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five. on r t tonight's no release from a call khodorkovsky the already jailed for more oil tycoon has been found guilty of

embezzling billions in cash and oil. russia's once richest man will face more time behind bars and catherine as are the outside the courthouse with the details in just a few moments. also president dmitry medvedev calls for a firm stand against interethnic violence. a top crackdown on racially motivated crimes and justice for all criminals regardless of their nationality strong promises from the kremlin. and the spoils of war only show israel and lebanon compete for tourists attention with things park saying of selling their story side of the story. this is r.t. as one am here in moscow welcome if you just joined us for

a viewer watching around the world my name's kevin though in our top story former tycoon mikhail khodorkovsky has been found guilty of stealing billions of dollars worth of oil by a moscow court the hearing is now over but the reading of the verdict is still not complete and could take several more days. as the latest from outside the court. so far we know that because of that of course he and his former colleague left will need a video of russia's once biggest oil giant company you cross have been found guilty of stealing up to twenty over twenty five billion dollars worth of oil and embezzling the funds that of course is that the latest verdict in the second trial we believe that will speed him and his colleagues up early already serving time for first conviction delivered in two thousand and five this of course is something that the prosecution seems very happy with they originally asked for fourteen years for mikhail's with that goal and his former colleague the defense attorneys are of

course saying that the trial has been politicized the evidence not substantiated and in fact the case itself has is somewhat ironic because according to their argument the trials without is accused of stealing the very loyal that he was found guilty of not paying taxes for in his first conviction so these are the arguments that they're using and that they say they will continue using in their appeal they've already confirmed to the journalists that they will appeal this guilty verdict and if it doesn't help in within russia itself they are prepared to take matters outside the country and go to the european court for their appeal now prosecutors of course maintained that everything was done by the book that every piece of evidence was submitted in accordance with procedure and that they are of course not prepared to comment on the verdict any further until it has been read out in full that of course can take days because there are fourteen files in the verdict itself each file comprises of the nearly three hundred pages and today the

judge managed to read around a hundred so. if the math is pretty simple it will take days before the verdict is read in full and the most interesting part right now of course the exact amount of jail time that we hope that whole state employed the neighbors if. well served will be delivered right at the very end my colleague that it was overloaded all closer at the man his life and his work. once russia's richest men he's now russia's most prominent prisoner coming to the end of it eighty a sentence for the biggest tax fraud in the country's history he and his partner. were charged to stealing two hundred and eighteen million tonnes of oil worth twenty seven billion u.s. dollars from a subsidiary company. the verdict has been announced guilty khodorkovsky supporters say he didn't break any laws khodorkovsky was not to blame because he had

a whole team of very experienced lawyers hole used to tell him got. better than he did was with the law it was the blame of the laws that had dissolved loopholes and them the former tycoon rose to great wealth thanks to one of the world's largest non-state oil companies ucas the company grew from a state selloff in the one nine hundred ninety s. when government assets were being hived off in often chidi circumstances it soon became russia's fastest growing oil producer but the path to success headed outside to a associates were later found guilty of a number of murders. the thieves place is in prison. is accused of stealing tax evasion and fraud with the new charges he faces it's about stealing hundreds of billions his company's security chief is in prison for murder. he has

always insisted he's innocent of the fraud charges which put him behind bars ever since his arrest in two thousand and three ignoring his past many in the west believe that he was singled out for prosecution among the billionaire businessmen because of his political ambitions the russian authorities say ucas is pure live victim to the economic crimes of its managed. and i think there is a strong upper edge on the part of many in the media in the russian liberal media and definitely in the west to to politicize it as much as possible there is no question that. our cause and the rest of the crowd who participated initiated and was very active in the criminal privatisation of the ninety's are guilty of the crimes they were accused of so in that sense i think very few people would fatha khodorkovsky is persecuted for for nothing yes there is a very strong case i think against him public opinion is divided i think that most

of the russian publics well i reckon the activity or all those people i call the cops and that's why i don't think that i'm on. broad public unlike liberals for whom he really is and i can he can find compassion that prosecutors had asked that had that of course who is forty seven served at least six years on top of this current sentence however even reading of the film verdict is expected to last several days and the sentencing has yet to come. marty mask. moscow's airport struggling to get back to normal after a blackout that caused the cancellation of over one hundred flights this weekend thousands of travelers remain stranded because of the disruption with witness reports that there was an attempt to break through passport control out of frustration. that the capital's main international airport with more. but it's a second day of travel stress of people traveling to or from. you can see the

