live pictures for you right here on r.t. international from kiev as opposition leaders protesters against violence as the city is split by barricades with at least two killed in the. rival positions clash of the geneva two conference on syria even before the warring sides of the conflict sit down for direct talks. and n.s.a. whistleblower edward snowden reportedly asking russia. protection amid mounting death threats.

from moscow its aussie international with me rule research we've got your top headlines for this hour. leaders of the ukrainian opposition have called on protesters in kiev to refrain from violence over the city's embattled remains a blaze overnight these are live pictures we're showing for you right now in fact it's proximately eleven am there in the ukrainian capital the latest report from there with correspondent peter on. looking independent 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 that 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 a.t.m. 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 that we heard from former world heavyweight champion. vitale klitschko who's one of the main opposition leaders here he was the president if the president does not comply with our demands will focus our efforts there will be more of us and we will start an offensive with. new procedures i never urged for 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 from what we've seen certainly that said 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 kiev have been broken up and used as ammunition against police so the tally klitschko use claims the shooting is personal influence in order to bring about peace well well we didn't see that wednesday night at all but so have a look at exactly where the ongoing tom all has been taking place on r.t. international here comes the map of. central kiev of the two st to end up can joining at the top at the european square at the top that's of the forefront of the unrest and let's go back to showing you some live pictures again here from central kiev as the barricades continue to burn and many people still in attendance there it's all of it has been a circulating in that area he's certainly been in the thick of it as we've been reporting here on r.t. international some of the fish his clashes have taken place around the nearby give government buildings up around a european square as you can see also a street that runs all the way along the side of kiev up to the top where european

square that's where a security operation on wednesday was pushing out some of the more radical protesters so they have been conflicting reports on the number of casualties but so far we have confirmation of the deaths of two protesters both reportedly with bullet wounds or thora these are all the while those stressing that police are not equipped with live ammunition though in the meantime over two hundred police officers have been injured during the riots and more than eighty of them have wound up in hospital we did ask a former british police officer with experience of crowd control or to take us through the tactics currently being employed by the ukrainian authorities. the minute it starts becoming violent one of the protests and then they have no option and to react sometimes in the way they did because once that situation does get out of control like that well then those two primary anger thursday is still peace quickly in whatever way you can get the demonstrators moved along broke one. and

then primary there the second part will be in 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 grill environment the musical these 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 give a very artful she'd 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 you know this is going to zorn 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 i mean while other slogans or some radical groups are forced expose to question what is really driving the unrest and nationalists to threaten more violence claiming their right to use force on their heritage have already been some

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 been getting louder and louder looser caffein office details. the obama administration had upped its rhetoric against ukraine on wednesday warning of possible sanctions that the government continues its crackdown on protesters there they 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 or we invoked the visas of several ukrainian officials who are allegedly implicated in violence against peaceful protesters no members of the opposition however have 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. so there

is so there is no opposition 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 at by members of the police despite the fact that the investigation on the ground in kiev had not yet concluded president obama himself states silent on the recent developments a state 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 key of 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 russia in a presidential spokesman dmitri briscoe commented on the condemnation by the west are saying that moscow considers any interference in ukraine's domestic affairs as absolutely unacceptable he also said that russia never has and never will do such a thing political analyst and international affairs commented oh rick ross off you believe the west is being too harsh in its criticism of ukraine's government. this is you know can by no stretch of the imagination be characterized as peaceful demonstrations in that light 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 of otherwise healthy protest

when he approached us in the west there but even 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 the struggle police who themselves were not attacked so i believe that you know the fact that. prominent u.s. and european political officials are egging on if you will they're doing everything possible to exacerbate the conflict in kiev senator john mccain was said and 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 have for you know at least a month and a half two months and doing everything possible to not only provide some you know false legitimacy to violent protest and kidnap but also quite a unilaterally and entirely showing their hand as being you know against that of

the incumbent government of president victory on a garbage. and ago she actions between opposition leaders and president have not yielded any results yet though 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 but is still ready to meet the protesters halfway. or as we are about to live pictures for you here on r.t. international this is european square in central kiev the only thing that's really changing these pictures is the fact that it's daylight there now it's about a ten past eleven in the morning on thursday in kiev though these this barricade of tires on fire have been raging throughout the night hours and we will keep you up to date on the developments in kiev throughout the day here on r.t. international.

