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russia the u.s. for attempting to influence the trial of. former oil tycoons awaiting sentence after being found guilty of embezzling billions of dollars. more on one of the most controversial trials in russia joining me from the courthouse in moscow in just a few moments. passenger frustration grows at moscow's ice covered airports struggling to cope with the flow of holiday travelers. may be back on one of those easiest tops but thousands of passengers are still stranded in the catch up in just a couple of minutes from what people love to clear the backlog. plus two years after israel launched a large scale. killing over

a thousand palestinians those who survived say they're still living in a cage. global news twenty four seven this is r.t. welcome to the program. criticism from of the west over the handling of my. trial has been met with anger by russia moscow said the international community should stay out of what is a domestic matter the former tycoon is waiting to hear what sentence he'll have to serve after being found guilty of embezzling billions of dollars you could have this kind of reports. well washington is saying 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 in terms of modernization well according to the russian

foreign ministry this is an attempt to apply pressure on the court and moscow is now calling on the united states and on the european union not to intervene this issue rests with the competence of the judicial system of the russian federation. any of them exert pressure upon the cryo are unacceptable. in his recent interview with the heads of the only the russian t.v. channels the russian president has underscored that nobody has the right to interfere with the followers of the poor the foreign ministry has also outlined to exact the crimes that about of course the and only defense already been found guilty off are considered to be severe offenses in many western countries including the united states where people found guilty of these crimes even face life in

prison the defense says that it does not agree with the verdict they are ready to appeal it in russia if they don't succeed here they say that they're ready to take this case to the european court they're also preparing to make a public appeal to the president after the sentence is announced the judge says that the prosecution has provided more than enough evidence and claims that so far the trial has been going by the book the second day of the hearing of the verdict is now over but we still haven't heard the actual sentence the time that we call for that of course again his former associate bottle of egypt will have to serve in jail they were found guilty on monday off for stealing oil from so-called daughter companies and also of embezzling billy. u.s. dollars because of that of course he was already involved in another case and back then it took two weeks for the sentence to be else but this time the defense seems optimistic that we may hear the sentence in the near future. but the judge is

reading out what the court considers to be the evidence against because the court of course implied or limited from the information we've got we understand that the court plans to finish reading the verdict this year it was just a reminder you can see used to be one of the world's biggest private oil companies headed back then while michele field of course who was at the time russia's richest men and all this makes this trial in this case one of the most controversial in russia for more or less here's this report by a colleague who died of a score. once russia's richest men he's now russia's most prominent prisoner coming to the end of it in a sentence for the biggest tax fraud in the country's history he and his partner platon lived in which charged with stealing two hundred and fifteen million dollars work twenty seven hundred dollars from sixty the company if you feel that it has been announced guilty to that of his supporters say he didn't break any laws or

their cop killer 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 the former tycoon rose to great wealth thanks to one of the world's largest non-state oil companies you can see the company grew from the state selloff in the one nine hundred ninety s. when government assets would be hived off in often cittie circumstances it soon became russia's fastest growing oil producer but the path to success had a dark side to a fanatical ski's associates were later found guilty of a number of night is. the thieves place is in prison because he is accused of stealing tax evasion and fraud with the new charges he faces it's about stealing hundreds of billions his company security chief is in prison for murder. but there

has always insisted he is 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 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 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're accused of so in that sense i think very few people would fatha carter cautiously is persecuted for for nothing yes there is

a very strong case i thing against him being in is dividing i think that most of russia probably it's well recollected if you're all those people. and that's why i don't think that i want russia brought public unlike liberals. to realize that i come here and find compassion for the prosecutors had asked that her that he who is forty seven served at least six years on top of this current sentence however the reading of the field is expected to last several days and the sentencing has yet to come down marty masco. thousands of passengers stranded in moscow's main airport saw growing increasingly frustrated by the weather over the weekend temporarily shut down dumb idea of an airport delay of some flights on the cancellation of others as left many struggling to get off their planes some travelers unable to complete their journey have reportedly been staging

