live pictures for you here when i see international opposition leaders in kiev protesters against violence. by burning barricades with. killed in the. rival positions clash of the geneva two conference on syria even before the warring sides of the conflict even sit down for direct talks. and n.s.a. whistleblower edward snowden reportedly being russian authorities for more protection amid mounting death threats.

news a live from moscow it's on t. international with me rule received welcome to the program today leaders of the ukrainian opposition have called on protesters in kiev to refrain from violence however the cities and battle centers remained a blaze overnight let's cross live now to peter all of us who has been in the thick of it for quite some time now good to see you peter so we've been watching the live pictures old light all morning here on our international the barricades apparently still on fire what can you tell us. well currently where i am right now i'm overlooking independence square where the speakers are continuing to deliver their rhetoric from the stage just as you might be able to hear that over the top of of me talking now we have seen a a distinct decrease in the amount of people on the streets on thursday compared to wednesday now that's because wednesday was a public holiday it allowed more people to come out but what those people have left that were here yesterday they were here on wednesday well they've left more

barricades better built barricades and certainly far more secure barricades and i'm about two hundred meters away just over to my left is where that that main flashpoint is going on in front of the. between rioters and riot police where they're separated by what is literally a wall of fire and i was out in that last night and having a look around about what was what was going on then it looked like something more out of dantes inferno than the the capital of ukraine. they have been calls from the opposition to be peaceful to not incite any violence we heard from former world heavyweight champion. vitale klitschko who's one of the main opposition leaders here saying that well he would use his personal influence in order to try and keep protesters and riot is peaceful births from what we've seen certainly you really should stick to the job really because we've we've seen continuous amounts of

mullets of cocktails thrown fireworks throwing rocks lot of rocks a lot of the the. the the paving stones here in n.k.f. are being broken up and used as ammunition against police so the tally klitschko claims he's using his personal influence in order to. bring about peace well well we didn't see that wednesday night at all. the stupid you will be new procedures i never urged for a physical standoff we're calling for a nationwide strike the people need to have their say but i'm using my own personal thord to call a halt to the violence and to make sure the situation doesn't get out of control we've seen two days of violence and i hope there will be no further escalation. well so this is the situation we're seeing right now it is much quieter here on thursday than it was on wednesday as he said it was a public holiday before but what has been left is those new and well very much

reinforced barricades that have been put up by rioters that's going to cause a big problem for police should they try and clear people out of those areas in front of the economic stadium that's about to me to my left where we've seen that major flash point in the clashes here are these are pretty. thank you by let's have a look here exactly where the ongoing turmoil has been taking place really bring out the map of kiev here on r.t. international and show you exactly where european square is just here in the top of the two red lines here the forefront of the unrest is where the tires have been set alight it's where peter all of it was in recent hours getting us swarmed by riot police some of the fiercest clashes have taken place around the nearby government buildings as well and then we have to talk about for example the street it's just the street here the along the perimeter of kiev it's where a security operation on wednesday pushed out some of the more radical protesters

and there have been conflicting reports on the number of casualties but the deaths of two protesters have been confirmed of both reportedly having bullet wounds or authorities however stressing the police are not equipped with live ammunition and over two hundred police officers have been injured during the riots more than eighty being hospitalized we did ask a former british police officer with experience of crowd control how to take us through the tactics currently being employed by the ukrainian police. the minute it starts becoming violent and one of the protests meant they had no option and to react sometimes in the way they did because once that situation does get out of control like that well then there's two primary and the first they can restore peace quickly in whatever way you can get the demonstrators moved along. and then primarily there the second part will be just to do so as safely as possible for the public first but then to the offices second so i think you know in some ways when

you get back to environments be nice against police officers in many ways it's not surprising that they haven't reacted as vigorously as they have i mean it's not very nice if you look very good and indeed a lot of his colleagues and a very unfortunate been injured as well about human beings at the end of the day you know they all strive however well equipped they are well trained they are unique so this is going to zour one analogy but it's sort of combat in the field face to face with some dangerous people many of whom are actually intent on causing them harm in the meantime the slogans of some radical groups are force experts to question what's really driving the on the rest nationalists or threaten more violence claiming their right to use force and they have already been reports of several anti semitic attacks as well and with the mobs in kiev becoming increasingly aggressive the voices of support from the west have also become increasingly aggressive they said catherine off reports. the obama administration

