question of time already jailed former russian tycoon mikhail khodorkovsky waits to find out how many more years he'll have to spend behind bars. in the. court in central moscow will be bringing you all the latest details. in just a couple of seconds. russia's prime minister slams airport airline personnel for what the polls unacceptable behavior thousands of stranded passengers in moscow said they were left for themselves. u.s. military budget grows as less money flows to welfare benefits some americans are wondering whether their country may be addicted to warfare. that's a question are you meaning something that's been. stake in the rail nickel back to

the company about twenty minutes time. four pm in moscow i match reza good to be with you here on r t our top story three days before the new year and macau still waiting to find out just how many more he will spend just how many more he'll spend behind bars for oil tycoon once russia's richest man still hasn't heard the sentence he and his partner put on lebanon will serve after being found guilty of embezzlement didn't tell you know because outside the hello natasha in recent years coverage of the how to proceed levitt of trial has focused on criticism of russia's. also still but largely ignored the crimes they were accused of or they found guilty oh. well the new charges are just more you laundering and embezzlement persecutors are saying that mikhail khodorkovsky

and his former partner blood on the stove as much as around thirty billion u.s. dollars worth of oil why are you going to the oil company formally one of the biggest private owned companies in the world in the first trial they were found of tax evasion for which they were standing for eight years behind bars and right now the prosecutors are insisting on extending that turned out to fourteen years behind bars and now my colleague judge it was cool with slangy the scheme for which the money laundering was done as according to the prosecutors. the court concluded that mikhail khodorkovsky blood on libby's if planned and carried out a complicated scheme of embezzling oil and money through dealings with three smaller subsidiaries of ucas some modern you have to guess you gonski have to guess and after all oil extracting companies each was forced into a deal that was highly on profitable for them but extremely profitable for you can

see their results thirty billion dollars worth of oil stolen by her that. through you can here's how it worked the oil was bought from the companies i don't know me or price said by ucas it was then sold at the same level to offshore trading companies secretly owned by so that called skin liberty if when it was then resold at market price they pocketed the difference six billion dollars was moved offshore through tomsk nafta alone. indeed this latest trial was also widely criticised by the west calling you that you are a validation of human rights but the russian foreign ministry has made an official statement statement about this saying that if such a case were to appear in the united states for example that for such a charges person could be facing up to a life time in jail russian foreign ministry has also said that this is a domestic issue and it's all about russia's judicial system and it has to be

resolved within the country without the pressure from the international community on the court. the thought is that signs are expected to be handed down this year. or is actually expected the verdict to be heard before the end of this year but say right now it looks like it might take longer because indeed in the beginning we heard that the they're about three hundred fifty just north of paperwork even that verdict right now we're hearing a different figure we're hearing there could be more than eight hundred of them and not even half of them have has been voiced yet so it does look like it might take longer the hearing of the first verdict took about two weeks and many experts are saying that in fact this one is a much more complicated case than the first one so we might be seeing the continuation of the hearing of the verdict after the new year whole days of which officially in russia and on the tenth of january. god said the defense has already

said that it's going to appeal and if necessary it's going to be appealed to the european court of human rights so it doesn't look like we're going to cnn's over this trial very soon all right argues italian overcover bring us the latest on the how to control from outside the court thanks for joining us. stay with us here on our t.v. still coming up lock and load it's time to trim the budget. the biggest threat we have to our national security is are we need to cut spending big we're not going to cut the budget or. find out why defense spending is the last place congressmen are looking to slice america's spiraling. burst of lattimer putin has told everyone in charge of moscow's airports and their power supply they will be working during the holidays this follows severe disruptions caused by freezing rain at several travel hubs across the capital russia's prime minister

says the way passengers were treated by airline personnel was unacceptable and authorities are looking into whether there were any legal violations or negligence . everyone who is responsible. with the conditions should not go on holiday it's a difficult situation and it should be treated very seriously those who are. concerned i think it's unacceptable the way they treated stranded passengers. bad weather conditions shut down shut down one airport temporarily and caused major disruptions out another in domodedovo electrical cables ruptured causing power cuts have left thousands of passengers stranded in sheremetyevo iced up runways cause severe delays and cancellations flights are slowly getting back to normal but airports are still struggling to clear the backlog stranded passengers complained of a lack of information food and water some were forced to sleep on the floor while others took out their frustration on airport personnel. fifty five trillion dollars and

