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russia slams the u.s. and e.u. for attempting to influence the trial of. the former oil tycoon awaits sentence after being found guilty of embezzling billions of dollars. for more on one of the most controversial cases in russia. right side of the courtroom in just a few moments. passenger frustration grows at moscow's ice covered airport struggling to cope with the flow of holiday travelers. may be back on it one of these this tops thousands of passengers are still stranded. people up to pier. two years after israel launched a large scale assault on gaza killing over

a thousand palestinians those who survived say they're still living in a cave. and to find out what interest rates have been opened by the russian banks and joined. me on a man about twenty minutes to. four pm in moscow i met treasure good to be with you here on r t our top story former russian tycoon mikhail khodorkovsky awaits said this after being found guilty of embezzling billions of dollars it's the second trial for the former head of oil giant yukos who was once russia's richest man he's already serving time for tax evasion and fraud piskun all those outside the court in moscow live with more details. hard to say when exactly will hear the final sentence meaning the exact time of. his former associate will have to serve in jail because the judge is

continuing to read the verdict and it is expected that it may actually take several days it's not the first time that we've got a lot of course is involved in the case and last time it took two weeks to read the verdict but now the defense seems hopeful that we may hear the final sentence in the near future go through. the judge's reading and what the court considers to be the evidence against because according to limited from the information we've got we understand that the court plans to finish reading the verdict this year so that of course only we did have been found guilty of stealing from you consists of securities and inviting billions of u.s. dollars just to remind you you used to be one of the world's biggest private oil companies back then headed to buy. at the time russia's richest man and that's why this case is one of the most controversial ones in russia and for more on this

here's this report that it was. once russia's richest men he's now russia's most prominent prisoner coming to the end of it a few sentence for the biggest tax food in the country's history he and his partner platon live to give you a charge to stealing two hundred and eighteen i mean fans of oil worth twenty seven billion us down and from a subsidiary company you can see here that it has been announced guilty. the supporters say he didn't break any laws. or was not to blame because he had a whole team of very experienced lawyers who used to tell him that. everything he did was within the law it was the blame of the laws that had dissolved loopholes and them. rose to great wealth thanks to. one of the world's largest non-state oil companies you can see 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 offer that associates were later found guilty of a number of murders. the fees 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. at their cost has always insisted he is innocent of the fraud charges which put him behind bars and the since his arrest in two thousand and three ignoring his past many in the west believe he was singled out for prosecution among the billionaire businessmen because of his political ambitions the russian authorities say you can is purely a victim to the economic crimes of its management i think there is a strong effort on the part of many in the media and 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 privatization of the ninety's are guilty of the crimes they're accused of so in that sense i think very few people would fatha carter is persecuted for for nothing yes there is a very strong case i thing against him public opinion is divided i think that most of russia will probably smell a recollecting if you're all those people i call them and that's why i don't think that i'm on russian broad public unlike liberals for whom. i can he can find compassion the prosecutors had asked of her that of course he was forty seven served at least six years on top of his current sentence however the reading

of the full verdict is expected to last several days and the sentencing has yet to come down marty moscow while there's already been a strong critical reaction from the worst of washington has said that such a verdict will horn russia's image when it comes to human rights germany has said that this will be a step back for russia where it comes to modernization but the russian foreign ministry has called on the united states and the european union not to interfere and not to apply. sure on this case saying that this is simply a case when a person has to answer for his crimes in front of the law and it was also outlined so that some of the offenses that. have already been found guilty off are considered to be a severe offenses in many western countries including the united states where people convicted of some of these crimes can even receive life in jail meanwhile

the defense does not agree with the verdict they say that they are going to try to appeal it and even ready to take this case to the european court if they don't succeed in russia and they're even preparing to make a public appeal to the president after the final sentence is announced the judge is saying that the prosecution has provided more than enough evidence and has cleaned of that everything is being done by the book of course will be monitoring everything that goes on in that courtroom on tuesday and will continue to report on this case as the day goes on. thousands of passengers stranded moscow's main airports are growing increasingly frustrated bad weather over the weekend temporarily closed the dead of the airport and the delay of some flights and cancellations out of others has left many struggling to get on their planes some travelers unable to complete their journey have reportedly been staging protests and even picking fights with airport personnel. has more from. this is one of

