the fate of a foreign journalist kidnapped by syrian rebels remains unknown after a ransom deadline passes for execution. seismic decision in britain it's a suspension on controversial fracking and gas extraction despite the practice being blamed for causing earthquakes. in response to america's magnitsky act which targets russian officials paul says its first reading. online on screen international news and comment live from the russian capital there's been no word about the fate of ukrainian journalists being held hostage in

syria after a deadline for execution set by rebels passed on thursday. who's assisted r.t. along with other media outlets during the syrian conflict was abducted by insurgents two months ago they threatened to kill her if a fifty million dollar ransom wasn't paid. takes up the story. well the deadline has passed with no word as to whether or not she is dead or alive she was reportedly kidnapped by the free syrian army and held for ransom of fifty million u.s. dollars she was taken hostage nearly two months ago and since then has appeared in two separate videos in the first she appeals to the ukrainian government to pay the ransom money and state her free in a second which many believe was made under duress she admits to being a spy but the point needs to be made that just about everyone believes that this video was made under extreme pressure and darts the object of mists of what she was saying now reporters without borders amnesty international and a number of other nongovernmental organizations have called on the free syrian army

as well as the syrian national coalition they've demanded that they immediately secure her release saying that this is the first taste of the newly widely recognized government at the same time the same rebels in egypt and the. video in which they have said that no russian no ukrainian and no rain in will leave syria alive so there is deep concern as to her fate. russia says the recent official recognition of syrian rebels by the u.s. and its allies is only fueling the armed conflict in syria moscow also reiterated its position that political dialogue is the only solution to the conflict as well to europe is going to reports. for the past twenty four hours international media has been buzzing with speculation that russia changed its position on the cough against syria now the speculation in the media began after on thursday one of the foreign ministry senior officials was misinterpreted when he quoted the syrian

syrian opposition which said that president assad was losing control over the country now there's been an official announcement from the foreign ministry which basically says russia's stance on the issue is still the same and still does not support any side of the conflict it does not plan to shoulder president assad although the situation in syria is deteriorating and russia is looking at the possibility of evacuating russian citizens out of there the foreign ministry has stressed once again that there could be only one solution to the conflict which is a diplomatic one without any foreign military intervention it should be based on the principles that we should in geneva which basically call on both sides to immediately and simultaneously put their weapons down start up a little process and for the international community to apply equal pressure on them to do so. the german parliament has approved the deployment of patriot missiles to turkey is now also ready to send up to four hundred soldiers to operate

the batteries for similar decisions by the u.s. and the netherlands all the same to protect ankara from potential syrian attacks but historian jeremy sold says there are other reasons for. the reason for staging the missiles on syria's border is not because of an attack by syria because there's actually no likelihood that syria is going to attack turkey and in any case those missiles are to be directed against planes or ballistic missiles not against the artillery shells all mortars that inform the the turkish border accidentally so the obvious question is why those patriots there speculations based on the fact that perhaps they're there as the first step to declaring and on and direct measurement intervention sometime next year and one has to ask the question who did the germans who did the british who did the americans who do you think it's appalling in syria they're not supporting groups who are committed to democracy they're not supporting groups that committed to political transition they're not

comporting groups that are committed to in any way the formation of an open transparent state. or we've got further insight into the various opposition groups in syria as well as how the deployment of nato weapons in turkey may change the balance of power in the region. a russian bill targeting americans accuse of violating russians rights has passed its first reading it's a response to sanctions on russian officials being put in place by the us. has more on who the new law is targeting. this bill would target those accused of committing human rights crimes against russians some possible examples of that there have been a number of very emotive and controversial cases in the past few years of russian children adopted by u.s. citizens and in some cases those adoptions have resulted in the deaths or mistreatment of those russian children in one case that of dmitri yakovlev

a young boy he was left inside a car and died in extreme heat some russian lawmakers have considered attaching his name to the bill the bill also targets u.s. citizens accused of kidnapping or illegal imprisonment of russian citizens russia has for a long time said it is opposed to the twenty five year prison sentence given to victor boot a businessman considered by russia considered by america a dangerous arms dealer this russian bill comes as a direct response to the surrogate magnitsky bill passed by u.s. lawmakers recently as a way to target russian officials accused by the u.s. of involvement in the death of the lawyer sir game magnitsky in prison in russia in two thousand and nine the magnitsky bill is expected to be signed into law by u.s.

