ukraine revokes almost all the recently introduced anti protest laws and the prime minister resigns but the concessions still haven't ended the opposition's calls for continued protests until the president steps down. you know the union is working on the shoulder which. downgrades a summit with russia because of differences over the crisis in ukraine which is casting a long shadow over the talks. in just ten days the games begin at saatchi's olympic park but as the host city prepares to get down to business there are still a allegations in the media to deal with. the woods where you create a grave. the commission for what to use and over. one senior member

of the international olympic committee says his remarks on corruption and saatchi were taken out of context and used by the media to create headlines. we're watching our to international live from moscow headquarters i'm lindsey france thanks for joining me. ukraine's prime minister has handed in his resignation and what he says is part of an attempt to find a peaceful solution to the country's political deadlock and the parliament has also now voted to revoke the majority of recently introduced and two rallying laws all of which the opposition demanded during a meeting with the president last night but activists are still calling for continued protests in the capital until the country's head of state steps down to. is in kiev for us live there. lexy can you can you tell us here on the ground there

you've seen these laws revoked the offer to step down what's next do you think as far as these protests go. well down to me this is the biggest political day in the history of modern ukraine with the parliament voting on very crucial steps and i was just seen scenes of you believe jubilation here at the independence square when the news broke that the parliament voted to revoke most of the. laws described as draconian here by those protesting the anti-riot laws which were passed on january sixteenth we also expecting the parliament to. vote for releasing all prisoners all those who were detained during the mass of violent uprisings in ukraine and that this comes after the ukrainian prime minister announced that the very start of the session that he is willing to step down from his position as the country's prime minister and obviously this would mean that some of the probably some of the opposition would take his place although we do know that one of the leaders of the

opposition who was offered prime minister's job a little earlier by the president refused to take this position this is definitely a big news because we heard from this so-called right wing sect on monday the nationalist hardcore. basically and june of this riots and protests that they would withdraw from the governmental quarter they would dismantle their barricades if a compromise is reached between the opposition and the government particularly about those detained in particular about those laws we're seeing that these laws are now being mostly abolished and this would mean that we could see the protest move to its original stage the independence square the pre january nineteenth position although we do understand of course that the people of the opposition would not stop the protests at all they would continue protesting until until they get what they want which is essentially the resignation of the president and early elections to be held in the country we also do know that. the foreign affairs chief

catherine ashton is flying urgently to give to be here tonight to hold talks with the country's opposition and the country's government we do know that she was supposed to come at the end of the week but we still unclear as to why she's coming here earlier but of course we'll be monitoring that as well alright alexie our ships in care of ukraine for us thank you very much. let's not discuss the latest political developments in ukraine with nikolai petro is a professor of political science at the university of rhode island who's in the south of ukraine right now mr petro thank you so much for joining us now taking a look at what's happening on the ground there right now do you actually think that the parliament revoking the majority of the laws that triggered these riots and the government stepping down will be enough to persuade the protesters to actually leave the streets at this point. i doubted it will certainly not be the case that the radical will leave because they are already taking credit

for what has been accomplished and what they will probably do is move as your previous journalist said back to my done and continue to hold on to that territory to serve as a guarantor of what has been accomplished to make sure the revolution continues. ok so we've got these these sort of extremist protesters sort of taking things over in a lot of in a lot of ways now but a lot of the local government sort of the heads of local government have been there's been an attempt to sort of take over the buildings there now do you think that the political developments in the capital today will have an effect on the people trying to seize control in those in those eastern areas of the country. yes it has an effect a calming effect but it will nevertheless be hard to convince these people to leave because again the people who have actually broken into.

these regional governments and forced the resignation of the local governors and taken their place in some instances. what they represent and the hardcore opposition. so it will have to be at some point a discussion of. who these people actually represent and will they submit what they've done to a popular vote yeah it's easy to see what you're saying they're judging from what's what's happening in my down square right now with them now with the opposition is it's also it's also demanded snap presidential elections do you think the authorities based on what's happening the authorities are likely to to go for something like that. i think that's a possibility. there is the prospect of doing so if the president resigns and under article one awaited the constitution new elections have to be held within

ninety days. i guess the answer as to whether or not that will happen will depend on whether the opposition thinks he would actually win those elections i'm not sure they would because positions on both sides here have hardened those who want unocal which removed and the government at all cost and those who think the entire process has been one of. the most as the former now prime minister has said an attempted coup d'etat. well based on what the the opposition says it wants do you think it was a smart idea for them then to turn down the prime minister's post which the president offered. i happen to think it was shortsighted. the optimal solution for ukraine would have been my opinion a government of national unity that would have shown the rest of the world and the