most easiest tops looks like power is back on and flies are getting back on should you like the idea that the airport which was worst hit by bad weather conditions over the weekend when a snow storm disrupted pala lines in the area as a result of that some one hundred fifty flights were delayed and over eight thousand passengers were forced to sleep on the apple its premises well now we can see that information is getting back on the screens of the app or before people had been complaining that they were receiving no updates on the flights whatsoever and even muscovites had to spend hours and hours here inside the airport having no information on whether to leave home on keep waiting for their flights well that's got speedball long they've been waiting for their flights inside ho long have you been waiting for a flight. i was due to leave for terms of even the twenty seventh they've promised a flight will depart today but i don't know yet there's no information on the

screens with cooley office in television and they said the plane at two o'clock today. all the passengers have spent more than two days inside the airport complained they were not given hotel baths and there was not enough food and drinks though the press service of the airport says they regularly hand out lunch boxes and also provide stranded passengers with drinking water what's the situation adama denver airport is gradually improving we've called in extra staff to help resolve the problems we're handing out water as well as hot and cold meals we hope the situation will be completely resolved by tomorrow some of the passengers even kalash with the representatives of companies and complain that the airport is full of passengers but no representatives so companies are inside and largely people complain on the lack of information on their flights or the hardest of all it is for parents traveling with their kids many of them have been at the airport for

holmes and long hours close to usenet. how long have you been waiting for your flight where i don't know where we can we this is the twenty sixth day and we're going to northern ireland to belfast to buy a heathrow so we have so we were at the airport when their electricity went off. for consultation we then were booked onto a flight yesterday which was counseled we were on a flight this morning which is counsel of the week being put on to the ten o'clock flight which is obviously being delayed so honestly what you think about how the airport has been dealing with the problem. actually not very well but i don't think any your port deals are very well with these problems as we're seeing across europe and on the up moskos b.z.'s top three minutes of an airport which didn't have any electricity blackouts also bases had to delay suppose some seven thousand passengers many of them have been clashed with the representatives up and companies and we've released they try to still impossible to control zones they blocked log

each areas and try to stage protests insisting to meet the hand of the captains people mostly complain that they were denied hotel baths and they ended up sleeping on the floors of so far white payola taken rushes to law just add ports stay with us here on our team still ahead this hour the close up team and covers the mysterious past of russia's on screen. if i was his three hundred years ago i may have dissipated my local and i have visits from the army for a variety of other crimes the result was the same flight my fellow prisoners around me i've got a long and very cold walk ahead into exile in siberia. for about this treacherous walk as well as a look at what else the region has to offer and our close up report coming up a little later. palestinians are marking two years since israel started

a devastating offensive into gaza with protests across the strip. israel launched massive air and ground strikes on hamas targets in two thousand and eight killing more than one thousand people that came in response to rocket attacks launched by the palestinians the conflict drew worldwide attention and condemnation because of the huge number of civilian casualties israel blockade of the strip after it came under hamas control in two thousand and seven a group that it regards as a terrorist organization since then aid has been rigorously restricted and most rarely reaches its destination point as artie's all of us or he's polis lior discovered. israelis insist their economic siege on gaza is easing but they can't deny the border and international condemnation is heating up and asian aid convoy with politicians and activists from eighteen countries is on its way to gaza on border one hundred eighty people food and medical supplies and a determined core to reach gaza on the second anniversary of the last israel gaza

war the convoy dubbed asia to gaza solidarity caravan sits sail from new delhi at the beginning of december it's trying to do what an aide for teller failed to do in may break the israeli blockade on the coastal strip that earlier attempt left nine activists did since then israel insists things have gotten better there is a humanitarian analysis that we are making on a daily basis which allow us to see a broad picture about the humanitarian conditions and the situation in the gaza to each moment but gazans complain life is still unbearable. and israel has limited the number of trucks clothes and shoes coming into gaza and this causes problems with coordination in gaza. last month twenty two international organizations issued a report claiming the easing of the blockade has helped bring in materials only for the u.n. and international building projects ordinary goods they say are still not getting in our goods have already been detained in israel for three years but the fines