had upped its rhetoric against ukraine on wednesday warning of possible sanctions that the government continues its crackdown on protesters there the state department spokesperson here in washington said all policy options are on the table but did not offer any more specifics now the u.s. meanwhile has revoked the visas of several ukrainian officials who are allegedly implicated in violence against peaceful protesters no members of the opposition however had their visas revoked by the united states this is something that did come under some scrutiny at the state department press conference when a journalist or raise the issue of a double standard the united states has already revoked visas of several people responsible for violence. several officials ukrainian officials several. sure there is no position on protesters nothing like this ukrainian official. now we also heard from the state department referencing two protesters that had

been shot saying that they had been shot by members of the police despite the fact that the investigation on the ground in kiev had not yet concluded president obama himself stayed silent on the recent developments to put the department spokeswoman did call on the ukrainian government to abide by the protesters calls for the country to sign a trade deal with the european union instead of turning towards russia the state department's top your of europe official victoria nuland has visited the country several times recently to argue the case vice president biden had also called the ukrainian president to express his deep concerns now the united states isn't alone in pointing the finger of blame on the ukrainian government when it comes to the recent violence in kiev we did also hear from the e.u. budget commissioner who said that sanctions were not being discussed at the moment but that the body will go beyond simply condemning the white violence one possible option going after the bank accounts of certain all of arks on the ruling party in

ukraine. and russian presidential spokesman dmitri peskov commented on the condemnation by the west saying that moscow considers any interference in ukraine's domestic affairs as. unacceptable he also said that russia never has and never will do such a thing a political analyst and international affairs committee had rick ross off he believes the west is too harsh in his criticism of the ukraine's government this is by no stretch of the imagination be characterized as peaceful demonstrations of that point nor can these actions which are so persistent so well organized and so not criticized by the west be seen as simply you know provocateurs operating on the . you know on the extremes of you know otherwise healthy protest twentieth protests in the west there but rather violently and in chicago and of course i was here for the demonstrations against the nato summit in may of two thousand and twelve and i

can assure you that when demonstrators got out of line here they were bludgeoned you know pretty severely by this year ago police were themselves were not attacked so i believe that you know the fact that. prominent u.s. and european political officials are aiding on if you will they're doing everything possible to exacerbate the conflict in kiev senator john mccain. wasn't given december as well as victoria nuland was assistant secretary of state for european and your asian affairs as well as catherine ashton from the european union and for you know at least a month and a half two months and doing everything from a simple to not only provide some you know false legitimacy to violent protest in kiev but also quite unilaterally and entirely showing their hand as being you know against that of the incumbent government of president victory on a covert. a negotiation between opposition leaders and president going to covert have not yielded any results they are set to resume later on thursday but the

opposition has slapped the president with a twenty four hour deadline to call a snap election and launch what they say is their own shadow parliament however the prime minister has said the government will not accept any ultimatums though it is ready to meet the protesters halfway. or to stay with us here on r.t. international will be bringing you the latest from kiev and the ongoing unrest throughout the day. the syrian government and its main political rivals fail to find any common ground in the opening of the geneva two summit on wednesday international mediators are now rushing to make sure the first direct talks between the warring sides take place on friday as planned and you've got a piece going off reports from switzerland the prime minister i'm sorry to.

can you just read for yourself if you live in new york i live in syria i have. to give the syrian. here in this forum the first day of the conference was expected to be spent listening to formal statements instead it was the scene of bitter exchanges as the syrian opposition pressed on with its calls for president assad to step down and i think that i said is the problem and i said i don't think the problem will be any solution without us of going about stepping down a change of power in damascus is something washington is pushing for as well. will not be part of that transition government but according to the u.n. secretary general of this is neither up to washington nor any other outside players to decide. the syrians have themselves had the primary responsibility to end the country determine their party to a system and future and start repeating their country while democracy is willing to

discuss anything from commenting territory partial cease fire anything that is except assad's resignation it seems the parties have a different understanding of the course of the talks indeed the only agree on the one thing that a political solution is the only way no one should go no one's trying to gloss this over that this is the beginning of a tough and complicated process more than forty countries and organizations and all suggest together how this must end that it has to have an inclusive syria but it's. still the statements were indeed emotional and there were mutual accusations but what's most important is that all the parties involved want direct talks to start as soon as. the blizzard the first round of negotiations mediated by

the u.n. and arab league special envoy on syria is expected to last one week after nearly three years of extreme violence it isn't a surprise the two sides of the syrian conflict aren't getting along very well frankly just getting them in the same building may already be considered a diplomatic breakthrough not to mention the talks which are scheduled to continue on friday going off r t montreaux switzerland and one analyst told us it's up to foreign powers to work the warring sides of the syrian conflict to make the concessions needed to break the deadlock. they must understand that neither one of them is able to really sort of the game military victory over the other in the battlefield so they need to reach some sort of accommodation for what about the opposition cannot say that said cannot be a part of any. future syria and the syrian government cannot sort of lump everybody into sort of the basket of terrorists so each one of them must reach out and i

believe that they will ultimately they can't this is going to take a great deal of time a great deal of attention and a great deal of goodwill on part of those who are advocating both sides it's quarter past the hour here in moscow in just a few minutes we head to the other side of switzerland to the ski resort of davos so some of the pundits wealthiest and most influential people of puzzling about matters like poverty and inequality shortly will be asking if the efforts of baring any for. good laboratory. was to build the most sophisticated. looking at least doesn't give a darn about anything mission to teach me the creation of why you should care about humans. this is why you should care only.