counting that's the total u.s. debt the highest in the world congressman are calling for tougher cuts with social spending already having been trend but as r.t.g. office reports the military is getting more and more cash. if there is one issue that both sides of the aisle agree on and we need to cut the spending yes we need to cut spending it's cutting spending to reduce the country's budget deficit even top pentagon officials acknowledge it as the country's most potent problem the biggest threat we have to our national security is our debt the federal government's debt now stands at thirteen point eight trillion dollars and is projected to hit twenty trillion by the end of the coming decade we're not going to cut the defense budget in half. the country's military budget now seven hundred twenty five billion dollars a price tag of epic and historic proportions the largest since world war two. it

includes one hundred fifty nine billion dollars for america's wars in iraq and afghanistan the reality is this is what america does neo cons like robert kagan who urged war with iraq long before nine eleven helps keep this reality alive by equating military might to global leadership and world domination we intervene in grenada nine hundred eighty three panama nine hundred eighty nine iraq nine hundred ninety one somalia nine hundred ninety two haiti nine hundred ninety four bosnian one thousand nine hundred five cost of zero nine hundred ninety nine afghanistan two thousand and one in iraq two thousand and three. the united states spends nearly as much on military hardware fixtures and training as all other countries combined we see at a time when there's twenty five to thirty million people who are unemployed or underemployed where forty seven million americans can't go to

a doctor when they're sick there's limitless funds limitless resources for the war budget the military budget is hardly ever questioned that town that is dominated by its industrial complex. advertisements lined the metro. commercials showcase the latest hardware and politicians cave into the lobbying campaigns and you can see it by the budget figures that the united states is in fact a warfare state it's addicted to militarism its addicted to war spending and its addicted to war profits this is where the war profiteers are headquartered tearing over the pentagon this place is known as contractors row and it's from this clear point we see there were evolving doors there which employees from the defense contracting enterprise one job to the government and likewise a significant number of officials in the government the pentagon and the cia fly into jobs at the military industrial complex despite this military contractor spent

close to thirty five million dollars lobbying congress according to the congressional research service defense contractors also dish out substantial amounts of money for campaign contributions in election years meanwhile a congressional watchdog group found in two thousand and eight over one hundred fifty members of congress had one hundred ninety six million dollars collectively invested in defense contractors and so as lawmakers scream louder too we need to cut spending and federal spending for education health care and social services has been reduced cutting the military budget which makes up over twenty percent of the federal budget is not on washington's agenda jan hottest r. t. washington d.c. . before there was wiki leaks there was cryptome on the way in the program we sat down with its founder who gives us a unique insight into where top secret government leaks really come from according to john young state funded intelligence agencies are actually behind some of them.

you have to teach young people how to run the street operations by leaking information to build something called eight teams would be teams that do combat on the internet probably he was a part hackers to do that in fact her favorite employee is now in such groups no one knows more more conspiracy theory national security how to perot's conspiracy theories all the time but they put out the story that is just a conspiracy theory as though it's comparable but in fact they're the ones who cooked up the threads that are for more complex and bizarre than anything we ordinary people could ever cook up and they could billions to fight it. the full interview with john young coming your way in less than a quarter hour here on r t turning first though to some other stories making headlines across the globe two suicide bombers like the city of mosul have stormed police headquarters killing a high ranking commander three people with explosive vests approach the complex one of them was shot before setting off his belt the other two insurgents managed to

get in the side and blow themselves up mosul is the last major urban stronghold of al qaeda in iraq the. president of south korea says resuming six party peace talks with the north is the only way to resolve nuclear tensions on the korean peninsula the north shelling one of south silence last month killing four people said they were attacked was a response to seoul's recent military exercises which has been called a quote path of military provocation by the north it's considered the worst spike in tensions on the peninsula since the war sixty years ago. severe flooding continues to wreak havoc across northeast australia with water levels are expected to rise even higher in the coming days rain swollen rivers have burst their banks destroying crops bridges and hundreds of homes almost a thousand people have been evacuated from the worst affected areas and nearly three hundred roads across queensland have been closed authorities have declared several towns in the region disaster zones it's. worst fighting to hit the area in

