reassures seoul it's committed to south korea's defense. 30 years after john lennon's tragic death beatle fans look back on his legacy. the founder of the wikileaks website julian assange nb in custody for a week after -- has been in custody for a week. prosecutors want to talk to him about allegations the sexual monthliestations and rape. his supporters put up a large sum of known get him out on bail but this was refused. staff on his whistle blowing website plan to carry on releasing leaked diplomatic correspondence. frank gardner's report contains some flash photography. >> a media scrum this afternoon as the elusive wikileaks founder was brought to court in west minister. julian assange is accused of sex crimes in sweden which he denies. the judge refused him bail pending extradition. >> i believe mr. assange could have been safely released today. the judge took a different view but it was clear that it was a close call in his mind. and he's of course asked now to see the evidence that is against him so he can assess the strength of these allegations which we believe to be very -- >>

we have a sampling of public opinion in seoul. it comes from justin mccurry of our international reporting partner, global post. >> reporter: air raid sirens warn of an impending attack on the south korean capital seoul. the source of the threat: north korea. fortunately, it is only a drill. but as residents of a city just 27 miles from the border with north korea, the people of seoul are accustomed to preparing for the worst. this recent civil defense exercise was the largest in years. traffic was brought to a halt; people were ordered into 25,000 shelters across the country. it is a rehearsal for what south koreans fear most-- a surprise attack from north korea, and the start of another bloody conflict, almost 60 years after civil war saw the countries separated by the most heavily fortified bord in the world. the north has been showing increased signs of aggression. in march it sunk a south korean navy vessel called the cheonan, killing 46 sailors. and in november, it shelled yeonpyeong island, a south korean territory close to

now let's go to nemo kim in seoul. >> thank you, jaymee. in this economic outlook for 2011 announced tuesday that south korean government said it expects the nation's economy to grow about 5% in 2011. mainly due to increased exports. the government forecasted exports will grow 10% in 2011, amid the global economy's steady recovery. it says auto exports expected to increase. lastly due to free trade agreement with the european union that takes effect in july. the government also projects a rise in semiconductor exports amid strong global sales of mobile phones. and what were this year's hit products? on wednesday, the economic research institute announced its list of products that captured the hearts and wallets of south koreans this year. smartphon smartphones were south korea's number one hit product in 2011. up from number five last year. number two was tv program "superstar k2," a local version of "american idol." rounding out the top five were the south korean women's national soccer team, social networking services, and tablet pcs. the

and very mild. 12 degrees in seoul and tokyo is going to be 7 degrees. very warm for this time of year we head over to the americas. the winter storms affect eastern canada and heavy rain for the northeastern corner of the u.s. so significant snow and sleet will continue to affect ontario, canada and then heavy rain developing around the great lakes region and then for the northeastern corner of the u.s. you need to watch out for things like flooding. drying up in the southeast. it is going to be a little bit chillier than yesterday and across the upper midwest, frigid air continues to dominate.r tow northwestern corner, another round of coastal rain and inland snow. we can potentially see significant snow up in the cascades and northern rockies. 4 degrees in seattle. 13 in denver. mild in los angeles and 21 in houston. not too bad here. certainly looking much cooler across atlanta today. 11 degrees and 22 in miami. now, we take you to the freezing cold in europe. the freezing cold and heavy snow have caused severe disruption of air traffic and road traf

richardson said he came back with positive signals from p'yongyang, but the view from officials in seoul is the north is sticking with their two track policy like in the past. on one hand, they are signaling dialogue, but at the same time keeping up the military pressure to remind the u.s. and south korea of a doctor -- of a darker picture. analysts see this as a typical from the north as they jointed walk away from nuclear talks for years what continuing to buy time to develop their nuclear program. >>> the greek parliament has approved next year's budget which imposes the spending cuts and sharp tax hikes. this was an exchange for 110 billion euros of bailout from the imf and the european union. earlier, demonstrators against the measure hit the streets. >> in the end, their resistance was blown away. all day, they had demonstrated outside of the greek parliament, striking trade union members determined to stop the government's plans for an austerity budget. previous protests had turned violent. at this time, the police took no chances. but their shields were not needed. the demonstrat