huge number of people that are still around trying to get their flights incredibly chaotic situation still is of course off of the trouble that we saw yesterday when the entire port had a power cut because of the substations that power the airport the power cables in russia and that obviously took down the check meant that hundreds of flights were canceled hundreds and hundreds more passengers left stranded flight was supposed to be yesterday and we still don't know if we're flying today. yes we have been me and my mother. actually we stayed at a local hotel that was pretty nice and comfortable and we're back here today to see if we can get on a flight you know the airport with howard around nine pm yesterday and then they managed to stop processing some of the flights domestic and international flights started running at about midnight. all measures to normalize the situation the

atmosphere in the airport is calm and no incidents involving passengers have been registered we plan to get back on schedule within a day. but obviously it has caused a huge amount of trouble and we know a lot of the flights were diverted to share a match. but there is a feeling the strain we share much of a space person say that they've really been trying to deal with the bad weather conditions and they've had some problems the day icing the pool they go so the moment of the day to return to clear this huge backlog that they have after the problems yesterday get the flights to get people where they want to go. sarah first reporting for us on the travel world is coming up tis the season to be jolly but not for everyone pockets of silicon jingle all the way billions who didn't get a job for christmas little or nothing to celebrate as.

the russian president surprised his kremlin colleagues during a meeting on monday dmitry medvedev began a session of the state council modernization commission by addressing the recent racial violence in the country catarina groucho over the details. the president today said that as in a phobia and tensions are threatening the country's stability and here he was addressing local governors and said that they should work more closely with that new groups to prevent the kind of mass clashes mass riots that happened in moscow and inside because barrack on december eleventh over a bought thousand people clashed with police in these two cities in moscow it was just outside the kremlin they were chanting russia for russians and beat ethnic minority group representatives mostly from the north caucasus those mass riots followed the killing of an ethnic russian the sparta football fan representative and three of the four suspects who were released shortly after that of course eight

urged drew to hire football fans in moscow it also drew the are a both the president and the prime minister these quick release after such a short detention and they carried out their own investigation whether those policemen were somehow under pressure to do that of course it all raised concerns about a rising tide of xenophobia in the country and also the government's bungled reaction to that today the president urged police to act more fiercely to act more harshly to disperse rioters next time but i will continue to name one of them i'm. tempted inciting racial he should in provoking violence should be stamped out with extreme prejudice forget about loyalties criminals don't have a nationality they must be isolated and punished regardless of their ethnic and social background from the prime minister putin who was also present at this

meeting admitted that as nick balance that was formed in russia through saying truce is now changing and these changes are rather painful and prime minister putin urged young football fans not to try to settle scores up to the games by breaking the law and he also urged them to. stay away from the radicals and extremists are actually nothing to do with the game it's no surprise that the country's leaders beat the alarm the country just recently won the bid to host the twenty eight hundred football world cup and of course it's unacceptable for a country which is preparing to host such a pristine just savan that's similar attacks and similar conflicts clashes between football fans and police take place. over deeply entrenched in opposite sides of a fragile peace barricade israel and lebanon are fighting a propaganda battle having won the hearts and minds of their own peoples the two rivals of no said this side some tourists and as artie's paulo syria reports some

of the attractions of more than authentic. it might not be quite the real thing but it sure brings one up close and personal dozens of tourists flocking to hizbollah strongholds deep inside lebanon at the low we decided to create and develop jihad tourism in order to thwart attempts to distort and falsify history. dubbed pallywood hizbullah and hamas would these theme parks offer through all of their own their appeal the danger here is all too real. we try to tell our visitors about real events that took place in this region many stories are about those who gave their lives for their brothers. and in the space of sixty thousand square meters all the trophies collected by hizbollah fighters are displayed captured his radio weapons and tanks alongside katyusha rockets and grad missile launchers. it's given us a chance to see firsthand how wars are fought. but what is jihad to tourism for one