decades. west african leaders have made a direct appeal to persuade ivory coast president laurent gbagbo to quit a war in the faces military action if he doesn't pass power to. the un recognizes as the winner of last month's election more than one hundred seventy people have been killed and tens of thousands displaced due to violence fall in last month's disputed about. a little later we'll tell you how people in rural russia stay fit whether it's minus or plus the outside join us in our exploration of siberia is on the screen and find out how young cossacks are preserving ancient traditions and keeping team spirit alive. first though out of favor out of office and now in trouble with the law moscow's deposed mayor yuri luzhkov could face charges of corruption money laundering and fraud as our visa carried a grouch over reports russian investigators suspect luzhkov alleged murky dealings

may have been a family affair. why i call the workers at one of moscow's banks are facing jail for lending too much credit and trust to the city's former mayor your english cough and his wife russia's richest woman in a find themselves at the central yet another scandal prosecutors suspect them of laundering some thirteen billion rubles almost half a billion dollars in a somewhat primitive but simming really effective fraught the bank of moscow owned by a friend of is accused of approving a whopping great loan to a dummy company which then use the money to buy land from the mayor's wife is. the scam was carried out under the control of city hall and luzhkov personally in three months this premier estate company appeared and with a little more than three hundred bucks in his account to get

a loan worth five hundred million dollars unbelievable it was clear the company may not pay it back and could evaporate then this premier state company bought land from both tuna and it covered her debts well bankers across the world were committing suicide the eggs man's wife came out squeaky clean. on closer inspection and to peers that the bank of moscow may only have been a middleman in the transaction suspiciously a couple of weeks before the loan city hall gave the bank fifteen billion rubles and it is shewed new shares prosecutors suspect this was the money given to prime your estate to buy land from the mayor's wife many are now wondering did the mayor really steal the money for the love of his life the alleged scam haggard mosque of ice they say this she did deal was so blatant it looked as if the former mayor took the money from the city budget wrapped it up for christmas christmas for it from

his office and presented it to his wife in full view of the. the price paid for the land also raises questions seven million dollars perhaps or of land on moscow's outskirts is astronomic experts say and there is no sign of any construction taking place all of these adds to the bad smell left behind by the former mayors acrimonious x. it. will of the months instead of promoting himself and playing political games the mayor should have worked the city has a huge number of problems corruption is going through the roof this is unheard of it's impossible to get anywhere through fair competition who gets all the work contracts and tenders who has always won until recently as the mirror of moscow used to say those who exhibited outstanding business skills and prove their right to work on these projects are the most talented entrepreneurs but we know what kinds of decisions were made. now that these allegations are out in

the open experts believe those in charge will be forced to pick up the tap which is the word for glasgow got out of the case has received too much publicity this people will have to pay one should not forget that the man has changed so if they don't pay up they'll be jailed friend those in charge will be easy there's a loan agreement in place. so the consequences of laskowski controversial time as mayor are still being felt and it could be that it's small time bank workers that will be paying the price of alleged big time corruption exhibit their share of r r t moscow. time now for the latest in our close up series exploring russia both on and off the beaten track.

this week r.t. is close as the almost korean in southwest siberia it's the second part of the series we take a look at how locals live and learn about their customs and traditions our guide to the region tom barton shows us how people survive the cold and also what they do for entertainment excepting soviet times has always been on the frontier of russia it required people to come here and build it from scratch and then to defend the front both people with the cossacks and it's their strong and self-sufficient local culture but i'm examining in my report. the view from the end of a cossacks spear but not to worry the young cos a commie other end knows what he's doing he's part of a tough cruel tradition which has lasted for centuries. and it's no good to see media they start teaching us friday when we turn servant and to trick ride at the age of thirteen depending on chance abilities and as for me i was very good at do i do horse at eleven as well as i can handle a spear and