protests and even fighting with airport personnel there catherine approach of reports from domodedovo airport. this is how i want to be easiest tops looks like power is back on and flies are getting back on should you like that the my dear 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 feet to flights were delayed and over eight thousand passengers were forced to sleep on the applets 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 let's go home long they've been waiting for their flights inside how long have you been waiting for a flight. i was due to leave for turned away from 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 butts 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 that's the situation adama denver airport is gradually improving we've called in extra staff to help resolve the problems are handing out water as well as hot and cold meals we hope the situation will be completely resolved by tomorrow some of the person just even kalash with the representatives of companies and complain that the airport is full of passengers but no representative so companies are inside and largely people complain on the lack of information on their flights all the hardest of all these

poor parents traveling with their kids many of them have been at the airport for whole and long hours close to usenet. how long have you been waiting simply a flight where i'm going to were we going to says the twenty six boxing 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. the console to be there and that we're told to fly yesterday which is console we're on a flight this morning which is console them are we being put onto the ten o'clock flight which is obviously being delayed so honest i want to 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 other local schools bs is top stream it's about an airport which didn't have any electricity blackouts also faces had to do some seven thousand passengers many of

them have been kalash with the representatives of companies and with police they tried to stall impossible to control zones they blocked log each areas and try to stage protests insisting to meet they had of the apples people mostly complained that they were denied hotel baths and they ended up sleeping on the floor so so far why payola taken rushes to the law just add ports. reporting like that where you are without seeing the still ahead for you this hour a close up team uncovers the mysterious past of russia's region. if i was his three hundred years ago i may have disappointed my local lord and i have does this is from the army for a variety of other crimes the result was the same but my fellow prisoners around me i've got a long and very cold walk ahead into exile in siberia and more about this treacherous walk as well as a look at what else has to offer coming up in our close up report just

a little bit later. palestinians are marking two years since israel began 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 a thousand people came in response to rocket attacks by palestinians the conflict drew worldwide condemnation is about high number of civilian casualties israel blockaded the strip after it came under the control of two thousand and seven political gods as a terrorist organization since then aid has been rigorously restricted most ready reaches its destination. has been finding out. 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 aid flotilla 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 only conditions and the situation in the gaza city upon which 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 un 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 paid already equal the costs of the goods so even if we receive the goods back now we can sell them their 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 while 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 trance but. the donkey's 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 barley people are always here to buy it's been four years since israel imposed

siege on gaza to try and break a massive support and with no sign that life will get better any time soon most gazans have the eyes on the sea and their hope on the next. police here are two israel. a teller of court has sentenced an israeli activist to three months in prison for a nonviolent antiwar protest jonathan pollard took part in a bicycle ride demonstration against the blockade of gaza three years ago human rights activists are calling the sentence on usually harsh choice of data from the popular struggle coordination committee who says that the case highlights the poor state of democracy in israel. israel's engaged in a very serious military and diplomatic repression of any aspect of nonviolence 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 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 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. that was joseph dana from the popular struggle coordination committee well this is r.t. coming to you live from the russian capital let's check out some other world news in brief now. suspected us a missile strike you said pakistan's northwestern tribal area near the afghan

