why you should care. may of course. but. the syrian community presses for seat at the negotiating table with the upcoming geneva peace talks. to secure individual rights. and. make a road movie about the mission to blow the whistle he told one of them about how the changing the world.

it is friday morning here in moscow it's a national with me. from everybody here thank you for joining us first breaking news here on international the european credit rating has been dealt a blow to the agency has downgraded it from aaa to a.a. plus however the ratings outlook has not been revised from negative to stable in the story. for the meantime though one of russia's highest profile prisoners. is set to walk free president. getting his appeal. he has spent a decade in jail on tax evasion charges and the announcement of his release came as a big surprise as. reports. he may well be one of the most well known prisoners in the world but the idea of a pardon for former russian tycoon mikhail khodorkovsky was unexpected to say the

least rather really was. the news came absolutely out of the blue last time i spoke with him was back in august and he didn't show any intention of filing a petition i totally support any decision of his he needs to be set free his children and even grandchildren grew up without him a four hour q. and a and not one question about for the record ski and then this if you don't know who the coast recently wrote a petition asking me to pardon him because he spent more than ten years in prison this is a serious punishment he saw as humanitarian reasons saying his mother is sick and i believe taking jus account of all the circumstances it's possible to take a respective decision and in the near future i will sign a decree to pardon him the former c.e.o. and founder of the oil company yukos built a fortune that made him russia's richest man after the collapse of the soviet union snapping up state assets at a bargain price in often dubious circumstances. the fall from grace began in

october two thousand and three when he was arrested on charges of fraud and tax evasion he and his business partner plateau never dead were found guilty in two thousand and five and handed eight year sentences four years later fresh charges were brought against the two men and twenty ten both were convicted of money laundering and embezzling two hundred eighteen million tonnes of oil worth twenty seven billion u.s. dollars. holder called ski's here by sentenced to fourteen years in prison. word of his pardon and imminent freedom came as something of a surprise for all sides including apparently his lawyers debates are raging over whether this is a pay our start a smart move but most intriguingly about what's next for mikhail khodorkovsky and he's now a r.t. moscow. now it is thought that in a court of course he could be free by year's end but what will his role in russia

be when he does walk free foreign affairs analyst martin safe he says he'll never be the man he wants in the ninety's what is not going to happen is that he's going to be a credible figure in russia he was significant in the one nine hundred ninety s. of the getting of the twenty first century for two reasons first of all because of his vast financial wealth and political clout from putting together you cosyn the first place and he doesn't have the yukos conglomerates. babysitting more so that's gone and secondly it was a figure from the one nine hundred ninety s. he was able to amass so much wealth so far as the all the guards did in the chaotic yeltsin era right after the collapse of communism this is now ancient history in russia and now in europe there's been reserve reaction to the news of course pardon chancellor merkel said she's been discussing his release and is glad it's finally happening and the head of the european parliament

a show c called president putin's decision progress while across the atlantic it's rather quiet on capitol hill is gone a teacher can report. the reaction in washington to the news about the upcoming release is very muted it would be fair to say there is no reaction other than perhaps a written statement from senator mccain who has been bashing president putin for years and he wrote this russian president vladimir putin's announcement today that he may pardon me uprising and welcome news well first of all sent a mccain misinterpreted the president's announcement a little bit he did not say he may pardon he said part of the u.s. media said that the decision had to do with the olympics this late for example ran an article saying that it's because of pressure from the u.s. that president putin is pardoning. but again no official comment here in washington . and russia's act of mercy hasn't gone unnoticed by activists in the united states calling for president obama to grant a. face to witch hunt from washington for ses

all seeing full story coming your way. but for now on the program syrian kurds want their own delegation for next month's peace conference on syria it's known as geneva two last month the group declared an autonomous government in the country one of the world's largest ethnic groups without their own state but as paula slay reports history could soon be in the making. discriminated repressed and divided for years the kurds were the scapegoats of the middle east but now the fortunes have turned resilient and hopeful history is on their side for four thousand years kurds lived in iraq now they're enjoying defect autonomy and many believe independence is not far away but is now practical is not run by a powerful state in baghdad and strongly believe that we are moving towards.