that we've paid already equaled the costs of the goods so even if we receive the goods back now we can't sell them they're spoiled and those goods that are getting in there too expensive for most people here. the goods that we receive are not of a high quality but we have to buy them because we don't have an alternative. cars have also become a luxury two thousand dollars for an engine well just two hundred dollars for a rather simplistic alternative what can we do there's no fuel for vehicles spare parts inevitably result that it's kind of transportation to donkey. this is one of the largest cattle markets in gaza and as the economy here plummets it too is struggling to survive. we have no animals and no barley today and even when we have burly people aren't always here to buy it's been four years since israel imposed siege on gaza to try and break hamas a support and with no sign that life will get basic anytime soon most gazans have

the eyes on the sea and they hope on the next trip to learn. israel television court has said instead israeli activists to three months in prison for a nonviolent anti-war protest jonathan pollard took part in a bike ride demonstration against the blockade of gaza three years ago human rights activists are calling the sentence unusually harsh for more on this we're joined live in tel aviv like those of data from the popular struggle coordination committee thanks for being with us so mr pollack was one of thirty people who took part in this demonstration but he was the only one to arrested and sentenced why him and what did he do to deserve his sentence. thanks for having me and what we see with the case of jonathan pollard is a clear attempt to silence dissent on the israeli left and a broader attack on nonviolence in israel against israel's military campaigns. even israeli soldiers accused of abusing palestinians don't usually get

a prison term or a very long one why do you think authorities are being so harsh on a peace activist in this case. israel's engaged in a very serious military and diplomatic repression of any aspect of nonviolence we see this with the mavi marmara attack and also with other palestinian nonviolent activists such as billions of the. money. mr pollock's sentencing is the latest attack on this in which israel is targeting its own citizens and i think it's quite a commentary on israeli society that the only israeli that has been jailed in relation to the gaza war is one that decided to nonviolently ride his bike through the streets of tel aviv so compare this israeli prosecution on peace for israel he said is said to the treatment of palestinians. while the treatment of palestinians is significantly worse mr pollack addressed this in his

sentencing argument in which he said that because he's an israeli jew he's going to jail only for three months while nonviolent palestinian leaders such as go to jail for years and there are sometimes placed in administrative detention without being charged with a single crime and so we see that the quality of israeli democracy now for its own citizens is is any serious decline and one might say in a crisis and this is just a logical extension to the type of. violence and repression that we see against nonviolent activists in the palestinian territories the blockade of gaza has been condemned by the international community but that doesn't seem to influence israeli policy why do you think that is. israeli policy is engaged in a very strict effort of controlling the palestinian population whether they're in gaza or in the west bank and the international opinion against israel for its

control seems to be meaningless on the ground we have to understand that the united states has been quiet on all of these verdicts if we take the other ruffling case specifically the european union and specifically the unity kingdom have led an international call identifying of rothmann as a human rights defender in the united states has maintained absolute silence on his case. all right joe so dana we'll have to leave it there with the popular struggle coordination committee and thanks for joining us. time to explore another lesser known part of the world's largest country russia close-up team is in almost green in southwestern siberia ortiz tom barton uncovers its checkered past. two things in particular it is famous for those are the fate of exiles sent here by the czarist regime along a difficult and dangerous road to get here and prison and forced labor once they arrived the other is a rich military to dish and the city has a military academy established here two hundred years ago has provided very famous

officers and generals for the russian and the red armies and it's those themes of examining. on the march under guard these men and women are walking one of the longest and probably the loneliest road in the world they're reenacting the march into exile made by thousands and czarist russia it succumbs years to go there is some ways winterreise in say yes a lot of people died on the way this group in the western siberian region of omsk discovered their living on the only surviving stretch of the original nine thousand kilometers of the siberian exiles track that's had no modern changes made to it. when you come to the track you can vividly picture the convicts on their walk and hear the clinking of their chains you can smell russian history here. you have going to discover that he's descended from some of these exiles and decided to

build a museum telling a story he and his re-enact has now received as it has from all over the world to show them what it was like when the body it's scary to put the shackles on of course but it's interesting if we don't remember history we will have no future. it's a monument to one of the wrist rushes cruellest chapters. one of the more notable traditions and also as military professionalism practiced here at the city's cadets college for nearly two hundred years the. year what was an officer school now gives by. as a general education but with the military emphasis. here they created siberia's first cadet corps to prepare officers to protect the territory before that it was a course like military college that's why i think with the successes of those old times. young hopefuls have to pass tough exams to get in here for those that