border killing nine officials say had hit vehicles carrying alleged members of a well known militant group two of the strikes in the north waziristan region on tuesday killed eight the area is a stronghold for taliban and al qaeda militants who carry out cross border attacks against u.s. led nato forces in afghanistan. west african leaders are in the ivory coast to persuade the incumbent president to step down. with fuses to make way for the war carter who's been internationally recognized as the president elect. warns that any attempt to oust him could throw the country back into civil war violence since last month's election has seen over. one hundred and seventy people killed and locals are desperate to return to the normal lines. bad weather is causing chaos in australia's northeastern states with the government declaring some towns disaster zones severe floods 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 us dollars. to explore another lesser known part of the biggest country in the world. and this time the close up team are in the region in southwestern siberia it might be located more than two thousand kilometers away from moscow but it is more with the capital than you might think uncovers the checkered past of the region. 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 things 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 reenacting the march into exile made by thousands and czarist russia it's a communist to go there some ways winterreise in say yes a lot of people died on the way this group in the western siberian region of omsk discovered they're 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 guinea discovered that he's descended from some of these exiles and decided to build a museum telling a story he and his reactors now receivers it has from all over the world to show them what it was like with these bodies it's scary to put the shackles on of course but it's interesting if we don't remember history will have no future. it's a monument to one of our restructures cruelest chapters. one of the more noble traditions and also as military professionalism practiced here at the city's cadets college for nearly two hundred years. of. what was an officer school now gives. always a general education but with the military emphasis this here they created siberia's first cadet corps to prepare officers to protect the territory before that was

a course like a 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. it's strange to be away from home unusual but when you get used to it who feels like home. military personalities are dotted throughout history this city served as the capital of anticommunist white russian leader admiral kolchak in the civil war from one thousand nine hundred to nine hundred ninety last and residents who live here though the study of the man like the maintenance of this building has remained to blue 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 at a time of civil war both sides were monstrously cruel but 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 admiral or a criminal. 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. hundreds of people in southern russia thought they were about to welcome visitors from another world several times this month in the city of alice star there were mass sightings of a stranger in the shape of two concentric circles appearing in the sky but further investigation uncovered a much more. down to earth explanation turned out to be just a spotlight to be set up at a local shopping center although the republic of atomic ia is no stranger to all governments on the former governor claimed to have been abducted by aliens who he

later became friends with. and in just a few moments you leave us here with the business news. first. this is business update welcome to the program russia needs extraordinary measures to improve the country's investment climate that's according to president dmitry medvedev he says its recovery smaller than expected at around three percent.

the investment climate in russia is bad and that's what the government should work on next year yes we've managed to overcome the consequences of the crisis but he investment climate is still very difficult in our country there are several reasons for that we've done and are doing a lot but apparently we need extraordinary measures. on b.k. to curbing the investment climate in russia is dealing with bureaucracy that's according to police of all that from. the main problem is red tape excessive bureaucracy you know at various levels including you know the regional level i think a bit more needs to be done in terms of structural adjustment in terms of sexual reforms in terms of forming natural monopolies that is something that probably will

take a bit more time that is more of a medium term issue for the government. and with its not recovering foreign investment russian banks have been helping business out on this yet they increase the volume of lending to normal financial enterprises by ten percent to run so i just think the brilliant don't know is the average interest rate for long term loans has declined to around eleven percent while a few months ago it was around fourteen but russia's prime minister vladimir putin says the level needs to full fat to support him to point. out invited the stock markets that closed in the plot would be awesome as happened more than a quarter of a percent under my. arrive there's no movement on the stock market and what it does happen it mostly ties to the holiday season that says head of research at metropole mockable stein. the main mortuary where there are you know the president's gifts their holiday gifts at the store if you look at the two top

performers today there was their stock exchange number one is now but so that just shows that we're in the holiday season this is no joke the department stores the shares of those two companies were top performers today on my six this is very low volume today and we just basically going sideways in the market there being additional interest today and utility sector as is because in toronto it's been disclosing details of its additional share you sure. the government has had a have a go at improving russia's notorious rise and this time by increasing spending that's according to the head of russia's federal road agency. must leave the ship goods upon util the next year from the federal budget a total of around three billion dollars will be allocated for all the roads in the country that's an increase of over twenty percent from two thousand and ten which that's why we plan to increase both the level and volume of road maintenance. and

that was a business update this hour thanks for watching. it can hear dr swines policeman swines minister's wife i just pray that if you didn't find me if i could just live through the night that i would.