ten minutes past the hour here in moscow where the syrian government and its main political rivals failed to find any common ground at 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 artie's got a piskun off has this report from switzerland. right minister i'm sorry to. can you just. use 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 i think that i said is the problem and i said i

don't think the problem old any solution without said going about stepping down a change of power in damascus is something washington is pushing for as well bashar assad 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 seriousness of themselves had the primary responsibility to end the conflict 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 goals of the talks indeed the only agree on the one thing that a political solution is the only way no one should. know 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 it's goes through 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 as soon. the first round of negotiations mediated by the u.n. 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 you go to spin off r t montreaux switzerland and one analyst told us it's up to foreign powers to urge 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 game military victory over the other in the battlefield so they need to reach some sort of accommodation for one of the opposition cannot dictate and say that i said cannot be a part of any. future syria and the syrian government cannot sort of lump everybody into 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 well i do stay with us if you can hear one r.t. international for the very latest developments from switzerland where the geneva two conference on syria is ramping up. for an hour after the break here on our team international we had to davos where everyone is tuned in to be addressed by iran's president hassan rouhani.

speak your language. programs and documentaries in arabic it's

all here on. reporting from the world of the interview intriguing story or you. are a big. visit or a big. call. it's all the international thank you for joining us now to take a look at what's happening in the snowy swiss alps let's bring you two are live pictures here on the program that's where the davos world economic forum is underway iran's president rouhani right in the middle of his address to the audience at this year's gathering is extremely crucial full to iran of some economic sanctions has been lifted off the six top well polished struck a major deal with iran last year now mr rouhani and his delegation to doing their best to try and win back trust in a truck is a much needed investment into that country which is home to over seventy four

million people and of course also because i thought. huge amounts of oil and gas reserves are more on the speech in a live report from our correspondent katie pilbeam the host of artie's venture capital should be joining us next hour here on. about though among the key things the gathering has to contend with this time are global poverty and inequality a report by oxfam presented to davos so if the plan is the richest eighty five business people control as much wealth as half of the world's population likes lawson from the british charity told us he's skeptical of there being any progress at the former despite its proclaimed goals you've got people having more money than they could spend in ten thousand lifetimes 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 havens this is money that is owned 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 on education on decent jobs for ordinary people so if we saw a crackdown on tax evasion that would make a major difference we think would be a lot of talk about equality rules very little action we don't expect them to do much at all. whistleblower edward snowden is reportedly set to request additional protection from russia north or eighty's after receiving a growing number of death threats 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 are to use more important. 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 work 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 for example after doing his groceries and he accidentally bumps into someone then he suddenly feels drunk 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 only 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 while that would snowden remains. deeply unpopular with u.s. officials members of the public consider him a hero and are seeking ways to express their gratitude for exposing american mass

surveillance and the whistleblower has been nominated for an honorary position of rector at glasgow university and we caught up with one of the students who spearheaded the bid. the reason we chose edward snowden is because we know that he is a hero here's a brave man who risked a lot of things to let us the 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 it 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 course we've

had an overwhelmingly positive response of course we will do everything we can to make sure that this actually happens and over the web site also you dot com right now with anti riot forces in many countries are quipped with water cannons protesters around the world well they used to getting a bit of a star but not in england and wales so far though as we told you at all to dot com u.k. police bosses may soon be changing their approach. while you're there check out this story as well but best known for breaking through the computer far wall of several members of george w. bush's family and for cracking the email account of a secretary of state reportedly he's been caught in romania that story on the web site for. right to see. her story. and i think.

