and. ukraine's president accepts the resignation of the prime minister and the entire cabinet while lawmakers roll back most of the new and protest laws but the opposition protesters stay put in their camps and gone and the president. of. the split over ukraine sees brussels scaling back and the e.u. russia summit to a meeting of just a few hours as some political analysts say europe should grow up. a limpid park is about to throw open its doors for the games and flow of allegations from the world's media continue to flood the host city. so you did this way you create to give big waves to the national media for what do you know is

a senior member of the international olympic committee claims the media used his remarks on corruption and soft you out of context to cause a sensation. ukraine's president has now accepted the resignation of the country's prime minister and the entire cabinet they will remain in their posts until a new government is formed that says the country's lawmakers voted in an emergency session to repeal most of the and to protest laws that triggered two weeks of violence in kiev party's election in the ukrainian capital for us. undoubtedly 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 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 the sixteenth 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 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 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 court or 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 e.u. foreign affairs chief catherine ashton is flying urgently to kiev 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 . even if the opposition manages to force early elections now the outcome is far from clear because the protests have consolidated the supporters of both sides and ukraine that's the view of nikolai petro he's a professor of political science at the university of rhode island who is currently in the south of the country. if the president resigns and under article one awaited the constitution new elections have to be held within ninety days. i guess the

answer just whether or not that will happen depend on whether the opposition think he would actually win those elections i'm not sure they would because positions on both sides here have hardened those who want you in the poetry moved and the government of old 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. ben our us editor and publisher of business new europe says it will take much more effort to contain the protests now that they've spread all over ukraine. his government increasingly difficult position trying to cool tempers but the opposition has said time and time again that they will stop short of nothing except new elections and yes a new one of the choice to lead is has already refused the job of prime ministers so the question of who's going to take over the mines open pretty sure none of the

opposition leaders will step into the role if they will for the job you have to bear in mind up until now it's been a clash between principles on the one side the opposition saying we have the right to protest on the other side the government is saying we are the elected government and therefore we have the rights of the country so things went to a new level at the weekend with the opposition supporters started taking over regional governments i mean it is. the constitution in effect you have a strange power or it could. lead to people taking up the regional governments. arch international has the latest from ukraine on air and online visit our website r.t. dot com for updates on all this and all of our developing story. well the e.u. while the ukrainian crisis has cast a dark cloud over a russia e.u.

summit forcing the event to be scaled back from a two day program to a meeting of just a few hours the sides fired accusations at each other of twisting the arm of care of its support in pursuit of political gain artists are cilia explains. the twice yearly russia e.u. summit is taking place today it has been consistently billed 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 strained ever since the ukrainian president viktor yet of course taken the decision to a not go ahead with signing trade of 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. from a bubble boy it also said that there are quote a number of differences that have to be refined 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 negotiations with iran on its nuclear program reporting from brussels on tests or sylvia. your political analyst william and all thanks by curtailing the event the e.u. is automatically slashing the chances of finding ways to resolve political differences. i think the european union is acting very childish on this whole question of the u. russia summit downgraded to a 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 out of 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 behavior of the e.u. and downgrading the e.u. russia some a very very childish behavior on the part of the e.u. it's so again we don't need that it's 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 and ukraine we don't need this childish behavior we need adult responsible diplomatic negotiation. it's data protection day in europe and edward snowden celebrated by leaking yet more damning information about the british and u.s. spy services looks like they're wrapping information from you by tracking your phone apps that's coming up. and the american president is set to

lay out his vision for the coming year and a key political address he may just be hoping he'll get a little approval rating pickup in the process. you know. 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.

seems huge amounts of personal information are being scooped up by u.s. and british spy agencies from popular mobile phone apps like angry birds edward snowden's latest leak has got the public in a flap even as the e.u. attempts to educated citizens about the importance of online security artist polly boyko reports. happy data protection day you might not 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 could strip 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 don't actually tackle the larger problem is that data protection is important by the way people spying on you i mean it's just absurd 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 paul 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 it'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 that the european union's data protection rules are the best in the world the most rigorous the 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 obviously our data is not very protected otherwise those scandals would not have occurred whether it was germany where the rig was in brussels. in france according to edward snowden's latest leak the nash. 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 protectors this development goes on and on and on and to stop nobody knows it should be celebrating one day it should be something normal to have our very formation secure. london. and activist from the crypto party movement. so data protection day is worthwhile