a saber for the three or ottoman the others have a demanding daily schedule and horse riding is the glamorous part of the youngsters in the village built this gym themselves and now the training in it will have a lot to do to prove themselves as hunters and horsemen in the training communally fosters a team spirit to show in this cossacks society. a team spirit necessary for the cossacks noblest pursuit hunting on the sharp end the beloved fast russian dog that bred to perfection over centuries and not for any ordinary prey. but it they were selected for their speed and anger because they must be able to get the better of a wolf. raghuram is master not just of his hounds but of this whole cost village he's called the atom and he has to show skill in leadership from solving village

disputes down to training dogs to catch hares. though he prefers the larger prey more likely to be in old times to get the chance of becoming an atom and it was considered prestigious to bring home a wolf tied up. in the ring. after the day's outdoor training we caught up with our at a man at the evening meal where he tells us about the history the cossacks originally came from lands far to the west of here but they proved a useful militia force conquering and securing siberia for the czars in return for grants of land. the idea was to create villages along the country's border so that people are bound to the land they are living on. the cossacks strong independent traditions were disliked by the communists they were suppressed and marginalized since the end of the soviet union they've been trying to rebuild that self-sufficient way of life especially when it comes to resisting the bad habits of

the city. it's no easy matter living in the country of course but on the other hand we're protected from the harm of the city from drugs alcohol smoking. but tonight at least the elders of the village were allowing themselves a few liberties. with me to talk more about life in the siberian villages is alex jude you've been here for a while now in russia and in arms and you've also traveled outside the big city so how would you compare life within the cities of russia and outside them. well i'd say the officers quite a lot more provincial than some peers will go before. the u.k. i'm force a small town in the north of england so i'm used to the small town life i've also been to villages around on the spin in the region people there about sure down to earth they're tied to the land a lot of them have a lot months if not farms they keep animals their. fees lot more healthy than what

we have in the big cities and supermarkets and so on it's all locally grown access a tea coffee and sugar. and i guess you could say the lifestyle is healthier except obviously the drinking which is the stereotype us of people do that is just as they haven't got much else to do. but when i say the people there are a lot closer to each other and they've got close to close knit communities because they rely on each other a lot more than say in a bigger city. ok so you've described a more close to lifestyle family values and a kind of great connection to where they're from how would you say that that helps people there to survive the greatest challenge that there is which is the ferocious russian winter i so that song which is current of all console russian culture in general. like the west where we were much more individualized take care take care of themselves so that people here in russia and especially in the russian villages have to have to look out for each other just because you can't rely on number one

all the time. and if there's something which which you are lacking whether whether it be material or in terms of family care like child care and so on are the first people you'll turn to russia will be your family and your friends and neighbors and so on so it's absolutely essential and so that's been a. survival time tactic in russia move for the communist time and during the commies time different piece of that song which continues in prevails today. a view there from someone outside russia seeing life in the russian verges and it seems that those close knit ties and strong family values are enough to get people through even the worst of the russian weather business news next in a few moments stay with us here on r.t. . hungry for the full stop we've got. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers. would

be so much brighter. sound from silence to question. on time dot com. her welcome to the mrs up there heron are with me charlotte was folly russia. has rejected the sale of its stake in the rails nickel back to the company neurosurgical offered to buy a twenty five percent stake for twelve billion dollars over a cell says it will keep the state because it however major

a poor sale was not satisfied with the price the offer was made to end the long lasting battle for control over the minor to his two main shareholders interests holding. finally satisfied resells of extraordinary general meeting take place on march eleventh. the market nor nichols offer of thirteen billion dollars fully complies with the market price of the share and i want to stress once again that the company is ready for negotiations and we are ready to continue the talks in the process russia's president said more effort is required to improve the country's poor investment climate correspondent igor preschool north explains the outcome of meeting educated to telling moscow into international financial center. according to the russian president during the past eleven months only fourteen. years in russia dmitry medvedev says this is nothing to be. reasons for this.

investment in russia. this problem can only be solved using. everybody taking part from the head of state and the prime minister to the lower levels of civil servants. the country's civil called needs more improvement as well because it's directly connected. economy just to remind you. this year to achieve one of these steps. the. information. was the creation of. which will include foreign international experts so we are seeing some small. a lot more to be done before we can really see that as.

the first time. and slipping into the red. and more. negative. you have. almost three percent.