protesters across western ukraine surround local government buildings as rotting spreads from the capital. in kiev a brief truce between rioters and security forces as the government shows it is willing to make concessions to the opposition amid calls from the e.u. to hold an early election. also this hour the international the u.n. prepares the ground for syria's rival delegations to meet face to face on friday after day one of the long awaited peace talks was marred by bitter exchanges. and it was so close where is edward snowden is reportedly planning to ask russia for personal protection after receiving death threats.

this is out international live from our studio center here in moscow where it's just turned eleven pm and nine pm in ukraine where rioting has spread to the west of the country with protests breaking into administration buildings meanwhile in kiev the opposition and the government are now expected to announce the results of their talks well let's get the latest now from peter all of a he is in the capital peter before we talk about those latest developments in kiev what do you know about the rest spreading beyond the capital now. well yes what we've seen is groups of demonstrates. that. cross ukraine

trying to either occupy or demonstrate outside of government buildings now in the inner cities of of and. we have seen the main. local administration buildings being occupied by demonstrators now i was looking online and i've found on twitter of accounts of thousands of people involved also we've seen it on the local news here as well the scenes from there it's not just those two cities in the west of ukraine we're also hearing a fair of government offices being besieged or the at least the scenes of demonstrations so certainly the unrest in ukraine not limited to to the capital here in kiev that the truce is over there in the capital and supposedly there have been talks between the opposition and the government so what has happened during those talks that we heard anything. well the news is starting to come out of what

was discussed during those days during those talks now we are hearing from the government side that they are ready to consider repealing or at least toning down new measures new laws that were brought in to tackle the violence here in kiev and we've also heard from the prime minister mr assad of who said that. he was he was ready to resign and his whole cabinet resign if the parliament here in ukraine decided they weren't up to the job now that's one of those things that's going to be up for discussion at a special session of the ukrainian parliament that will be held next week that was announced by by president victory on a call which also up for discussion. session upon the will be the possibility of holding of holding elections really a lot of it comes out just how feasible it is we heard from prime ministers out of early on thursday who basically said he and his. opinion it just wasn't feasible to

hold snap elections the actual logistics of it just wouldn't be able to wouldn't work also that sets for discussion what we hear coming out of these talks is there will be an investigation into the deaths of people who've been out here on the streets of kiev now. two people died from gunshot wounds now we're hearing from the authorities that the type of bullet the type of firearm that was used isn't a type that is issued to two security services or two to police here in ukraine but they're promising to investigate to find out just where those fatal gunshots could have a originated from and find out what's what's going on there so that's the scene at the moment we're hearing of talks there is there has been rumors going around here that perhaps there could be some not particularly middle ground just yet but that both sides were perhaps willing to to at least speak to each other to talk to each

other will be expecting more news from those discussions to come out as the evening progresses parties get all of a live in kiev thanks very much indeed for that update. radical groups are gaining momentum in ukraine spurred by the anti-government protests in the rioters appear to be well armed our online team has been taking a closer look at the gear they've been using over the past few days and opposition fighters can be seen with helmets and shields and also carry a wide array of weapons even built a catapult to hell rocks over large distances and also a giant sling and on top of that they have pneumatic and lethal firearms when you get all the specifics on the right equipment right now on r.t. dot com meanwhile western governments have been placing the blame solely on the authorities daniel mcadams from the ron paul institute for peace and prosperity told me earlier that their comments are not helping the situation. the reason why the protesters if that's what they are to be called have become more radicalized

it's because they've been encouraged all along by e.u. and american politicians who have been on the ground in the middle of the protests encouraging them and that's simply unprecedented it's unprecedented interference in the in the sovereign nation and it's all blamed on this new protest law and this protest law is virtually identical to any law you would see here in the united states for example you're not allowed i'm here in d.c. you're not allowed to wear a mask at a protest in washington d.c. you're not allowed to erect a tent you saw what happened to the occupy protests violently torn down you're not allowed to political organization here in the u.s. it's illegal in poland one of the most arrogant of the countries interfering in ukraine condemning this new law well if you libel a politician in poland you can go to jail for two years so there is an enormous amount of the parker see involved here but the core of these protests in ukraine

