welcome to the fountain could use a big splash in the world of high tech business what turns events science into high gear cheap products they don't understand how cute trophies is going to be followed russian innovators to easy majors and broad and their fake breakthrough back home supply of light on story on technology update here on. we've got the future covered. wealthy british. it's time to let. the. markets. find out what's really happening to the global economy.

a question of time already jailed former russian tycoon mikhail khodorkovsky waits to find out how many more years will have to spend behind bars. and the time the court in central moscow will be bringing you all the latest details on the new what it calls the trial in just a couple of seconds. russia's prime minister slams airport and airline personnel for what he calls on acceptable behavior thousands of stranded passengers in moscow said they were left to fend for themselves. and the u.s. military budget grows there's less money flows to welfare benefits some americans are wondering whether they're paying too much to fill the nation's war chests.

it's five pm in the russian capital i'm matt trezise good to have you with us here on r t our top story it's three days before the new year and mikhail khodorkovsky is still waiting to find out how many more who have to spend behind bars former oil tycoon and once russia's richest man still hasn't heard the sense that he and his partner will serve after being found guilty of embezzlement or he's an italian overcoat is outside the court with the latest. but new charges suggest money laundering and embezzlement persecutors are saying that new quote about its former partner but don't live it if so 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 sentenced for eight years behind bars and right now the prosecutors are insisting on extending that turned out to fourteen years behind

bars and now michael died it was cold slangy the scheme through which the money laundering was done as according to the prosecutors the court concluded that that of course can't block all neighbors if planned and carried out a complicated scheme of embezzling oil and money through dealings with three smaller subsidiaries of ucas some modern 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 result 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 at a moment or price said by ucas it was then sold at the same level to offshore trading companies secretly owned by that skin labels if when it was then resold at market price they pocketed the difference six billion dollars was moved offshore

through tomsky after alone wages trial was also widely criticised by the worst calling it a validation of human rights but the russian foreign ministry has made an official statement statement about this saying that if first such a case were to appear in the united states for example that for such charges a 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 current. without the pressure from the international community on the court may have or is actually expected so 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 there's about three hundred feet just north of paperwork even that verdict right now we're hearing a different figure we're hearing there couldn't 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 it doesn't look like we're going to cnn's over this trial very say stay with us here on our team 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 we're not going to cut the defense budget and. find out why defense spending is the last place u.s. congressmen are looking for a slice of america's spiraling debt. but first widen your putin has told everyone in charge of moscow's airports that in their power supply that they'll be working during the holidays is follow severe disruptions caused by freezing rain and 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 supports a solution that everyone who is responsible. with the conditions should not go on holiday it's a difficult situation and it should be treated very seriously this was a poor person in a concern and i think it's unacceptable the way they treated stranded passengers because. bad weather conditions shut down one airport temporarily and caused major disruptions out another in domodedovo electrical cables ruptured causing power cuts that left thousands of passengers stranded in sheremetyevo ice stuck 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 frustrations on airport personnel. fifty five trillion dollars and counting that's the total u.s.

debt the highest in the world congressmen are calling for tougher cuts but with social spending already trimmed but as. jihan hafiz reports the military is getting more and more money. 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 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. what. 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 ninety 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 questions 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 in the military industrial complex despite this military contractors spend 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 crypto 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 the. people how to run the streaming operations by leaking information to something

called a team should be teams that do combat on the internet probably he was very hard to do that in fact her favor. such groups no one knows more more conspiracy theory than national security out of 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 threats that are far more complex than bush or that anything we ordinary people could ever cook up and they could billions to fight it. that full interview with john young coming your way in a little more than an hour here on r t twenty now some other stories making headlines across the globe two suicide bombers an iraqi city of mosul have stormed police headquarters killing a high ranking commander three people with explosive vests approached the complex one of them was shot before setting off his belt the other two insurgents managed to get inside and blow themselves up mosul is the last major urban stronghold of al

qaeda in iraq. south korea's president 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 the cells islands last month killing four people yang said the attack was a response to seoul's recent military exercises which have been called a quote path a military provocation by the north it's considered the worst spike in tensions on the peninsula since war sixty years ago. severe flooding continues wreaking 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 had to be closed authorities have declared several times in the region disaster zones. west african leaders have made a direct appeal to persuade ivory coast president laurent gbagbo to quit they warn

he faces military action if he does not pass power to all assane a lot tara who the un recognizes the winner of last month's election more than one hundred. seventy people were killed and tens of thousands displaced due to violence following the disputed ballot west african leaders are due to resume talks next week. a little later we'll be telling you how people in rural russia stay fit whether it's minus twenty or plus twenty. join us in our exploration of russia of siberia only find out how young cossacks are preserving ancient traditions and keeping team spirit alive. but first 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 catarina grouch over reports russian investigators suspect lou's cause 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 of 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 dummy company which then use the money to buy land from the mayor's wife was here. 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 sooner and it covered her debts bankers across the world were committing suicide the eggs man's wife came out squeaky clean. on closer inspection into piers 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 should news 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 face a vitiated 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 exit. villages in the months instead of promoting themselves 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 someone 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 to. know that these allegations are out in the open experts believe those in charge will be forced to pick up the tap.