tourist is nothing short of terror tourism for another here and now under the other side the bunch of criminals they don't they don't they did tell the world they want nothing of their one of them over this group of tourists is visiting the jewish state through a specially designed package titled the ultimate mission to israel in the course of one week we brought them to meet with. better officials mossad intelligence brought them to the defense ministry to the border in soviet eleven hours they live in is their forward positions and the highlights include a visit to an israeli unit that carries out targeted killings a tour of the lebanese frontline and listening in on army trials of hamas suspects i'm looking forward to seeing. and getting a better picture of the fighting. actually this is. one of your books as long as it's based on facts and it's not propaganda it's not based on

deception and force on a jaish and. presentation it is more than ok and so the battle to win the hearts and minds and pockets of visitors is on the mop up operation after the real war in the arena of pop culture and entertainment taking people to those places is a very powerful event for those people to shape their mind and to convince them wasn't be convinced about when the problem turtles hit home with photographs and memories but far from the usual snapshots these ideological holiday makers have a different experience to share point three our team. still ahead here on the program sending best wishes. hello daddy i love you so much dad in the world happy new year joy into the holiday spirit being sent hundreds of kilometers above the ground. that's to come worldviews

before the tonight two suicide bombers have killed at least fourteen people in central iraq the attacks were the second this month targeting a compound in ramadi one bomber blew up a car and minutes later another detonated an explosive vest as people gathered at the scene at least four of those killed were police officers forty seven other people were wounded. niner including britain charged with conspiracy in terrorism offenses it's alleged they were planning a large scale attack aimed at landmarks banks and government buildings around central london the men are among twelve suspects taken into custody last week during dawn police raids in the u.k. three detainees later were freed without charge. missiles fired by a suspected u.s. drone have killed at least fifty militants in northwestern pakistan u.s. drone attacks are common in waziristan which is a hub of taliban and al qaeda live in more than one hundred attacks by pilotless

u.s. aircraft in twenty ten most of them in north waziristan so ivory coast the latest protesters in the city have demanded a compromise in the ongoing power struggle incumbent leader laurent gbagbo is ignoring warnings from neighboring countries who threaten to use force if he refuses to step down the recognized winner of the recent election has called me in time for a nationwide general strike bag-o. says attempts to oust him could lead to civil war more than one hundred seventy have been killed and fourteen thousand fled the violence from last month's disputed poll. go to one seventeen am here in moscow. as millions of people run the world enjoy the holidays many americans are struggling to find reasons to celebrate this year unemployment an expiration date on welfare is up the ante is the money runs out results is lauren lyster reports next while some are broke others are still raking it in. in the

u.s. to use the season for holiday cheer charity and this year for some of millions of jobless americans despair now why did i work all of those christmases why did i give up that time with my family if now i have nothing and all of the work that i've done in my life for no reason for teresa this used to be her busy season at work but she was laid off from her job in the gas and heating business more than two years ago and has been unable to find any steady work since i look for work every single day i feel applications in u.s. lawmakers reached a deal this month to extend unemployment benefits for millions of unemployed americans we're all going to have the best holidays we can but lost in that story are millions of jobless americans like teresa who don't even qualify for this help any more benefits expire ninety nine weeks but a job doesn't magically appear by their own accounts and activists buying on their

behalf these americans no longer count in this economy left out in the cold and out of the statistical surveys when for many for example their phones are cut off they are not counted and no one can say that they are there struggling arguably the most to get by mary was fired there are people like sixty one year old gabrielle a laid off veterinary nurse like a record one in seven americans to eat she now relies on a government program that helps pay for food known as food stamps meanwhile no work is on the horizon it's very hard i mean. the truth of matters are here really nothing out there despite the tough financial situation so many are facing these will be happy holidays for some wall street thanks for what the lavish christmas decor is just the tip of the iceberg big things like this one are expected to post their second highest near profitability ever recorded second only to last year and still. the average banker bonus may come out higher that means the average year end

bonus would exceed last year's of more than one hundred twenty four thousand dollars a person but if banks are in this money what's so wrong with that many of the banks that are doing well or only doing well because the public bailed them out so we're seeing is a transfer of wealth from in a way the needy to the greedy is unemployment soars last quarter american companies posted their largest corporate profits ever recorded in u.s. history and while the rich may be taking those earnings to the glitz the new york's fifth avenue for holiday shopping in the shadows or those struggling to see a little light at the end of the tunnel lauren lyster r.t. new york. stories on a new look web site r t dot com so are these airports across europe growing to what holds in the wintry weather russia's legendary troy kid takes off once again but a low tech but look at the works plus. virtual tours photos videos get

