exactly eleven o'clock pm moscow time now these are our top stories and i present the team of putin says america's zero four human rights record means it can't lecture others as a response to washington's decision to sanction russian diplomats we talk about. looking at live pictures from london news event we're following developing story tonight another not like these are the latest in fact this is the balcony of the ecuadorian embassy. any minute and these plans are the christmas address will be live shortly i can assure you of that also the u.k. reveals the war in afghanistan has cost more than seventeen billion pounds of that figure expected to rise before british troops are withdrawn.

alone a very good evening chief who just joined us for a viewer watching around the world is kevin owen here at the new center tonight and first for him a putin slammed america's human rights record. and sanctions torture and oversees prisons while speaking to journalists the president defended moscow's response.

our u.s. partners and their lawmakers say they are concerned about human rights in our prisons and that's fine of course but there are plenty of issues they have themselves abu ghraib and guantanamo where for years people have been detained without charge it's inconceivable prisoners walk around in chains like in the middle ages they've legalized torture inside their own country if something like that happened here it would cause an international outcry but it all remains quiet in the u.s. we've heard plenty of promises to close guantanamo but it's still there it's still operating maybe there is still torture going on there secret cia prisons has anyone been brought to account and they're pointing at our problems well thank you we're aware of that making this the ground for passing anti russian laws it's something

absurd and we have a no way provoked such action russian lawmakers are currently working on what they say will be a proportionate response to the money's good act and part of the plan is to introduce a ban for americans to adopt russian children this has been causing quite a lot of debate in russia and the president has commented on that saying that adoption and the problem with it is that it's not even the cases of abuse. russian children adopted by american foster parents of but the lack of a proper legal reaction from american authorities to prevent them from reoccurring including the lack of serious punishments in light of the n.t. government protests which have been continuing for around a year now the president was also asked a question implying that he's managed to build an author of a regime in the country during his time in power let's listen to the president's reply. i believe that we've provided stability which is the perec was that for the

development of our country i believe it's a very important thing. but i wouldn't call it authoritarian i can't agree with such an opinion but the most prominent example that proves my point was my decision to take to the sidelines after two terms as president if i thought that to toward terry and or authoritarian systems would be the most preferable for our country i just changed the constitution another issue touched upon at the conference was russia's stance on the carpet in syria the president stressed once again that moscow does not support president assad's regime but it also doesn't want to see syria drown in careless and civil war for the next two years or do which and says it's only up to the syrian people to decide what sort of a political future that he wants and we want to see in control of their country you know we are not concerned about the faith of assad's regime we understand what's

going on there the family has been in power for forty years and undoubtedly there's demand for change but we're concerned about what happens next in the country we just don't want ongoing strife between today's opposition if it takes power and the current government if they become the opposition this can't go on forever now on a lighter note putin is also denied speculation that he's been experiencing some problems with his health and has also answered a question which is bothering millions of people right now about the end of the world well the russian president says he knows when the world will end according to him it will happen in a few billion years one of the sun stop shining some of these are some of the more serious and less serious issues touched upon at the conference which lasted around four and a half hours continuing the president's tradition of these extended press and included over twelve hundred journalists from different parts of russia and from

abroad. now the man at the front line of the information battle these days wiki leaks out of the jailing the sanjay is as i say. to give his christmas address he said to deliver a speech from the balcony of the ecuadorian embassy in london we've been ensconced for the last six months after being granted political asylum the cyber world the person is what he's going to say. just come out now let's dip into this in a few moments what is going to talk about unlike germy hammond in new york tonight unlike. in bahrain tonight and unlike bradley manning who turns twenty five this week. a young man who has maintained his dignity after spending more than ten percent of his life in jail without trial some of that time in a cage naked and without his glasses unlike so many others plights

a link to my own i salute these brave men and women and i salute journalists and publications that have covered what continues to happen to these people and to journalists. who continue publishing the truth in face of persecution. then we're covering the if you want to keep up to speed with exactly what he's saying you can go to our web site r t dot com we're streaming online for you told and we'll be picking out the highlights of what i had to say bringing them to you later throughout the night there's been a lot of anticipation about this is a say our correspondent laura smith is there now she's listening in we'll be talking later but let's listen to this report she can pardon. coming up any moment now. now the last time julian assange appeared in public it was back in august and he'd organize a kind of

a rally around the embassy so speeches by politicians and other supporters as a kind of a carnival atmosphere with balloons and all that kind of thing and then he came on and made his speech and he made a couple of important points one of which was to urge the u.s. to end what he calls the witch hunt against wiki leaks and he also called for the release of bradley manning who is of course being held. on trial in the u.s. accused of leaking classified documents to wiki leaks so those are two things that he may mention again when he talks later on thursday he also may talk about his most recent bids to run for the senate in the two thousand and thirteen australian federal elections he's made that announcement and he's said that wiki leaks is setting up a political party for which plans are significantly advanced and they have received