and they're making it clear that they do not favor a peaceful resistance now she is factions insisting that the government will only listen to and i quote the language of force washington however sees the ukrainian leadership is the only guilty party in all of this and is reiterate it is threat to impose sanctions as. 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 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 views 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 visas of several people respond to me through violence. several officials ukrainian officials several. 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 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 treaty deal with the european union instead of turning towards russia the state department's top your of europe official victoria nuland has these are the countries several times recently to argue the case vice president biden had also called the korean president to express his deep concerns with attacks used by

ukrainian police who come under severe criticism and we also former british police officer with experience of crowd control to analyze the methods. the minute it starts becoming violent one of the. men may have no option then 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 could restore peace quickly in whatever way you can get the demonstrators moved to go broke want us to go and then primarily did the second part of the interest to do so as safely as possible for the underside of them to the officers second so i think you know in some ways when you get back to. going to police officers in many ways it's not surprising that they haven't reacted as digitally as they have i mean it's not very nice. and indeed a lot of the police and get very artfully injected as well about human beings at

the end of the day you know they are striving however well equipped they are as a world kind they are you know this is i mean it is a horrible an allergy but it's a real combat in the field face to face with some dangerous people many of whom are actually intent on causing them harm. or we're closely following what's happening in kiev with people all over in the midst of the trouble there and these are live pictures of the nighttime scenes there in kiev it's now around about ten past nine in the evening that truce is now over and at the moment it all looks relatively peaceful at the moment scenes there from the center of kiev at my down square and you can see all this live streaming in our dot com but as you can see many people out there in the streets tonight as we're waiting to hear what the results of those talks are this is european square now so we're that's the scene live here on r.t. and you can see that live streaming on r.t. dot com and of course we can keep you up to date minute by minute with those

updates on our web site. the leading syrian opposition figure attending the geneva two peace talks is said his delegation will insist on a sense of resignation and also one that may back out of the negotiations at any time diplomats have been holding meetings with the opposition hoping to bring syria's warring rivals together for their first face to face talks on friday you know the position of reports now from switzerland. 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 i think that i said is the problem and i said i don't have a problem old any solution without a circle about stepping down a change of power in damascus is something that washington is pushing for as well but 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 country determine their political system and future and start repeating their country while damascus 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 one thing that a political solution is the only way no one should. know one's trying to

last those 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 puts. the statements were indeed emotional when there were mutual accusations but what's most important is that all the parties involved want direct talks to start as soon as. if there is the because of that the first round of negotiations mediated by the un 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 europe is going off r t montreaux switzerland. despite the mutual

hostility diplomats say that both syria's government and opposition forces have signaled their willingness to discuss cease fire prisoner swaps and the delivery of humanitarian aid unless a hope in breaking the deadlock rests with the international mediators efforts. 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 one of the opposition cannot dictate and say that i said be a part of any. future syria and the syrian government come out 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. you stay

in touch with developments at those peace talks and brings you in-depth coverage from geneva two. we stay in switzerland to bring you another key global event that's underway there is business and political leaders address the world economic forum in davos among them iran's president rouhani which presents cooperation with these neighbors and the rest of the world the details coming up along with other stories this hour. good lumber tour. was to build. on anything mission to teach me the creation and why it should care about humans. this is why you should care only.

the consensus. choose to. choose the stories that him. choose. to. it would snowden has been getting an increasing number of death threats and is expected to us russian authorities to help protect him it will blow his whereabouts

here in russia a kept secret report has details of the 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 robert descriptive once 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 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 was 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. 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 death 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. . even though the white house. consider snowden to be almost and then to me for some people he's a hero worthy of being all good students at glasgow university have nominated him to be their rector which would make him their representative on the university's governing body caught up with one of the people heading the bid the reason which shows edward snowden is because we know that he is a hero here's a brave man who rist 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 our two dollars for 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 glasgow we've had an overwhelmingly positive response of course we will do everything we can to make sure that this actually happens. a family dinner date for tony blair saw the former prime minister serve with more than food and wine when a bomb and tried to conduct a citizens arrest to make him face justice over the invasion of iraq had to r.t. dot com to see how it worked out plus. details online of the notorious hacker suspected of breaking into the computers of george w. bush and his secretary of state who's reportedly been called remain in police details on that story and plenty of all this just a few clicks away a lot of. iran says it is ready to engage with neighboring countries and other world powers president rouhani has pledged came at the world economic forum in