on our reporters were very. instrumental. i. mean in the polls. all right here's some news just in here at r.t. international russia's supreme court has reduced the prison sentence of the business partner a former oil tycoon mikhail khodorkovsky it means that plot on death could actually walk free later today or tomorrow or bring in the details as soon as we get them but for the meantime let's get to some other world headlines for you in brief the government on motorcycles of killed five policemen and wounded two others in egypt the attack occurred at a checkpoint just south of cairo security forces are being increasingly targeted after the country's military toppled islam its president mohamed morsi that was last july. and to thailand where protesters have defied a government imposed state of emergency decree gives the authorities powers to

impose curfews censor media and detain suspects without charge one leading pro-government activist was shot and wounded in bangkok on wednesday one man was killed and dozens injured when grenades were thrown at demonstrators just. a russian trawler has left the west african country of senegal that's softer its owners paid around a million dollars in bail the old leg was seized nearly three weeks ago on suspicion of illegal fishing incidents the diplomatic tension between moscow and dhaka the ship's captain maintains the vessel was not fishing illegally at the time of the capture and wasn't even in senegalese water. and dozens of friends are gone workers have come out on strike in the state of virginia though not the generals rather the cleaning and supports were protesting against lower wages there demanding the government raise their pay which now starts at about nine dollars an

hour. i was going to pleasure having you with us here analyse international today next on the program meet the woman who is showing her support for whistleblowers in a rather unusual way that's coming your way in worlds apart. but if you. did you know the price is the only industry specifically mentioned in the constitution and. that's because a free and open press is critical to our democracy like ours. in fact the single biggest threat facing our nation today is the corporate takeover of our government and i was crap. we've been a hydrogen flying handful of friends dash all corporations that will profit by

destroying what our founding fathers once told us my job market and on this show we reveal the big picture of what's actually going on in the world we go beyond identifying the problem trying to fix rational debate in a real discussion critical issues facing america if i ever feel ready to join the movement then walk a little bit there. along

with welcome to worlds apart whistleblowing is all about pulling to covers of governments wrongdoing and shocking big public with indecent travel ations well this is exactly what one irish adamic decided to do to draw attention to the fate of julian assange edward snowden is a new calendar really is the best way to emphasize the integrity of whistle blowing well to discuss that knowledge joined by dr dobson fuller herself dr fuller thank you very much for your time thank you for inviting me now the reason governments are so unhappy with missile blowers is essentially because they point to the fact that emperor has no clothes but i guess you decided to take this idea literally well yes i mean you are correct and indeed this theme of the calendar ties into whistleblowing in that it's about revealing the truth i worked as

a model while i was writing my ph d. mainly as an art nude model for artists but also for photographers and that's why when i began to get very interested in whistleblowing when his revelations came out which were of course highly relevant to my line of work i began to think what can i do to actually have an impact as well on this situation to raise awareness but also to raise money for it and because i had quite a few photos and some of those photos had never been used in other projects i decided i would donate this to this cause as it were and to try to raise money to support these organizations with those photos but this is not really an novel way of attracting attention i mean we have seen everybody doing that from students to grammys so i guess at this point there is a risk of it being perceived not just an act of distancing but simply as a prank i wonder. if it doesn't trivialize the ordeal of whistleblowers who pay a very high price for what they did yes yes and i mean that is a for sure it is something that we've seen everyone from grannies to you know the

fireman's calendar you know a protest but in these kind of new calendars and in fact that's where i got the idea i did think there are a lot of charities and a lot of good causes they do make new calendars to raise money for their cause and that's kind of what i saw it as a little bit of a tongue in cheek. kind of idea however i don't think it would be right to say that it trivializes the plight of whistleblowers in fact i think that the situation we're in right now is not one where we're so much facing a trivialization issue as perhaps a marginalize ation issue so what i'm trying to say to people is don't go out and buy a calendar a very odd model i mean i think just about every model has under the sun from here to timbuktu has a calendar of themselves every year give your money to this project and give it to a cause of the facts you now i know that you're selling there's calendars on your website and you promise to use the proceeds to how lakes and other activist

organizations i wonder how well are they selling so far quite well actually i've actually been quite positively surprised at their reaction that it's received because of course i was i was asking myself will this work will this be something that people come out and support and yes indeed i've been sending calendars for me here it was really over the past few weeks so very very well far better than i had hoped now what we see on those calendars essentially some racy photos a few decks the post again some facts about whistleblowers and that activities but you know i fully understand your noble intention but i think the way those calendars are designed are. sort of putting that on your visual rob. because behind them because your body clearly wins over those tiny little lines so i wonder what do you say to those who say that you are trying to solve promote at the expanse of people who are indeed suffering.