uncertainty hangs over ukraine as the e.u. says it's frozen trade talks while keeping up the pressure on the president and blaming moscow for meddling. but mexico is planning to privatized the pumps but if you're an oil tycoon don't get your cash out just yet hundreds of thousands of protesters are very valid to stop the state from selling out. its five pm here in moscow you're watching our team international with me and the sonali straight to our top story this hour nazi like atrocities are being described in war torn syria residents of a small town outside damascus have told r.t. how they've witnessed anti-government islamist burning civilians and of ins and using others as human shields well the army struggling to throw the extremists out of the area say the horrific scenes did take place or she's arabic channel trying to get a clear picture of what happened. at that are two sources in the military say radical islamist fighters entered the town of an address and massacred local civilians according to the latest figures at l

first off any nationalist groups in the e.u. are automatically demonised as right wing extremists and in the politically correct west patriotism is pretty much a dirty word generally nationalist like their culture and the people who are part of it but if you look at migration trends within the e.u. we see that the slavic part of it is flooding western europe looking for work i have many relatives from the slavic part of the e.u. and almost all of them have to work abroad and might sound nice to be able to work in europe but the reality is that ukrainians will probably be paid even less than bulgarians rumanians to clean toilets in london ukrainian nationalists don't have to like russia or join the customs union or join any bloc of countries but advocating a future for themselves the e.u. seems absolutely backwards at least to me but that's just my opinion.

to be in the e.u. we must meet certain criteria and that the moment we are simply not up to par to the european standards in the way we produce things. so far do you claim your leadership has shown no sign of giving in quite the opposite the president the parliament and the cabinet remain firmly in place so perhaps the forecast of an impending doom could be premature it is r t. as any to mention the demands of demonstrators are not exactly shared by people in the east of ukraine thousands of taking to the streets in the east to voice support for the authorities in their decision to suspend the trade deal with the e.u. recent polls show the country sharply divided on the issue more than seventy percent of those living in the west of ukraine favor the deal with the european union compared to less than thirty percent in the east while the story in the voice of mallets has told us that few of those on the street really understand the costs of signing a deal with the e.u. . from a purely mathematical standp

but the e.u. right now is greece it's spain it's violent it's italy it's corruption it's poverty it's all. banks toure's running out of control it's cyprus it's confiscation of private bank deposits i mean that's the e.u. right now that's a new reality so i'm not really sure that the people that are on the street demanding to join the e.u. know this or are quite sure what that entails. several polish politicians including the former prime minister and vice president of the european parliament went to kiev to support the protesters john laughlin from the institute of democracy and cooperation in paris says this mirrors the events of the orange revolution back in two thousand and four the rumors of a coup are to be taken with some seriousness but i would be surprised if the events of two thousand and four the orange revolution could be repeated i think it would be difficult for the pro western forces in ukraine to pull off the same trick twice it's absolutely disgraceful for european politicians to

so the e.u. eastern partnership summit in lithuania it takes off this week ukraine's rejection of the free trade zone took center stage meanwhile protests in ukraine over kiev decision not to sign the bill clinton you. in kiev for us we've got poor scott in vilnius to tell us exactly what's going on on the ground so. hi there paul so no deal what exactly happened. while heading into the two day summit in real news kate i don't think hopes were particularly hard of a last minute u. turn kiev decision not to sign the association agreement with the new appeared to be falling off the deal would be not signed not for now anyway and it seems that european leaders pressure on president you know the coverts to try and change his mind and try and sign the deal at the eleventh hour of their efforts were always going to prove a few toile now the reason that the president has given for not signing the deal is .

