this is on the farthest edge of the european union. in the distance, i can just make out a mosque in the nearest turkish town of edirne. this is the front line of stemming the flow of illegal immigration. many migrants attempt to cross the border at this river. the authorities have recovered the bodies of those who have failed to make it on several occasions. families and individuals who make it to greece and find that their journey has come to an abrupt end in detention centers. many of them are kept behind bars. this is overcrowded and a bleak, even for those who are going to be released. many people wanted us to tell their story. >> this is a place for animals. this is a miserable. life in europe is like here. >> those reaching for help or just hope recently found at the u.n. is speaking for them. the u.n. agency has described the situations in these centers as a humanitarian crisis. they are not alone. >> people are kept in completely in humane conditions and they have basic needs that are not being met. >> for officials at the gat

. >> budapest -- just before hungary takes the european union presidency. europe's air-traffic gradually returned to normal, but thousands of passengers are still stranded. spain's legendary lot of brings holiday cheer to the lucky winners. >> a controversy amid media law in hungary tiding control of news outlets has met with protest at home and harsh criticism abroad. the governing party passed legislation on tuesday and the new law means penalties can be imposed on print and electronic mail -- electronic media. this takes place just as budapest since the presidency of the european union. >> the parliamentary opposition protesting against the restriction on freedom of expression. the criticisms have been echoed by the european continent -- european countries across the continents. >> article 11 says every citizen has the right to freedom of expression and every citizen has a right to information and pass on information without the authorities terfering. i think the commission, which is the guardian of the trees, has to react. >> as the fur trade -- the fut

i would like to know your view, of the turkish entrance into the european union. >> with the european character, this is very european. this was -- we have the homogeneous comments. the european union must be close, and we have to have the association, with a different cooperations. norway is a european country. this does not want to clearly be in the structure. we have access to the european markets. we have to respect this. and we cannot really make this a member of the european union. poland is the last countries -- we have become a member of this and we want to close the door to the club. those who meet the criteria, those who commit to the criteria, this is alimentary to being different in politics. we have the mess -- but we do not feel for having a in our group. today, this is the source of serious trouble. what is also the source of serious trouble, we had an unregulated border issue. this is a problem for the european union. this is a beautiful island. this is about forgetting the principle. we'll not have regulated border issues. i want to put this very strongly. this is abo

go ahead laugh and go ahead go ahead ok when we when the european monetary union was started there was a stability pact connected to the problem when that was that the commission never was tough enough with those canvas who never followed the rules now in the lispund treaty if you understand what the lisbon treaty is the commission has got slightly increased possibility to go back and overview what countries are doing on the economic side so we in the future hopefully will not have lots of. complicated developments on the economic side and that is that the service delivery when we look at the situation in many of our economies we see that the national debts are far greater than is accepted in the stability and growth pact that we see that but i mean that's such a death that is also far greater than the soldiers who accepted. and i think that's also something which is just relating to the way the country in question if i'm happened to be now install code which is probably together would feel numb to best drama. when it comes to know. there are no never no deficits and of cours

follow in welcome to cross talk i'm peter lavelle european union leaders need to consider what is called a minor change to the lisbon treaty that minor changes a guaranteed financial bailout of weaker members is this legitimizing moral hazard and is it even democratic. can you. discuss the e.u. in the lisbon treaty i'm joined by stephan your neck in stockholm he's director of corporate relations at the center for european policy studies in london we go to robert oulds he's director of the bruges group and in amsterdam we crossed the harry vaughan he is a dutch socialist party member of parliament and another member of our crosstalk team on the hunt all right gentlemen crosstalk grows in effect you have differences of opinion here so i wanted to be shown first of all i'd like to go to harry when the when the lisbon treaty was being sold peddled to the europeans if i remember correctly the one of the selling points was that they would never be bailouts of member countries but that's what how they watered it down saying look this is we're never going to go that far you know where you know w

