today's headlines and a round out of the week's top stories right now we're looking at live pictures coming out of key of a word no peace on the streets at the moment as the opposition and offered you had the government and it intensifying riots across the country's west. syria's leaders and the rebels representatives hold their first talks since the start of the civil war heralded by diplomats as a major step forward. to seeing that woman stand have to leave and we have to fight for peace and life we can't give up. as bullets fly overhead we visit a maternity unit in syria where mothers and doctors have chosen life in the face of the destruction that surrounds them. and dad like lashes across egypt in terror

attacks in the capital maher the surge anniversary of the revolution that toppled long standing dictator hosni mubarak. at three pm in the russian capital you're watching r t international with me a marina joshie very warm welcome to the program around two hundred policeman besieged in a convention center in key of i've been allowed to leave the building and there are conflicting reports on whether it was opposition from men vitaly klitschko or the interior ministry that brokered the nans to the standoff the siege began shortly after leaders of the ukrainian opposition partially turned down the president's proposals aimed at calming the unrest in the country.

there are all of the reports this all started after. we had speeches from literally just behind me here in independence square from the main stage here from opposition leaders in which they said that they they weren't willing to accept the . the offers that have been made to them by ukrainian president viktor yana coverts now to run through what some of those offers were in the constitution would change in that ukraine would go back to a parliamentary presidential republic what that actually means is that the parliament here the the end pains would have far more power it would actually remove some of the power away from the presidents that stands at the moment and would basically revert ukraine back to the constitution it heard in two thousand and four and some of those offers were was the offer of the position of prime minister for one of the senior position leaders are saying the same.

now he's the leader of the the group here called fatherland he has often been offered the position of prime minister he has said that he hasn't decided yet and there will be discussions over whether he will accept that all not it's also understood that vitaly klitschko could well be coming his deputy should he accept that position now other offers that were put on the table was an amnesty for everybody that has been to anybody that has been detained so far during the two week long violence that we've seen here in ukraine however there was a stipulation placed upon and that was the rice is would leave the government buildings that they've occupied all across ukraine so we heard these speeches then we've seen the said these violent scenes it has all kind of calmed down right now but there has been a series of incidents involving the police here recently what we have seen is on friday evening three police officers were attacked not very far away. from where i

am right now there was talk of a agreement between the opposition leaders and the police the rioters and demonstrators would leave the streets of the ukrainian capital kiev well that certainly isn't happening right now from what we've seen and these pictures are just a glimpse of what kind of weaponry some of the rioters have been using the police are saying they were seized from one of the radical gangs detained in kiev the group was allegedly involved in kidnappings several policemen claim they have been taken hostage and then released by protesters what they towards are of my head and bound my arms and legs with tape and taped up my eyes as well be looking. more than yes we were attacked by a group of masked wearing youngsters they surrounded us creaming cops terrorists hands up they took everything from us our wallets our cell phones everything.

we had done nothing to them we were just coming out of a cafe after lunch with the mob surrounded. now with a standoff between police and the rioters intensifying a retired commander from the los angeles sheriff's department says police in the u.s. would have used different tactics. from what i've seen on the video so far they're showing a lot more restraint than i think you could expect in most places now and states the use of the ball all cocked and also throwing rocks and bottles and striking him with. would all be considered lethal force in the united states piers you know. that's a lethal situation in the united states you could very quickly be shot with lethal force the thoughts of all the bragging of the police officer and then quietly while you can now will be very easily result in some type of force of the police officer . made while in over a dozen regions across ukraine enraged mobs have been besieging local governments

in eight of them so far rioters have occupied government buildings and declared that they will not obey the authority of president what started as peaceful pro e.u. rallies last november now effectively said half the country of delays alexis if you have to look see how the protest is for. those young people into streets of ukraine by seizing temperatures are writing didn't you notice for europe. thank you ever since the first rocks and more difficult tales were hurled at the police in kiev march sunday officials in europe and the united states have started up fresh wave of accusations aimed at the actions of the authorities against what they called peace will protest is the evident from the unison of the good will we expect from the ukrainian government then these should democratic freedom in particular they appear to need to focus will demonstrate that they protect life and that the use of violence does not take place. but people beating police on the ground