tire taxes e.u. membership london says scotland could forget about it the trident nuclear program david cameron claims getting rid of it is a bad idea in case of a north korean nuclear attack and there might even be roaming charges on mobile phones if the split happens and the list goes on it's a project fear by the yes camp and they accuse the government of scare mongering scots into voting no and they'd sist the white paper will prove that independence would bring about a jobs boom and a thriving economy concerns that resonate with voters this white paper answers some six hundred fifty questions and the details here really are two main categories here one those that will be negotiated during the transition period and another of those will be made if an independent scottish government is formed they promise indeed a lot of breaking down of all the policies they want to pursue but let's listen to a bit of what they said we would call a halt to damaging. many people into poverty abolish the bedroom ta

to allow ukrainians visa free travel to e.u. countries as a way of forcing closer integration on saturday a group of emmy page descended on the ukrainian capital to reiterate european support for the opposition movement as my colleague arena commissioner reports for you wayne is not the only one neighbor seeing anti government anger on the street but for some reason cleaves independence square has captured the minds of politicians from here up and the us we have seen a variable parade of them here on similar running out was with the opposition leaders and even sometimes taking this way to speak for the crowds and yet few seem to have made the pass to hear it from both sides from the country's leaders and their supporters. right there from an assistant secretary of state we stand with the people of ukraine. who see their future in europe and want to bring their country back to economic health and unity to former polish president the supporters of euro integration must remain firm and seize the momentum of the protest this is the

in the e.u. we must meet certain criteria and that the moment we are simply not up to par to the right. standards in the way we produce things. so far do you claim your leadership has shown no sign of giving in quite the opposite the president the parliament and the cabinet remain firmly in place so perhaps the forecasts of impending doom could be premature if you go to school r t. and as arena just mentioned the demands of the demonstrators in kiev are not exactly shared by people in the east of the country signs have taken to the streets that voice support for the authorities and their decision to suspend the trade deal with the e.u. recent polls show the country is sharply divided on the issue with more than seventy percent of those living in the west of ukraine favoring the deal with the european union while those same pro e.u. moods are shared by less than thirty percent in the east and to further discuss this iteration and ukraine and how it might develop i'm now joined live by joel laughli

e.u. announces its halting work on a trade agreement with ukraine's government saying kiev's arguments have quote no grounds in reality. that's coming from the spanish capital right there shaken by violence as riot police clashed with demonstrators calling for an end to a draft bill that would see huge fines for anyone taking authorized around the. island celebrates shaking off international lenders to become the first country to break free from a bailout program the government warns of challenges still ahead. delivers his annual state of the nation address saying russia will stand firm in order to protect its values but it's not aiming to impose them on anybody else. it's already international law from moscow i'm shy thanks for joining us straight to our breaking news for you this hour here on the program we are now getting reports that the e.u. is calling a halt to negotiations on a trade deal with ukraine. is now on the line for us from kiev alexi its rory here in moscow i hope you can

e.u. foreign policy chief catherine ashton was also in town holding talks with both sides leading some to question why there's such a high profile presence of officials from washington and brussels review paean union should should back off you should recognize that the democratically elected government of the ukraine which has. made a decision in should respect that decision but often the e.u. doesn't respect the decisions of democratic nation states we say that when they've been asked to vote again other nations in various referenda the same is being happy is happening in the ukraine in an effort to break the deadlock president on a coach who face to face with leaders concessions were made to including an amnesty for all prisoners arrested but using the demonstrations he also promised there's no alternative to close the e.u. integration saying he could be ready to sign the association agreement by march that's if they can agree on more favorable terms for ukraine's already weak economy we

saying here hundreds of thousands of pro e.u. protesters battle police and storm government buildings in the ukrainian capital there demanding that president quit for not signing a trade deal with europe. a breakthrough nuclear agreement reached between iran and six world powers is met with angry statements from israel and capitol hill hawks that claim the deal is a failure. scotland independence movement launching its manifesto. you don't pull the whole damaging to pull the seas are pushing so many people into pull the critics say the way the text is heavy on detail and light on facts. and moscow i matras are bring you today's top stories and a look back at the week's news one hundred fifty people most of them police have been wounded in street battles in the ukrainian capital sunday's ban on demonstrations that didn't stop hundreds of thousands of pro e.u. protesters from throwing bricks at officers in storming government buildings are the reports from kiev. tensions are dying down here in the central capital although still it'