choose your language. with. the consent you. choose to get to. choose the stories to to. choose . the kaiser report will be soon here on r.t.

international for now though whistleblower edward snowden reportedly set to request additional protection from russian authorities after receiving a growing number of death threats and the former n.s.a. contractor has been living at an undisclosed location in russia since august when he received asylum from washington's prosecution details here with artie's marina portnoy. despite his temporary residency in russia it's fair to assume that n.s.a. whistleblower edward snowden follows what's reported about him throughout the world however it's the recent death threats rather descriptive ones published in the us media that is causing the thirty year old to request extra security and protection from russian law enforcement the website but speed quoted an anonymous u.s. intelligence officer describing how he would have assassinated snowden if he had the chance another unnamed pentagon official has been quoted saying he would have simply love to put

a bullet in snowden's head or he not restricted from killing an american snowden's lawyer says the former contractor is constantly accompanied by private guards but that may no longer be enough to ensure his security. we clearly understand that there is a serious danger for the life and health of edward snowden and n.s.a. intelligence officer says that it's easy to imagine a situation where he walks around moscow for example after doing his groceries and he accidentally bumps into someone then he suddenly. goes home and dies in the shower in his situation he has to think about his security snowden's attorney stresses that according to russian law a death threat carries criminal liability he also says the former contractor's refugee status makes him fully entitled to ask the police for help in the meantime a new poll by pew research shows that while americans are still divided over the

benefits of snowden's n.s.a. leaks when it comes to just young americans ages eighteen to twenty nine years old the majority believe that snowden's leaks served the public's interest reporting from new york. r.t. . and all edward snowden revealed. it's deeply unpopular with u.s. officials members of the public consider him a hero and is seeking ways to express their gratitude for exposing the american surveillance of the whistleblower has been nominated for an honorary position of rector of the globe's go university and we caught up with one of the students who spearheaded the project the reason we chose at what snowden is because we know that he is a hero here's a brave man who rist a lot of things to us that people know the extent of us media surveillance and intrusion into our private lives and we just want to show him that we appreciate

what he's done and it is a clear message sent out to those who are monitoring us that we will not stand for this and that we do not this we do not accept this kind of criminality it would be more symbolic than anything because he will be able to actually physically come to class go we will choose a representative. for him in situations where he cannot personally attend but his duties will be to hold the title of the rector of the university of glasgow we've had an overwhelmingly positive response of course we will do everything we can to make sure that this actually happens. always many stories heading up on off the dot com every hour for example with anti-riot forces in many countries equipped with water cannons protesters around the world or rather used to getting a soaking but not in england and wales so far though because as we told you on the website police bosses may soon be changing their approach. to this story as well the best known for breaking through the computer file wall of several

members of george w. bush's family cracking the email account of his secretary of state is reportedly caught in romania those details at. the scene. were strict. and i think you're. going to. be and. it's also international the world economic forum in davos is picking up pace as it enters its second day there are plenty of issues for the billionaires to rock their brains over for example inequality tax evasion as well as a host of venture capital she's there to report. so far here in davos it's all been

about the essential the which is the reshaping of the well the consequences for society politics and business now we know that after day one that they intend to go out the window and people talk about what they want to talk about and this year it's been all about income inequality and the consequences of that and really here everyone appreciates that it's the biggest risk to the global economy but no one quite knows how to deal with that and it coincides with youth unemployment as well as a social rest can come out of that and bear in mind here dollars eighty billion shares that have come to talk about that so the irony is that they're to say we've also got plenty of other topics been spoken about including climate change surveillance is that it's haitian going on every morning to we know tax avoidance is still sensitive here because business leaders saying where's the rules and regulations where are the laws that we are so cool breaking and they're saying that the thing that is being pointed fairly say as i say tensions on that one as they usually are