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 to find 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 examine their share of r r t. for a verse in our stories and a whole lot more you can always click over to our team here's what's online right now. they bring you the story of the russian man who is preparing a pretty engine prediction i think apocalypse is coming in two thousand and twelve but he's making his own arrangements to avoid it. time for fear as an international christmas festival kicks off in the russian capital with this year's

celebrations dedicated to. spain all that and more at r.t. dot com. time now for the latest in our close up series exploring russia both on and off the beaten track. this week our team's close up team is in the almost screeching which is in southwest siberia in the second part of our series we take a look at how locals live there and learn about their customs and traditions our guide tom barton shows us how people survive the cold and 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 that i'm examining in my report. the view from the end of a cossacks spear but not to worry the young cossack on the other end knows what he's doing he's part of a tough rural tradition which has lasted for centuries. let's. see media they started friday when we turned servant and to trickle at the age of thirteen depending on chance abilities and as for me i was very good at two i do know horses eleven as well as that i can handle a spear and a saber got three or are tom and the others have a demanding daily schedule and horse riding is the glamorous part of the youngsters in the village built this gym themselves another training in it will have a lot to do to prove themselves as hunters and horsemen the training communally fosters a team spirit fulfilled 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. even though they were selected for this speed and anger because they must be able to get the better of a wolf. with gauri is master not just of his hounds but of this whole course village he's called the atom out and he has to show skill in leadership from solving village disputes down to training dogs to catch hares. although he prefers the larger prey will always more restrictive be likely to root in old times to get the chance of becoming an atom and it was. prestigious to bring home a wolf tied up the three in a war after the day's outdoor training we caught up with our at

a man at the evening meal where he tells us about their history the cossacks originally came from lambs 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. here before and if the idea was to create villages along the country's border so that people are bound to the land they're living on. at 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 their 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 would go. 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

jud you've been here for a while now in russia and in arms and you've also told outside the big city so how would you compare life within the cities of russia and outside them. well i'd say the obs is quite a lot more provincial than some piers where i was before. have over the u.k. i'm force a small town in the north of england so i'm used to the small town life i also been to the villages around on the skin in the region people there are much more down to earth they're tied to the land a lot of them have a lot but it's not farms they keep animals their. fears lot more healthy than what we have in the big cities and supermarkets and so on it's all locally grown it's a tea coffee and sugar. and i guess you could say the lifestyle is healthier except always leave it drinking is the stereotype also people do they're just as. they haven't got much else to do. but what i say the people there are a lot closer to each other and they got close to that 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 and i so that song which is current of console russian culture in general. like the west where he will 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 lacking. the material 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 and so something essential and so that's been a survival tactic in russia on the move for the communist time and during the

converse time differently so 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 stay with us here on our t. shirts up next with the business update. hello welcome to the business update here on r.t. with me shot there was folly russia's aluminum giant rosales rejected the sale of its taken or else nickel back to the company offered to buy or sell twenty five percent stake for twelve billion dollars it was also says not satisfied with the price and looking after it was made to end the long lasting control over at the mine or between its two main shareholders or sell interval holding. plans to

take legal action against neurosurgical for the sale of eight percent of its share capital to wallabies trader transfigure russell stays at nero's nichols board lad information regarding the terms and structure of the transaction and the price that we said deal was made also. the newly approved urals an equal share buyback which is able increasingly cut like a ship. the other news russia's president has said more effort is required to improve the country's poor investment climate artie's correspondent explains the outcome of a meeting dedicated to telling moscow into international financial center. according to the russian president during the past eleven months only fourteen companies floated their shares in russia dmitry medvedev says this is nothing to be proud of that one of the main reasons for this is the current investment climate in russia says that this problem can only be solved using

a systematic approach with 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 to russia's economy just to remind me to be. more. meeting here. this year to achieve one of these steps. to regulate the. information. was the creation of. which will include foreign international experts so we are seeing some small progress. a lot more is still needed to be done before we can really see that as a. time to. crude

prices. and here in russia the market. gains. three percent the company is around twelve million. capitalization. suspending activity. because. you can always find more stories on our website.

although you. could close umpteen has been to the region where industries are rapidly developing . now watty goes to the homeland of those with strength of mind and body. to the land developed by cossacks in ancient times and which big.