and while some e.u.states travel under the burden of a stairs he will look at how iceland decision to forgive people's death has paid off. live from moscow this is our chief international with me our hello and welcome to the program ukraine's parliament has voted against issuing a no confidence motion against the country's confidence in an emotional emergency session cold in the midst of widespread protests against the government the prime minister and opposition leaders met face to face also as a rino going to for us. well true to form a new critic probably has started off essential with the brawl albeit this time there were no blows thrown around which they're actually known for it was merely the verbal skirmish and when when the prime minister as are of the stage to speak you could hardly hear him from behind all the all the yelling and the screaming coming from resignation the office the government coming from the rada and get to the prime minister has tried to appeal to the protestors and to the opp

would like the e.u. to grant ukraine's visa free travel as a measure of integration what are your thoughts on that do you think you would ever agree to it. this is a fascinating idea and it demonstrates a couple of things first of all completely and utterly out of touch with the politics of the european union that the united states of american is but then on the other hand given that president obama has invariably been looking towards asia we probably shouldn't be surprised second of all i think is the pure practicality there is an incredibly powerful motive to be it's going on within europe at the moment particularly in the u.k. for instance over the issue of migrant labor within the e.u. on january the first next year there is a possibility that many bulgarians and romanians may start to move across to the west because they'll be allowed to to go and work i think that within the european union there would be a bridge an outcry indeed if suddenly the gates were to be opened because obviously millions of

if there is a pro e.u. neo orange revolution there would be a pro customs union pro russian counter-revolution so it would be the path to the civil war because let's face it in the industrial base in of the east they know that if they join the e.u. package they would of course they will never join the e.u. itself they would lose customs privileges in russia and their industrial goods which are still being exported to russia in increasing quantities would suddenly become thirty five percent more expensive which would price them out of the market in the same time i doubt very much that e.u. countries will suddenly express an interest in buying ukraine real goods so even if there is an attempt at the violent overthrow of the government there would be definitely a very sizable counterforce ready to come onto the streets it is no longer two thousand and four when no one was willing to risk their skin for. beneath all the political problems rupture in ukraine there are even more pressing economic concerns catch o

uncertainty hangs over ukraine as the e.u. says it's frozen trade talks while keeping up pressure on the president and blaming moscow for meddling. amnesty international exposes how bahrain routinely tortures people in detention including children all human rights workers on the ground say the scale of the abuse is even worse than the latest report suggests. the british energy company finds a massive wind turbine sprawled across the entrance to a drilling site a gift from anti fracking activists caught up in the christmas spirit. at seven pm here in moscow you're watching r t international with me and he said no way our top story this hour nazi like atrocities are being described in war torn syria residents of a small town outside damascus have told r.t. how they've witnessed anti-government islamist burning civilians and of ins and using others as human shields for the army struggling to throw extremists out of the area says the horrific scenes did take place archie's arabic channel trying to get a clear picture of what happe

while the e.u. trade continues to divide public opinion politicians raise doubts over the blocks ability to cope should an agreement ever be reached with ukraine let's take a look at why well over twenty percent of europe's population is at risk of poverty level gary it is one of the most impoverished countries with nearly half its population living close to the bread line romania is not far behind where four out of ten find it hard to make ends meet and agrees slightly over thirty percent of the population struggle to meet financial demands and about the same percentage of people in spain and italy are under pressure from harshest parity measures are going off went to a food bank in rome where essential provisions are handed out to the city's poorest . marco used to work as a pizza your many italians used to call it the golden skill which would always get you work in rome but it didn't hold true for marco one day he was sacked and has not been fired since he's been living on the street for about fo

has become the center of the protest movement but staunchly pro e.u. leval of isn't far behind opposition activists from the country's western city plan on joining protesters in the capital kiev meanwhile wants the courts to ban mass demonstrations in the center of the city until the start of next year european union officials spoke out against what they call excessive use of force by police during the rallies of a political commentator alexander cross of thinks it's hypocritical because of how some e.u. nations handled their own protests. it's very weird for that to hear that the european union leaders and especially the people in brussels condemning the ukrainian government for using the police to disturb the two to deal with the demonstrates is and if i can tell you in any of those countries and europe brit greedy spirit to go eat their knee you name it police deal very roofless sleep with will demonstrate this especially if these demonstrations against the austerity which is imperialist on these nations by brussels and for these same people to go a

