ukraine's president signs up for closer ties with the e.u. but it was his previous s's failure to join the club which ignited the deadly february revolution and the ongoing armed conflict in ukraine's defined east. just hours before with set to expire ukraine's president and anti-government fighters in the east extend the ceasefire for another three days but it's a truce that's already seen very civilians and national guard fighters killed in the latest confrontation. syria's embattled rebels are now in line for a five hundred million dollar military aid package from the u.s. but there are fears the weapons could end up on the wrong side of the barricades.

also in the latest setback to bleiberg is already notorious new airport it's revealed a fake engineer was hired to design the fire safety system causing the opening to be delayed yet again. things such as an already international when live from moscow with the latest international news and a last ukraine's president has a trade agreement deal with the failure to sign the deal is what triggered the toppling of his predecessor while the terms of the agreement ultimately led to the ongoing bloody standoff in the country's east but natural poroshenko says and this is the only a first step towards even closer ties with europe. we see that. ukraine

. european country under the forty nine article will have an opportunity. for the membership perspective this is a very important carrot for ukraine to work out. well financially challenging europe still doesn't appear to be quite ready for ukraine the e.u. commissioner for enlargement has said here still needs to prove its european credentials the block's energy commissioner has warned that the bailout for greece is peanuts compared to the billions of brussels would have to cough up to save kids in economy the president of the european commission says the e.u. is not ready to integrate a country like ukraine at this stage there sentiment is also echoed by the foreign minister of europe's powerhouse germany now let's see why aligning with the e.u. appears so attractive here. right where is the cash where could the cash client now the deal with is to remove terrorism almost all goods traded between europe and

ukraine that's if they meet a strict ease standards which they donned at the moment and it's estimated about one hundred billion dollars will have to be spent in order to reach the required standard by winning a place at the european table ukraine will no longer be on russia's preferred preferential partner and will also lose five hundred billion dollars in trade global financial trade financial market expert patrick young believes the association deal with the e.u. is a grave mistake. ukraine which last year was in a catastrophic position how it's signed a free trade association this year is going to associate with the european union are the point when it's on the brink already of economic disaster this is a catastrophic move for the ukrainian economy the only winners i do this are a few sadly deluded egos whether they're in brussels whether they're in washington who believe some horror that they've achieved a great geopolitical victory for the people of ukraine there are no jobs to be hard

here there's only going to be job losses there is no economic growth to be hired by suddenly having western european good job a new course all to your marketplace this is a disaster it's a very very tragic day for the people of ukraine who want to improve their economic outlook and a new step towards peace in ukraine present pershing go in the self-proclaimed east and republics have extended their ceasefire until monday just hours before it was set to expire burst sizer similarly set out to compromise as the president replayed his commitment to talks on reconciliation while the n.t. government forces have invited european observers into the region however overnight exchanges of fire near the city of slavyansk have left casualties on both sides of the conflict a woman and had twenty six year old son wade killed in army shelling on the outskirts of slavyansk they died after their house was hit by one of the rockets

and that's not the only time when the shaky truce has been broken residents of the defined city of common task claim this city was shelled continuously throughout the week it was ongoing until reify in the village of simeon of which was almost razed to the ground and the city of slavyansk also came under fire numerous times during the weeks long truce the village of preval near saw one of the worst spice of violence with one woman reportedly killed. casualties also mounting in the pro-government camp more than twenty national guard fighters have reportedly been killed near the city of slavyansk in an overnight battle and one quarter of the has. battle took place last night and according to reports at least twenty soldiers or twenty fighters of ukraine's national guard were hurt were killed as a result of that the national guard didn't know its mercenary called back division

formed specifically to aid the ukraine army and its military operation against a defiant east of the country now the we also learned that the anti-government forces have destroyed two armored personnel carriers belonging to the national guard. more than a hundred thousand people have crossed the ukrainian border into russia seeking refuge that's according to a u.n. refugee department people say they're in their homes in fear of the continued shelling by pro-government forces. going prices and more expert analysis is available for you online at r.t. dot com. the syrian rebels are losing the war against president assad's forces but the luck could soon turn tang's to washington president obama

wants congress to dish out half a billion dollars to train and equip syria's moderate opposition but there are fears that the move will flood the region with weapons that could fall into the wrong hands as marina explains. well ministration is requesting for lawmakers to approve five hundred million dollars in spending for the purpose of arming the syrian opposition the white house claims that only appropriate vetted elements of the moderate opposition would receive direct training from the u.s. military and be equipped with american weapons and ammunition u.s. officials insist that the weapons would serve to help empower the syrian people and help them push back against the government as well as the militant extremist group isis which actually has been fighting to topple bashar al assad since the civil war began more than three years ago however as recent events have shown american weapons may very well end up in its enemies hands just two weeks ago an all out assault on iraq's second largest city mosul causing