our thanks reporting from seoul. much more with the developing story later today on "good morning america." >> in washington, a lame duc joohee cho reporting from seoul. much more with the developing story later today on "good morning america." >>> in washington, a lame duck session of conference faces a very busy week. lawmakers have managed to prove some piece of legislations which will be stalled for weeks. there are major bill to be voted on. mike marusarz reports. >> reporter: the lame duck congress is at a full place this week. and several menu items are aren't sitting well for republicans. a rare sunday session served up more disagreements on a nuclear treaty with russia. >> i think the verification provisions are inadequate and i do worry about the missile defense implications of it. >> reporter: it now appears to have passed reducing the number of warheads and providing verification for both countries. democrats are also hoping for a christmas miracle, getting the 9/11 responders health care bill passed befo

he is enrolled in seoul's underground ministry and the voice of the martyrs korea. >> it is important to send food and do humanitarian acts and train and equipt in the gospel to go back there. >> peck another north korean refugee isa student. a city politician near the chine border where she witnessed a timeof massive starvation. >> therwas trouble with the food. up to 80 people dying everyday in the city. when kim il's son died -->> she made her way to southkorea where she started going to church. at first to receive material help like food. after 5 years of readi the bible, she came to faith in jesus christ. >> i know the truth about god. i want to explain it to others

head of the anniversary pyongyang warned it would launch what it calls a secret nuclear war against seoul while the south president promised retaliation if attacked last month north korea shelled the south's island of young pianka killing four people in response to seoul's drills in the area analysts warn more military exercises could risk disturbing the already parked areas balance on the peninsula. the danger is if we have new military exercises at sea because the problem is the land borders very clear the sea border is been arbitrarily and unilaterally established by the south koreans along the northern limit line which is not recognized even by the united states. the recent shelling of the of the island. to palm the south koreans intruding into what the north koreans consider to be their waters the danger is escalation what you hotties sized korean maneuvers which in disputed waters which led to the north korean response of . the artillery shelling of the island we've now seen massive joint u.s. south korean exercises which clearly are leading to the north koreans upping their . uppin

seoul carried out the drills despite increasing threats of retaliation from the north. but, so far, there's been no response from pyongyang. last month after similar exercises, north korea bombarded the island with artillery fire killing four people. pyongyang later warned seoul's military maneuvers were pushing the region to, quote, the brink of war. china, the north's only ally warned south korea against any unnecessary provocation but u.s. officials continue to back seoul's right to hold the drills. >> the republic of korea has every need and right to ready its self-defense. >> reporter: the united nations security council held an emergency session sunday to discuss the ongoing conflict but after eight hours behind closed doors members failed to reach a unified statement condemning north korea's actions. >> the situation continues to be very tense and dangerous. >> reporter: the escalating tensions on the heels of new mexico governor bill richardson's unofficial visit to north korea meeting with government and military leaders during his four-day trip and called for

peace on the edge north korea says it's ready to unleash a sacred war on the south angered by seoul's massive military drills what it calls the. living with leprosy russians in a remote village feel that battle is no longer with the disease but with the stigma which society imposes on them. for the banking big shots to take cover a financial guru max kaiser takes. imax kaiser and this is the cause the report i'm here in london where the bankers are demanding their year end bonuses and the government is asking the blues mr berger don't steal any more of our money and the bankers are saying wait a minute if we can steal your money we might leave and the government is saying no you would you still owe money meanwhile the i.m.f. is asking people ireland to suffer more austerity while the i.m.f. is redecorating its lush headquarters and wash.

of the anniversary of pyongyang warned it would launch what it called a secret nuclear war against seoul while the south president promised retaliation if attacked last month north korea shelled the south island of young young pianka killing four people in response to seoul's drills in the area analysts say the south koreans say south korea and the u.s. are seeking to destroy north korea as an independent state. the united states' policy for the last sixty years has been to seek the collapse of the north korean state and its absorption into the south. the lead government is more closely aligned with the u.s. foreign policy goals on the korean peninsula. say the governments of presidents rowan presidents kim. in south korea. president lee is often times seen as a puppet of the united states and. the area around his office is called by many south koreans the news united state of south korea south korea certainly seized on any opportunity it can to escalate tensions there is the sinking of the south korean. chain on that which was immediately blamed on north korea over north korean denials