because this is an empire mr gross said i think two years ago he said that the european union was the first ever nonmilitary empire and what empires try to do is expand so they'll have it into the euro and they'll try and make join the european union next year of the year after they think that all the while they're expanding people will say well it must be going well and it will take their attention away from what's going on with him sadly it's too late at all the opinion polls show that in germany in greece in britain and ireland and right across the european union increasingly the publics of europe are holding the political class that have done this to them in increasing contempt ok we'll have to leave it there nigel farage i thank you very much indeed for your forthright here live on r.t. . there with the business desk now with. well welcome to a business program i'm sure on. russia's hydropower holding ross hydro has expanded its ambitions along with its investment plans it will spend at least three billion dollars on new plants while modernizing old ones boosting output by about

has monsanto seeds and monsanto switches those seeds off unless the european union does politically what washington wants in a particular situation so the area or china or any other country for that matter russia when it comes their. vegetables and the like in the supermarkets many europeans are deeply against the use of modified seeds but do you think on a wider sense the issue has already been decided. no i think it's not been decided i think the resistance to political resistance even in germany where the government evangelists merkel would have loved to have peace washington and approve. one all corn last year it was an election year and they could not ram it through because the popular grassroots protest you mentioned the million petitions they're trying to ignore the fact that a million citizens across europe petitioned against license you know the p.m.o. crops in brussels but that's a reality and it's very strong political message here in europe much it's not for britain to label food products free from g.m.o. free from g.m.o. in fact it's required if it's more than one perce

. >> budapest -- just before hungary takes the european union presidency. europe's air-traffic gradually returned to normal, but thousands of passengers are still stranded. spain's legendary lot of brings holiday cheer to the lucky winners. >> a controversy amid media law in hungary tiding control of news outlets has met with protest at home and harsh criticism abroad. governing party passed legislation on tuesday and the new law means penalties can be imposed on print and electronic mail -- electronic media. this takes place just as budapest since the presidency of the european union. >> the parliamentary opposition protesting against the restriction on freedom of expression. the criticisms have been echoed by the european continent -- european countries across the continents. >> article 11 says every citizen has the right to freedom of expression and every citizen has a right to information and pass on information without the authorities interfering. i think the commission, which is the guardian of the trees, has to react. >> as the fur trade -- the futur

saying especially within the european union. that it will do with withstand this crisis and it will become stronger it will have learned a lot from this crisis this remains to be seen a lot of great people have the sentiment that it's best that they return back to the drachma they feel as if they've lost their sovereignty as a nation they feel as if the government is not making the decisions for the future of their lives and they feel as if they need to be autonomy and start building a better future for themselves helen scopus a journalist international radio live and i things and some very impressive live pictures as well right behind you thank you very much. well coming your way later this hour here on r.t. we look at what might be behind sweden's of he'll for the release of wiki leaks founder julian our song plus. i asked him how he's going to be when you're up in space you still haven't been so good then make phone calls you know they make way because it's going to be just just as if he's here who discovers a love story at a

the african union and the european union called on him to accept defeat. instead, he has been sworn in for another five years. as protesters gathered in various districts, they were met by members of the security forces, who used tear gas and fired live rounds to dissuade them from marching on the television station. when forces loyal to the elected president prepared to leave a hotel to march, they were immediately fired upon by soldiers and militia loyal to the reigning president. the government is currently under heavy protection at the hotel until they gain control of the institutions of the state. both sides have taken oaths of office on the same day. the have separate prime ministers and cabinets. in response to mr. bagbo's refusal to except defeat, the un is imposing sanctions until they allow democratic transition of power. rebel soldiers moved south to attack mr. bagbo's army, leading to worries of a resumption of conflict after six years of peace. bbc, ivory coast. >> a former adviser on african affairs to president clinton and obama was speaking

and all the opinion polls show that in germany in greece in britain and in the right across the european union increasingly the publics of europe are holding the political class that have done this to them in increasing contempt. 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 ame

join the european union next year over year after you think that all the while they're expanding people will say well it must be going well it'll take their attention away from what's going on with him sadly it's too late all the opinion polls show that in germany in greece and britain and in the right across the european union increasingly the publics of europe are holding the political class that have done this to them in increasing contempt. commentary from nigel farage here a peon parliament member you can catch the full interview with him at r.t. dot com or on our you tube channel. meanwhile russian president dmitry medvedev has been attending the meeting of the organization for security and cooperation in europe it's the first time the fifty six member group has gotten together in a decade russia wants to restart relations with the group but says it must modernize ties suffered after moscow suspended its participation in european conventional arms treaty three years ago after the u.s. announced its missile defense plans for europe also at the summit president medvedev once again p

