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what time of going to jail the russian tycoon mikhail khodorkovsky awaits sentencing in a new case that could see him spend more in jail. forgotten passengers of russia's prime minister slams mine officials are thousands of people were left stranded in moscow tunnels for days without basic help all travel information. was appalling the wounds of the u.s. military budget continues to expand despite more social spending.

hello and welcome to our t twenty four hour news live from moscow my name is your leadership of our let's go to our main story now jailed or oil tycoon mikhail khodorkovsky and his former partner plot on lebanon are awaiting sentencing by moscow court the judge has been reading the lengthy verdicts for the last three days but the defense expects cont'd conclusion by friday both found guilty of embezzling billions of dollars and could see years more added to their existing sentence and the time they know they can raise following the case. but new charges suggest more you laundering and embezzlement persecutors are saying that new crop about its former partner blood on livid if stole 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 that was the key there is are insisting on extending that turned out to fourteen

years behind bars and now michael died it was cool with slangy the scheme for which the money laundering was done as according to the prosecutors the court concluded that about of course skin club only but if blundered carried out a complicated scheme of embezzling oil and money through dealings with three smaller subsidiaries of you can see some other news to gus. and you guns can have to go all oil extracting companies each was forced into a deal that was highly profitable for them but extremely profitable for you because the result said he billion dollars worth of oil still going by that of course can live as if through you can see here is how it worked the oil was bought from the companies at a nominal price said by you can see it was then sold at the same level to offshore trading companies secretly owned by so that called skin labored if when it was then resold at market price they pocketed the difference six billion dollars was moved offshore through thomson have to learn that of course negative were found guilty of embezzling

a total of three hundred fifty million tonnes of oil worth twenty four billion dollars this latest trial was also widely criticised by the worst school when you think you were violations of human rights but the russian foreign ministry has made an official statement a 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. about russia's judicial system and it has to be resolved within the country without the pressure from the international community on the poor of the third day of the hearing has come to an end in libya lou is expected that the hearing of the verdict would be done before the end of this year and begin we've heard that there were three hundred pages worth of paperwork in the verdict right now we're hearing that it could be as many as eight hundred of them and not even half of them have been voiced yet fareed does look like it might take longer

than until the end of this year. russia's prime minister has told authorities in charge of moscow's airport was on the power supply they will be spending the holidays at work on those follow severe disruptions at several and hubs across the capital that left thousands of people stranded the snow and freezing rain that paralyzed the campus holes and apples also cool cities traffic running to hold and at one point on wednesday it's estimated. record of us three thousand kilometers more than the distance between moscow and bus and there are no. small. you would think wildcards would be used to all sorts of extreme weather by now especially when it comes down to winter conditions but this year residents of the russian capital have been in for something of a trial a particularly heavy snowfall has paralyzed traffic all around the city average people today will have to wait to spend about three to four hours a night i have to leave home by eight in the morning to make it to work in time i

don't have any other option i think the weather doesn't have much to do with this traffic it's a daily problem you know the feeling moscow is always full of traffic it is a matter whether it's snowing or not there are just too many cars i've been stuck in traffic for five hours so you have to also keep in mind the fact that over the past weekend temperatures have risen significantly and then dropped literally overnight and the entire city was covered with ice sheets of ice on the roads on the sidewalks so there are massive traffic disruptions because of the conditions on the roads there are very many accidents the ice that has engulfed the russian capital over the weekend has paralyzed not just the traffic on the ground it actually also caused massive disruptions as two of most cars major airports domodedovo and sure thousands of people stranded for days on end without proper food water. someone that you see everyone responsible for this situation has to be

in place celebrating the new year that it was out of power but people continue to arrive at the airport there was no information provided more than eight thousand people were stranded there what did you do to help people nothing but weather forecasters are saying that this kind of sort of weather but actually take a turn for the worst as there is more ice and more i see rain is expected to fall in mosco in the next couple of days so this actually may not be such a merry holiday season for most guys after all. a little later we'll tell you how people in rebel rock should stay fit whether it's modern society of plastic surgery cells says outdoors john as an exploration of siberia is on screen point out how young call sign preserving ancient traditions and keeping team spirit alive. trillions dollars in debt and falling deeper the yasser is looking to cut spending but not in the direction of the military but in fact the pentagon is receiving more

money now than at any point in american history and while congressmen are working hard to trim social spending when best to gauge what is keeping the military's budget safe is just one half its report. 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 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 neil 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