a personal look around be a story about a new ski fair the beautiful places in the theater of all. in some places but we take you behind the scenes. where the clock ticks down just three days to go now until the new year in our two has been checking the festive spirit around the globe and beyond the crew of six currently living on the international space station of planning a new year's party complete with tree presence of these tom barton was lucky enough to talk to some of the cosmonauts ahead of the big day. down here on earth will be celebrating new year all around the planet in our customers fashion with celebrations and parties but there will be six people. he won't be here with

they'll be one hundred kilometers above on the international space station and they'll have a bit of a different experience cut off from the rest of the planet as it were have limited communications with each of the crew will be up there for six months they've been doing experiments and living quite quite a different life to most of us down here here at mission control in moscow we were able to day to get a chance to talk to them on the on a live link up to the international space station hello my name's tom barton from russia today television merry christmas and happy new year there are sixty. six billion of us down here what is your message to the word. happy new year we wish everyone good health love happiness success in all the new beginnings and plenty of rewarding achievement in the upcoming year. also here was father frost the russian father christmas he turned up and on

a live link gave greetings from the russian people and from planet earth to the crew of the international space station and had a quick chat with them he also was with some children here today the children of the astronauts and cosmonauts up there and they were also spoke to speak to their parents. yes hello daddy i love you so much you are the best dad in the world happy new year. physically it seems that the spirit and the festive spirit of new year and the festive season will be able to penetrate even outside the atmosphere. tom bowman our correspondent coming up next tonight iconic left wing british politician tony benn tells us why he's backing the tourbillon student protests even though they've been turning violent you are watching the t.v. news channel.

today i'm talking to the right honorable tony benn one of britain's foremost socialist and the president of the stop the war coalition tony benn thank you so much for talking to r.t. now you're a big believer in democracy as the means to pass power from what you call the wallets to the ballots what do you think is the state of democracy in the world today very imperfect i mean if you look at the world people are beginning to see

the world as a single unit i mean my granddaughter's school in london with seventy six nationalities ways to go to school if you like addressing the general assembly of united nations and i think that younger generation see the world now as just roco village and they wonder who. can be controlled how it could be influenced and so on and everyone looking at the. government of their village or their country or. all the world it bound to our sense of what power do we have over the people who. the lords and with the power of big business which is now enormous going across the world many big decisions are made by people we didn't elect cannot remove and who do not have to listen to us so it's a very very big issue i think and you are talking about organizations like the international monetary fund or from the european central bank controls or they are

instruments of the international power of capital and they have a huge influence over the government policies in arlon or spain or britain or greece and and i think that issue's going to become a very big one look ahead and how can we pass the power from the wallet to the ballot as well historically it's been done by people who campaigned for it i mean slavery was abolished because people looked at the slave owner for being a slave and said who gave him the right to do that to that man and once you are still question who gives him the right to do that then you've opened up a debate about democracy and is that what we're seeing happening now with these protests on the streets of europe well i think all demands by people to be heard. sometimes expression observes in protest but otherwise you know argument all these

demands are central to the future advance of mankind do you support these people who are coming out to protest sometimes in quite a violent and destructive way i very strongly support it because the right to education is a basic human right i mean we now have accepted in britain in most parts of the world the right to be educated the right health. the right to instill justice are human rights and if you take some of the way they're doing with the university training you have to pay to go then you are taking away people's rights and influencing the future. no country and we went to war in iraq ostensibly in the name of democracy but that's obviously not something that you support no i didn't think we did we went to war and support of oil interests and we use arguments governments use arguments to justify what they do and then everyone has the right no with the information of the disposal to question these arguments and say are

they valid or not and if they are not valid why we're doing it and to stop the war movement built up the biggest political campaign in britain in history of two million people out in london the next stop the war but it created a pattern of public opinion that compelled governments to train their policy and since then have you seen support for what the stop will coalition is doing to minissha anyway no i think it i think it built up to the point the maximum point just when we were going to war and now with all the inquiries and thoughts about the war tisn't the most dominant question but i think governments realise that when you do get a campaign of that power against what they're doing they are very vulnerable and wiki leaks and julian are sols what do you think that wiki leaks has done to support.