is much bigger than the year of sixteen or seventeen countries if you go wider and look at the european union which is twenty seven countries twenty five of those countries have breached the rules on debt and deficit and then if you go even further to the usa where virtually all the individual states are in difficulties or in bankruptcy i mean california is actually printing what effectively ious or post-dated checks and so you have to say how is it there's a situation not just within the euro not just within europe but much more widely you're looking at a crisis of the at least the west i'm. actually the global financial system and just one point on this if you take say greece which was in the headlines the greece national debt as a percentage of g.n.p. was one hundred and fifteen percent when it has implemented the austerity measures the debt will think crease to one hundred and fifty percent in short the situation is out of control and the proposed measures are making it worse and as a result there's going to be a crack a crash of the euro john what do you think about that i mean there's t

the opinion polls show that in germany in greece in britain and ireland and right across the european union increasingly the publics of europe are holding the political class that have done this to them in increasing contempt in so they have nigel farage european parliament member if you'd like to watch the full interview from him you can it's streaming on our web site r.t. dot com as those who are you tube channel two will simply predictions for europe's economic well being are also coming from michael moore sees a market analyst and author he told me there's real trouble ahead if the euro were to collapse. the political will is there to keep the euro with all means and this is what also you see 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 currenc

all the opinion polls show that in germany in greece in britain and ireland a right across the european union increasingly the publics of europe are holding the political class that have done this to them in increasing contempt european parliament member nigel for talking a little earlier on to my colleague carrie johnson here on r.t. and you can watch the full interview at r.t. dot com it's also where are you chief chalmers well and what we're talking about what's online from us tonight let's not forget our there are two dot com tricks of the trade a special guide gives you the perks and pitfalls of buying food in moscow markets and the rules of successful bargaining if you're over here to count the job in. over ninety years after firing the shot which sparked the bolshevik revolution the legendary crew that a roar is officially decommissioned and its crew disbanded all the details about some. the organization for security and cooperation in europe is losing its influence and needs to be modernized bear the words of russia's president dmitry medvedev who's been visiting the kazakh capital of

more recently, he has begun courting the european union. he told the german foreign ministere no longer wanted to be labeled a dictator. his interest in the west has complicated relations with moscow. in the past, the kremlin was his closest ally. but he recently became the target of hostile campaign on russian television. after his moves to cut dependence on moscow anchored russia. -- angered russia. he was portrayed as being corrupt, but heseems unfazeby iticis >> elections are always an issue for the osce, and for some people is an instrument they used to interfere in the end top -- interfere in the election process. >> he has agreed to create a free-trade zone with russia and kazakhstan that starting in 2012, while at the same time wooing the west with promises of greater openness. this delicate balancing act may be to kp the country from collapsing and keep himself in power. >>> security is extremely tight ahead of sunday's polls. police have been put on standby. he has warned against any protests and said he was prepared to take swift

russia and the european union will sign a document on russia's accession to the world trade organization on december seventh and brussels that's according to deputy prime minister alexander in the vendor russia signed an agreement which included timber export tutors along with pricing formulas for goods and services russia which has been negotiating its entry into w t o for seventeen years hopes to become a member next year. to look at the markets throughout storks jumped into december with strong gains as fro bouts trails jobs figures and benefactress data from china and the u.k. helped investors look past festering concerns in europe. and europe to first say finished up more than two percent the tax gain two point seven percent to close which was the biggest gain of three months as investors speculated that the sovereign debt crisis may force european central bank all this make us to expand their arsenal at a meeting on thursday for shared fund six point two percent after investors approved a six point six billion dollars stock sale to reduce the comic us debt before it's more to with

because this is an empire mr gross said i think two years ago he said that the european union was the first ever nonmilitary empire and what empires try to do is expand so they'll have it into the euro they'll try and make join the european union next year of the year after they think that all the while they're expanding people will say well it must be going well it will take their attention away from what's going on with him sadly it's too late all the opinion polls show that in germany in greece in britain and ireland and right across the european union increasingly the publics of europe are holding the political class that have done this to them in increasing contempt let me be their night and ron speaking to my colleague terry dance and we have quite an in-depth enter interview for you who wants whoever's in on our to dot com or log on to our tom. meanwhile anger at the u.k. government's deficit cutting measures continues to rise thousands have marched through london streets on another day of nationwide action in protest against plans to raise university tuition fees to previous d