a reported thirty thousand iraqi soldiers who were trained by the u.s. military to turn around and run as a result sunni extremists have seized stockpiles of american weapons and ammunition as well as u.s. humvees the bloodshed being unleashed in iraq by isis has arguably been strengthened by the fact that militants are fighting with u.s. weapons in afghanistan the taliban is now armed with u.s. made stinger missiles which according to reports were originally sent to libya when the obama administration was arming the opposition rising up against former leader moammar gadhafi for more than a decade the u.s. has been drowning the arab world in weapons arming locals to help them overthrow governments not only how is it created absolute chaos and bloodshed it is arguably help to strengthen terrorist organizations because the weapons at least some of them are ending up in the hands of the enemy as for syria the devastating civil war has killed some one hundred fifty thousand people and the international community

does agree that something should be done question is is sending weapons to one side of the conflict which includes terrorists the best solution reporting from washington d.c. marina. r.t. . the bipartisan tug of war in washington has seen the white house changes its mind several times over intervention in syria direct and then lethal aid to the rebels was given the green light more than a year ago but in december supplies were suspended after a line c. of the u.s. equipment was seized by jihadists however earlier this month washington admitted its been covertly sending lethal aid to the opposition intelligence analysts lawrence freeman says there's no way to stop extremists from getting their hands on the guns your bomb of power see from the beginning has been for regime change as we saw in libya as we saw in ukraine and we've seen in other parts of the world and so now the administration is going to be providing if approved by the congress

higher quality weapons to the rebels but the rebels are intermeshed with the they can interchange an interconnected with all the jihad and the jihad is control large part of territory they control large checkpoints so there is no way that these weapons are not going to find themselves into the geologist hands and the whole purpose is for the overthrow of the government here and this is our policy that could lead to a global war meanwhile the u.n. is pleading for action over what's been called the inhumane suffering of the syrian people the world's bodies age she says almost eleven million syrians need humanitarian help that's half of the country's population but some are now at least being able to return to their homes as maria for national reports. this road in central syria used to be beset by snipers and anyone driving here could be

kidnapped that's when the smallest western area known as the moon was controlled by armed drug told oh yeah broad next to the syrian lebanese border is just eighty kilometers from the capital damascus but it is like a state within a state that has its own security forces police and even the army can see its symbols all new of soldiers here everywhere graffiti or three stars that means free syrian army is controlling this area big syrian military cannot enter six months later return to the main square if. you feed the syrian army spec town after months of fierce battles and numerous offensives. officers say i can take off my flak jacket my dear friend. it's friday today and the officers tell us that to all the shops the close of the restaurants a close eye roll out see lots of people on the streets but there is another reason

actually many residents fled this town and entire area of cologne in an attempt to escape from atrocities. at the city's mosque the heart of this predominantly muslim town friday prayers have just finished. most of these people who only returned to their town recently my heart outside. my home was hit and destroyed thank god the army is now back the mood is also home to a big christian community a different face he used to live in harmony here for years until islamic rule was imposed by the rebels many being religious zealots some linked to al-qaeda or free syrian mostly officially they were religious groups jihadi islam is but in fact it was no religion or anything else their religion was money. but this young man shows us what used to be a jewelry shop it was looted and then set on fire. with luck made

or bouyeri they were on motorbikes they call themselves the free syrian army they used to also take food coming to town from damascus often they were also kidnapping people locals hope the dog days a gun just a week after we left the town charges attack the army positions in the region again several other areas across syria still remain held by rebels or jihadists it seems that despite the army's recent success it's still too early to say when there's devastating war will be over rich nationality from syria. they will come for you this hour the world turns a blind eye to thousands of african refugees held captive in egypt's sinai peninsula. mission research and. were reports ok on one israeli activist is trying to drum up

support the campaign by putting the terror of human trafficking and culture on the silver screen that's awful but. there's ukraine struggles with a ceasefire the regime in kiev says it is committed to an association agreement with the e.u. the impact of which could be truly painful for the ukrainian people dividing ukraine continues. we speak your language of the war not a day in. the news programs in documentaries and spanish matters to you. a little too much of angola's story. here. detroit altie spanish to find out more visit i.

