>> the second remaining member of russian punk band riot -- pussy riot is freed from jail. the capital of one of the key oil-producing states in south sudan falls to the rebels. the u.n. says the situation there after one week of fighting is heading into chaos as hundreds of thousands of civilians are at risk. christmas in north america gets hijacked by a new debate over santa's race. you are watching "france 24."

first to russia, where the second member of pussy riot has been freed. new amnesty for prisoners convicted of nonviolent crimes. both women were defiant as they left their prison. one crying "russia without putin ." the other saying the whole thing was a pr stunt. >> yes, i was keen to reject this amnesty. the president gave an order. that's why i was brought here. now i would like to meet human rights activists. i would like to deal with the issue of prison. i would like to engage in human rights activity. now i'm not afraid of anything anymore, believe me. >> their release comes just three days after the release of mikhail khodorkovsky, who spent more than a decade in jail. speaking after his surprise release, he said he now has to

pay back those who worked so hard for his release. he dismissed any suggestion that he might take a lead role in russian politics, a move that himd have cut -- catapulted to being putin's main opponent. i will bring in our international affairs editor. khodorkovsky said he is going to work to secure the release of other political prisoners. how many political prisoners are left? >> you want the hard numbers. it is a great question. bandying aboute "political prisoners." what does it mean? one of the most respected human rights associations compiled a list last october. it was published in november. they have 70 people on the list which they classified as political prisoners. amnesty calls them prisoners of conscience. 70. the vast majority of those were the greenpeace 30, who have

since been or are going to be allowed to leave the country under this amnesty bill that was signed last week. that is 30 off this list. we are down to 40. another big chunk, about 20 or so, were these protesters. last week, it was announced by a moscow court that they have stopped the criminal prosecution against four of them. eight others will have their trials continued. a large chunk of those have been pardoned or their fates are still uncertain. there are a lot of categories of other people who were involved in drug dealing, what people call trumped up charges -- it leaves tens or dozens more on the list. amnesty international has a much stricter definition when it counts the numbers of what a political prisoner is. it only has 14 on its list. one association says 59 russians

are right now the subject of political prosecutions. many of those have been amnestied or pardoned under this latest bill. >> talk about this notion of political prisoner. what is it exactly and who defines it? >> it is very interesting. human rights groups will --nowledge that russia has that other countries than russia have many more political prisoners. china has over 1300. hase pakistan -- uzbekistan about 2000. russia still has far less. in the soviet state, anyone charged with anti-soviet propaganda -- it got murky. a lot of people were thrown into site -- prison camps or psychiatric wards. there are those who say they were just expressing opinions. in the new russia, it is not

that straightforward. a lot of people are unlawfully convicted. some humans rights organizations say there are thousands of people unlawfully convicted. they could be imprisoned for what they would say our trumped up charges, the human rights are trumped- say r up charges, the human rights activists. as far as political prisoners are concerned, the definition are prisoners of conscience, people who are generally there only because they tried to express their opinion, perhaps at a rally, a political opinion, and were detained for nothing other than trying to express their free political opinion. >> thanks for that. , to south sudan, where fighting is on the rise between government troops and soldiers loyal to the former vice president. the rebel troops have taken control of the capital of the key oil-producing state. 99% of the budget of south sudan

comes from oil. that is a major victory for the opposition. fighting continues around the country. civilian helicopters have evacuated u.s. cities from the site of a u.n. compound. some 3000 citizens from other countries, like canada, britain, and kenya, are still trapped inside. the south sudanese army says it is ready for a major offensive against rebel forces. >> inching closer to a full- blown civil war. the u.n.'s nonessential staff and injured civilians have been evacuated from the u.s., -- the u.n. compound. this has been the scene of some fierce clashes between government troops and rebels. the violence is escalating. >> we started out if actuating wounded, evaluating citizens of various countries -- started out of actuating -- started out evacuateding wounded and