the european union has officially launched its new diplomatic service. e european external actions service. the foreign policy had says she hopes it allows the to be more active internationally. instead of running foreign policy from several different institutions, this will be a vehicle for a much more streamlined approach. >> with its new diplomatic service, the eu hopes to respond more quickly to international emergencies like their earthquake that devastated haiti in january. >> we already have representation in the 145 countries. until now, it had been maintained by delegations and the eu commission. these are being we dedicated and staff with personnel other than these experts. we're setting a full-fledged e you embassies with all that entails. >> in return, smaller eu states pledge to shut down their missions and find their representation from diplomats and offices from brussels. their bosses the eu high representatives of foreign affairs, who is in charge of 1200 the elements around the globe. she's been to your shipping the new diplomatic corps.

the european union criticized the crackdown on opposition supporters in belarus. in germany honors its top athletes for 2010. ♪ >> hello, welcome. central and northern european airports are struggling to stay open. the harsh winter weather is blasting across the continent. europe's busiest airport, heathrow, has resumed a limited schedule, but hundreds of passengers remained stranded there. in frankfurt, things are not much better. >> stranded in frankfurt, and germany's biggest airport, one out of every four flights was canceled on monday. some passengers spent a third night in the terminal. only to find out that they were waiting in vain. >> i am coming from new york, and i want to go to poland. my flight is delayed for two days already, and now i just found out that, you know, my flig to poland was canceled. >> europe's busiest airport, london heathrow, resumed limited operations. british airways said a maximum of only one-third scheduled flights would be allowed to take off until wednesday morning. the chaos could continue over christmas. thousands of travelers

course it's not that russia is seeking to do is a band already existing organization like made european the union the always what you see for that matter i mean the idea of so-called but videos and later all of the treaty on the european security just to avoid these situations where these security of europe is divided where there are some dividing lines where military conflicts or even the gresham's of like. georgia against some of them a serious share and that's why russia sits on the kodori furbish to reinvigorate the current network and all for existing organizations that are asia the only so you can do that. now in his state of the nation address on tuesday president medvedev said there's a clear choice either deep cooperation or a new wave of conflict in fact he warns that it could turn into a new arms race but what extent does russia have to go to how far does it have to stretch out its arm to come to some kind of cooperative agreement with the west. well you know russia is not seeking. any kind of confrontation just calls leads from where i'm from calling assaulted to you know receive. the

european union has backed moscow's bid to join the world trade organization next year after almost eighteen years of negotiations the union voiced its support at the russia e.u. summit in brussels this week president medvedev was at the talks which were seen as a sign of strengthening relations with the e.u. w t o accession opens the door to new agreements on strategic economic and security cooperation the head of the european commission also affirmed brussels support for russia's modernization efforts dr frazer catherine who is a political analyst leslie you is being pragmatic by pushing for russia's w to your membership because europe would benefit to. the most important point for the european union is that it embeds russia in international rules based system the e.u. had the same experience with china better to be inside for being bound by the rules of the w t o being outside now it's not the same dimensions china is more important for the european union overall in terms of trade but in terms of developing future relations between the e.u. and russia russia membership of this group to yo

the driving force behind the spread of extremist belgium's to towards the most relaxed in the european union the flow of newcomers is likely to continue and many experts believe . it is need to hope muslims integrate into a multicultural society the extremism threat will remain no matter how many arrests or me you go to school of brussels. and danish analyst and writer helen merritt brick says politicians are failing to take action against radical. i think what has gone turkey wrong is simply that very many politicians underestimate the influence of radical preachers speaking in mosques all over europe or in campuses at universities or of course spreading the message it's on the internet and when you have radical preachers doing this and not sort of positions being aware of it then you have the situation that you have today coming up in just a few moments here and i'll see reveal the secrets of staying strong in siberia. pulling minibuses are the only way these what you have to show their strength they can also find many other ways to flex some siberian muscles so join on trees close up to w