bombarding the lines with explosive projectiles and even taking them hostage can hardly be classified as peaceful even pictures of rioters carrying far arms are surfacing i'm quite skeptical that these riots you'll be deal do you have dealt. the fact will be in the near future they will continue for some time that a nation of. neo nazi. president a bit of a so-called right sector group we each combines hooligans and a neo nazi and the right is from all sides east and west and all sides of political spectrum therefore i do not think that every one of the. opposition leaders to peaceful resolution of these of these conflicts some of these the us hell bent on violence and they will continue for some time over the past two months their you know my down has changed in form and meaning what started as

a peaceful approach. has turned into a display of violence on both sides it has now grown in size too with almost half of the country's regional administration stake in over spawning serious concerns the country could fall apart any sort of splits in the area which could happen within the next two weeks must be described as quite possible because government wouldn't have enough forces so ukraine will be split it probably in two parts. we have two different times and the opposition is still looking horns with those in power trying to get a better deal with the president but the protestors storming a police base and doing the people who are acting as their leaders suggest they no longer want to listen to anyone and care little about any agreed truth. reporting from key if you crane. as ryan keeps spreading west from the capital geo political analyst and drivers has opposition leaders have long since lost control

over what goes on in kiev or elsewhere. well i think at this point it's quite clear that they don't have direct control over the rioters what control they do have is purely from the public relations perspective it's obviously a chaotic situation and it's gotten out of control and i doubt that anyone has a real handle on control of the situation their intention was never to win political concessions it was never to come to a political settlement there their true intentions have been quite apparent all along and that is regime change to bring forward regime change in the ukraine in order to overthrow that government and we see something quite similar in two thousand and four with the so-called orange revolution been done all over the world over the course of the last twenty years or so and this is no different than if the country's east has remained resilient in the burning barricades and around the clock violence and key of pledging support for the legitimate government and the constitution instead i'll correspond policy or is there. the industrial heart of

the ukraine is a place where the majority has been silent until now the violent pictures from kiev are sparing people here into action but not in support of the anti-government rioters but the most of us not the i cannot sit at home when there are such things happening in ukraine the protests in kiev a horrible we are brothers we're all ukrainians in the east and south of the country support for president jan a cause which is high while tolerance for whiting is low these demonstrators blame opposition parties for using hot headed students to destabilize the country years young people are like zombies they get information from the internet and this information is only one side the usa in the west are paying for this information to be put out of the book gregory green is a correspondent with the local newspaper he wants order and for as long as the government provides it he says he'll supporters were buying up much or the message of the protesters regularly changes or their main idea in the beginning was to join

the european union the next week and it was political change and they wanted the president to go now i think even the protesters cannot say why their demonstrators unlike the demonstrators in kiev most of the more than four million people who live in the country's most populous region don't believe ukraine's future lies in europe losing off. russian market is or three all this region so that is the main reason why. people. don't. want to. european association protests just complain the kid riot has a wasting time on the streets while it's the country's east that keeps the economy alive and if you crane was to join europe now its factories would be turned into scrap people here in a vision a different future to the antigovernment protests. what they want is a quick into the demonstration and

a deal to join the russian customs union this they say will give him the stability and security that the key of protests a threatening to unravel. donates ukraine. find a full time line of the unrest in ukraine plus the latest updates and more expert analysis at r.t. dot com. and as i have for you here on our team national conquering the mountains we've made it down the slopes and i'm still in tags no bones broken and i can tell you this it is absolutely magical. participating with say hits the slopes adds the sochi olympic downhill course.

there's a media leader so we leave that maybe. by the seat cushions she surely play your party there's a goal. for shoes that no one is asking with to get what you deserve answers from it's all politics. are today. i'm.

welcome back this is r.t. international syria's government and the opposition were finally able to sit at the same table for talks in geneva on saturday their main concern at a long away of meeting was getting humanitarian aid to besieged areas on sunday the focus is on prisoner releases you were just going off reports they face one another let's talk to one another a format simply impossible to imagine even at the beginning of the week just twenty four hours before the start of the conference the opposition couldn't decide whether to go to switzerland or not and when they finally did arrive i think that is the problem. i don't see the promote any solution without us are going about stepping down it became clear both sides had a completely different understanding of the talks goals the rebels pressed for