told r t that seoul is developing a military strategy towards reunification. i think that peeling. has very few options you must recognize that north korea is a military pipsqueak in relation to south korea whose military budget is many times larger than north koreans and south korea is integrated with the preeminent military power in the world today the united states. so the options available to the yang are very limited to. the best they can do is to develop what deterrence it can but it's clearly being provoked and it has been provoked for some time ever since the current south korean president lee myung bak has come to office lease policy is to confront north korea to seek its collapse and to absorb it into the south it will take for example the life fire exercises south korea has conducted forty seven live fire exercises this year alone. there was a forty eighth ones that has been carried out yesterday. that was initially scheduled but one south korean officer said that the head anyway because of the tensions on the korean peninsula which only makes sense if the intention is t

we have this report from seoul, korea. >> it was not just the liberal threats from north korea. south korea counted down for its live fire exercises. they blamed the u.s. for being a bigger threat on the peninsula and north korea and called for the drills to stop. but despite such concerns of other voices of restraint in the region, south korea went ahead with eli fire drills on schedule. on the island, villagers and journalists were moved to bunkers and the exercise went on for about 60 minutes, and then they asked why north korea has to carry out these at such a sensitive time. some believe it was that they wanted to prove a point. the government here is try not to be prescriptive about when and where military drills can take place. >> the ongoing live fire exercise on yeonpyeong island is a standard and legitimate defense exercise. the exercise is a matter of national sovereignty. >> earlier, the north had warned that if the exercises went ahead, it would attack the south more strongly and on a larger scale than before. rocket launch vehicles had been reported near the border

he said seoul is to blame for the north's artillery of a south korean island and also said the united states is obstructing the six-party talks. it is believed that he reits rated these views when he met lavrov. >>> iran's president mahmoud ahmadinejad has fired his foreign minister in an attempt to apparently reflect the company's hardline foreign policy. om made the announcement on monday op the presidential office website. he said vice president alley akbar is a lay i had who heads the country's atomic energy organization will double as interim foreign minister. he did not disclose a reason for the dismissal. iran's media reported that the news came as a surprise as motaki is is visiting the african nation ofsenegal. mediaaised the possibility of a rift between ahmadinejad and motaki. it cited his o opposition to the president's appointment of six special foreign envoys in august and also stressed the foreign relation between him and ahmadinejad's rparliamentary rival. iran is at odds with the country. it is speculated ahmadinejad intended to reinforce his tough stance on the nucle

abc news, seoul. >> facebook.com ceo mark zuckerberg is in china this morning touring the top searchngine there. the meeting between zuckerberg who has study manned erin and its ceo in beijing after posting gloomy photos of zuckerberg online. the world's largest internet market is china. they won't say what the tech mobiles discussed. the meeting does not pore tell facebook.com's entry into china which has actually blocked facebook.com since 2009. breaking news. a live look at terminal a at new washing liberty international airport in new jersey. one of the busiest airports in the country where officials have shut everything down. while they investigate a bomb threat. you can see a lot of police vehicles there. we know the bomb squad has been called but officials are not saying much else yet. we'll continue to bring you more as we get it. again, terminal a at newark international airport completely shut down while officials investigate a bomb threat. if there's any impact on sfo traffic into or out of newark, we will certainly be bringing that to you this morning. 4:57. next at 5:00

last month north korea shelled the south island of young pianka killing four people in response to seoul's the drills in the area analysts warn more military exercises would risk disturb the already precarious balance on the peninsula. the danger is if we have new military exercises at sea because the problem is the land borders very clear the sea border is been arbitrarily and unilaterally established by the south koreans along the northern limit line which is not recognized even by the united states. the recent shelling of the of the island. was consequent upon the south koreans intruding into what the north koreans consider through their waters the dangerous escalation what you hide is sized to. in maneuvers. in disputed waters which led to the north korean response of. the artillery shelling of the island we've now seen massive joint u.s. south korean exercises which clearly are leading to the north koreans upping their i. think their readiness for for future for a future attack or military adventurism i don't think anyone's intending to start if you want a full scale war at this point

close to the border with north korea this part threats of retaliation from pyongyang moscow cold on seoul to counseling military exercises. warning they might cause unpredictable developments in the region. joined by correspondent sara firth. about what's being going on at the border between the two koreas. well the fight the threat of war by north korea we're seeing today those military drills being carried out by south korea now they've been carried out today also they were delays at the weekend by bad weather and they've not been completed we had about forty people were evacuated from the front line border. and this comes after eight hours of talks last night to the u.n. security council emergency meeting to try and calm the tensions not the meeting with discussing a drive russian draft could all north and south korea pay for framing from escalating this. there may be. vision of tension. serious conflict for that matter so in the big chamber when they have this private meeting which was also of course asked for by the russian federation. we reiterated to cool the strain on both parties