think the. economic ups and downs in the final months day belong to the old saying i and the rest because i was doing the taking will be every week on me. the desire to intern that. now men training a royal family doesn't usually come cheap with palaces elaborate world tours and high level security arrangement it's no surprise that the prize tails go up but do commoners really know what they're paying out for archies marina cost over takes a look at whether britons are getting good value for their money. over eighty

percent of brits believe the royal family brings in a significant amount of revenue for the country each year some five hundred million pounds according to the case national tourism agency but those have been complaining for the abolition of the monarchy believe that figure is incorrect and they're ready to show british taxpayers just how much of their money really goes towards funding liver oil is there a public group claims the estimated annual cost of the monarchy is almost three hundred million pounds which is around nine times the official figure published by the of oil household why this disparity apparently the official figure excludes a number of costs including security royal visits and lost revenue from the dutch cheese of line castor and cornwall if they were public figures are to be believed it would mean the british head of state is one of the most expensive government institutions in the world the important point is that they want to close a lot more than many people think. but even if those figures were made public

there's every chance of the majority of the british public would agree that about it he was still worthwhile in fact a poll last year found that forty five percent of the british public shelters strong support for the monarchy up from twenty seven percent in two thousand and six a survey released this month showed that prince william his grandmother and his father are all more popular than the country's top rates of politicians remember the crowds falwell's wedding but more people are now saying not having the option to choose who benefits from taxpayers' money is also important there's also a principle of democracy about whether it's right that the head of state should be . ready to treat position rather than one chosen by the people and it's also a question of the message it sends to the young people growing up in this country i would rather that the young people growing up in this country were told that no matter who you are too much away you're born much who your parents saw you can rise to the highest office in the land would be the case is going to have

a really true moment even though my. the spirits love their queen there's a growing number of those who would like to see their money go towards improving the country rather than the country's palaces marina costs of a reporter from london forty. over eighteen million pounds goes on keeping the royals fed and dressed to impress those equal to two thousand pensions and more than thirteen million pounds a spend on the upkeep of royal residences that could provide four hundred forty students with scholarships and the money spent on the family's travel could feed more than three million homeless people in public and graeme smith believes that the royals are an insult to people suffering from austerity whether the spending by the world family is going up even by their own official figures it's going up you know they spend four million pounds on. renovating a house for prince william. no the public does not owe these people

a living it doesn't owe them a house and they need to start cutting by tens of millions not increasing their income and their wealth whilst we are cutting public services and public jobs government simply hands over millions of pounds to the woes in the worlds then get to choose how they spend it and then report on how they've spent to themselves counting it and a lot of spin. and misinformation of course if you look to other countries in europe they have similar heads of state fraction of the price so the republic of ireland for example they get to use their head of state does a similar ceremonial job and they cost less than ten million pounds every year so clearly you know having had to stay for three hundred million pounds it's a bit of a nonsense. for all those of israel bombed refugees from africa the search for a better life and up in torture camps they fall into the hands of ruthless monk

mean gangs and simply vanish in egypt's sinai desert more than three thousand migrants per month to come from the east african state over the three alone many of them i kidnap for ransom and tortured until their families pay and if they don't him and traffickers reportedly execute the hostages more than four thousand people are estimated to have been killed since two thousand and eight and around a thousand fold to be in captivity right now. last month of the president over richard demanded an investigation while the international community has remained largely silent with israel in particular ignoring the problem on its own doorstep its prime minister once even describe the refugees as infiltrators miranda asked the pano is a swedish retrain activists who tried to raise awareness about the victims of torture by putting their plight on the big screen.

they were melting plastic bags dropping it in their backs this is the burns. the sodium. shot over to your children. marijuana as to foreigners talk to me so now in her program in the now she believes there's a big difference in the way captives are treated. kids children that are two years old being tortured there were some kids that have to watch their mother being burned alive and they survived so these are the kind of people that i talk to the torture is it's not any other tortured like we see horror movie or something it's where people are tortured twenty four hours a day deprived deprived of food deprived how is there not more international

weirdness about what's happening and find my be amount of gaffes the type of torture and the millions of dollars that have been made by these hostage takers who . also have to do with race you know we we have seen americans getting kidnapped in the sinai. it took only twenty four hours to release them last year a norwegian woman was kidnapped in the same area and it took about a week for her to be released. we've seen last year also an israeli man being kidnapped and also took a few days for him to be released so this happens all quite often to westerners as well but they're out with days and they don't get to experience the torture as a free country so it has to do with race again for some other news from around the world some fifteen thousand people have protested over what they say was mad fraud during afghanistan's presidential election crowds gathered in central kabul voicing support for one of the candidates up dollar bill up dropped out of the race

