the 48 year-old political activist had planned to attend the awards ceremony at the european parliament. >> one of the main messages i sent to the european union, to the european parliament, as well as the democratic countries of the world, is to be aware of the democratic situation. the cuban people are desperate and frustrated due to the economic measures that have been taken and will be taken. >> speaking from his home in the central city of santa clara, guillermo farinas called the cuban authorities there graarror not allowing him to travel. the sakharov prize winner receives about $70,000. earlier this week, the president of the european parliament made a last-minute plea to the authorities on behalf of guillermo farinas, but to no avail. instead, the cuban dissident will be represented by an empty chair. >> it sounds like the plot of a hollywood movie. an armed bandits escaped on a motorbike after stealing at least1. least5 -- million 5 at least $1.5 -- $1.5 million from a las vegas casino. he may not have thought this through. >> casino security cameras caught the audacious robbe

in a message to the european parliament, he pleaded for solidarity. >> anyone who is afraid of allowing people like this to travel has good reason to be afraid. like other dictatorships, this regime will not survive. >> the european parliament hopes that by awarding the prize to guillermo farinas, it would alter his cause for the release of political prisoners in cuba. -- it would bolster his cost for the release of political prisoners in cuba. >> we will look at how obesity >> obesity is becoming a growing problem around the world. a recent report by the organization for economic cooperation and develop -- development revealed some disturbing figures. after a survey of 33 best allies country, on average one in two people is overweight and 50% are obese. -- after a survey of the 33 industrialized countries. this takes into account weight and height. some feel that this method is too limited. however, the statistics are a cause for concern. >> too much fatty food, too much sugar. around the world, people are piling on the pounds. the consequences weigh heavily. in the united states, 68%

has become much more important in the lisbon treated in previously european parliament is an elected parliament which we have to remember secondly the national parliaments have much more influence than there than they have previously so that's also a democratic process that has developed another issue which has also developed is that you can collect one million signatures if you. i would like to change something that did not exist previously as i find this more democratic and it's also efficient in the decision making because in certain areas you have a qualified majority voting like you always have very qualified things you are hired when attending a little less hairy go ahead you are leaving you are leaving out the loss of veto rights fee to arise are important instruments in the hands of smaller countries such as another belgium and many other countries also sweden free to rights are important if you want to block i think this is you're wrong because you don't know you're not telling the truth because in certain areas you still have to have a sort of consensus on the decision maki

. >> a symbolic vacant chair and the european parliament. the president of the assembly appealed to the cuban authorities to allow guillermo farinas to travel to strasbourg it to collect the prize. >> this empty chair, this they could place beside me is assembled and it shows how important this price is and how necessary it remains. we must raise our voices to protect all of those who risk their lives in the battle for freedom. >> guillermo farinas is a psychologist and journalist to continues to write articles critical of the cuban regime. he recently went on a hunger strike for 133 days. in a message to the european parliament, he pleaded for solidarity. >> anyone who is afraid of allowing people like this to travel has good reason to be afraid. like other dictatorships, this regime will not survive. >> the european parliament hopes that by awarding the prize to guillermo farinas, it would alter his cause for the release of political prisoners in cuba. -- it would bolster his cost for the release of political prisoners in cuba. >> we will

brown speaks to tory allies in the european parliament. >> the remarks are not particularly damaging compared to some of the other comments we have seen. jeremy brown said he believes the tory instinct towards immigration, tory policy on immigration, has been driven by it and charitable instincts. some troubles within the european parliament were nothing, not surprising given the liberal democrats have very different views on both immigration and on europe. they are in a coalition together. but we learned tonight that prime minister nick clegg spoke with irritation at the indifference of some of his ministers and says they are concerned far too much about personality and battles within the coalition rather than the positive achievements of working together with the tories. it has to be said it is not good to make the business of working together any easier. >> scotland yard has confirmed that a woman has died after she was attacked by a dog. the victim who was in her forties suffered multiple injuries during the attack in south london and was pronounced dead at the scene. officers sa

those from nigel farage over in european parliament member you can catch the full interview with him at r.t. dot com or any time on our you tube channel. in a meeting with former secretary of state colin powell president obama has once again urged for the senate to ratify a nuclear arms reduction treaty with russia in the absence of start without the new start treaty being ratified by the senate we do not have a verification mechanism. to ensure that we know what the russians are doing. and they don't know what we're doing and when you have on certain. areas nuclear weapons that's a much more dangerous weapon russia has cooperated with us on critical issues to our national security like iran sanctions and the relationships and trust that are built from the nuestro treaty spill over into a whole host of other national security issues that are of vital importance to americans. many republicans i've tried to stall the ratification process since the daya signing of the deal by the russian and american presidents in april a heavy weight of u.s. politics colin powell supports obama's initi