country that the political system could work and that they would present a united front against extremism. but of course that would presume that there is actually national unity underlying this but it's hard to find all right nikolai petro professor of political science at the university of rhode island thank you very much thank you. arch international has all the latest from ukraine on air and online visit our website r.t. dot com for the latest updates on this and all of our developing stories. the political crisis and resulting turmoil in ukraine have cast a shadow over a russia e.u. summit taking place today moscow and brussels have repeatedly accused each other of interfering with and putting pressure on kids of the differences have even force the e.u. to cut the planned today programme to just

a few hours archies tests are selling a has more than twice yearly russia e.u. summit is taking place today which has been consistently build up as a summit that furthers the strategic partnership of russia and the e.u. however there is one big issue that's hanging over this meeting and that is the issue of ukraine the relations have been strange ever since the ukrainian president viktor you had a poll which had taken the decision in the van burke to not go ahead with signing created political deals with the e.u. would favor of closer ties with russia or the russian ambassador to the e.u. would says that this is not a summit on ukraine however did acknowledge that in light of the recent dramatic developments it is a source of serious concern for both parties of the e.u. council she from a bug report also said that there are quote a number of differences that have to be clarified and discussed at the summit though the other topics that will be discussed include of course energy trade talks with russia being the third largest partner of the e.u. after the u.s.

and china as well as the syrian conflict that negotiations with iran on its nuclear program reporting from brussels on tests or sylvia. geo political analyst william and criticize the e.u. for curtailing the summit and undermining the chances of finding solutions to the issues that separate them. i think the european union is acting very childish on this whole question of the u. russia summit downgraded to the lunch discussion instead of a formal series of talks with an agenda and i think the reason for that is the european union is playing with a double face right now in terms of the ukraine question. certain countries are essentially following a neo conservative agenda being drafted over washington by victoria nuland at the state department and others to punish russia not to punish ukraine to punish russia for making an economic agreement that they invited ukraine to join but the obviously some people in the european union are not at all interested in

a peaceful resolution that's why i call this the behavior of the e.u. and downgrading the e.u. russia some a very very childish behavior on the part of the e.u. so again we don't need that in this world today was so much danger and so much potential for things careening out of control in syria in the middle east. and now in ukraine we don't need this childish behavior we need a dog responsible diplomatic negotiation. so to come in the program for taxes and wall street is barack obama prepares for his sixth state of the union address we take a look at some of the mishaps which have we may he may have wished to avoid mentioning . it's just ten days until the russian city of saatchi welcomes the winter olympics hotels and venues are already welcoming thousands of athletes and spectators artists all scott spoke to the head of the organizing committee about the final preparations. but the final stages of

preparations the busiest stages yes we will learn and learn and then train and train in now it's a fine old chair over everything and i can conclude that everson in the perfect mall to everything is ready for our purpose build state of the. world will be open for the athletes to perform the best i have to aussie i'm afraid about these these allegations of corruption they won't go away there's some in the russian media and international press as well it's well documented that the budget has x. exceeded initial expectations where's the money gone i will repeat that this is not correct they perish no budget to host the games of which i am personally as a manager in charge of the so roughly two billion dollars same lake for the previous winter games again as there's an investment into the olympic infrastructure like competition non-competition venues and also this around in

infrastructure to support this free and just like power station then some rules which is dedicated fall in pick needs is provided by a private investor from the private funds but i have to also mention you're chomping at the bit to get the sport started how are you feeling personally you excited are you nervous you confident. not overconfident we're just confident because we're working hard days in for the seven previous years and for the radio streams and to thank you very much for joining us so there you have it it's almost time for the talking to stop and in ten days time it'll be time for the sport to take center stage. the games in sochi have often faced accusations of corruption two weeks ago the media came alive with headlines quoting a senior international olympic committee member is suggesting that corruption had taken a third of the money spent on the games however john franco kasper told r t his words have been distorted by the media to create

a bigger story. well i for sure didn't say this way and not at all or say there are rumors or people are saying that i would pay for any figures anyhow but it will create the debate grave sin in the international media for what reason i do not know and don't forget the interview was in. the article about the thing came from an american journalist so i don't think that he understood the wonder of space to have it never came from i. was just asked by a journalist there is the percent of corruption and they said well i've heard rumors we had no reason whatsoever to bring to the thing the reason if it. really affects we would have done this but to tell you honestly we didn't have any effect and this was never an item for discussion. our series of reports from saatchi were to ban latte continues later in the program should give you another