significant support from notable australians he says that that party is designed to promote openness in government and politics and also to combat growing intrusions on individual privacy so one of the things i learnt during the interview that he gave me a couple of weeks ago was that julian assad is increasingly on willing to talk about his personal situation he prefers to stick to the wider issues and so that is why one of the things he may talk about would be the continuing blockade of wiki leaks by a visa master card and pay pal that's a case that's ongoing at the moment and also a possible further leak that he mentioned to me they're talking about leaking more documents in the new year watch this space he said. absolutely well you can catch the live broadcast of streaming it right now as a mention of the speech on our website r.t. dot com we'll bring you the highlights a bit later. the u.k. has revealed the staggering cost of its involvement in the war in afghanistan more

than seventeen billion pounds and as britain proposed to withdraw its troops the defense secretary says the final price tag could be around twenty billion pounds all this of course coming amid public spending cuts in an effort to try to reduce the country's budget deficit artie's polyploid is on top of the story. seventeen billion pounds the british government has just revealed that that's been the cost of the so far eleven year war in afghanistan now it was a very deal that the same time as a clear timetable was announced for troop withdrawal from the region we're going to have u.k. troops slashed by about a half by the end of next year down to five thousand two hundred and then another large chunks of troops will be leaving by the end of twenty fourteen but it's those seventeen billion pounds that are being spent that have been spent on it for the war on top of the existing defense budget which means the estimates for the final price tag for the afghan war might be something around twenty billion pounds and of course the u.k. is going to keep sending money to afghanistan after twenty fourteen they're going

to be sending something like seventeen million pounds for aid towards the afghan national security forces after twenty fourteen and this is all at the same time as the government is announcing prolonged all series here at home that's going to continue until at least twenty seven hundred twenty eighteen and the chancellor announcing that there's going to. welfare cuts and an extra ten billion pounds slashed from the welfare budget along with cuts in every single other government department now i'm joined by john hillery who is the executive director of antipoverty charity more on point seventeen billion pounds down the line about money have been better spent elsewhere you could hardly really think of any worse way of spending the money as you say if you pointed out here in britain we're seeing enormous cuts to government spending and to the world for budgets about twenty five billion pounds in total which actually it's almost the same it's been spent in the war in afghanistan but in afghanistan itself the impact of the war has

been absolutely disastrous defense spending can be just after this is seventeen billion pounds over and above the existing british defense but you even before you start to program it it's clear that over seventy percent of people in. wanted the war to be ended immediately or very very soon it's a completely unpopular war people in britain wanted the troops out people in afghanistan also want the troops out and now we're being faced with these massive cuts on top without people are really angry about the fact that the waters continue for the british people want to still try to destroy the horrible legacy of frazier an occupation which they've lived with for the last thirty years and already the defense secretary has said that parts of afghanistan won't be under government control and so that means a lot more questions from the british taxpayers about the eleven years spent fighting the war and the twenty billion pound price tag for it probably boyko part

of our team in london that coming up on our seats annoyed with me kevin zero in time magazine named barack obama person of the year for a second time but critics say the u.s. president take stronger action on issues such as gun control very in focus at the moment we report on that after the break. the sun rises over what seems like and most forest here in the new directions quite hundred kilometers north of life are stopped as much of the world is disappearing at a catastrophic rate. markers both illegal and those finding ways to outsmart the system filing down the forests of the region for them profit goes well beyond the future of our planet and the result could be an ecological crisis the world wildlife fund for nature makes regular trips to help local rangers do what little they can to stop the logging but

it's not easy mark or set up traps making them hard to reach in an already rough terrain and have mastered ways to jump through legal loopholes. this is a nature reserve were only sanitary logging of disease trees is a lie out according to law and not a single berry can be picked up along like this used their sanitary logging permit to cut down absolutely healthy trees and sell the profitable timber over the border in china we are on the hunt for illegal loggers and it's not going to be easy to forests. and our chances are slim now for now we can stay in our dreams but as soon as we find quality tracks we'll have to drop our wheels and get out silently in order not to scare them off alexander some morning has been a ranger for over twenty five years he can spend weeks at a time tracking a single group of loggers easier to work when snow falls in autumn it's impossible

to find human tracks and even transport tracks are hard to see after hours of driving we get sent in the right direction by word of mouth you can see that the ground is soft here which means that twelve tractor trails are very fresh which means that we need to be quiet in order to not scare them off as we get closer. this team says they're illegal but have no documents now xander can now call the police to take over his work here is done overwhelmingly outnumbered there are too few rangers working in the promote the region and the w w f says the government isn't doing enough to stop it i guess the government now for more. than your forest and according to. the guys in the forest through this still.