president barack obama later today. more stories to catch up with including the european court of human rights rules for the first time that the cia has used torture that's often members of the u.s. intelligence agencies sort of mind them beat a german citizen who was wrongly detained on suspicion of terrorism because the full story right now at all to talk. plus leave it like a millionaire the former c.e.o. of the world's largest nickel producer breaks all records in russia with an unprecedented payout on leaving his job. to the. leaders try to wrap up a year of crisis with a little optimism one warning

a spoiled the summit mood the european parliament president criticized the union for taking part in endless debates and told them to actually come up with plans to help people well for more on this and other european woes i'm joined by james midway from the new economics foundation and james the european parliament president he's called on his colleagues to sort out this institutional mess at long last what exactly does it mean and could it be sorted out. well it's a it's a fair claim for him to be making a i can sense his frustration that similar frustration for an awful lot of people right the way across the continent now this situational mess is the same mess the plunged into ever since the start of the debt crisis back in october two thousand and nine you have a dysfunctional monetary union that they could try to resolve by bringing a banking union which they have elements of now bringing in proper support for potentially failing banks undercapitalised banks which they don't have by trying to

introduce some form of fiscal and political union right the way across the entire eurozone which would allow some imbalances that developed to be resolved now that last one isn't going to happen any time soon and it doesn't look like despite whatever pleading or even angry words from european parliament maybe maybe out there will hundreds of thousands europeans the same the same thing they want to see practical measures to sort out the crisis exactly what this president's been saying of course the misery has been causing the austerity measures do you think perhaps their message is finally being heard but least one official in brussels. but it would be nice to think so the measures adopted since two thousand and nice the start of the crisis this idea of basically you impose austerity absolutely everywhere that you demand of countries like greece and spain and ireland and portugal they do everything they can to public spending to whack up taxes for most people to try and balance the books has been an absolute disaster i mean very very obviously and demonstrably so now i think shouldn't be much argument about this

although dare say debates will rule on and so that if there was an attempt made to reverse that policy to say instead that the thing to do in a major recession is for governments to invest to create jobs to get out there and spends knots to do precisely what governments have done which is desperately then perhaps we'd look towards a slightly more optimistic future but he said to be realistic is me in knowledge of the social unrest this is all causing using a euro which is not democratic will never be accepted by ordinary people stating the obvious we're seeing are we influence compromising any democratic process in europe at the moment that's what people are angry about. that's just part of it i mean part of the issue here is that the european union has as never been a democratic project in the past i think it was accepted by people because it delivered the goods it looked like that you'd have more press prosperous societies economic success maybe even pace which of course the dubious awarded the nobel peace prize just earlier this week these are the good deeds but you don't get

democracy on top of all that when it's a serious crisis i think suddenly the entire institution is really thrown open to question by people right the way across the continent thrown open to question but isn't it just a bit too late he said that the e.u. officials must ensure the crisis doesn't rob young europeans of their future will hold the young people employed and employed in greece and spain we're seeing at the moment that's an indication that this warning is come too late isn't it. i think so i think in this case it's an issue of fine words buttering no person it's the truth is that what the you and the european central bank and backed up by the i.m.f. the international monetary fund have imposed on greece spain and portugal and ireland over the last two years the demand for austerity is precisely the reason that youth unemployment as you said in greece is now around fifty percent and approaching similar levels in much of the rest of southern europe it's the e.u. this being the problem here it's not being part of the solution in any way just one is about significance in to what is this president's been saying does it perhaps

suggest there are political cracks in brussels here we have a top official being openly critical of the rest of europe. i mean there are always political cracks in brussels and across europe you have a group of countries that will agree on some things but won't agree on everything and when you start to push them together when they start to end up in a deep economic crisis it's also a crisis of institutions of course they start to squabble and that's what we've seen over the last few years no real agreement on what to do next because everyone has their own somewhat divergent interests and that's germany doesn't want to carry the can for failing greek banks greece doesn't understandably necessarily want to interrupt implementor stare at it all these things clash and so of course he starts the disagreements emerging right to the very top it's good to talk to james thanks a lot for that james me at the nuclear negotiations in london. the u.k. government has given the green light to the resumption of the controversial gas drilling technique known as fracking but the methods heavily criticised for its destructive environmental impact including causing massive water pollution and even