a full independent kurdish state in the north of here across the border in turkey as much as twenty percent of the population is kurdish they fight for independence has long been a thorn in ankara side but. always called for a kurd fighters they have more weapons and they'll never give them up easily but it's in syria where the kurds faced a toughest fight they were caught up in the middle of a bloody civil war their territories are being claimed by al qaeda their villages raided their people killed residents of this kurdish village of pursuit fina forty five kilometers from aleppo say all it does is make them tougher fighters they are prepared to die to protect their land and their people. now every night they want to restart the clashes but now we're well prepared because we made new bunkers so we have more abilities than before if they attack us we are ready to defend ourselves but if they don't we want to attack anybody. with such

a strong fighting spirit and even stronger desire for sovereignty the kurdish influence in this part of the world is growing and arguably it might be only a matter of time until a new state appears on the map of the middle east policy or r.t. . but while the state is not a stylish yet that's have a look at the so-called kurdistan region where the majority of the code's live it so well it's all over this area to be honest with you along the border or for middle eastern countries or turkey over there syria iraq iran here the total population of kurds across the region is forty million the ethnic group has now taken control of large parts of northeastern syria right here along the border and no one kurdish political analyst says the civil war there is actually played straight into the hands of the kurds. the kurds in syria was emboldened by the fact that the arab spring came about and the regional powers busy with internal

strife with. this debility of the governments. of the different factions in syria are fighting each other and the government is weakened and the kurds have found an opportunity to run their own a share grab to whatever they can into more territory or historically has been tonight or they were very happy because what he sees if the. the the kurds in syria get involved and have some sort of autonomy turkey fears that this will translate into or encourage a. kurdish population to demand the same rights or similar rights. are turkey is certainly worried and began building a wall on the border with syria and many see it as an attempt to divide the kurdish majority on both sides of the fence. from the syrian kurdish democratic union party

he believes ankara as actions are only going to backfire. because somebody i think that if turkey's government keeps supporting militants in jihadists and facilitates their entrance into the kurdish regions into the central areas of syria then the kurds that live in turkey. also if the jihadists attack the alawite dominated regions turkish are the whites will also take actions turkey's cooperation with terrorists will have consequences if you play with fire you get burned as they say turkey is interested in stability in the region and supporting terrorists is not in the interest of turkey nor is it in the interest of the kurdish an arabic people in the region are still ahead for you here on the program when for sale signs are popping up like mushrooms in ireland. the pinch of austerity squeezing people out of the country leaving only disturbing emigration statistics in their way.

street interest. strategic. islander covert team of journalists trying to release wiki leaks documents. more pro-american. peer. pressure. blocks the way to information freedom.

pleasure to have you with us here today. it's a busy friday for an international thanks for joining us today american activists are calling on the president mr barack obama pardon edward snowden who is still in russia on a temporary asylum u.s. authorities want him to stand trial for leaking details of the n.s.a. snooping well the plight of whistleblowers has been documented in a new film called media. shot by a crew of wiki leaks. lists and it costs light on that dangerous mission to seek any media outlet that will publish or broadcast their secrets and off as details.

it's been described as a wiki leaks or road movie following the journey of a group of wiki leaks associates across central asia searching for media outlets to help publish secret diplomatic cables with making me do. something which which i would like to call an acid test and our us interest was one of the u.s. state department cables where you give these cables to certain. publications and see how they react to it most of the publications had difficulties in responding to publishing secrets that had to do with the united states with empire in our world johannes wall strong helped direct the movie although a feature film wasn't the original plan initial goal was to actually distribute this material that bradley manning allegedly makes to work in weeks and.