evacuating civilians of various countries. >> people are desperate to get in. meanwhile, the capital of the oil-rich state is now in the hands of rebels. about 5000 civilians have come to the u.n. compound in bentiu. >> our resources are stretched very tightly, but we are continuing to stand by the people of the state. the mission has a collective resolve to remain in south sudan and will not be intimidated. it is rushingys more peacekeeping forces to the country. international voices urged the country to stop fighting. >> in the central african

republic, african union troops fired on demonstrators protesting against the president. one person is reported to have been killed. those 80 troops fired on several hundred christian demonstrators in the capital, bangui. the president became the first muslim leader of the mainly christian nation in march. muslim backers of the celica -- group are protesting french troops in the country. they say they are only there to protect christians. activists say 65 people, many children, were killed by government forces in the city of aleppo. the regime has stepped up its air strikes on the city, killing up to 200 in a bombardment that has gone on for over a week now. >> panic in the neighborhood in aleppo after regime helicopters

unleashed bombs from above. area of the city, residents struggle to rescue a man trapped under a collapsed building. with help, he is finally able to break free. a school in aleppo has also been hit. these children say they were in class when the bombs began to fall. this is shrapnel from the explosion. the aircraft attacked our school year -- school. we were in class when, all of a sudden, and aircraft came and attacked. look at the description -- destruction. we fled from the school. after we left, they attacked again. >> their faces covered in blood and dust. many of the children were brought to this hospital. the doctors try to cope with the influx. for over a week, the syrian

military has been stepping up its aerial bombardment of aleppo , the city still divided into rebel-occupied and regime- occupied areas. the opposition has ordered schools to be temporarily closed and renewed calls for a no-fly zone as an increasing number of civilians lose their lives. france, francois hollande has gotten himself into some hot water. the french president's approval ratings were already low, and now he has irritated algeria. that is after he made what he said was a joke, suggesting algeria was unsafe. >> the controversial comments came before president hollande even began his speech, citing his ministers present at the event, he said -- is back from algeria. he is safe and sound. that is already a lot. for algerian

authorities and citizens. to them, the french president implied their country isn't safe . throughout the week, the controversy grew. a was an event celebrating jewish umbrella group. >> it is triggering controversy. talking in front of an assembly that represents jews. >> in france, too, the opposition lashed out at the president. >> if the president could at least stop making jokes about foreign states, it would allow us to have less conflicted relations with everyone. >> on sunday, francois hollande tried to end the controversy. in a statement, he said his comments were the subject of an and find out -- of an unfounded stat. a lighter noteon with christmas just two days

away -- we leave you on a lighter note. with christmas just two days talk we thought we would about santa claus. you are the author of "santa claus, a biography." one of the things i noticed when i moved to france is the difference in the santa outfit. he wears a long robe, big hood. why are there differences? version is a descendent more of saint nicholas and his if this couple outfit. -- his his at thi episcopal outfit. rotunds a fatter, more north american santa claus that comes out of their early 19th century in north america, where

saint nicholas, who had been brought to north america by dutch colonists, is changed into a secularized, rather plump and elfish, north america version. >> is it true that that version is linked to coca cola? >> absolutely not. single claim that coke can make on santa. the red and white uniform, the richness of his complexion, and his fatness were all standardized in the world about 30 years before coke began their famous ads. >> santa has been getting a bit controversial in north america this season. there has been a big debate about what is santa's race. what is that all about? commentator on american tv made a tongue-in-cheek remark that both jesus and santa claus were white men.

this set off a storm of controversy. in fact, santa claus has been just about everything. he was white, black, old, young, beardless, bearded, he was the size of your thumb, he was medium, dwarfish size, he was a full adult. there is over a century of different kinds, shapes, and colors of santa, before he became standardized around the year 1900. >> thank you so much, the author of "santa claus, a biography." you are watching "france 24." don't go away. psg going to the wind with a break after a draw against lille. the visitors had the lead in the second half, but then psg got a

point. monaco struggled home. >> we had a lot of chances to score. the game would have been more open. if you don't score on your chances, it becomes difficult. in the first half, [indiscernible] we miss. we give confidence to lille. the second half we had 2-2. that was good. >> los bird traveled to -- gladbach. traveled to m in the 65th minute, a wonderful goal put gladbach 2-1 ahead.