do it's a very different school to the others in arms. giving a book it's strange to be away from home unusual but when you get used to it it feels like home. military personalities are dotted throughout history this is he served as the capital of anticommunist white russian leader admiral kolchak in the civil war from one thousand nine hundred to nine hundred nineteen last in residence he lived here though the study of the man like the maintenance of this building has remained a taboo right up until the present day or we still receive hate mail saying that he hanged a lot of people and was famous for severe punishment it's all true but it was a time of civil war both sides were monstrously cruel. it is sadly the theme of cruelty which links so much of our history to the rest of russia's particularly of exile where they were an apple. if i was here three hundred

years ago i may have disappeared my local lord i may have deserted from the army or a variety of other crimes the result was the same what my fellow prisoners around me i've got a long and very cold walk ahead into exile in siberia tom watson r.t. on the screen. turning now to some other stories making headlines across the globe west african leaders are going to arrive in ivory coast to persuade you coming president to step down. or refuses to make way for toro has been internationally recognized as the president all alike in that any attempt to oust him could throw the country back in a civil war. violence since last month's election has seen more than one hundred seventy people killed and locals are desperate to return to their normal lives. and israeli passenger train has caught fire near tel aviv injuring at least eighty people only one of them those seriously hurt the rest suffered light burns cuts and

bruises and smoke inhalation while trying to escape the fire israel israel ways believes the fire started in the rear engine due to a fuel leak. bad weather is causing chaos in australia's northeastern states with government declaring some towns disaster areas severe floods of shut down around three hundred roads across queensland including two major highways to the state capital brisbane hundreds of people had to leave their homes after the dawson river reached a record level of almost fifteen metres it's the worst flooding in the area in decades and damage is expected to exceed one billion u.s. dollars. business news coming your way next after a short break stay with us. hungry for the full stop we've got. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers. would

be soon which brighter. moon and sun from finest impression. starts on t.v. dot com. hello and welcome to all of his business update it's great to have you with that russian banks have given around better think billion dollars of loans to no financial enterprises this yet that's a term percent increase you don't get the average interest rate for long term loans have declined to around eleven percent but prime minister vladimir putin says that the cuts should come in order to support new and private stuff because interest

rates particularly for the real economy must not be a constraining factor for economic development we do understand this and i hope that together with the central bank we will consistently decrease interest rates so people could. we heard of russia's biggest blunders burbank says he expects the country's inflation to rise to over nine percent next year that's a third more than the central bank's predicted rate of six point five percent for next year we're buying boards government grant says there will be no chances to cut inflation down from its current level of eight point five percent and he also believes that russian banks may revise their current credit and deposit rates because of accelerating inflation and the potential tightening of monetary policy by the central bank. for investors to make a broader access to russia's strategic minefield russia's ministry of natural resources has prepared a draft law aiming to involve foreign companies in the development of key deposits

among them is a rise in the maximum take the known resident companies from ten to twenty five percent iniquity capital of mine field developers the best o. which discovers the field also get guaranteed access to its development. chuckle the markets now european stocks are slightly higher as markets attempted to bounce back from losses and the prize with gains led by banks and all stocks the german directors trading slant to positive can make is that still the top news of the volkswagen and run down to two point six and zero point eight percent respectively but still remains closed to the public on the day. in russia the stock markets are trading higher this hour with the aussie heads up about four tenths of a percent and the money that gaining more than a third of a cent. from russian stocks a mixed iraq telecom let's talk again on the my sticks are more than one percent russia's second biggest bank. balance to forecast for corporate corporate talks to

grow up to twenty five percent next year but that information has had little influence on investors or to our the banks shares a lot of the r.t.s. in my six. the oil rally which saw prices a two year high on monday is being weighed down by china's second interest rate hikes and secretary but fears rose that the a manufacturing powerhouse and the world's second biggest oil consumer to slow it can only grow as the country tries to rein in inflation even so prices at the pump are taking a course of their own floating in record levels. most analysts agree that the oil price will remain between eighty and ninety dollars a barrel next year while this would be would have a lucky positive effect on the russian budget in the pre-election year and i have a trick kyra from merrill lynch those structural reforms are big ones to stuff i think that there are number of three six i think that they truly. are.