biggest player up between the two to be a since the war in one thousand fifties russia has called on seoul to cancel the exercise warning it could further destabilize this stabilized i should say the already volatile korean peninsula. there may be issued a sort of an aggravation of tension and a serious conflict for that matter so in the big chamber when they have this private meeting which was also of course asked for by the russian federation. we reiterated the call or a full forty strained on both borders in the no one certain terms we asked for would ask the republic of korea to differing from conducting this exercise at this at this point in time but there are certain political circumstances would try to deal with this situation unfortunately so far the security council has not been entirely successful. professor ruediger frank from the university of vienna says that these war games conducted by south korea are damaging the country's reputation . rather cleared out solved group b. if you things to gain and very many things to use from such a strategy it seems that domestic politics yo

the south the north's defense minister's statement was reported by state media the minister accused seoul of deliberately stoking tension by staging successive joint military drills with the u.s. next to north korean territory he said this latest exercise one of the largest in the south's history was an outright preparation for attack. the maneuvers involve heavy military machinery fighter jets missile launchers and hundreds of troops and was held just thirty kilometers from the border a series of war games comes in the wake of the recent cross border artillery exchange that killed four south koreans going forward a former british parliament member and author of the book north korea on the brink says he believes that no one state intends to start a war but the rhetoric is becoming alarming. the danger is if we have new military exercises at sea because the problem is the land borders very clear the sea border is been arbitrarily and unilaterally established by the south koreans along the northern limit line which is not recognized even by the united states. the recent shelling of the isla

in the area the exercises prompted pyongyang to accuse seoul of provocation bowing to turn the islands near the border with and worked into military fortresses the situation remains tense after the two neighbors exchanged fire late last month the attack killed two south korean marines and two civilians american anti-war campaigner sarah flounders believes the u.s. is it would really be working on the to push the peninsula over the edge. definitely a provocation and intended provocation as are the past military maneuvers both last july and again in november the united states government may really be orchestrating a confrontation we should never forget the gulf of tonkin incident as it was called that led to the vietnam war the united states is no longer in the position it was sixty years ago when it was the great power in the region it is today an empire in serious decline and decay and attempting to do too military many aircraft carriers what it no longer has a productive capacity to do it really is an attempt to get out of the economic crisis globally with more military expenditures a

korea warned it is ready to start a nuclear war if the south continues with military provocations seoul has been conducting live fire military exercises next to the border with the north and in disputed waters north korean t.v. has shown soldiers who reportedly took part in the shelling of a south korean island last month they say it was in response to south korea's aggressive war games four people including two marines were killed in the attack it is believed to be the worst escalation of tension on the peninsula since the war sixty years ago an expert on korea glyn ford says no one is provoking a war deliberately but the situation can easily spiral out of control. the danger is if we have new military exercises at sea because the problem is the land borders very clear the sea border is been arbitrarily and unilaterally established by the south koreans along the northern limit line which is not recognized even by the united states and the the recent shelling of the of the island i actually was called squanto palm the south koreans intruding into what the north koreans consider through

tensions high on the korean peninsula as pyongyang threatens a secret nuclear war of seoul carries out wallboard speaking on state t.v. the north groups have accused the south of provoking indictment with tacking yongpyong island last month. and warsaw questions russia's findings on a plane crash that killed the former polish president and ninety five others the leaders brother claims the body buried in krakow doesn't belong to like a chance to but experts say moscow conducted a thorough investigation. with the news in fifteen minutes and your farmers up next though with the sports update stay with us. hello there thanks for watching the sport and this is what is coming up. the latest from the kontinental hockey league where atlanta had a full straight win. last in england a busy festive period begins and chelsea prepared to face arsenal in the big. boss alone up unveiled their latest signing the national with fuel that you put him after they. start their with the kontinental hockey league. good form continues beating western conference leaders dinar moscow three nil for their fourth w

talks seoul washington first of all speaking is that this is good now it's not the proper time for thealk and conduct of the military exercises which are exercises and. disease. like nobody here would give a ground to except the. boy or. statement is unfortunately graded and of course he's very informed people. which is clear or at least the washington and seoul has another agenda and another line of behavior didn't resist scryer. i'm going pretty sure there's a drug to use first of all a military force means an exercise military exercise once and those wars are now north korea's nuclear program was also at the core of minutes of ministers meeting gang expressed its readiness to engage in six party talks but now the south and the u.s. are turning these backs with what you called military exercises how possible are the negotiations at this point. what we can speak from the clues of course just no six party talks. have nor chance to read you in because the prospect of her but of course important. i think is a movement towards the six party talks receptions it's really important and resho