attempt to get the material out to the public and people will realize that there were. some interesting things happening in the way that the media were actually reacting to it the team traveled through central asian republics from kazakhstan to us occupied afghanistan all in an effort to partner with local news outlets to redact and then publish relevant cables do it. social group we're going to version resign get the bills you are should you. do you really not really the. question as to. whether you know another thing to this notion in case after case editors would initially show interest and then back off. no. to me it was surprising. not as much based on the idea that these countries are bastions of free press or

not but i was more surprised about. in their limitations i was surprised that many of the of the editor is a journalist that we met. in the central asian republics they would would actually explain that there are certain things we can publish in certain cases we can actually see where fear of. having your funds got down or something else does actually physically influence your ability and in reporting on. what you know in this particular test the material is american. but it's hard to tell to what extent it's a question of fear particularly from the united states or if it's a fear from the local regime a censorship of sorts that johan is believes exists within the western world as well the idea that censorship is something that exists in. third

world countries and speak but not in the enlightened west that idea i think has. been very challenging i reckon it's the main point which which we're trying to make isn't that you know there is there is somebody which is more censored than somebody else the main point is that there is there is a certain degree of censorship everywhere and what would you say is the biggest obstacle to freedom of speech and freedom of information these days it's the biggest obstacle to through freedom of. speech is the obstacle which isn't in our minds it is the the idea that the people don't deserve access to knowledge because people cannot deal with it and that idea in my opinion is there is not just a little stick it is. it's incredibly insulting but in making a film about the boundaries of press freedom johana says he discovered

a world that's moving away from old boundaries one of the most amazing things which has happened with them. with these releases and particularly if we speak about the n.s.a. documents it is. is that the censorship that we had just a few years ago has become irrelevant you know just over ten minutes time here on the program we'll be showing the second part of that alternative road movie so do stay with us for that if you can. strategic. undercover team of journalists trying to release wiki leaks documents. here. and pressure. country blocks the way to information freedom.

coming to you live from moscow as a fresh snowden leak reveals the netherlands spain and germany have all joined the club of so-called five working hand in glove with the intelligence services of the u.k. and the u.s. however it's still unclear how the collaboration with these third party states works as previously revealed the u.s. have been closely watching as a target notice of. just a former adviser to the u.s. just as the she says the n.s.a. spying has fractured trust among. the n.s.a. has spread its reach so many other countries including our ally which is completely unnecessary destroy its diplomacy disrupt economic relationships with other countries all for the purpose of gathering and storing a bunch of. innocent people all over the world who are suspected of doing

absolutely nothing and i think we see. not just among the five countries some of whom have been helping the n.s.a. gather this data but we see the. world by far reaching because again and this is tentacles have been far reaching. they did today or not the international locked and loaded field lavelle welcoming those guests jumping on a hot discussion about a pardon for snowden and lavelle no surprise here not at any point lost for words over the n.s.a. spying. it's not that we should cut a deal with edward snowden we should praise him welcome him home for exposing what what i call incipient fascism is like they don't need to strike a deal at all the whole premise of the charges against said word snowden are bogus and the man has broken the law and these arguments that which are quite eloquently made make it to the jury make it to the sentencing judge but he has

broken the law. twenty minutes past the hour here in moscow on screen and online as well. plenty of stories for you right now including lighting up sydney's skyline in a spectacular show stained glass mosaic projected on to a cathedral this to celebrate the christmas holiday so you can see more of those pictures online right now why is that check out this is well but it's coming your way this is a you tube channel and watch how a billion dollar telescope in box on a space voyage it's mission to bring back to earth a three d. model of the way.

from verging on bankruptcy a few years ago things are looking up for ireland but while it recently actually did its international bailout from the i.m.f. it's not stopping young adults sitting in the country statistics show emigration numbers from the emerald isle are only rising as people look to leave continued austerity behind us or australia reports. despite painful a steady three years and counting the irish capital of dublin is relatively bustling but the same can't be said for all other parts of the country carlo wants him to be are you sure. her company death at the forefront of industry now stands empty this sound is only one hour away from dublin but niles apart in terms of the economy even if you just scratch the surface a look around you'll see a lot of these boarded up houses or shop fronts or for sale signs a shadow of what this sound used to be this is the center of. town for three

hundred year old brief. history here and. while the government heralded arlen's exit from its international bailout as a success many find little to celebrate with others having long moved on in search of greener pastures people with skills people with jobs and i live in the country we thought that we put behind us the black plague effectively immigration out of the country and now it is back growing sectors of this economy which are importing workers from outside of violence on high wages with high skills and so forth completely deserve it then don't but that is starting to get all these and little bit of a tension within the population as well the european commission statistics office figures show thirty five thousand more people left arland that arrived last year making arlen go from having had the highest net immigration levels in europe to the highest net emigration in just six years if he'd let me leave it