but not as effective as the e.u. might like the snowden leaks have done a lot more to educate people and the government to action the day of the tough protection is about privacy but it's also. other way to do with you that you give willingly to. to organization company institutions and so on and what are your rights about that we always say that technology you know and politics are going all together that when technology to make civilians more costly we need political or warnings for people to care about it and to use the solutions technology brings a new bill and we're fighting for the free. and more stories for you online in low blow in the thirst for fuel for the fracking techniques might be use right into the homes of british people without the permission being required as the u.k. government considers amending key long. line of the milk

had to r.t. dot com to find out the threat to humans posed by the feed approved for farm animals. athletes and spectators from around the world have begun descending on the russian city of saatchi ahead of the winter olympics artist paul scott spoke to the organizing committee about the final touches being applied before the grand opening . of the final stages of preparations the busiest stages yes we will learn and learn and then we will train and train in now it's a final check of everything and i can conclude that everson in the perfect. everything is ready for our purpose built state of the then this will be open for the athletes to perform the best you 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 exposed exceeded initial expectations where's the money gone i will repeat that this is not correct their parish no budget for the games which i am personally as a manager in charge of roughly two billion dollars same late for the previous winter games again eyes there's an investment into the olympic infrastructure like competition non-competition venues and also this around in infrastructure to support these various like power station and some rules which is dedicated fall in pick needs is provided by private investor from the private funds and i have to also even mention you're chomping at the bit to get the sport started how are you feeling personally excited are you nervous you confident. not over confident we're just confident because we're working hard days in for the seven previous years and

for the right construction 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. as the most expensive games in olympic history accusations of corruption have been hot on the skis of sati recently senior i.o.c. member john franco kasper hit the headlines where he allegedly claimed a third of the money had disappeared into people's pockets he since told us his words were twisted. well i for sure didn't say that this way and not at all or say there are rumors or people are saying that i wouldn't have any figures anyhow but it will create a big wave seen in the international media for what reason i do not know and don't forget the interview was in swiss german and the article about it then came from an american journalist so i don't think that he understood the wonder of space to have it never came from my it was just asked by a journalist there is the percent of corruption in the said well i have heard

rumors to be had no reason whatsoever to bring that in in the new thing we've been able to have had. several really facts we would have done this but to tell you honestly we didn't have any effect and this was never an item for discussion while the olympic venues are ready to open their doors among the highlights of any winter games of course are always the event on ice and saatchi figure and short track skating competitions will take place in the beautiful iceberg palace as we 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 twelfth dollars in seed venue the iceberg. the iceberg feeding palace which will be home full signal skating and shot tricks speedskating joining the solution twenty four d.

a limpy 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 and never. will be back flip. was butterfly effects and the returns. for us also get above you have events that will take place in the same arena the speed skating limpy skate is to 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 elizabeth any company fourteen winter olympics. don't forget our series of reports for saatchi with a bang let's say it's available whenever you want on r.t. dot com. here you ok. how do you operate doing brigade rumors good sports and such experts to use it as resold i'm not an olympic hockey player but i'm much a. week. my son. the. state of the union address due later today is a chance for the u.s.

president to take stock and to set the agenda but it comes at a time when americans are increasingly negative about how they view their own country and asked in one word to describe the u.s. many citizens chose divided or troubled some think the situation is getting worse while just a small number of think things are changing for the better as artist lucy catherine off reports previous promises made in barack obama's key political address don't always been promises kept it. looking to put the toughest year of his presidency behind hamburger rock 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 march 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 as locked down schools and public violence row ever more familiar another broken promise no climate change bill and his twentieth 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 in two thousand and twelve also never came to be same goes for infrastructure spending that was supposed to help put more americans to work now with the opposition in congress making 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 three 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 better irony and even after a dozen years more than a trillion dollars spent on the loss of thousands of lives the basic danger that had prompted president george bush to invade not only remains but experts say is more alarming than ever 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 and it's all there and gory details a permanent reminder of where the president secured victory and where he fell short