close to a disputed maritime zone calling them a reckless military provocation russia has called on seoul to cancel the exercise warning it could further destabilize the already volatile korean peninsula artists are first reports. korea has now responded to these military drills to the carried out this morning by south korea despite previous threats that they said that they would respond that she was taken they've said that the no it's going to retaliate the reason that they cited this was the south korea actually changed its firing say and say the shells that came from that military drill actually landed further away from north korean territory i know from previous military drills are being carried out there are unconfirmed reports so the shelter phone north korean territory i must possibly what provoked the attack we saw the last time this military drill was carried out this also comes off the talks last night at a u.n. security council meeting this is held russia's request but we had the russian ambassador to the u.n. saying the russian draw statement is really cool for both north and

strikes first the north korean minister accused seoul of making a bad situation worse by holding a live fire military drills along the disputed border he said the latest exercise one of the largest in the south's history was an unmistakable preparation for an attack on the north the exercises brought heavy military machinery fighter jets missile launchers and troops within thirty kilometers of the border with north korea the new drills following a young. killing four washington based investigative journalist went. there's more than the eye going on in the korean peninsula and the results could be global. doesn't seem that the united states is restraining the south korean president lee myung bak who we have to remember is a right wing very conservative president who has a lot of support from the south korean evangelical community and now we know that they're going up to the d.m.z. and they're being allowed to like at the light of christmas trees which the north koreans are saying this is a provocation maybe north and south korea are acting as proxies for big power politics in the region

ally but according to all south of the media i just returned from seoul yesterday is that it is going to cost the state of the presidency internationally south korea is taking a very great race would say because sulkily is not home rubio began to expect a new cold behavior for four year olds do the south koreans in the last few years were able to display themselves as the good guys as the peaceful ones that are constantly being provoked by the north. korea itself takes such a hard time the hard measures of approach to the whole issue. very quickly how could the public opinion of multiples of changes and regard south korea as part of the fault so the actual moral high ground that's all who has been occupied is not all really endangered in many ways. for many people in poor central asian states russia is seen as a land of opportunity millions of migrants fok here every year in search of greener pastures but many are forced to work in legally and their life is far from perfect as arena go scott now reports. here for the federal migration service comes knocking on the door at four o'clock

waters for south koreans were killed in the shelling of a border island over a month ago since then seoul and holding more military drills provoking start warnings from the north military chief says the country will launch a retarded three nuclear strike if the south keeps firing on the border it is the worst tension on the peninsula since the war sixty years ago an expert on korea glyn ford says a new war is unlikely but will remain a possibility as long as the south keeps testing the most patient. the danger is if we have new military exercises at sea because the problem is the land borders very clear the sea border is been arbitrarily and unilaterally established by the south koreans along the northern limit line which is not recognized even by the united states and the the recent shelling of the of the island actually was consequent upon the south koreans intruding into what the north koreans considered through their waters the dangerous escalation what you heart is south korean maneuvers which in disputed waters which led to the north korean response of of the artillery shelling of t

because in this part of the world seoul has been and i think always been the key pivot point. host: so as we saw a united germany you are skeptical we can see that in the short term for north and south korea? guest: yes. the process of reunification in germany both politically and more importantly economically in getting east germany integrated into a broader german commonwealth into a federal system and rebuilding its economy would seem like nothing what we have to do in north korea. this is a country that has about 22 million people. the state about the size of mississippi, or a country about the size of mississippi that lives in bad levels. people have gone there, report the absolute rudimentry level of any type of social services. people there are utterly cut off from the modern world except for what underground information can get through. it is a country that is a true totalitarian owe site where people have been brainwashed for generations. the psychological and i think economic shocks of sudden reunification would be something that i don't think any of the states are r

seeing highs around 7 in beijing, just 9 in seoul and 14 in tokyo. meanwhile, we start to warm up as we head to taipei, showers there at 24 and 22 in hong kong. what about north america? well, let's talk about the northeast real quickly. we have a very strong system that's off in the atlantic. but take a look at that. look at how strong it is. really windy, incredibly intense, high waves and surf across parts of new england. but in terms of wet weather, we're not going to see so much of it in the next few days. really what's going to drive all the wintery weather we're going to see here is going to be this area, this storm system across the northern plains and in the upper midwest. and this complex of storm systems out in the pacific. what we've got is just a pulse of moisture bringing in a lot of rain across southern california and snow into interior areas, and just widespread snow for mountainous regions. do be careful about that. temperatures across the board are going to be certainly on the cool side in the north. seeing about 5 in vancouver, loo

