i posit any ukraine standoff live pictures from kiev here for tasker's and security forces declare a temporary truce while the government and the opposition andor a new round of talks to resolve the escalating crisis. when preparing the ground for syria's rolla delegations to meet face to face on monday after day one of the long awaited peace talks was marred by bitter exchanges. and whistleblowers worries average snowden is reportedly planning to ask russia for personal protection after getting death threats.

it's four pm here in moscow watching r.t. with me marina josh welcome to the program for a task and police in kiev have declared a truce which is expected to hold for the next six hours earlier the ukrainian opposition threatened to ask street riots if the government refused to call early elections its leaders last night said they were giving president yanacocha twenty four hours to meet their demands all get out across to our correspondent all over who's following the very latest for us in the grainy in capital so peter what's the atmosphere like where you are now what is the latest on the true situation. well we are in this period of ceasefire right now from both sides that both the police on the rioters have said that they're going to they're going to cease any hostilities towards one another for the while until eight pm local time the six pm g.m.t. what we have seen though is still many many people just behind me in front of the

number stadium which is being one of the the major flashpoint in the conflict between both sides here in kiev there's still many many people led what they have seen though and what is a big difference is they put out the large tie a fire that had been raging for over twenty four hours it was kicking up a lot of black smoke it was forming a very visible barrier between the rioters and the riot police that's now being extinguished. both sides can can see each other right now now in terms of what's going to happen in the future we've heard from. the organizes the people behind this movement here in kiev saying that they were going to issue a shooting ultimatum to president that he had twenty four hours to call snap elections we've now been told by one of those leaders former heavyweight boxing champion vitaly klitschko that we would have this period of of truce for now now he

made a statement earlier on speaking to a large crowd up at the on the very front line there. but what we have heard from in the past is some somewhat quite contradictory messages we've heard from him saying that he would i do believe the quote is directly if there's bullets will face bullets together speaking to a large crowd on independence square and is then tried to back that up by saying no i will always try to make this a peaceful thing we can hear what he had to say right now. yes there are places you know if the president does not comply with our demands and we. want you to share point you will be aware of us and we will start and if in the spirit here the people you remove the new procedures i never urge for a physical stand off or 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. well with regards to vitaly klitschko and how he's

being viewed here on the front lines of this right that's been going on i spoke to some people after he'd finished talking and said you know what do you think about what your leaders saying and they were they were very quick to point out to me saying that ok we might respect for tele klitschko but he's not he's not in charge of what we're doing there is still a very large nationalistic ultra nationalistic element. controlling what's going on with regards to the. saying that ok we're going to respect this truce for now but what we have seen is an awful loss just behind me there and amongst all of the barricades is an awful lot of molotov cocktails that have already be made we will show them also a lot of rocks so if the demands that are being placed upon the government met or met in a suitable way that the rioters did deem that they they should be met we could be seeing some quite some violent clashes here just behind me later on so would be we

were looking to see how those negotiations go between the opposition and the government now in terms of how it's being viewed from the. hearing that the e.u. president jose manuel barroso has had a phone call with ukrainian president viktor and which said that he was he was deeply concerned about what was going on however. which is told him that no there will not be a state of emergency here in ukraine we're also hearing that a senior. diplomats dealing with the foreign relations is expected to be to be heading. to kiev as well for talks this is the situation at the moment we're in a little proceedings as the. tentative peace breaks out between the the rioters and the riot police and waiting to see what those talks between opposition and government officials will result.

well peter thank you so much for bringing us the atmosphere from of the ukrainian capital kiev which has calmed down for a now but we'll see how the situation pans out as you rightly said over there now the center of kiev has turned into a battlefield now let's take a look at the map here this is independence square known as my don which has become the main hub of the protests and that's where the opposition camp is but some of the most fierce clashes and was that wednesday broke out in the year biography of skills sharif which leads from a european square and that's where tires were set alight and our correspondent peter all over that you've just heard your was reporting from there earlier two people were killed both reportedly with bullet ones the authorities however say police on the streets did not have a live ammunition and there do appear to have been vigilantes with firearms among

the protesters as you can see in this picture right here well british journalist graham phillips who returned from kiev just recently says the protesters have been resorting to very aggressive tactics. i was a schiavo on some day and i saw guys lining up with fuses laws of miss aisles and molotov cocktails and noise and weapons of every single man attacking police in every way they codes and i return from that we've been on the internet checking the news and it has been reported immediately that the us has introduced sanctions against the ukrainian government. police and government are being criticised but to be there on the ground it's it's absurd to reconcile with what you see which is hardly military lines that in fact i've been in city hall just proceeding events these guys were getting militarized were getting mobilized they were getting ready to go into war they knew exactly they were receiving briefings they were receiving instructions on what basis of going into war they went in on that basis and they