to be in the e.u. we must meet certain criteria and that the moment we are simply not up to parts of the european standards in the way we produce things. the split is so palpable some of the service suggests it could lead to no actual breakup of the state. we still haven't heard from the southeast of the country when they showed any political activity it always sided with the position of the government if the opposition gets the upper hand then we will see retaliation in this part of the country much harsher than anything we have seen until now. but so far do you claim your leadership has shown no sign of giving in quite the opposite the president the parliament and the cabinet remain firmly in place so perhaps the forecasts of an impending doom could be premature it in the gun party. and as a rino was mentioning the demands of the demonstrators in kiev are not exactly shared by people in the east of the country in fact are thousands of taken to the streets there to voice support for the author origins

to not join the e.u. the obvious hypocrisy of this stinks all the way up the boss scale but that's just my opinion. hello welcome to worlds apart this year marks fortune years since arlen joined the european union but you don't see much celeb rationing here and that may be due to the fact that few have paid a higher price for this integration than the irish people each one of whom already contributed almost nine thousand tourists in taxes to effectively saved are the euro was that worth it well to discuss that i'm knowledge joined by the countries minister for european affairs pascal donohue mr donohue thank you very much for your time i know that when arlen was celebrating the thirty if thirtieth anniversary of joining the euro there was this whole program of exhibitions and conferences to celebrate the occasion but we don't see. that level of celebration this time around and i wonder whether it is due to all this territory or perhaps it reflects maybe a broader more skeptical reassessment of joining the

some senior e.u. politicians have been blaming russia for the events taking place in kiev saying it was pressure from moscow that the deal with the e.u. and some of those politicians have been seen in central kiev cheering protesters on international relations professor mark sloboda told me that it sucks that the bill under international law. the fact that they are essentially on the ground in kiev cheerleading the protesters on calling for a revolution in the country this is a tantamount to the regime change that has been called for in german newspapers earlier today this is a most agree just violation of the united nations charter and international law a violation of the sovereignty and the noninterference of the domestic affairs of other states and i think russia cannot take the whole world community cannot take this agree just act lightly the latest news updates footage and photographs from kiev can be found right now on our website r.t. dot com and you can also log on to get up to speed with how

first off any nationalist groups in the e.u. are automatically demonised as right wing extremists and in the politically correct west patriotism is pretty much a dirty word generally nationalist like their culture and the people who are part of it but if you look at migration trends within the e.u. we see that the slavic part of it is flooding western europe looking for work i have many relatives from the slavic part of the e.u. and almost all of them have to work abroad and might sound nice to be able to work in europe but the reality is that ukrainians will probably be paid even less than bulgarians rumanians to clean toilets in london ukrainian nationalists don't have to like russia or join the customs union or join any bloc of countries but advocating a future for themselves the e.u. seems absolutely backwards at least to me but that's just my opinion. speak to the language. programs and documentaries in arabic in school here. reporting for the world talks syfy r.p. interviews intriguing story so you. see. the arabic to find

uncertainty hangs over ukraine as the e.u. says its frozen trade talks while keeping up the pressure on the president and blaming moscow for meddling. british energy company finds a massive wind turbine sprawled across the entrance to a drilling site a gift from anti fracking activists caught up in the christmas spirit. or welcome you're watching r t international with me and he said now a nazi like atrocities are being described in war torn syria residents of a small town outside damascus have told r.t. how they've witnessed anti-government islam is burning civilians in ovens and using others as human shields well the army is struggling to throw extremists out of the area says the horrific scenes did take place or she's arabic channel trying to get a clear picture of what happened. phenomenon the loss of the last r.t. sources in the military say radical islamist fighters entered the town of address and massacred local civilians according to the latest figures at least eighty people were killed in the districts which the syria