. >> reporter: sirens filling the air in the capitol city of seoul. people running into the streets with masks covering their faces. fighter jets overhead and police in the streets directing people have where to go while men in hazmat suits check for radiation and none is real but it could be. south korea is preparing for a possible attack by the north with a 20-minute nationwide air raid drill. the largest in the country's history. >> [speaking in native tongue] [ through translator ] >> this exercise is meaningful in that it's taking place at this time when the war threats are actually becoming real. >> reporter: the heightened level of preparedness comes as p pyongyang continues to level threats, after the south en-- intensified the artillery shells and were fired at each other last month. the u.s. ambassador to south korea reaffirming america's partnership with seoul. >> the united states will never waiver in our commitment to the security of the republic of korea. >> reporter: and reiterating the need for china to step up. >> we hope that china w

he is enrolled in seoul's underground ministry and the voice of the martyrs korea. >> it is important to send food and do humanitarian acts and train and equipt in the gospel to go back there. >> peck another north korean refugee isa student. a city politician near the chine border where she witnessed a timeof massive starvation. >> therwas trouble with the food. up to 80 people dying everyday in the city. when kim il's son died -->> she made her way to southkorea where she started going to church. at first to receive material help like food. after 5 years of readi the bible, she came to faith in jesus christ. >> i know the truth about god. i want to explain it to others in north korea. i have been through the systems and know it will be difficult for them. i can share because i have been through it. >> this war blocks the freedom bridge between the 2 countries people leave messages for those they care about on the other side of the wall. they hope all koreas will be united. on the nov side of the border, jog begang to wonder why his government controlled and oppressed christianity. h

the tough talk comes as seoul plans military drills on that island. here's more on what kim jong-il is promising next. >> reporter: more ramped-up rhetoric from north korea. the rogue nation warning south korea against staging live fire drills on the front-line island bombed by the north last month. north korea new promising a deadlier attack this time around. [ through translator ] >> it will be deadlier than the one made on november 23rd, in terms of the scope and powerfulness of the strike. >> reporter: pyongyang said it considers such drills an infringement of its territory and responded to similar firing exercises with the shower of artillery shells last month, killing two marines and two construction workers. and if south koreans are not backing down, promising the military exercises will go on as planned and say they're prepared to teal with any attack. russia's urging the south not to go ahead with the exercises and the state department is defending seoul's decision. these are routine exer ices and there is nothing provocative about the exerci

with seoul moving aggressively to sign regional free trade deals, japanese companies fear being left at a severe price disadvantage to their korean rivals. >>kingston: most experts realize that that what japan needs is to consolidate their farmers. too many lilliputian plots that are not efficient, not competitive, so if you want to improve efficiency and revitalize the japanese agricultural sector, you need to promote consolidation, large-scale farms, which would bring down price of production, and make j agric products cheaper at home, but also perhaps competitive in export markets. >>reporter: experts say the quasi-governmental agri-cooperatives, known as ja, have blocked effortsto weed out part-timers, and have vested interests in supporting many small farms. >>honma: for ja, the matter is numbers, rather than agricultural strengthening. so they maintain membership, five million, to maintain numbers is first priority for them. >>reporter: even rice dealers like tetsu nakajima say japan's agricultural policy is killing farming... >>nakajima: the govt should stop protecting agricul

north korea says it will wage a nuclear war on the south if seoul makes the first move had earlier declared it would respond to latest round of military exercises near the disputed maritime border. and we hear from people living with leprosy in russia who feel their battle is no longer with the disease but with the stigma which society imposes on them. time now for the banking big shots to take cover as artie's of financial guru next kaiser takes a the kaiser report next on r.t. . imax kaiser and this is the cause the report i'm here in london where the bankers are demanding their year end bonuses and.