went to that end to effectively instigate a civil war in ukraine and i think it would really be too dangerous to say that what we have at the moment isn't a degree of civil war in ukraine. far right groups are gaining momentum in the ukraine as those anti-government protests continue to rage and they are making it clear that they did not favor peaceful resistance nationalist factions are insisting that the government should only be addressed with the language of force meanwhile washington has responded to ukraine's street violence by revoking the visas of several individuals and threatening sanctions from the u.s. spoil interview only one side is to blame in all of this as of now 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 a 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 we vote for the visas of several ukrainian officials who are allegedly implicated in the violence against peaceful protesters no members of the opposition however have their of these was 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 the says of several people responsible for violence. several officials ukrainian officials several train no official 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 have 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

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 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 violence one possible option going after the bank accounts of certain all of arcs on the ruling party in ukraine and the russian president's spokesman has reacted western to western condemnation of what's happening. as moscow considers and interference in ukraine's domestic affairs is absolutely unacceptable adding that russia never has and never would do

such a thing the actions of ukrainian police officers have triggered much criticism and we asked a former british police officer with experience of crowd control to allies their tactics. the minute it starts becoming violent the way that they like it's meant 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 there's two primary and the first they can still police quickly in whatever way you can get the demonstrators moved away broke rush to the r.b.i. and then primarily that the second part where we just to do so as safely as possible for the public but then for the officers second so i think in the subways when you get back to be moved against police look so it's in many ways it's not surprising that they have reacted as dignity as they have i mean it's not very nice

as it looks very good and indeed a lot of the police and give a very exalted we've been injured as well about human beings at the end of the day you know they all strive however well equipped they are trying they are you know this is i mean it's a horrible an 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 the bomb and while closely following what's happening in kiev was peter oliver in the midst of the trouble there while the armenian community in ukraine is promising a hundred thousand dollar reward to capture whoever killed one of their citizens get more details in ukraine's turmoil on r.t. dot com was minute by minute updates. the international mediator for syria will hold separate meetings with the government and the opposition after the warring sides failed to find an common

ground during the first day of the geneva two peace conference diplomats held to bring syria's bitter rivals together for their first face to face talks on friday you were just going off reports from switzerland their prime minister i'm sorry to . can you just read of yours and you live in new york i live in syria i have. to give you the see the end. 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 promote any solution without us agoraphobe our stepping down as change of power in damascus is something washington is pushing for as well bashar 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 have the primary responsibility team to end the conflict determine their particular system and future and stop the bleeding countries. because he is willing to discuss anything from commenting terror to a 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 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 was new to us . but what's most important is that the parties involved want direct talks to start as soon as he feels that the blizzard that the first round of negotiations b.d.d. by the u.n. and arab league special envoy on syria is expected to last one week after nearly three years of extreme violence and 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 europe is going off r t montreaux switzerland the same touch with developments at the peace talks as our team brings you in-depth coverage from geneva to. analyst james was there once to bring you another key global events that's underway

there has been is and political leaders address the world economic forum and dabbles among them iran's president rouhani has pledged cooperation with his neighbors and the rest of the world the details are coming up shortly. the. economic downturn in the final. days the long. and the rest because it's doing the case it will be if we don't ask me. please please. please don't you will come and watch the new

knowledge base just like you know. the. pleasure to have you with us here on t.v. today i roll researcher. welcome back this is our t. at a national average snowden has been getting an increasing number of death threats and is expected to ask russian authorities to help protect him and whistleblowers whereabouts here in russia are kept secret has details of a vindictive hunt for the former n.s.a. contractor. 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 buzz feed 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 loved to quote 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 but. 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 he was drunk goes home and dies in the shower in his situation he has to think about his security duties 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. a family dinner day for tony blair saw the former prime minister served with more than food and wine when a bar man tried to keep the citizens arrest to make him face justice over the

invasion of iraq had to call him to see how that worked out plus. details on line of minutes where he is hacker suspected of breaking into the computers of george w. bush and he secretary of state has reportedly been caught by remaining in police details on that story just a few clicks away on our team dot com. iran says it's ready to engage with neighboring countries and other world powers president rouhani splendid came at the world economic forum in davos. is there. he is taking full advantage the president of the country has time rouhani all of the davos economic forum because it's incredibly timely for him we know that the six month interim deal struck between the six major powers has taken effect this week and the message from him is around is open for business and i say explicitly timely