a son to step down officials seem to be ready to talk about almost anything except the president's future but at least outside players agreed to this is strictly up to the syrians to decide. the seriousness of themselves had the primary responsibility to end the country determine their party to their system and future and start repeating their country but one world powers left and direct talks were supposed to begin the opposition refused to sit down at the same table with the other side we came here to talk and they are not ready finally when it seemed the negotiations were completely bust special envoy to syria lakhdar brahimi announced he did manage to get both sides to meet and so they finally did negotiating through him but still in the same room and face to face prisoners and kidnappings humanitarian aid and localized ceasefires were the first issues on the table with more pressing topics awaiting discussion despite all the emotions accusations and

preconditions were heard this week these talks are the first real chance for a diplomatic solution in syria and after nearly three years of bloodshed and ongoing violence it will be a bumpy road and there is a long way to go but the first steps in the right direction have definitely been made you've got this going off r.t. geneva switzerland and while the two sides meet air raids and arm clashes continue across syria but even in this chaos there is still hope that if national visited one maternity unit where the gruesome side of war has to take a back seat. even in this dangerously divided country one place the differences don't matter is this children's hospital in damascus. a tiny relative of a government minister chose a room here whose babies are belonging to fighters of the free syrian army. who have patients from all over syria including areas held by the rebels because this

is the only hospital of its kind in the country where babies born think can be treated and we treat them all the same they're all syrian children after all we all belong to one country and we have to learn how to live together again. in three years of conflict neither men or women or children were spared according to the un more than one hundred thousand people have died in fact the number is so high they've officially stopped counting. the anger and pain on both sides can't be measured. but still it's peace that people want more than five ange an idea who is married to a syrian government soldier has just fallen pregnant and the tough lives this is a beacon of hope this kidman salata mean my husband it's a connection between us while we are away from a child there which is often for me this baby means life itself i live through this baby. comes one and

a half year old daughter was born during the fear wrist attack damascus has ever seen. she says her fight has nothing to do with her. i don't want to thing that war means there and we have to leave and we have to fight for peace and life we can't give up now. it's a side of war that not many think about in the midst of violence and devastation babies are still being born in their thousands new parents who run away from atrocities in their hometowns often end up in camps which like the basics of sanitation and security. but with death all around they're choosing life rafe notion r t from damascus. across egypt both supporters and opponents of the transitional military backed government have been out of the streets this week many of the demonstrations and in deadly clashes with security forces at least forty nine people have been killed in street violence since thursday according to the

health ministry also this week terrorists struck at the heart of the nation cairo the capital was battered by a series of bomb blast it left six people dead and a night of more hatred of the country's as a missed opposition the attacks happened as egyptian was preparing to mark the third anniversary of the revolution cairo based journalist mohamad sabri says the muslim brotherhood has to carry much of the blame. the king of conspiracy theories they keep blaming the government for staging those bombings it's the fourpence which is absolutely nonsense but at the same time on the opposite side which is the regime and the regime boy it was them to troll or to deal with protesters are not peaceful themselves and are as hostile as the muslim brotherhood is what what should be stopped now what the government should be working tirelessly to stop inciting violence you know why didn't those gaps between sectors of the community and moving the country forward towards

a phase of civil strife. hundreds have gathered in miami this week for a conference on cryptocurrency is which they believe are the future off finance it comes after recent price hike when bitcoin the most famous virtual currency topped the one thousand dollar mark but what is bitcoin let's take a look well it's a currency but lie unlike the dollar or euro it's digital it's produced through a highly complicated computing process known as mining that generates new units bitcoin is fully anonymous and can be easily transferred from one person to another over the internet without the use of a bank or any third party or despairing in boring spoke to some fans of the virtual currency about its future. and i'm here at these one hundred fourteen north american bitcoin conference i went to the first ever big client conference about a year ago and in a one here the amount of growth and the big claim to be if you we see in the number

of big points in circulation increase fourteen percent and the number of bitcoin transactions per day have increased twenty five percent in just one year i spoke with nicholas carey he is the c.e.o. of block chain which is the world's biggest bitcoin a website has been growing at an astronomical rate we say there's an unbelievable migration of human talent and capital moving in a big point last year at this time we had seventy thousand users have blocked out info and just a week ago we got one point one million which is a major milestone for any company but especially for a big point based business and it shows you the whole number of new people moving into the space is absolutely impressive i expect more volatility but possibly even a poor trajectory this will be a good thing for everybody though more money moving into the space more attention to it and greater adoption of decline there's three phases of the industry growth in vic line is still in the very early phase that we're starting to see hedge funds other financial institutions and venture capitalists all star investing into that