and tensions run high as seoul holds a nice series of nine bahrain naval exercises displayed warnings a call from pyongyang the u.s. has been holding meetings with south korea and japan in washington demanding north korea it sees as what they call that provoke you to get. up next a look at how america's war on terror has given rise to war of religions in the u.s. triggering the rise of christian nationalism fusspot of all special report is coming out. this crusade. this war on terrorism. is going to take a while. i really believe that the pagans the abortionist and the feminists of the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle all of them tried to secularize america i want the thing in their face and say you helped this happen. they can point to nine eleven and say look we told you something like this was going to happen we're told at the end of the world was coming it would be a great confrontation and see something like this is never happened before and now it's happening and no you should listen to us now you should take note that our messa

and potential is running high as seoul holds a new series of remind firing naval exercises despite warnings a rule from young the u.s. has been holding meetings with south korea and japan and washington demanding north korea seizes what they call it's broken behavior. up next a look now at america's terra has given rise to wars religions and they to us triggering the rise of christian nationalism the second part of our special report is up next here on elsie. warfare mythology. for the advancement of religious ideology. is i feel highly inappropriate. because i think from a place where warfare is very very real and has very real consequences. being an officer from strategic air. means that we understood that a very bad day could result in a nuclear holocaust. that's a reality that we live with every day and when you do live with that reality every day and you take some small part of responsibility for that and for trying to make sure that that doesn't happen every day then you become. i would say rather put out with people who would trivialize these kinds of dire consequences for the world.

in seoul, lawmakers were briefed by the defense minister on the military drills close to the disputed border. officials have so far given a cool response to the offer from the north, hinting it still has not been officially confirmed by the government of p'yongyang. >> the latest headlines, for more than nine months of wrangling iraq finally has most of a new government. that is cold comfort for snowbound travelers. the european commission is threatening action against the airports. the leaders of russia and india signed a contract for the development of a new aircraft. during a visit by the dmitry medvedev that they agreed to double bilateral trade within five years to $20 billion. >> in a changing world, old friendships can be the best. russia and india have been allies since the cold war. now they have agreed to jointly develop a new fighter aircraft. it is a deal worth more than $30 billion to moscow. in return, diplomatic support for india's ambitions. >> russia considers india the strong and deserving candidate for a seat in the un security council. we also talked about the over

phrase and here is one of the most popular teachers at seoul don't know high school. he used to teach english to russian children in the russian town of. which today he teaches russian in alaska none of the children in his class has a slavic name all of them are americans who have decided to learn the language that was once dominant in this part of the world. your wont during briana why all. the. fair this is the you know this thing that. i'm not. here. the gory season self as a representative of the new wave of russian settlers of alaska who fears he makes himself at home the russian legacy is everywhere. because today there are at least about seven hundred. conspicuously russian for example. then the presence of the churches here so you know the words. let's put it like this here in . the presence of the past. after. trying to stick to a lifestyle reminiscent of siberia. people first came here in one thousand six to eight years this is the first house they have built he added we take why they feel you're not young enough how do you choose in an age when for some rea

he said seoul is to blame for the north's artillery shelling of a south korean island. he also said the united states is obstructing the six-party talks. it's believed he reiterated these views when he met lavrof. >>> iran's president mahmoud ahmadinejad has fired a foreign minister in an apparent attempt to reflect the country's hard line foreign policy. ahmadinejad made the announcement on monday on the presidential office website. he said vice president ali akbar salehi who heads the country's atomic energy organization will double as interim foreign minister. he did not disclose the reason for the dismissal. iran's media reported the news came as a surprise as mottaki is visiting the african nation of senegal. the media raised the possibility of a rift between ahmadinejad and mottaki. it cited mottaki's opposition to the president's appointment of six special foreign envoys in august. it also mentioned the close relationship between mottaki and ahmadinejad's rival, parliament speaker ali larijani. iran is at odds with the international community over the country's n

this week tensions why high on the korean peninsula as pyongyang threatens a safeword nuclear war if seoul continues to provoke it was more war games near the disputed sea border. or suppressions russia's findings in a plane crash which killed the former polish president but aspart say moscow has conducted a thorough investigation. and events which have shaped the year well the russian president dmitry medvedev shares his candid views with the country's leading t.v. channels. watching r t with me where even josh welcome to the program this week the new nuclear deal between moscow and washington was given the nod of both countries lower house of russia's parliament voted on friday to give initial approval to the agreement which will slash the sides nuclear arsenals by a third it was approved for ratification by the u.s. senate a few days earlier following months of political wrangling but russian lawmakers will continue their debate in the new year over the ratification documents produced by this.