earthquakes. has more. driller is the only company with a license to conduct fracking in the u.k. but that's all set to change now that the government has given its blessing for the controversial method of extracting shale gas from underground already operates several wells here in lancashire but the divisive technology was temporarily banned last year and with good reason to the fracking taking place here. minor earthquake says. it was terrifying. a local unpaid is doing very little he said i don't know a lot about it well he should know a lot about it you're going. to lie shareholders pockets this is not going to benefit and it will be a legacy toxic legacy for our children hundreds of miles away in london the capital's outspoken mayor calls shell gas also to the nation's prayers and the reserves in lancashire america but for residents here in this trying to call corner

of england it's a blight on their otherwise peaceful community and the prospect of more fracking sweeping the countryside is frightening but they keep talking about it being a people and where those reserves are all the way down i think at the moment about. how much better off will be but. the technology may raise fares but the promise of riches from the rush for shale gas has set politicians pulses racing despite mounting opposition which has spread beyond lancashire. struction using hydraulic fracturing techniques is a high risk activity which as many benefits for foreign investors or very little for the people of britain. is dirty energy. it is a short and not very intelligent solution. they're going to get

money out of a drug program to. bring corrupt governments would do anything for money i think it's just sort of resource money they can just get the money so this is not really for the country's best interest i don't believe to do that way brussels isn't convinced either the european parliament is reportedly considering regulating the budding shale gas industry concerned that britain doesn't know what it's doing by throwing itself wholeheartedly into the controversial practice at the minute we are not self-sufficient in gas and haven't been for a very long time we were but in actual fact we import about half of gas now we see that in the us gas prices are a quarter of what they were i want to fight this suit to put this issue to print is much less so there are many reasons why i feel gas if it can be made to work would be attractive in terms of purity of life and also probably in terms of price

stability and that's what's drowning out the warnings bringing down people's energy bills means politicians and big business can press ahead even though those living in the shadow of fracking facilities know that the government is playing with fire . lancashire. still have the here and talk to the wrong could soon be back on track to roll in the un atomic agency both praise a recent visit by inspectors as part of the team once again being barred from accessing a suspicious at a tree site. the bundestag officially limits the level of love you can show your pet but the new. legislation upsets the country's one hundred files and opens you files that and other stories.

you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so for lengthly you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture.

more news today violence is once again flared up the film these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. corp to rule the day.

r.t. live here in moscow finally there are signs of progress in talks between iran and the un atomic agency after months of standstill a recent mission to tehran has given rise to expectations that inspectors could be allowed access to iran's nuclear program next year the u.n. team of experts say they were happy with their visit despite a failure to get access to the parchin military base which is suspected of previously hellsing nuclear activities the us however is stiffening sanctions against iran and america's ally israel has warned it could strike iran if diplomacy and sanctions fail but a former top iranian diplomat in an interview with our sati said israel's exploiting the issue to justify its own weapons program is a preview of what's coming up later. even today israel is the are always using

the wrong issue. or justifying the nuclear bomb saying iran is existential threat for easily but the fact is israel is that israel produced nuclear bomb before islamic revolution because of iran where the shah of iran was that easily. israeli nuclear bomb has nothing to do with iran because it was. produced before of evolution now they are using islamic revolution in order to justify which i would not be so human. interview in full coming your way a little later here in r.t. to some other international news now a gunman who opened fire at an elementary school in the u.s.

state of connecticut is reportedly dead and while the numbers are unconfirmed it suggested there are a number of other people dead including at least one child all local schools have been put in to lockdown in newton. after nineteen people have reportedly been injured today in violence in egypt city of alexandria and a constitutional referendum due to be held supporters of the president of gallon for major rallies in the capital current the opposition is campaigning. mainly by the islamist group backing the president referendum follows two weeks of demonstrations by protesters and loyalists which lead to clashes which have led to clashes in the capital. israel's foreign minister has resigned following accusations of money laundering and breach of trust and he was charged on thursday but denied committing any crime the move comes ahead of israel's upcoming parliamentary elections where the right wing party of lieberman and the prime minister netanyahu was predicted to win.