but wolfsburg puts it in with 4 :00 left to end it 2-2. game.rkable 0 up on 34 minutes. the fans had to wait till the 88th minute for a glimmer of hope. they sealed a memorable comeback. 2-1, ajax on top on goal difference. a christmas clash in belgium. all eyes were on the top of the table clash. hosts responded 10 minutes

into the second half. the 13th goal of the campaign for him. he is the top scorer in the league. standard is 4 points ahead. hoping they can get back to winning ways against chelsea, l ed by mourinho. chelsea's coaches not reading too much into the 2-0 victory. first washe fact the played against [indiscernible]

big match, for sure. a lot of big conclusions or transfers to be made. >> arsenal have lost two. spend christmas atop the premier league. >> sometimes it is how you respond to these kinds of problems that matters. that's what we want to show on monday night. >> the hosts need to get 6-3 to get manchester out of their system. now to alpine skiing. austria's [indiscernible] recovered brilliantly. he set the pace in the first run 1:18.14.alian resort,

he kept his balance and cross the line in a winning time. the frenchman put in two fine runs, but could not match the austrian for pace. he was 3.5 seconds back. completing the podium, ted ligety of the united states, a further 0.32 seconds behind. podium finish. points aheadis 60 of ligety.

this family looks set for a happy christmas. the winning jump from friday taken into account. he kept the lead for a. -- a period in the cross- country. lap, he was lost in a packed group from which lamy chappuis emerged as a front runner. the chappuis held off challenge. finished just behind lamy chappuis.

>> hello and welcome to today's looknews," where we take a at what has been hitting the online headlines. south sudanese web users call for national peace and reconciliation. spanish campaigners defend a woman's right to an abortion. in a spot of bike parkour san francisco. ongoing andee the escalating violence in south sudan, seeking refuge in this u.n. compound. have been0 people displaced by the conflict between supporters of the current president and those of the former vice president, accused of orchestrating an attempted coup d'état last week. many in the young south sudan, which only became an independent state in 2011, fear the fighting

between the two groups could lead to civil war. many have taken to social networks, calling for national peace and reconciliation under the #ichoosepeace and #mytribeissouthsudan hashtags. one blogger is asking people to stand united. scores of web users are fearful of the possibility of armed conflict. they are holding signs voicing their concerns. juba magazine is asking readers -- talk of juba magazine is asking readers to get involved. there are videos of those who are worried. this south sudanese family living in the united states has a clear message to convey.

carrying out a pledge that was part of prime minister mariano rajoy's election campaign, the spanish government has approved anti-rtion law -- an abortion law on friday. abortions will only be carried out in the cases of rape or in cases of serious psychological harm to the mother. citizens have taken to the web to voice their outrage. web users have been posting under a "my belly is mine" hashtag. wouldroved, spain rollback abortion law to what it was in 1995. to remind ust authorities that the government should not be making those decisions for them, particularly

when it concerns something as controversial as abortion. onlineny turning to channels to oppose the government's decision, others have taken to the streets. rallies were staged across spain over the weekend to protest against the proposed antiabortion measures. thousands took part in the demonstrations, determined to convince the spanish authorities to backtrack and revoke their decision. >> justine, the communications director for on american media conglomerate, sponsored an avalanche of condemnation and criticism when she posted this message to twitter. read, "going tweet to africa. hope i don't get aids. just kidding. i'm white." the social media revolt was such that justine sacco has been fired from her position.

geographical maps, scientific diagrams, old photos, the british library has uploaded over one million public domain images from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries to flickr. they want to encourage research with soon to be released at locations that will allow web users to complete missing data -- soon-to-be released applications that will allow web users to complete missing data. shotsare cleverly-staged depicting the pooch in all sorts of scenarios. you can check out the candi whichhamp instagram, already has thousands of followers. bmx a this video, we see

display -- take to the streets for a stunning display of bike parkour. this is the latest video.

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