if there is a pro e.u. neo orange revolution there would be a pro customs union pro russian counter-revolution so it would be the path to the civil war because let's face it in the industrial base in of the east they know that if they join the e.u. package they would of course they will never join the itself they would lose customs privileges in russia very industrial goods which are still being exported to russia in increasing quantities would certainly become thirty five percent more expensive which would price them out of the market in the same time i doubt very much that e.u. countries will certainly express an interest in buying ukraine real goods so even if the reason attempt at the violent overthrow of the government there would be definitely a very sizable counterforce ready to come onto the streets it is no longer two thousand and four when no one was willing to risk their skin for for. now beneath all the political problems rupturing ukraine there are even more pressing economic concerns catch on

island shakes off the baler blues after breaking free of the e.u.'s aid program but the government warns that doesn't mean an end to austerity. also russia says it doesn't want to dominate the world but will stand firm in defending its values president putin delivers his annual state of the nation address. all over again even if you just joined us just after ten pm now you're moscow my name's kevin zero in this is the weekly roundup of the top stories of the last seven days and first ukraine is seeking official confirmation that the u.s. frozen all work on a trade association deal tonight it was after a tweet was posted by the you commissioner for enlargement saying kids expectations are unrealistic. reports. we have a statement by one of the european officials who is responsible for the enlargement of the european union particularly doing eastern directories of the staff and. more thought here is that there is still a cow that i called the words in the deeds of the president's government regarding association agreement with the union of a further an

stance simply well the e.u. was strangling greece these are some amazing images to me there's a geo political agenda this being served by stirring up but unrest in ukraine both an attempt to bring it into the orbit of western europe a century had also by the way to use ukraine as another source of the looting that goes on if ukraine were to look at what its real future would be in the it should look to the countries of the south greece portugal spain ukraine will end up impoverished and exploited france is one of the policy makers in the e.u. reemerging as a colonial power and ukraine they are attempting basically to treat as a lower tier of substrata a group almost a colony inside the e.u. . online we've got a life time line of the events in kiev for you as your website r.t. dot com for the very latest from the ukrainian capital. al-qaeda linked rebels have kidnapped one hundred twenty kurds in a syrian village close to the turkish border that's according to the syrian observatory for human rights the fighters

in the e.u.we must meet certain criteria and that the moment we are simply not up to parts of the european standards in the way we produce things. so far do you claim your leadership has shown no sign of giving in quite the opposite the president the parliament and the cabinet remain firmly in place so perhaps the forecasts of an impending doom could be premature it in the galu scope r t. on the serene i just mentioned there. mounds of demonstrators in key of a not exactly a shared by people in the east of the country thousands have taken to the streets to voice support for the authorities on their decision to suspend the trade deal with the e.u. a recent poll showed the country is sharply divided on be sure more than seventy percent of those living in the west of ukraine favored the deal with the european union compared to less than thirty percent in the east and then i would discuss this with political analyst dmitri babbage who believes pro western action is simply more accepted. historically

and e.u. partners in dealing with the russian he says ukraine is a very important partner for russia and therefore that he would he would advise that all parties involved in peace talks would be considered as russia would also want to see the best deal for ukraine where the e.u. was concerned. there are mixed signals tonight of ukraine's possible trade deal with the e.u. which has been the source of those massive protests for the past month a senior official state who told talks are on hold while ukraine's authorities say they're still progressing and in this hesitant atmosphere than the u.s. seems eager to to assume the role of decision maker. reports. kerry. bremer oh there's very few america is where you. are john mccain's media conference in kiev was rich in loud statements simply veiled warnings to moscow we need to make it clear. to the russian government that i'm here putin that interference in the affairs of ukraine is not acceptable to the united states of america or to any other free