because in the audience you've got two hundred fifty people the protests of some of the richest people in the world eighty billionaires hey we got forty has state so he's speaking to the right people and it's the first time in twenty years that an iranian leader has come to this of that and he is basically opening up the country to international investment he's willing the likes of any tell you tell shell as well as exxon mobil throughout the day he wants to really drum up support for the oil industry that has been really suffering in the last two years because as they sanctions which will now be partially lifted thanks that interim deal that has been struck now he's got great expectations for his economy let's listen to the man himself on growth or of iran's economy has the potential to be among the world's top ten in the next three decades that's our long term goal which we're planning to achieve through our social economic as well as domestic and foreign policy my

government is pursuing ideals and economic development democracy and the improvement of iran's foreign relations and that's impossible without our international engagement. now considering a run has one of the biggest if not the biggest oil and gas reserves in the world that is a feasible goal for the country and one person who's not going to be to stick about the large round of applause that the leader received today will be benjamin netanyahu the leader of israel he will be gracing davos with his presence later on and we know that he's not going to encourage by the relationships between iran and the west are now warming up. and now is take a look at some other stories from around the world massed on motorcycles have killed five policemen and wounded two others in egypt it happened at a checkpoint south of cairo the attackers escaped from the scene over two hundred fifty security forces personnel have been killed since the military toppled

islamist president mohamed morsi last july. in a crash rally in time and capital has seen thousands of people defied government imposed ban on. them urgency right now and the sixty day to create was an act into trying to keep the peace until seven year resume election but angry crowds have been demanding the government goes on. now rather and have been trying to bring government business to a standstill all but crippling bangkok. there's been a walkout of the pentagon of the united states it's not the generals though it's weak and catering staff who say they're fed up with low wages we hope the strike can get president obama to put an end to paying poverty wages to contractors louise at federal facilities some are paid less than nine dollars an hour around forty percent less than what researchers see as a basic living wage in the area. the jailed business partner

a former oil tycoon. has been granted an early release by russia's superior court but all negative have been due to walk free in may but will now do so in a matter of hours are just going to have the details and basically the decision was made in both cases. but seeing as we focus the course he was actually released on january twentieth to receiving presidential pardon as part of the nationwide amnesty and has left prison time there but if i was remaining in the colony and his sentence was reduced to just. over ten and a half years but seeing as he's already served then said. he is free to go as soon as the officials in the prison that he's serving his sentence in in the north of russia receive the official papers it could be as early as today it could be tomorrow basically now we're just waiting for the papers to be delivered to the prison officials now when it comes to the other part of the case that the supreme

court was looking at it has upheld the earlier ruling that her father must reimburse the state just over seventeen billion rubles in taxes which he owes and that actually is part of the case because both of course negative have been serving their prison sentences on charges of tax evasion as well as money laundering and embezzle mint so this means that basically the case for the two men and now is closed and the supreme court has also left an opportunity for judicial rehabilitation for both of them. well next in our state a national media woman who is showing her support for whistleblowers in a rather unusual way as a world are these things. recently

facebook was ablaze with likes and shares about the two thousand and fourteen no pants subway ride this is a yearly event that has grown in popularity and spread way beyond its native new york to cities across the globe according to fox news a century thousands of people ride the subway in their underwear as if it were a normal day what you're going to say is a prank collective the cause of scenes of chaos and joy in public places yeah i guess this is kind of funny i mean hey i like wackiness but think about the effort and propaganda takes to get thousands of people the world over to simultaneously do something and then with all that effort and all those thousands of participants all you do is walk around without your pants on this idea must have been created by some people with a pretty decadent lifestyle because how can you even think of organizing people for the goal of spreading joy when a lot of us can't even afford to put dinner on the table in the future could you guys please try some pantless food donating or pencils recycling or maybe best of

all and artist of all pencils job creating wackiness is fine but when you have the power of thousands of trouser was volunteers please use it responsibly and productively but that's just my opinion. but with economic downturns in the final. day of the deal sang i. the night they meet every week.

long welcome to worlds apart peaceful glowing is all about pulling become for us all governments wrongdoing and shocking big public but then decent travel ations well this is exactly what one irish adamic decided to do to draw attention to the fate of julian assange john 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 got 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 a tie is in there to 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 news 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. in used and 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 grannies so i guess at this point there's

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 our deal 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 it participate 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 what i'm trying to say to people is don't go out and buy a calendar of any odd model i mean i think just about every model has under the sun from here to timbuktu.