claiming vote rigging during the run of two weeks ago final results are due next month as the taliban insurgency continues to rage i mean during nato forces. a gas pipeline blast is all going to india has killed at least fourteen people and left two dozen injured the flames are as high up into the sky and golfing buildings and forcing people to flee to safety the pipeline belongs to india's largest state owned gas. a probe into what caused the explosion. long queues a stretch outside the capital of iraq's oil rich kurdish region that's because the ongoing security crisis in the country has led to severe fuel shortages in the several cities the largest oil refinery was shut down last week and with severe clashes with isis militants who are already taking control of huge areas across iraq the army is now in control of the site the pressure on supplies is growing.

the construction of one of the largest a pause in germany is turning into a fiasco corruption claims poor planning and a budget that's going through the roof have meant berlin's new terminal is now four years behind schedule which is paid out of a report in the latest scandal to ground the facility. at this time of year an airport should be bustling with holiday makers jetting off for their summer vacations not here though at berlin brandenburg the airport's two years behind schedule and the only people the construction work is still working on the project with costs spiraling out of control it's really become a comedy of errors the latest scandal involves the fire safety system moreover the man that designed it it's a merge that he didn't have any qualifications to be in a position to do so what he did have though was a business card that said that he was an engineer turns out that wasn't worth the paper that it was written on but how does a man with no qualifications find himself in a very important position on

a multibillion euro project to find out more on this i'm joined by steve from the party of reason safe if i in a business card that said i was an astronaut would that mean i got to go into space quite likely for it was the space agency was run by the same people that are running this airport wouldn't surprise me at all what's going on here what's happening with this project right now cost overruns without end technical disasters and political decisions being made and in my opinion it's probably due to the fact that government agencies bureaucrats are trying to make a huge project which should have been better left off to a private consortium to build as it was initially intended to be i mean we don't even know when this airports could open next year no sixteen seventeen maybe eighteen maybe never who knows thank you very much there we go we don't know when it's going to open some estimates of put a final cost of around ten billion euro on finally getting this airport brandenburg

open it certainly hasn't gone smoothly here. in the world bank and the international monetary fund as a chinaman to establish his very own global financial institution beijing is starting with one hundred billion dollars in capital women aims to overtake a similar project in the region which is highly influenced by japan's safe law twenty two countries have shown interest in the new lead and including some rich states in the middle east but china as well to go ahead with the ambitious project even if no one else joins up one of the first said toss will be setting up a new version of the asian silk road connecting the country to europe china expert professor and leave believes beijing is right to fund its own projects i think that this is just a further extension of what china's been doing china has come from pretty much a backwater country thirty years ago to now this world's second largest economy and

china is basically showing the world that if there is a will there is a way china has been somewhat frustrated with the world bank and the asian development bank in terms of. the funds coming out of these energies to support infrastructure projects so china i think basically decided that if they want anything done here they're just going to fund it themselves and bring along a bunch of partners so i think that's the prime motivation it's largely to expand their trade and economic influence. up next more analysis on our top story what does ukraine stand to gain from the association agreement with the e.u. i don't want to buy big country even further that's discussed on cross talk in just a few.

the federal migration service of russia has recently received more than five thousand requests for political asylum from ukrainian citizens these requests come from refugees who are fleeing the conflict in the eastern part of ukraine in fact i personally know people who are from the ukraine who are now essentially trapped in russia because their native regions are at war with the kiev government there is a classic mainstream media talking point about russian aggression and russian imperialism which gets repeated constantly in fact so often that is not even a question but if you stop to think about it if you were trapped in a region at war and you were going to escape odd thought where would you go into the heart of the aggressors imperialists no you go in the direct opposite direction interestingly enough in both this conflict and the two thousand and eight war in

georgia the overwhelming majority of refugees flee towards russia excluding some sort of bizarre stockholm syndrome it seems that for people in break we're republics and ukraine and georgia russia is a safe haven they often say that people vote with their feet and in the case of the most recent wars in european history it is clear whose feet are voting for whom and no mainstream media talking points can deny that but that's just my opinion. talking about languages but i react to situations i have read the reports. so you know for sure you know i will leave that to the state department to comment on your letter plan to say it is secure yet a car is on the docket. no more weasel words when you fade a direct question please.