the problem with the e.u. agreement was who were the strings all of the strings and conditions that were attached this is why the president did not sign the deal. there were conditions that the subsidies. that the subsidies stop for the consumption of gas in the ukraine that would have been political suicide for the president and that will be sent to germany the one of the goals of the european union is to bring back the revolution and to add the current government leave power that's why they couldn't sign a deal why do you think we're all seeing signs many people on the street right now in ukraine protesting the protesters have allowed a blames they want the rule of law they want to see their country become a prosperous country they look longingly to the west and they they say why can't we be like that to some extent they're naive. the looking at europe through rose colored glasses is sick the european union is sick it's falling apart it's twenty five percent unemployment in spain i don't need to talk about g

show solidarity for anybody from the e.u. really that the protesters in turkey were peaceful they would go with great brutality by the police there were no calls for them to be arrested to be to be degree talent you want them to be sacked as always easy crazy. rhapsody clarity to go on the streets of brighton demonstrate here the spine of european courage. turkey you know they don't hear it in spain they don't say the double standards are absolutely outrageous or. clarke there will really party officials are urging the protestors to go home for their part saying their blockade of the administrative buildings is now preventing the approval of the twenty fourteen budget and that could have an impact on state salaries and pensions across the country so far there is no sign of those rallies abating early this evening thousands of pro-government activists meantime descended on the capital in towns across the east of the country to make their voices heard they want the opposite recent polls suggest ukraine then is sharply divided o

member states in terms of e.u. membership what if they don't agree to what alex salmond has been proposing but he said that he is confident everything that's contained in six hundred seventy pages will be addressing every single question if anything this white paper is going to be a springboard for even more debates in the months to come we spoke with jonathan shafi co-founder of the radical independence campaign he expressed concerns about the document. for me some of the main headlines just how different the scottish government's approach to economic incentives and comparison to basements of the discussion so far has been one in which what we've seen from the new campaign has been nothing concerning. the leaves of people on the left and we see new ideas about how the woods for example start to think about the raising living standards of redistributing wealth in fact what we've seen is the opposite of that we've seen them put forward ideas that are going to maximize the bill for the very top of society you know ev

as e.u. this is washington acting through the cat's paw of the european union through political networks in brussels and so forth and cameron oman's government in france to a limited extent because of germans are much more sensitive about good relations with moscow but. this is a geo political agenda it's much bigger than ukraine it's much bigger than that tens or hundreds of thousands of protesters on the street but i think. this perhaps have to prevail in this situation and rationally discuss what's at stake and that is that if there was police violence they should be punished for it and that the population should realize ukraine has a huge. proper i know from ukrainian friends with with the state corruption with business corruption on all levels they should begin addressing that as well but it's not going to happen because the opposition comes back in there is corrupt just as the people in the now is just different different left out aggression versus right handed. when in fact very much o

is reportedly set to ask the e.u. to allow ukrainians visa free travel to e.u. countries as a way of forcing closer integration and on saturday a group of emmy page descended on the ukrainian capital to reiterate european support for the opposition movement as my colleague arena galicia reports fully worrying is not the only one neighbor seeing and government anger on the street but for some reason peeves independence square has captured the minds of politicians from here up and the us we have seen a veritable parade of them here on some running out was with the opposition leaders and even sometimes they can do is the way to speak for the crowds and yet few seem to have made the pass to hear it from both sides from the country's leaders and their supporters. from an assistant to the secretary of state we stand with the people of ukraine who see their future in europe and want to bring their country back to economic have. off and unity two former polish president here the supporters of euro integration must remain firm and seize the momentum of the protest this i

top e.u. politicians the central kiev again reaffirming their support for the anti-government demonstrations which showed no signs of dying down despite the cold weather. and this morning from nelson mandela continues world wide we look at the concerns that traces of south africa's tainted past may return this time for the country's minority. very good morning for me kevin omer of you watching around the world just past midnight now here at r.t. h.q. in moscow in our top story this morning and anti fracking protests in northeast romania's turn violent clashes a broken up between police and locals who are trying to stop the u.s. all joined chevron for drilling for shale gas in their area artie's lucy catherine office at the site of the unrest. we're here in this is just moments after a very tense clashes between protesters who are against chevron conducting exploration for shale gas drilling here in this area in northeastern mania what you see behind me over there is actually the chevron site n