that he might try to put up i think doomed to failure is that right to our bat member of the european parliament from the u.k.'s independence party thanks for being on the line with us live from london . well next hour here on r t max max kaiser looks at the financial fallout from the ever continuing stream of wiki leaks. the next space bound rocket now stands poised for wednesday's blast off russia's sly hughes will take a crew of three a russian an american and a battalion on the twenty six mission to the international space station is peter all over reports on the rockets journey to its launch site in kazakhstan. hereward baikonur the final preparations underway ahead of the launch of the soyuz t.m.a. twenty rockets which will carry cosmonaut to meet to be called and astronauts paolo nespoli and katherine coleman up to the international space station for the rocket has received a blessing from a priest from the russian orthodox church in line with tradition here at baikonur that's not the only tradition they have here many many traditions and superstitions if you will to be carried out before

interesting bit inside there from nigel farage european parliament member of r t you can watch the full interview as well if you'd like to catch more of it on our web page dot com or on our you tube channel as well also staying with the story blake predictions too for europe's economic well being coming from michael ross i spoke to him a bit earlier is a market analyst and author he told me there's a real sense of trouble ahead if the euro work to collapse the political will is there to keep the euro with all means and this is what also is he being. president today announced that they will print money in order to make the euro survive the other question of course is if by printing money you can keep the euro but i mean we're here on a very political. issue that means if the euro really will go then you're also will drown europe needs to have one was and has to be one power and this power is only defined by a currency by a common currency if this currency this current currency is falling then europe erbil lose its voting rights in the world and this is what the politicians are well aware

more reaction to the story as well european parliament member nigel farage shows that countries are trapped inside the euro zone and should get out to save their economies. if spain went down remember that the debt they got is about seven times the size of our land so we'd be talking there about three hundred fifty billion euros and italy bigger still and so you get to a point where there is no more bailout money and where the euro in its current form would cease to exist i don't know whether that will happen in the next few weeks but it remains a real possibility when arlen joined the euro there were people like me saying there was no benefit for the country as most of their overseas trade was denominated in sterling or dollars anyway and that to join the euro they would have to have artificially low interest rates and for the first seven or eight years of their membership of the euro irish rates were three to four percent lower than they would have been had the irish kept the point i what that meant was that the property boom became the most massive speculative bubble and that's why the b

. >> one of the main messages i said to the european union, to the european parliament, as well as thedemocratic countries of the world is to be aware of the cuban situation. the cuban people are.desperate and frustrating due to the economic measures that have been taken and will be taken. >> speaking from his home in his central city, he called the cuban authorities arrogant for not granting him permission to travel. he mentioned individual liberty. there is the top annual human- rights award, and it is about a $70,000 reward. earlier this week, the president of the parliament made a last- minute plea on his behalf, but to no avail. instead, the cuban dissident will be represented by an empty chair. bbc news, havana. >> the colombian battle with drug barons has long been a worry for the rest of the world, but now, an active role. agents are running their own informants to try to stem south american cocaine flooding into britain. our correspondent troubles to the remote area vot./ >> an alleged narco gangster. the colombian authorities are now seizing the production, but it is relentle

the campaign has reached european parliament. all the attention has forced iran to comments. the government insists her case is still going through the courts. her lawyer is no longer in iran to see it through. he had to go into exile in norway. has the public international campaign to save her life -- do you think that has made any difference at all? >> yes, it has, and not just in her case but with all cases. i am sure the iranian government will eventually back away from stoning cases. i do not think they have the courage to harm her, despite the recent documentary about her. the iranian government is unpredictable, but it knows if it touches her, it will face a heavy price. it will not benefit from executing her. the death penalty is still widely used in iran. they prepare for a public hanging. in 2009, iran executed more people than any other country apart from china. when he travels abroad, mahmoud ahmadinejad defends his country's legal system. get it is a hard case to make when a housewife is sentenced to death by stoning. >> it is very fundamental to the public, and

he was awarded the prize by the european parliament and was due to collect it this week. our correspondent told me more about mr. falinia. >> a well known political activist, earlier this year he launched a prolonged hunger strike to announce the plight of criminal prisoners. he was on a drip when rau castro -- raul castro released people. he was awarded this prize by the european particle many. it is named after the late soviet dissident andre sakarov. in cuba, you need a permit to leave the country, and while he applied for one, it never arrived >> there is a last-minute plea to let him come, but that fell on deaf ears. once again there will be an empty seat at a human rights award. >> ironic that cuba appears to be doing exactly what mr. farinias is accusing them of all this time. >> yes, there is an irony of this. it is not the first time that cuba has refused to allow well known opposition figures, well known dissident voices to travel abroad to collect prices. there is quite a well known blogger here who over the last couple years has won a whole string of internati