tour of an olympic venue the beautiful iceberg skating palace. and after the break the latest revelations on cooperation between the u.s. and u.k. and spying on people's private data. why do you seem to search for a live for all the other planets why the truth is such disregard on this one one of the things i think so it's a human mission to mars real work is to make humans here on earth more sensible about law is about life on this planet about the planet itself about the environment so one of the one of the key benefits for you would wish to march will be a better earth. you know. finally over but have you paid your bill yet oh i see you didn't realize you

had to pay for the self described great and good ha ha ha ha. the latest leak from edward snowden suggest it was britain's cyber spy base g c h q that showed america's n.s.a. how to monitor facebook and twitter without consent that's your marks data protection day which is supposed to show e.u. citizens how to keep their online data away from prying eyes archies probably boyko looks at how effective that's likely to be. happy data protection day you might

know it but january twenty eighth marks the day when governments try to raise awareness about how to protect yourself online the european commission has even made this video warning that what we reveal on the net us of our privacy. and yet over the past eight months revelations by edward snowden have exposed must global surveillance conducted by the u.s.a.'s national security agency and often in conjunction with its european partners makes them look a bit stupid if they actually tackle a larger problem is that data protection is important. people spying on you i mean it's just according to the snowden leaks the n.s.a. is prism program collects the data directly from the servers of u.s. companies like google microsoft and yahoo and i'm trying to think of an individual household or a business that's not

a customer wants more spy agencies in britain germany france and spain and taking all the data that they have brought domestically and posting it on and that's a fair process as the story on ravelled it's been revealed that emails text messages phone calls and internet activity of citizens across the globe have been hoovered up. most people agree the european union's data protection the best in the world the most rigorous spy agency the n.s.a. and in the u.k. basically just mean ignoring all those rules and just taking everything they want after it was revealed that the n.s.a. had intercepted angela merkel's phone calls it became clear that even the german chancellor is immune because the data is not very protected otherwise those scandals would not have occurred whether it was germany whether it was in brussels . in france according to edward snowden's latest leak in the. security agency isn't

just gathering intelligence phenomenal security purposes but indulging in industrial espionage as well he cited germany's engineering firm siemens as one target and still no admission from the top i can give assurances to the publics in europe and around the world that we're not going around snooping at people's e-mails or listening to their phone calls so on the eve of data protection day we are asked some europeans if they felt like celebrating do you know anyone who is happy about it that his private sphere is controlled by governments or n.s.a. does anyone like that i think it's dangerous and protect us this development goes on and on and on and to stop nobody knows it shouldn't be celebrating to one day do it it should be something normal to have our already from

a show secure. london. they are paying court of human rights has demanded the u.k. justify j.c.h. cuse mass spying activities the latest report showing joins us british surveillance program was involved in industrial espionage and former british army pete glen ford believes up the cost that that could have cost europeans thousands of jobs. i guess you're just being naive or hugh could i mean when the americans have been talking angela merkel's phone of the tougher the phones of hundreds of millions of people across the european union why would we expect them to leave this alone is probably close to your period if you work tens of thousands of job every time american companies win contracts that european companies are expected to win we must be suspicious now let's not because she had a better deal on the table than you would have a deal with on the company. even video games can't be trusted anymore log on to our

to dot com to find out how playing angry birds on your phone could be handing your personal data directly to the n.s.a. also online. the u.k.'s thirst for shale gas is pushing officials to rethink their position on fracking with reports saying the controversial technique could be used under people's homes without their consent. while delivering on your promises is never easy ending the war taking from the rich and giving to the poor is the short list of arguably every popular politician barack obama will have to address all the promises he's made during his sixth state of the union address and as artie's lucy catherine off reports some things are better left unsaid. looking to put the toughest year of his presidency behind him baracoa obama will deliver his sixth state of the union address to congress and the american people here in washington on tuesday yet again joe mystic issues are

expected to take center stage as the president tries to pivot away from the controversies that marks twenty thirty and now as the past few years have shown promises made are not always promises kept nearly every proposal the problem the president made last year from gun control to a minimum wage hike to immigration reform they all fell short warded by an uncooperative congress in last year's speech the president called for legislation to address gun violence a year later those proposals remain firmly stalled this locked down schools and public violence ever more familiar another broken promise we'll find a change bill in its twenty time address obama called on congress to act on climate change that never happened legislation debated in the senate in the spring faltered after infighting over taxes and that never came up for an actual vote now comprehensive immigration reform well that hasn't happened either despite pushing for an immigration overhaul in two thousand and eleven and again in two thousand