germany's getting tough on heavy petting parliament passed a new. law or banning interspecies relationships and that's upset thousands of germans you say the loves of their lives will be taken away all of it has more of a story. well now i know mom's best friend and sometimes more. than i need an animal to be happy life i did not have it there would be something missing . but i can fall in love with you around more than in the sexual relationship is not another question it's about these people make up some of the estimated one hundred thousand zero files in germany and well it started slowly or more like child's play some kids playing doctor with each other and it's not necessarily sexual talk somewhat small experimentation that leads you further down the path.

technically it has been illegal since the color of trees animal welfare laws were relaxed in one nine hundred sixty nine that sex with animals was dropped from the start books. it is led to a boom in the practice and the proliferation of websites and even brothels devoted to it after new laws approved this week come into force the practice will again be considered illegal this group claim there will be a witch hunt when it comes into force. the way this law is written means that all you need is a rumor or accusation for the agency to get involved in take your pet away it also affects not just those who practice best where for example in their home or has certain issues and all you need is a suggestion that this could have happened for sex and you got into an accusation spiral that reminds you of very dark times in german history. the zoo affiliate campaigners say that here in the german parliament there legislating against

morality however the law makers themselves say that it's only the welfare of the animals that they care about. policy and morality but we're improving animal protection a lot we would like to specify that it is forbidden to call some lives were sexual relationship with the line is when you call the suffering to an animal for your personal second great if. denmark sweden and belgium currently the only e.u. states with filial law that leaves the prospect that these countries could become a destination for a zoo a fellow tourism animal rights activists hope the move by the bomb the stock will become a europe wide band yeah yes we would support the european wide ban and be fairly t. where stand behind other nations and we need to catch up. just outside of berlin as one of the largest animal shelters in europe consent is

a major issue while those involved in animal welfare say must be addressed as dogs are loyal even when they're abused they're still going to look as if they're. especially when it gets enough to eat dogs will be happy whatever you dictate but that is not a sign that the dog is enjoying. those in relationships with our littles though confident that their love is legitimate in fear for the future. they fantasize about castrating you're taking my animals away our friend has found a razor blade in this post with a note do it yourself so we don't have to letters don't arrive too often but they arrive every now and then in the subway someone was yelling at me calling me names i'm concerned about tax could become physical without an office. these are all over r t charity. when i'll be back with more news for you in thirty five minutes from now and the meetup will be crossing over to our washington studios and lauren that

list as capital account will be coming your way that's in just a few minutes from now. it sounds like a dragon crashing through the forest but it is in fact technology this is trees and would you believe it this machine can fall and strip hundreds of them each day get a widget when building this facility we wanted to use advanced technology that would increase of patient c. and allow us not to use manual labor also this provides for better quality goods as a result we were able to conquer western markets the demand for corrina birchwood is high since our production line is quite efficient where i would want to hide wages to our employees so the trunks end up here where they turned into planks which branch off for all manner of uses these would exports

a march but not all of it goes abroad. here in the museum island of traditional methods they used to build and maintain churches and dwellings. dating back hundreds of years in this whole what cooling is used to water riches by. complexity these planks are about to become part of something which exemplifies the combination of tradition and technology. but here at the valley on both viking boat makers what is fashioned into their souls new and old they range from small private boats to replicas used in the historical t.v. series. are going to we're my boots are all special they're like children to me we have to design them and build them from scratch it's always sad when we have to part ways every time we sail away while we remain at the dark and pavel gets much of his timber from karelia same customers pine for its high quality wood. which

brings us to the first six million cubic metres of wood is cut down in careers forests every year that goes to make everything from farm houses to firewood and with growing is proximity to europe and the baltic it's big forests big business. morning news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. china operations are today.

good afternoon welcome to capital account i'm lauren lyster here in washington d.c. these are your headlines for thursday december thirteenth two thousand and twelve municipal bonds traditionally seen as a safe investment worth the basis of marin's whitney's crisis warnings in two thousand and ten now she predicted hundreds of billions of dollars in default over the next twelve months which never really came to be but since then we have seen some high profile city bankruptcies particularly in my home state of california so is there a dark underbelly lurking in muni landed how might the fiscal cliff impact this three point seven trillion dollar market we'll ask the author of the reuters dot com muni land column long and you may wonder how the fiscal cliff impacts news well it's a potential change to the tax exempt status of municipal bond interest yeah out there for.