no one tries to stop them in just five years the forest will be gone. what will the people who live after us do. it's a question more and more people are aware of to. a climate change in the safety of our environment as a whole are being discussed around the world and perhaps it's those small steps that might be a start to people living in harmony with nature. i'll get mikhail khodorkovsky to the war free from prison earlier than expected a moscow called cut the jail term for the former tycoon and his business partner platon lebedev they have been serving time for oil theft a money laundering now he's going to catherine off reports. the prison terms for the two goons were reduced due to a change in russia's prison penal code sensually there's hundreds of thousands of

russian businessmen are believed to be serving behind bars for various financial crimes as a result of the russian government had decided to soften somewhat its penal code when it comes to those financial crimes of course this case is no ordinary one it's one of the most high profile cases in recent years in russia back in the early two thousand the government had accused the two former yukos oil partners of tax evasion yukos was then the largest oil firm in the country it went bankrupt its assets were taken over by row snapped and this has prompted many in the west to. accuse the country of a politically motivated case these are charges that moscow force denies now before the two men had finished serving their sentences in two thousand and ten a moscow court had given them fresh prison charges this time over accusations of money laundering as well as the charge of stealing more than thirty billion u.s. dollars worth of oil despite this has become somewhat of a poster boy for the russian opposition which says that his continued imprisonment

is evidence of the russian state's control over the judiciary despite all this of course that the thursday appeal hearing the court had ruled that the men will be able to walk free by two thousand and fourteen lebedeff will be able to go around august and is expected to be released by october. and he cuts protesters vowed to march in the streets of spain the saving is madrid's or make his together to pass next year's budget has been rising tension in recent days ahead of the deal which is expected to make savings of around thirty nine billion euro people are frustrated cuts to their health care education as well as the government breaking his promise to raise pensions in line with inflation but madrid's refusing to ask for a day from its neighbors either trader felix rohatyn a covert told me a bailout for spain could lead to the breakup of the eurozone. if it had managed to do all that are smashed. in the first year. we don't understand it it's just it's age you don't do doing it provided. you so much and everything into blamed for the

first year you can actually blame the previous government. for. the boy this is the spanish bailout because they know that it's too big to bail out and if we have to risk. it into the euro seems to be real risk and falsely. just buying time and we're still on the road to the bankruptcy court and eventually a breakup of the euro. people stories here on our website r.t. dot com including tonight violating the battled code of leading human rights watchdog says israel broke the laws of war by targeting civilians and media in garza during last month's military operation plenty of clicks going forward catch up on it starting better late than never to the u.k. finally agrees to one of the british veterans of the convoy which carried crucial supplies to russia during world war two but something was wrong. there's been

a mixed reaction over time magazine's decision to name barack obama person of the year for a second time he was president again the award for becoming what they called a symbol an architect of the new america but the end of his enthusiasm for the u.s. the there isn't shared by all americans may remain unconvinced by his actions including domestic matters such as gun control is going to change you can report. they're choosing president obama as the person of the year second time the first time they gave him the title right after the two thousand and eight election as to someone who had the most influence on global affairs although at that time he hadn't had the time to exercise all that influence but then president obama also received the nobel peace prize in two thousand and nine ers shortly after his election although again at that point he hadn't made much peace in the world the award was seen as much more of an advance credit then and in a college meant to factual achievements on the peace front later president obama went on to spend credit sending more troops to afghanistan and carrying out regime

change in libya under the or you will banner war for the sake of peace as far as his person of the year title critics argue president obama was time's choice by default their short list this year also included the gyptian leader mohamed morsi and the pakistani girl malala yousafzai who was shot by the taliban for advocating for women's education president obama may be the person of the year for the time magazine but for advocates of gun control in the u.s. he still has to earn that title president obama had a news conference where he was asked why no meaningful action has been taken on gun control in the last four years of his presidency although one of his campaign pledges was a ban on assault weapons he basically said he had lots of other things to do including waging two wars and quote it's not like i've been on vacation he said to those in the u.s. who suffered in numerous incidents of gun violence would probably not be satisfied