since we want. you. to flee here and when young emigrants do come back it won't come as a surprise if they're just back for the holidays like feel one who had just arrived from perth he left two years ago after completing a science degree and went on to become a videographer in australia there wasn't anything sort of keeping me here besides my immediate family really all my friends it's a londoner canada ever just completely crossed the world so i made it very easy for you and while the holidays draw back the irish to their native land it will take more than a bailout exit to keep them home does are still your r.t. . now a gunman is shot dead four people at an airport terminal in the philippines capital manila that's between a local mayor and his wife and their baby are among the victims the family were waiting for a car outside the terminal when the a taco wearing

a police uniform approached fired at close range and then fled the motive right now for the attack is clear. our carrying on is the date more than eighty people have been injured five seriously after a part of the roof collapsed during a performance at the apollo theatre in london police say everyone trapped inside have now been freed when the roof caved in it took parts of the balcony with it a seven hundred twenty people were in the theatre at the time and the venue was built in one thousand and one. with teachers who are trying to regain control of an elementary school in the town of san pedro martinez last september the teachers from the national education workers' committee went on strike against education reforms and were removed by colleagues from a different union they tried to regain access to the school but met infuriated

parents with rocks and sticks hundreds of anti riot police to intervene. but let's get back into it now as promised international the second part of the media movie is all about the risks and challenges faced by whistleblowers. the parliament of yemen has put forward a motion to ban drone attacks in the country the motion is now waiting approval by the president and it's probably impossible to enforce unless they could build a really big net or something is a bit strange that now after years of drone strikes in their country the parliament just wakes up to the fact their systems are getting blown up from the sky to be fair yemen doesn't have a ton of cash and i could see how having the well equipped and funded us military to take care of the al qaeda problem for them for free could be really enticement i

mean it must be scary to be a politician with lots of power hungry terrorists about this would be the first time in history that a stronger foreign power fought a weaker states battles for them but the problem is the. according to the huffington post a former u.s. state department official in yemen says that every year drone attacks create eight from forty to sixty new terrorists why they create terrorists because according to human rights watch seventy percent of the people killed by drones in yemen are civilians you know if the yemeni government is really free from washington's grasp and really wants to deal with their al qaeda problem they'll have better luck doing it themselves or the going all rifles and bayonets pointed at the right targets but that's just my opinion.

and i got tired to do. this. because i wrote an article about. the conditions of work that says we just turned to the so have when they were going through about this time. and the journalists that they interviewed were very frank with me and they told me about different things that you couldn't report to calm things than the good and the censorship that you experienced in. their workplace or the material that was published two of the six journalists that are due to be retracted their statements to see. me to see.

something stupid or if you think i don't think long text or something i think if somebody does an interview with you and then you're. entirely open and frank about it. and then after a while maybe you realize that this is going to be shown on television and your boss is going to see this and your mother is going to see this. you know you start understanding the consequences it's not just a conversation between you and your friends but in reality i just didn't talk about it because i think to an extent. i made a very big mistake. with that article and the mistake that i did was that i was. hired to do a very journalistic very difficult journalistic work. about journalists and the standards for doing journalistic work about journalism has to be one hundred times higher because they were. they were immediately you backfired and they will start

to criticizing what you do in a completely different way than if it's a regular person because regular person doesn't have the power. to say no. it's not easy to you know. here's a cable marked secret no four and that means that not even i like it states are allowed to read and it's about a meeting between the u.s. ambassador and the curate is foreign minister and it goes like this. the embassador and the curious foreign minister met that the investors residence midafternoon president bakiev that's the dictator that was kicked out of the revolution a few months ago told him that he was authorized to sign the agreement on the u.s. military base but the agreement must be kept secret the foreign minister said that he needed time to work with public opinion in the parliament before he could roll out a new agreement publicly. for our assistance in preparing the curious public opinion

pacifically by placing articles in the local russian language press. and they. don't hand it to. up up. up .