community so it's one in fourteen is all going to be about making that point more user friendly and having more start up companies to get more consumers and volves and the community now i also spoke with nick giuseppe a bit pay which was the first big point payment processing company asked about the kind of growth that he saw within the last year so about this time last year we had maybe two thousand merchants on our platform accepting that going now we have over twenty one thousand so about ten times more in the course of the year when you look at the price a big point it's gone up when you look at the consumer adoption of big corn that's increased and so i think the trend is going to continue more and more merchants are seeing the value that bitcoin can bring to their business government regulation is a big threat to big coin businesses the regulatory environment is unclear unpredictable and it's already put a lot of businesses out of the. this regulating big point however would essentially be endorsing as there are a lot of governments that are using a hands off approach despite this thread's everyone here seems to agree that the

decline floodgates have been opened and that decline is here to stay in miami beach florida kerry and boring r.t. . ok to some tropical resort on the black sea coast provide enough snow for winter olympics a question we have often heard in the run up to the games well no if you won't see any snow in the seed self however up in the nearby mountains there is plenty of the white stuff to provide spectacular scenery and perfect slopes to vomit say want to try it out. if like me you enjoy a little bit of extreme sports then hang onto your helmet for the best skiing track in the black sea resort snowboarding and free styling competitions at this twenty fourteen olympic winter games will be held to the was on the rosa what's up october also known as the hot extreme hot was. that.

just seven years ago this regime but also flooded was on top to day it's quite a different scene designed and build by french experts it's now a picture place cock scene of all kinds style hotels and chalets at over five thousand feet it's one of the highest lifts of mountains in the world the mountain kara's though provides axes. and professionals in the alpine and freestyle as well as snowboarding as for those going for winter gold a difficult terrain is available. i wasn't going to be left behind so i hired some speed headed up the.

drive so way not all the hot tub and i'm definitely going to be tough in all the snow. the rain has been placed by professional fields who's been testing the slopes over the last year and for those still worried about the whether there's enough of it all the knives have promised. well having a monster ice machine on standby. ok so we've made it down the slopes and i'm still intact no bones broken and i can tell you this it is absolutely magical out here in the mountains are why i kept it in the snow it's just absolutely beautiful and i think i might have gone must also a new sports i might take up seeing next time so indeed for everyone who's coming

out here to the new ski resort an alpine ski resort of the black sea is going to be one you'll always remember for now i'm going to sign up get some hot chocolate too on the day on the ski slopes of rock the hard forty. or to stay with us for more reports from where the athletes will be going for gold and we've got plenty more to share with you before the olympic flame is lit at the main arena it's all here on r.t. in the coming days and next a story of how one self-proclaimed desire has drawing the lines of his followers down mr.

another whistleblowers facing a lot of heat including a wave of death threats but what did she discover some sort of dark secret cia plans or some other plot for a new war of luxury no she exposed something far more dangerous and important to the zombies on their couches the university of north carolina athletes are mentally unfit for college and even high school mary willing come blew the whistle on the fact that between eight and ten percent of the school's football and basketball players read of a fourth grade level and many others are sub college level she also claims that these students were allowed into the university based on the screening process done by the university i.e. implying that the use of n.c. knew exactly who they were letting into the university remember college football makes a lot of money i always had a feeling that something like this was going on i mean according to usa today many college athletes claim that during the season they put in more than double the amount of hours on sports that they are allowed that's fifty to sixty hours a week how can they possibly learn anything maybe it isn't so sad that this goes on

it is a reflection of economics what is sad is that the whistleblower is getting death threats just for saying that it is going on by those stupid hard core fans but that's just my opinion. in the heart of the impossible siberian tiger lissa group dedicated to following a man who calls himself the seri and every year on august eighteenth members of this community gather on a mountain that they say sacred to see that man who claims to be the modern christ

. a week before going to siberia we visited the belgorod region to me. a form of the

syrian follower she's one of very few former members of the sect willing to talk about her experience. and i first heard about it when i was in st petersburg they showed a film that affected me deeply and i cried so hard you wouldn't believe what the film was about humility and pride and it really worked in my mind but it didn't say anything about him being christ except it as an ecovillage but the spiritual side is destructive is a u.f.o. enthusiast and it occurred to him sometimes that he was the second coming with. you both explains how she finally came to join the community she worked as a physiotherapist there she gives confused accounts as if we looked in to discuss the hardest part of her own personal heartbreak when she left tiger seven years ago a daughter to chose to stay behind now.