so we've also got plenty of other things going on for the rest of the dive also we've got the european parliament elections what's going to come out of those the brics club as well brazil russia india china is instead a club doesn't really exist anymore but you know what everyone is waiting for mr sun rouhani as well as israel mr netanyahu people want to know if they're going to be communicating with each other and if mr rouhani is going to be able to woo some investors so as you can see it is a packed agenda here in davos plenty to concern ourselves with stagnant growth being top of the agenda ready in terms of the thing it's all about five years on from the financial crisis what kind of an economy are we dealing with now that is the question so it's all about challenges going forward. the planet's richest eighty five business men control as much wealth as a half of the world's entire population this according to a new report by oxfam presented at davos lawson who's the head of advocacy at the

charity organization he's a well he's rather skeptical about any progress at the annual forum despite its proclaimed goals. if you go people having more money than they could spend in ten thousand a lot of times when you have a billion people living on less than a dollar a day there's a lot that could be done on the international level to tackle the issue of growing inequality particularly around the issue of tax tax havens and tax avoidance so you're seeing hundreds of billions of dollars being hidden away in tax. this is money that by the rich is corporations the richest people and it should be taxed if it was taxed fairly and that money could be spent on health or education on decent jobs for ordinary people so if we sort of crunch down on tax evasion that would make a major difference we think would be a lot of talk right equality rules very little action we don't expect them to do much. for a quick global snapshot here on r.t. international protesters and island of divided government those state of emergency

the decree gives all stories powers to impose curfews censor media and detain suspects about charges leading pro-government risk was shot and wounded in bangkok on wednesday one man was killed and dozens injured when poor neighborhoods were thrown at demonstrations last year. a russian trawler left the west african country of senegal that's after its owners paid around a million dollars in bail. was seized nearly three weeks ago i want suspicion of illegal fishing incidents to diplomatic tension between moscow and dhaka the ship's captain maintains the vessel was not fishing illegally at the time of capture and wasn't even in senegalese waters either. dozens of pentagon there's of come out on strike in the u.s. state of virginia not the general's job cleaning and support staff were protesting low wages for them on the government raised their pay which now starts at nine

dollars an hour. and to pakistan where crowds have been protesting a bus bombings. splosion that killed twenty four shiite pilgrims on tuesday protesters are calling on the military to step in and stop the bloodshed ripping the country apart of volunteers spreading with recent studies showing a twenty percent rise in sectarian killings last year compared with twenty tiles. are just around the corner here when all the international markets kaiser and his latest showdown with a high flying financial sky. as a new physician i swear to avoid by the hippocratic oath. to the best of my ability and judgment. i will prescribe for the

goodness of my patients. i will not give deadly doses to anybody. or advise of those to do so. i will never do harm to the. doctors of the dogs. to. the united states is a very good example here because in earlier years they they've had a pretty strong genuine democracy that by now i would argue has degenerated into a system where money and power mattered much more than bit and then the deputy of the majority of the founding fathers of the united states would constantly say that they were not find the democracy that he was horrible they wanted toppling institute. and they purposely designed the institutions to as they put it exclude

the majority of from participation. welcome to the kaiser report i'm max kaiser last week the heritage foundation and the wall street journal presented their annual list of economic freedom for the seventh year running the u.s. has dropped down that list now residing at twelfth most free cuddle me in the world while the us used to be number one it is now behind ireland at number one on yes the same ireland which was a vassal state of the troika until mid december when it gained at least an appearance of economic sovereignty which makes you wonder what exactly their idea of economic freedom is max this is important to know because of course that was has

been happening this past week and they're trying to deliver us economic freedom i think what we're going to see from them and what heritage foundation wall street journal when they look at ireland what they see is this what nigel for ukip m.e.p. said we all run by big business big banks and i'm afraid mr brace so big bureaucrats so true it's fascinating how far down this tape league table the u.s. has plummeted it's the only country that's actually dropping the other ones are kind of in status to some degree or another over the us is really you know plummeting down this list yeah but like i said i don't know if it's a bad thing in the way that they determine what economic freedom is they don't care that ireland was occupied by foreign banking powers until just a few weeks ago allegedly now i want to say that here in the u.k. their number fourteen on this list and they could be rising very soon if they determine economic freedom and the being occupied by banks because h.s.b.c.

faces seventy billion pound capital hole warrants hong kong analyst h.s.b.c. could have overstated this assets by more than fifty billion pounds and ultimately need a capital. injection of close to seventy billion pounds before the end of this decade according to an incendiary report published by a hong kong based research firm and the research firm is called forensic asia this is seventy billion pounds which equals about one hundred ten billion dollars who is our accountant. and why. no actually it was k.p. m.g. . i believe from last year it was peter b c o b w c. and i mean why not the long juice not going to but in the uk not get b.m.g. the b.w.c. not all the same it's own big acronym you could just get rid of all those items in one place with f r a you did see for all their all the same.