davos. is that. he is taking full advantage of the president of the country has all of the devil's 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 is open for business and i say it's certainly timely because in the audience you've got two hundred fifty people the participants some of the richest people in the world eighty billionaires hey we got forty heads of state so he's speaking to the right people and it's the first time in ten years the iranians need to have come to this of that and he is basically opening up the country to international investment he's worrying the likes of any tell you tell shell as well as exxon mobil through out 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. 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 also 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 is a feasible goal for the country where relationships between iran and the west are now warming up thanks the sanctions being partially lifted and investors are keen to get involved as well. the jailed business partner of the former oil tycoon mikhail

khodorkovsky has been granted an early release by russia's supreme court platon lebedev had been due to walk free in may but will not do so in just a matter of hours already has this report. now but all negative is waiting for the official papers from the supreme court to be delivered to the prison where he has been serving his sentence this supreme court has found that it is eligible for early release and could go free at any moment the court also ruled that the time that limited has spent in prison in two thousand and four and two thousand and five before he was actually sentenced for the first. was actually illegal and that was sort of a victory for pot only to be however on top of all of this the supreme court has actually upheld the earlier ruling which stipulated that. seventeen billion doable

that's about five hundred million dollars reimbursement for the taxes that he has paid this is exactly what would of course he said he does not intend to do because . he is innocent of that and that is also precisely the reason why we probably will not be seeing the former oil tycoon coming back to russia any time soon because the charges seven hundred billion rubles was the reason why he said he is not going to come back to russia and will indeed state abroad in berlin or switzerland where he went to after being released at the end of december on presidential pardon. for more world news for you know more to international more motorcycles of kill for policemen and wounded two others in egypt it happened at the checkpoint of the attackers escaped from the scene over two hundred fifty security personnel have been killed since the military toppled islamist president mohammed morsi last july

. fresh really in thailand capitalising thousands of people defy government imposed . the state of emergency in four hundred sixty. two reason action. the government resigned trying to who work. state ministries bringing central bank called to a standstill. there's been a walkout of the pentagon in the united states it's the generals that it's cleaning and catering stuff you say that set up with low salaries the strike get president obama to put an end to poor pay for contract employees at federal facilities from a paid less than nine dollars an hour around forty percent less or more researches say is a basic living wage in the area. sudan's government has signed a cease fire deal with rebels off the talks in the ethiopian capital. under the deal the sides must end. within twenty four hours last week government forces

regained control of the two key cities that had been held by insurgent groups comes off to a month of brutal fighting which started as a dispute between the president and his former deputy and snowballed into ethnic killings. but brings up to date for the moment with more free and just over. this now you are just a few minutes away from mexico as this latest showdown with a high flying financial scam is that after the break. recently facebook was ablaze with likes and shares of up to twenty 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 sunday 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 of propaganda takes to get thousands of people the world over to simultaneously do something and then with all that. in 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 about 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 trousers volunteers please use it responsibly and productively but that's just my opinion.

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 a twelfth most free cutting me in the world while the us used to be number one it is now behind ireland at number two 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 looked at ireland what they see is this what nigel for you can't any piece said we all run by big business big banks and i'm sure with mr brace so big bureaucrats so true it's fascinating how far down this tape league table the u.s. has plummeted it's still a country that's actually dropping the other ones are kind of in status to some degree or other all of the u.s. 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. they're 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.

face a seventy billion pound capital hole warns hong kong analysts 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 keep him going. 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 about the loan choose not going to show that in what not to not be w.c. not all the same it's own big acronym you could just get rid of all those acronyms and replace with f r a you did see for all their all the same.