for my part, i believe the best way would indeed be that finance ministers and european parliaments decide on a eurobond that is then guaranteeing and allowing those countries that are trying to improve their fiscal policy to not be burdened by excessive risk premiums on their bonds. this would be my preferred solution. however, there's a political obstacle, but i guess any other solution would include even more difficult implications. at the end of the day, if we buy in the federal reserve and european central bank war john bonds -- more in job bondjunk be would be in the deepest trouble. >> major talks on iran's disputed nuclear program are under way in the swiss city of geneva. the first such negotiations in a year. >> officials say the discussions were constructive and will continue on tuesday. tehran's chief negotiator held talks with katharine ashton is negotiating on behalf of the united states, britain, france, germany, russia, and china. western countries believe iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb, but tehran insists it is pursuing a civilian program. our correspondent frank h

for some, it is less than with the european parliament had been hoping for.ut members can be assured that certain projects will continue without interruption. >> agreement on the eu budget, just in time for christmas. the deal was crucial. without it, funds for ojects could have only been released on a month-to-month basis. that would have seriously hampered the eu's ability to function properly. >> thanks to this budget, we will be able to put into place policies in the service of european citizens. >> the lion share of the 126 billion euros will be devoted to infrastructure projects. over 40% will be spent on agricultural subsidies and rural development of the remaining portions of the budget will be spent on foreign relations, security, and administration. parliament was on the whole happy with that break down, but it is fighting for a stronger stay in long-term financial planning. >> it was necessary to make the 2011 budget an issue, because financing for the coming years rest on it. let's be realistic, what we do not work out in 2011 will be considerably

voice to recently by presence in the european parliament this also creates a new background for a conversation see here in a stunt and i hope it will be the beginning of. a resumption of direct contacts between all parties most of the world's heroin is consumed on seeds territory two point five million russians are addicted to drugs that come from afghanistan and increasing quantities n.y. is always seem powerless to stop the drug flow considering that the political will is there. well following the mandate we received from our ministers in two thousand and seven in madrid we have been working very seriously alongside with central asian members of the principal states and we will see to strengthen the borders between afghanistan and the central asian states by intensive training of central asian border police the customs office drugs police alone with. this we have a border management staff college now operating in tucson bay customs academy bishkek there is a lot of work being done in the wooded oval was part of the police academy also in turkey and many other videos so it's taken time but no

continent in france luxembourg belgium the czech republic and spain danish a member of the european parliament. believes the current crisis shows that you wrote it's a failed concept. the euro as a construction has created this problem because it has destroyed the southern europeans countries competitiveness and the bailout now is just prolonging and thereby creating an even bigger problem because the dept will just to grow and grow and if you know that the eurozone is reacting very desperately introducing the suggestion on the euro bonds of course we need to be solidarity in the european union but we also need to be economically realistic and the realism of the euro zone is that it doesn't work it hasn't been working for for years and there are at least several non harmonious regions within the euro which make it impossible to maintain a common currency so i think that the even the strongest part of a little have to either recognize that we need to have one hundred percent of governance from brussels and since the europeans don't want to have to go with the second lie which is to admit that t

back around the table to get a firmer grip on the continent wide debt crisis next week but european parliament member joe hagan says he fears the irish bank system is already broken beyond repair. the reality for the irish economy and for irish capitalism reside inside or outside of the euro. it faces i just asked her because it is so we can label to develop society but i do predict that the level of debt now is simply one payable it is on questionably the case to there will be a default in the next thirty years so we say why wait for then and subject our people to enormous pain and suffering for nothing we should refuse to pay the bondholders now immediately that's the key point and then develop a plan to redevelop our economy what we are making a sacrifice for in fact is international banks and billionaire speculators who are on the financial markets looking to make a quick buck we all of them nothing in terms of the irish people those speculative debts were incurred by private bankers in private to deal with we say you cannot fix this system which is broken beyond repair as it is causing en

angry at facing tough cuts to pay for it all earlier my colleague carrie johnston spoke to european parliament member nigel frosh who says countries are trapped inside the euro zone and should get out to save their economies. if spain went down remember that the debt they've got is about seven times the size of our law and so we'd be talking there about three hundred fifty billion euros and italy bigger still and so you get to a point where there is no more bailout money where the euro in its current form would cease to exist i don't know whether that will happen in the next few weeks but it remains a real possibility ok but in fairness the european commission president said on sunday that the eurozone isn't to blame for greece and ireland problems and welling's would have been much worse without the euro isn't there some truth in that there is not a single piece of evidence for those claims by barroso or the room point whatsoever listen when arlen joined the euro there were people like me saying there was no benefit for the country as most of their overseas trade was denominated in sterling o