a limitless funds limitless resources for the war budget the military budget is hardly ever questions their town that is dominated by its industrial complex. advertisements lined the metro. commercial 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 it's addicted the war spending and it's addictive the 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 the revolving door through 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 eight 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 hospice r. t. washington d.c. here with us here are still ahead with the russia capital all abuzz. the shady deal was so blatant it looked as if the former mayor took the money from the city budgets wrapped up a christmas christmas spirit from his office and presumed it to his wife in full

view of the. press to gauge the cash trial oscars for one madam i haven't. but first let's take a look at some other stories that have been making headlines around the world five suspected as a mystery since have been arrested for allegedly planning a gun attack in denmark and they say their target was the copenhagen offices of the danish newspaper that printed the controversial prophet mohammed cartoons five years ago officials described it as the most serious terror plot ever attempted in the country the publication of the cartoons one of which depicted the prophet muhammad with a bomb shaped turban caused mass protests among muslims around the world. president of south korea's as resume in six party peace talks with the north is the only way to resolve nuclear tensions on the korean peninsula that followed the north shelling of one of the it starts islands last month killing four people young said that time was the response to seoul's recent military exercises which have been

called a part of military provocation by the north and it's going to said it was like an tensions on the peninsula as the war sixty years ago. and severe flooding continues to wreak havoc across northeast australia with water levels expected to rise even higher in the coming days rain swollen rivers have burst their banks destroying crops bridges and hundreds of homes over a thousand people have been evacuated from the worst affected areas and nearly three hundred rows across queensland have been closed authorities have declared several towns in the region disaster zones up. out of favor out of office and now in trouble with the law deposed may your english call could face charges of corruption money laundering and fraud and getting your grandchildren are reports russian investigators suspect alleged murky dealings were a family affair. why did call the workers at one of moscow's banks are

a few seem for lending too much credit and trust to the city's former mayor you're a loser and his wife russia's richest woman in the butt to dinner 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 for aught the bank of moscow owned by a friend of golf 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 it's him or she 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 little more than three hundred bucks in his account mostly 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 birth to enter and it covered her debts while bankers across the world were committing suicide the eggs man's wife came out squeaky clean. on closer inspection it appears 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 should 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 mask of its 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 bank but. 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 paths 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. you. know that these allegations are out in

the open experts believe those in charge will be forced to pick up the tap. or 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. it will be easy there's a loan agreement in place. so the consequences of a 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 exceeding the churchyard t. . and for all our stories and much more head to our web site r.t. dot com and here's what we're going to find online right now on. mysterious lights in the sky about southern russia had some speculating that aliens had come down to greet the new year with the locals for a more down to earth explanation visit our single. and find out why russia's father

christmas deadline ross was fined three hundred dollars at his moscow rome that's all on our t.v. guide. time now for the latest in our close out series exploring russia both on and all of the . this week also his close up team isn't the only great general with southwest in the second part of this series we take a look at how locals live that. customs and traditions our very own guide to the region tom barton shows us how people survive the cold and also what they do to

tell. the view from the end of a cossacks here but not to worry the young corsican the other end knows what he's doing he's part of a tough rural tradition which has lasted for centuries. but you know i'm glad to see me they started when we turned servant and to trick ride at the age of thirteen depending on chance abilities that's for me i was very good at do i do horse at eleven as well as that i can handle a spear and a saber that's got the old ottoman the others have a demanding daily schedule and horse riding is the glamorous part the youngsters in the village built this gym themselves and now the training in it they have a lot to do to prove themselves as hunters and horsemen in the training communally fosters a team spirit in this cossacks society. a team spirit necessary for the cossacks noblest pursuit hunting on the sharp end the

beloved fast russian dog the bars only 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 gore 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 but it's just down to training dogs to catch hares. although he prefers the larger prey willow was more likely to root in old times to get the chance of becoming an atom and it was considered prestigious to bring home a wolf tied up. with the ring and after the day's outdoor training we caught up with our ottoman at the evening meal where he tells us about their history the cossacks originally came from lamb's 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're 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 tom barton party. now we could make this the world's number one whistle blowing website but it's only been around for four years so who or what came before it and who really is behind the leaking of top secret document to

whistleblowers so we've got the answers up next in our special interview stay with us. before there was ever wiki leaks there was cryptome the website cryptome dot org has been publishing information prohibited by governments this includes classified and secret documents on u.s.

