity. their parents had been brought in from lisbon zoo in portugal it took two years with them to get used to their new home and each other. the connection wasn't to mediate but it dick come and their first kiss was captured on camera the health of the family will be

monitored using g.p.s. chips for the next twenty years all in all the center now has ten leopards it's home to this group can lead to a resurgence of all the species the leopards live in a temporary open the cages in the reserve which i quipped with cameras there observed closely while the adept before being released into the wild their food is pig releasing the cages to shop in out their hunting skills. one cub that wasn't shy about cameras was groom his mother neglected him after he was born now they keep his act as force to parents taking him for walks feeding him and giving him extra love and attention. now graeme he is only six months old he's pretty happy and he will be here making sure that there's more of him out of this nature park to bomb with they in so she's

a nature park forty. tomorrow it's going to be just a month to go exactly and before the winter olympics in sochi get on the way full staying we've got update from the organizing committee had a much more a lot more to come between now and as well here on out international with a plenty more special coverage. moscow's tomorrow the next mation from senegal over the seizure of a russian troll the crew of the ship says it was an organized operation carried out with the government's knowledge vessel was detained saturday off the coast of guinea percent senegalese officials claim it was fishing illegally but the ship has since been inspected no evidence has been provided of that apparently a crew of sixty two russians and twenty others from guinea bissau is still on board

their passports have been confiscated more worldviews embrace key members of the western backed syrian opposition are in turkey at the site of the participation or not in the geneva two peace conference saying that stopping almost three years of bloodshed now in syria last week another influential group the syrian national council reiterated their refusal to take part in the talks meanwhile in fighting between al qaeda linked extremists and other rebel groups have left dozens dead in eastern syria. two separate blasts in start of left eleven dead the first explosion happened in the northwest of the country at the home of a local tribal leader killing ten including children it's reported the house was used as a weapons distribution point for local militants the other person died in a suicide blast at the school in the country's north reports say the taliban could have been behind the assault update on that cold winter storm cause in fact in twenty years still blasting the united states hundreds of flights have been canceled and schools in several states closed as temperatures near minus fifty

celsius in some areas fishel strongly advising residents not to leave home the extreme weather claimed sixteen lives of. thanks for being with us up next cross or drugs were the time magazine got it right with his choice of pope francis as person of the year about with more news for you in full in thirty three minutes time. there are many internal battles in society liberals and conservatives will never agree on gun rights or abortion but there is one battle that is often more generational than anything the battle for school uniforms teachers argue that uniforms eliminate a big distraction in the classroom and break up the caste systems that can evolve at school between the cool festival kids and the ones who can barely afford lunch

like me in my younger years but teenagers will scream uniforms crush their freedom of expression and that they have a right to express who they are their individuality who has the right to dictate to them what to wear the thing they don't realize is that if the school doesn't tell them what to wear that big corporations and m.t.v. will all the cool individuals who dress alike and blindly follow all the trends are just obeying corporate marketing instead of their parents yeah for some reason it is bad if the school punishes you for dressing improperly but if the cool kids make your life a living hell for not wearing the right brand of shoes well that's all well and good for some reason hey look at it this way school uniforms are cheap which leaves more money for parents to buy you video games be it individual in your actions and not a fake individual in trendy clothes but that's just my opinion. right to see. first street. and i would think that your.

enemy. hello and welcome to cross talk where all things are considered i'm peter lavelle time magazine's person of the year francis the catholic pontiff according to the managing editor the pope change the tone and perception of the roman catholic church this may be so but francis also is showing himself to be critical of the global economic order and capitalism is.