with such an answer but the president pledged to finally take more active steps in the coming months he said the administration will come up with a more definitive proposal on gun control but people have heard those words before and nothing happened getting a semiautomatic weapon is not a problem in the u.s. adam lanza who killed twenty small children and. six adults at an elementary school last week fired from a semi-automatic bushmaster rifle it's a military style rifle a powerful weapon and its sales are on the rise in the u.s. in the last four years the market for such guns grew thirty percent. and from moscow syrian rebels claim they've made significant advances saying they've seized as many as six towns in the hama region the opposition forces also say they've liberated a palestinian refugee camp in damascus to seize it on monday meanwhile the u.n. launched a huge humanitarian effort by announcing a one and a half billion dollar aid package for refugees suffering from the twenty one month

old conflict. egypt's top prosecutor has retracted monday's offer to resign now as the country gears up for saturday's second round of voting on the controversial constitution there there was public discontent after morsi. predecessor last month one of his first moves after granting yourself sweeping powers the justice minister will now decide the prosecutor's fate the country's divided over their constitution with opponents fear of the document is rushed and will limit their rights by creating an islamist state. while prosecutors in italy at the moment a one year prison sentence for former prime minister silvio berlusconi the charges relate to his alleged role in revealing transcripts of private conversations in a newspaper owned by is media empire a two thousand and five discussion between a leading italian politician and a financial company president was apparently illegally tapped berlusconi for his part denies those charges there's lawyers suggesting the courts want to rush the

verdict and negatively impact his chances of returning as prime minister in february selection. thanks for being with us tonight alex who international we do appreciate it after the break much college and stacy herbut the wool street comparing some of the dealings to a wild west oh shoot enjoy. the legacy no one should be proud of keeps of scrap metal littering pristine arctic landscape building stilton over their foundation pipes spilling black smoke over the snow covered peaks the traces of the soviet industrial activity on the spitzbergen archipelago don't make a pretty picture if the guiding principle here is the worse the better locals like to tell the story that back in soviet times when norwegians were visiting barons

work they don't want to express amazement. at how prosperous this settlement was well times have obviously a challenge when they saw it lags they still attracting a region tourists are barons work i would then cons much needed cash that's why when business bad they're ruining our goal is common as was uncovered here a few days ago instead of throwing it away the local administration decided to paint a venue and put it at barron's work central square that in the nine hundred eighty s. daryn's work was a burgeoning mining community that the soviet union was determined to maintain its own costs to a degree located halfway between north america and western europe in archipelago is part of norway with a special status that allows other countries to set up industrial bases here in the middle of the cold war it served as the use of stars westernmost outpost now it's one of the soviet union's last tentacled preserved relics used to be very expensive

. picture of what would have happened to the soviet union if it was cut off from any financial support for two decades is a curious site for western tourists and i think it could be even more appealing for russian travelers to keep its presence on spitsbergen russian film until a coal mine here but in terms of profit is far behind local shops. is a big hit the defunct are incurred still helps keep the money flowing. it's a russian. you can. draw. your. local administration is increasingly under pressure to bring the infrastructure up to more than standards these modernization efforts are not very popular with tourists if you come into a very authentic place like bond. should stay the way it is that would be my wish i

mean that's the part of the let you know authentic tradition here. i should not i would not like to have it in a shiny condition to be honest this time to change even for the better is not always good for business something that even a local band has become attuned to when they try to add morning russian songs to their repertoire the audience called all they wanted to hear it was a song comfortably familiar. welcome to the kaiser report out max kaiser you know it's well past time to plan

a ponzi yes the banking sector and the river is dead and fried. casts a shadow much larger than the real economy and there's no sheriff to protect you from the shootout about to happen at the ok bond corral there's everyone comes to claim ownership to the same exact infinitely. garbage dressed up as co-op you know why a collateral dress today oh well max that's right everybody the last dregs of wealth left in the global economy has been chased into the bond market everybody sitting in bonds everybody's waiting to collect on their debts that these bonds allegedly represent the equity the assets and now they're shootouts going on everywhere you look cold enough to shoot out yeah we'd like to see you flash un court in germany orders gonna to release argentine naval ship detained on bond holders behalf tribunals in hamburg ordered that gone i should forthwith and

unconditionally release the frigate they are a liberty and ensure the ship and its crew can leave gandhian waters what's the context for this this goes back to paul saying if you made a claim on a paul singer remember a few months ago he was able to get the gun and government to seize an arch in time sovereign ship it's a military frigate which was in the poor. and they seized it on behalf of paul singer who owns three hundred seventy million dollars worth of argentine debt and he once paid back at one hundred cents on the dollar not the thirty cents on the dollar that all the other creditors had agreed to paul saying as you know one of these vulture capitalists and he just the games the system trying to squeeze out a few bucks here and there and finally a government is standing up to him finally somebody standing up to this guy and saying no we don't need a vulture capitalism and you know he doesn't deserve to get.