soil since the one nine hundred ninety six now the co-founder of that site joins me now to tell us more john young i want to thank you so much for joining us now as i said crypto dot org has been in the business of making government secrets public long before wiki leaks was tell us a little bit about the history and philosophy of your web site the so i was set up principally to publish information about communication security which is the fundamental technology you for keeping secrets and it grew out of my participation of a group called software punks which was also a group or a judo saundra learned his skills and so that this group was composed of very highly educated engineers scientists and technicians who were mostly working for corporations or government on the technology of communication security and they knew that this was going to come into the private market as a cold war wound down and they want to get information out to the public about what was coming so we set up the site to make that information available from people who

had access to it but did not want to be identified as a source everything we're doing we know that we cannot keep any secrets. but our side and we told our readers you should not expect us to protect you because we are being watched and every other side is being watched just like we hear leaks is being watched so there is no secrecy on the internet and we make that clear that's the lesson we've learned and we now try to spread that. message be very aware of the internet which is a very large scale spying machine what really really motivates you to expose these secrets and why is this your vocation why do you feel strongly that this needs to happen well because secrecy is the biggest. enemy of democracy. it is way over done and so threats to democracy are coming from the inside above from the secret keepers and that they need to be expose it to become a huge industry it's extremely expensive and you can't criticize it you can't get access to it because those who go inside that world are sworn to lifetime secrecy

about it and they can never talk about it and i'm saying that's a system that is anti-democratic and it's a big business now thousands of firms have been drawn into it since nine one one because it's very lucrative and so we need to have less secrecy in congress about secrecy in the presidency has to come see in all forms of government you should know the government more information all the rest of us put together for their own purposes and their own describe the employees are are encouraged to leak secrets and to see what happens if they leave laptops around and so left behind by a drunk they leave papers around they put stuff on wiki leaks these are all well known techniques to a lot of the public create sympathy and get more funding there are schools to train people like bradley manning in doing just that on the internet it's at fort huachuca this is one of their training syllabuses that we published as they actually teach young people how to run the sting operations by leaking information to test the system something called a team should be teams that do combat on the internet but leaking this stuff

they've hired hackers to do that hackers in fact are favorite employees now of such groups and so this is talked about hacker conferences about how you go to. i don't know if you can pick up good money buy one be going to informant two is running these tests assumes infiltrating systems. sending out false information. but this is not new this is been going on ever since sort of been a spy world it's all just say it's now the internet is now used for that purpose what does it achieve that well it achieves one funding if you don't have threats you don't need the system so making threats so then people say oh no this is scary this information that is randomly surprisingly gotten out so we need to go support whatever our government is saying it needs in terms of ramping up homeland security funding or. you know breaching civil liberties in the name of protecting protecting against terrorism that sort of thing is that we are effective the latest one that perfectly but you begin to use it's called cyber security with

a brand new cyber command that's just been given a huge amount of money it's been in the works so ever since the internet popped up sarber security and so if we could leaks hadn't invented itself let's assume that it did it would have been invented because this is a goldmine for people who deal in charge of security don't forget most of this work is handed out to contractors and universities and research institutions and so it's widely based. money flow and so without that we would have no defense department we'd have no national security apparatus that would have less need for the president or congress so one of the things that's important to keep in mind here is that this is a deeply entrenched approach turns out i'm not i'm talking to i'm not anti-government i'm anti secret government but one of the ways you know you cover up your own fault is to raise a new threat and blame other people and that's what we see coming with wiki leaks it's going to be blame for the state department's own failure to protect its own material to operate threats will probably a good place to research you know there's been this claim that terrorists are using

the internet to plot attacks on us so it's a kind of wedding of the two and so there's these kind of accusations out. congressional people about we could be speaker tear is expected part of that pattern it's a repeat of the red menace and all these other kinds of fabricated ministers and so now they have that now they've got a fabulous opportunity to say well the enemy has already inside the us their own the internet because we set it up it's ours and there are they've infiltrated what have people that would listen to your take on that and say that just sounds like a conspiracy theory well conspiracy theory was invented by the spies no one knows more more conspiracy theory than spies do national security out of bread was cooked up conspiracy theories all the time but they put out the story that is just conspiracy theory as though it's contemptible but in fact they're the ones who cooked up the threats that are far more complex and those are than anything we ordinary people could ever cook up and they get billions to fight it thank you so much for speaking with us thank you.