reporting in washington for our team and lucy catherine. the vice chairman of the big foundation has been arrested in the u.s. charlie sram one of the key advocates of the cryptocurrency has been charged with trying to launder one million dollars worth of big coins using outlawed website the silk road if found guilty he's facing thirty years behind bars or she's going to point out is following the story. u.s. federal prosecutors are accusing self-proclaimed bitcoin evangelist charlie shrem of selling one million dollars in bit cooling to users of the website silk road prosecutors say those same users then to use the digital currency to anonymously purchase drugs in the deep web black market the twenty four year old c.e.o. of instant and co owner of the manhattan bar ever was arrested at j.f.k. airport on sunday he's being charged with operating an unlicensed money transmuting business money laundering conspiracy and failure to file suspicious activity report

no according to a release from the u.s. attorney general's office shrum allegedly conspired with an underground cooling exchanger who's also been arrested in connection to this case this arrest instantly made headlines particularly because shrum is known as the wonder boy determined to help the digital currency go mainstream back in june i interviewed after his bar became the first new york city establishment to accept because he struck me as someone passionate and proud about the expanding cryptocurrency community came into the space. i was the only person new york city had heard even heard of the coin that was left out of every firm in the city and now fast forward to two years there are so many start ups at the start of meet ups now big point is a virtual currency free from banks or government regulation proponents say that the currencies ability to exist without any centralization is what makes it so

appealing last year the use of big point became so prevalent that its value surged from thirteen dollars to over one thousand by the end of two thousand and thirteen now of course this doesn't make everyone happy j.p. morgan chase c.e.o. jamie diamond recently called. store of value in part because international governments bankers and other officials are unsure whether they can trust the digital currency in the aftermath of rahm's arrest securing confidence in big point may prove even more challenging the reporting from new york marina artsy. financial analyst mark don't think the case is a political context linked to pick points growing influence the u.s. dollar is actually the major facilitator of illegal transactions of drugs and human trafficking all sorts of nasty business is most of the trade is done with the us

dollar not bitcoin bitcoin is a small player it is a small percentage of its transactions are illegal that's true but the majority are for legal goods whereas the u.s. dollar is the primary player in international trade in illicit items but this was a political event not a legal or judicial event this arrest it was a political event meant to intimidate people in the bitcoin space and it was a perfectly foreseeable event as well. to some other world updates right now the trial of egypt's deposed president over has escaped from jail in two thousand and eleven has been adjourned until the twenty second of february in court one hundred morsi was very defiant and shouted at the judge security was high in the country's capital as he arrived at the court morsi was toppled by the military in july last year and is currently facing four separate criminal trials on various charges.

thailand's government has announced the general election will take place as scheduled despite calls for its postponement protesters had earlier attempted to make their way to the compound in bangkok where the talks were underway pushed back by armed security forces two people reportedly injured during a shooting the latest violence during the ongoing anti-government protests. let's now go back to one of our top stories russia in you summit in brussels the differences over the political crisis in ukraine casts a dark cloud over the event a meeting was scaled back from two days to just a few hours we can listen in on the joint news conference of lattimer putin and president of the european council and the european commission right now and express my appreciation for a productive encounter. we had a frank and far reaching discussion focused on the fundamentals of our strategic partnership and the direction in which we want to take you. and we have known each to many common interests that you tend to push drive our relationship forward.

we do it openly the convergence and the divergencies regarding relations we dot com and neighbors we discussed how the eastern partnership in the customs union initiative could relate to each other. on our side i underline particular the benefits of the eastern partnership for all our eastern neighbors including russia. abortion. they believe cannot make any situation environment improved market access and intensify trade to relationships with rank in the mountains and create new business opportunities for all russian companies are well placed to benefit from these new opportunities and i made it clear that eastern partnership does not affect russia's economic traits social human and cultural

links to many of our common neighbors these links will not be put at risk but on the contrary stimulated by more and more dynamic and successful economic development into partner countries. if human dechen be different interpretations and misunderstandings on the s.o.c. asian agreements and that's why we both agreed to push you bilateral consultations at expert level on the eastern partnership s association agreements and the economy consequences on both sites. as a concrete and telling example of the huge potential for all i would repeat what i said last saturday was so in one nine hundred ninety to prosperity levels where the same in potent and ukraine and today poland the street.