Hello, thanks very much for joining us. A new berlin wall. Thats how president putin described natos recent actions against russia during his annual tv address to the nation, which has now been going on for two hours. Mr. Putin said the currency crisis was not a result of russias annexation of crimea earlier in the year. He also insisted the ruble will stabilize. He did concede, nonetheless that the government and central bank could have acted more swiftly. Were just on some live pictures from that News Conference, which is continuing, as mr. Putin replies to a question from our own Foreign Affairs editor john simpson, whos just been given an opportunity to speak to the president. 1,200 journalists there with a chance to throw questions. Theres john simpson. Throw questions to mr. Putin, as he has spelled out that the country still runs a surplus and that pensions and Public Sector pay will be protected during what he recognized to be an economic crisis, which he blamed to around about
Children and a woman with stab wounds in a family home in the Northern City of cairns. And the murky world of online sex and blackmail. We have a special report from the philippines on a digital brand of organized crime. Jamies here with all the business, including a look at the fallout from the Falling Oil Price for the wider industry. Exactly, stephen. As oil prices fall, so investment falls. Workers are being laid off. First in the oil industry, and then in connected industries. And Oil Revenues Fall for governments as well. They rein in spending and the fragile politics of many Oil Producing nations will start to fracture. Well be looking at the countries already in danger. A very warm welcome to gmt. It is 7 00 a. M. In washington. Noon here in london. 3 00 p. M. In the Iraqi Kurdish regional capital of erbil, where kurdish leaders are claiming a significant victory in their military confrontation with the militant group known as Islamic State. Kurdish peshmergas say they have pus
Hello. South korea is testing the ability of its Nuclear Power plants to fight a cyber attack. The move comes after threats by a hacker to damage Nuclear Power stations if they with respect shut down by christmas. Diagrams of some of the countrys Nuclear Reactors have been published online in the last few days. Steve evans is in the capital seoul with the latest. Reporter the hackers call themselves the opponents of Nuclear Power from hawaii. Though nobody believes that hawaii is necessarily any connection to them. Theyve been posting documents, internal documents from the Nuclear Industry here in south korea on the web over the past few days. Now, though, theyre also putting warnings up on the web. They say that if three reactors arent closed by christmas day, then a round of destruction will occur. And also theyre threatening to put about 100,000 new documents on the web and asking the question, is this really what you want, this kind of information about Nuclear Power to be out ther
In france, ski resorts are seeing red as warm temperatures in the alps are keeping the snow and the tourists away. We begin in iraq where Kurdish Forces a managed to open up a key corridor to the sinjar mountains pared recent days have involved heavy fightings involving peshmerga troops and an increase in u. S. Airstrike speared the area has been under siege on the Islamic State Organization Since august, trapping thousands of people and prompting a humanitarian crisis. Thomas waterhouse reports. In the foothills of the s injar mountains, kurdish troops assess the the siege of the mountain has been broken, and a safe package has been established, offering hope to the minority population trapped on the hostile slopes. Our hope is that all the people will eventually be able to go back to their own homes and towns. But those in need of evacuation now a corridor has been opened to evacuate those people. Two days of heavy fighting involving a thousand peshmergas and a string of fresh u. S.
Hello, israeli Prime Minister vowed there would be no palestinian state if reprotected on tuesday. Making the declaration hours before polls opened in a close election history. Opinion polls show likud party is trailling the centralist Zionist Union. Candidates have been making appeals. We look at the main contenders. When Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu forced a snap election last year it was all but certain me would keep his job. As israelis go to the polls, the future is less clear. Binyamin netanyahu and his right wing party are trailling behind center left rivals and many analysts say the vote has become a referendum on his tenure. At this rally organised by proisraeli settlement groups, the strain was showing. Translation they are attacking me if we dont close the gap, theres a threat that a leftwing government could come into power. This is the man that could be the next Prime Minister. Isaac herzog is the leader of the labor party. They formed an alliance. Polling suggesting