behind the spread of extremist belgium's early two towards asylum on the most relaxed in the european union the flow of newcomers is likely to continue and many experts believe. it is need to hope muslims integrate into a multicultural society the extremism threat will remain no matter how many arrests are made you got this kind of brussels. and danish journalist and writer had a narrative break says politicians are failing to take action against radical. i think what has gone terribly wrong is that very many politicians underestimate the interests of radical preachers speaking in mosques all over europe can. at universities or of course spreading the message it's the internet and when you have radical preachers doing this and not sort of being aware of it then you have the situation that you have today. and coming up in just a few moments here on our team were revealed this secret still staying strong inside piggery. pulling really boss is the only way these what you have to show their strength it can also find many other ways to flex some siberian. so join elsie's close up team in the cit

earlier but skeptics of course already say that this has a very pragmatic reason behind it the european union has promised billions of euros to belarus should there be signs of a free and democratic election and democratic progress in the country and with minsk it very hard by the global financial crisis this incentive is definitely worth a lot but the people that we managed to speak to have mixed reactions of course voter turnout was quite low in the capital where we are and a lot of people are skeptical about this election and its authenticity and all the . whether it's legitimate or not but on the whole it does seem to to appear from the voter turnout that the people do still have a say in the institute of voting and of course in their chosen candidate because here we have seen some pretty impressive anti-government demonstrations in the capital the opposition now has promised to stage protests once the voting is over they're saying that the whole election process has been rigged how likely do you think the protests are and you're getting the feeling that the situation there is quite tense

earlier but skeptics of course already say that this has a very pragmatic reason behind it the european union has promised billions of euros to belarus should there be signs of their free and democratic election and democratic progress in the country and with minsk it very hard by the global financial crisis this incentive is definitely worth a lot at eight pm local time opposition leaders have promised to bring thousands of people to this very square at savva square square also personally seen some lot of response on social networks where various groups have been set up with all. around two thousand and three and three hundred people confirming their attendance at these rallies the government of course is said that none of these meetings have been sanctioned and police will use it all and every necessary measure to disperse those protests opposition candidates have so far said that they're not planning to throw themselves at the barricades that they simply want to peacefully state their protests and voice their concerns about the legitimacy of this election everybody here of course to really

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 makes it impossible to maintain a common currency so i think that even the strongest federalist will 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 line which is to admit that the euro is a failed currency basically needs to be need to be frank we need to say that if europe should have a common currency we need to have everything governed by brussels the europeans don't want that and therefore a common currency is not realistic we need to get even the economical policies back into the real world and not having it flying around in some cereal. just not only quarter past the hour here in moscow you with r.t. and you can always keep up to date on our website with all the latest news and other stores and here's

observations the money incentive in there having a positive conclusion is a very big one the european union has promised in the galleries but a lot of financial aid billions of euros if there is evidence of free and democratic elections perhaps that is why look so that will allow the opposition some semblance of freedom giving them on air time and sanction anti-government rallies but critics of course say that that is all for show international observers are still to publish their reports and will of course update you when we get them. the most could reach in his own security with hundred people detained as part of attempts to prevent violence thanks to ethnic tensions there with a recent wave of clashes between russia. minorities rather and please three thousand people have been detained in the last week. as an illegal prejudiced a days ago following the death of a football fun in a break with native north kook asians the gathering turned into a ride with ethnic minorities and please. at times there was a repeat of the clashes on wednesday when extremist russian gibson migrants from the no

the reforms were carried under instructions from the imf and european union, which underlined the factthat greece has lost its financial independence. as far as unions are concerned, all of these reforms are things that are going to set labour relations back to the middle ages. the prime minister said that it was essential to give firms the flexibility of the wages so that they can stay afloat another would not be more unemployment. this is some of the worst social unrest the country has seen this year, but still, the government refuses to be railed -- to be derailed. bbc news, athens. >> let's give you the latest headlines this hour on "bbc world news." six leading figures have been named publicly by the international criminal court. and the u.s. justice department is suing b.p. and several other companies for the gulf oil spill. after last weekend's fatal shooting at a match followed by an outbreak of ethnic violence, no charges. hundreds of people were rounded up in a massive security sweep. >> on the streets, hundreds of arrests. there have been reports that people from the caucasu