and twelve that effort has largely languished in congress up until now a tax overhaul that obama called for in two thousand and eleven and two thousand and twelve also never came to be same goes for infrastructure spending that was supposed to help more americans to work now with the opposition in congress making a major legislation difficult if not impossible obama is expected to outline what he hopes to do using his executive powers his executive power in office expanding economic opportunity for middle class workers is expected to be the centerpiece of tuesday's speech but what obama is unlikely to say that income inequality has increased faster under his watch than it did under any of the previous presidents on foreign policy the main message that twenty fourteen will mark the end of the war in afghanistan but this pronouncement will come in. the bitter irony and even after a dozen years more than a trillion dollars spent on the loss of thousands of lives the basic danger of that had prompted president george bush to invade not only remains but experts say is a more alarming number president obama's state of the union addresses do tell quite

a story there's obamacare wall street reform gun violence the wars in iraq and afghanistan economic inequality immigration reform the list goes on it's all there and gory details are permanent reminder of where the president secured victory and where he fell short reporting in washington for our t.v. i'm lucy catherine. some other news in brief now government of open fire at a large group of anti-government protesters in thailand's capital bangkok two people were reportedly injured in the shooting near where the country's prime minister was meeting members of the election commission this is the latest violent incident during ongoing protests aimed at bringing down the country's government and de railing parliamentary elections which are set for this sunday. in the southeast of the united states is in the path of a heavy winter freeze that has already battered the midwest and grounded scores of flights the state of louisiana and the city of new orleans have declared a state of emergency while storm alerts were issued in several other areas schools

and businesses will be closed in what officials have described as the heaviest storm in years. back to you now where the olympic venues are ready to open their doors among the highlights of any winter games are always the events on ice and saatchi the figure and short track skating events will take place in the beautiful new iceberg palace so we sent to bed let's say to take a look. for those who love a little drama a little bit of show off in winter sports all those wonderfully june would cost you less than you have to make your way to the eye catching twelve falls in seed when you the iceberg. the iceberg feeding palace which will be home full sig a skating and short track speed skating june twenty four d. a limping winter games figure skating has long been one of the most captivating and

exciting sports at the winter olympics and the twenty four team games will see more action on the ice i never. will be back flips. was butterfly effects and the returns. for us also get about the other event that will take place in the same arena the speed skating way olympic skating will be competing to get gold in the battle of the blades full glory and. i. i fear in the games it will take just two hours to adjust the ice at the

ice big skating palace when switching from figure skating to shot track so we're looking forward to all those costumes and all the staging routines and the choreography that will be hosted in that those bunny come plenty fourteen winter olympics. will be continuing our limbic series were to bang lot say there's a new report for you every day this week stay with our team. national and after the break max and stacy take financial front stars to task in the kaiser report that's up next. i've always had mixed feelings about speed traps it seems like it's a waste of the police officers time but on the other hand they sure do make people paranoid and drive more slowly one man from texas is completely sure of his opinion about speed traps and he set out to save his felt texans from being fined for

speeding and much more importantly from potential traffic accidents caused by the hidden police and now he's the one who's in deep trouble according to fox news ron martin faces a misdemeanor charge for violating frisco texas sign ordinance that says that you may only stand around holding a sign on private property martin claims that he was doing the exact same thing as a speed limit sign reminding people to slow down and i think ultimately he is right you should be able to tell other people where the police are setting up speed traps because that will cause them to drive more slowly which is the real goal of speed traps in the first place the only reason local authorities would be against this is because they love the income that comes from a nice big bio speeding tickets i hope that mr martin finds a way to go right back to holding his sign but this time on private property precious my opinion. why do you think this is for life on other planets why the real truth of the such

disregard on the spot one of the things i think that's a human mission to mars will accomplish is to make humans here on the earth more sensible about life about life on this planet about the planet itself about the environment so one of the one of the key benefits for humans to mars will be a better. welcome to the kaiser report imax kaiser you know dad is finally over but have you paid your bill yet i see you didn't realize you had to pay for the self described great and good ha ha ha ha ha stacy max actually while we've been saying this as

you see the german fighter naval ship is leaving exiting the city of london i think speaking of bills that have yet to go unpaid they're trying to collect their gold they got thirty tons out of the us lord knows how much they're taking away now now all fat chance of getting any of that gold i mean we broke a story here a few years ago that the bonus bank didn't really have the gold and then that started the whole scandal and now looks like they'll never get their gold germany. regarding being finally over i wanted to point out this most discount and this is from the economist and it's a chart of the underperformers i.e. those companies that send executives to davros and three of the past five years they've underperformed the s. and p. five hundred and c.s.i. world index by up to forty percent since ending their executives up to dabble it's now why could that possibly be well i think it's pretty obvious is what i.