breaking news on our c m a holder koskie walks free from prison after president putin signs a pardon on will take cold humanitarian principles. at this hour of the market credit agency standard and poor's because the european union's long term raising due to a lack of solidarity among the twenty eight member states also. is. the idea that the people don't deserve our system of those people come out with. a wiki leaks associate and co-producer of a movie would chose just how hard it can be for whistleblowers to get the truth in print. plus syria's embattled kurds take their ambitions for

autonomy to a new level demanding a seat at next month's international peace talks in switzerland. this is all she international coming to life from moscow and welcome to the program after a decade of incarceration. is free his lawyer says russia's most high profile prisoner has left jail presence and human person signed a pardon for the former oil tycoon following a personal plea for amnesty let's get the latest from this kind of live in. some new developments hugo please bring us up to date. well

right now we're getting lots of contradictive information and it's really time to separate fact from speculation what we know for sure right now is that because a lot of these are left of the premises of the jail this is been confirmed both by the president's official and by his lawyers and also we know that the emergencies ministry sent a helicopter to that area to evacuate an injured soldier now the reason why i'm talking about the cellar door brings us to the speculation of course since russia's news agency interfax is now quoting joe's officials who claim reportedly that to the cost he took off on the helicopter to germany now we've heard from staff of the airport here in britain as i was growing two hundred kilometers away from that jail that the former tycoon took off on board of a helicopter heading towards st petersburg not this hasn't been confirmed officially but really the whole news about that of course key. reading

jail came as a tremendous surprise to everyone including his words and even family members. but i haven't accepted what has happened yet there's been too much since yesterday for me i'm still sort of lost and confused i guess i still can't believe it. now really this is one of the few things that we know for sure that it did come as a surprise but everything that's happening now is really happening less than twenty four hours after the president broke the news that he asked him to be poor and which was basically one of the key conditions for him to be able to go free from jail and so the man spent over ten years behind bars and his mother has some serious health problems so he said he'd sign all the necessary papers as soon as possible which he did right on the next day and apparently. the jails premises just

a few hours after that. live from patrons of all thank you very much for that update the degree granting a pardon to me is a regular burnable on the internet on the kremlin's official website and here is the original text of it it says the order is guided by the principles of humanity that it comes into effect on the day of its signing is already in falls. and it's no exaggeration to say that president putin's announcement that khodorkovsky would be pardoned came as a huge surprise he's an isa now it takes an. 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 a four hour q. and a and not one question about for the record ski and then this you know who the coast recently wrote a petition asking me to pardon him he spent more than ten years in prison this is

a serious punishment he saw as humanitarian reasons saying his mother is secure in the i believe taking jew 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 rather cause he's 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 dev 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 schemes 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 p.r. stunt a smart move but most intriguingly about what's next for mikhail khodorkovsky and he's now a r.t. moscow and while in russia news of what are called caves really is came as a shock high profile european figures well more reserved in their reaction as laura smith reports. i've been looking at the newspapers this morning and of course they are all covering it the guardian newspaper is pretty muse's itself it calls the development unexpected but the telegraph newspaper used the word uses the word bombshell not once but twice in the article what it's writing about the pardon of had of course so it has come as a big surprise here we've had a little bit of reaction particularly out of germany the foreign minister says that

he hopes for a quick release which we understand it will be the case and calls the pardoning a good decision. chancellor says that she's glad that it's finally happening she said maintains that she's been pushing for it in various meetings with president putin over the years and the head of the european parliament martin shultz also says that it's a step in the right direction i've been reading some economics and political analysis of the situation and generally speaking they call it a good signal and they're not expecting any sort of improvement to happen straight away but they think that it could be seen in the future as having been a watershed moment for the investment climate the business climate in russia and investor relations of course in the west. russia's image ahead of the winter olympics in sochi but securely of course in the light of the amnesty for perceived riots and the greenpeace crew some say that even

a display of clemency by putin is also a display of power and some of course are saying that it was just time to let head of course go he's ten years in jail he was due to be released next year anyway his mother's sick and he has asked for a pardon something which he had never done before. more analysis now from a legal expert and blogger alexander marker is joining me now live from london alexander makris welcome to r.t. very nice to see you some see putin's decision as being dictated by the amnesty law adopted recently by the russian parliament others say it's kind of a little precise p.r. by president putin what's your take. how did being either of those of the case at all actually i did it got anything to do with nobody was going to stay away from salt because of vista holder god being in prison for the amnesty law it didn't apply to mr holder costy what what has changed the situation and has led to his

release is that mr holder koskie did what he had previously consistently said he would not do and that is that he wrote a letter to mr putin asking for a pardon and did so secretly cutting out his lawyers which is very interesting. we are seeing reports that. is on his weights and germany now any ideas why he'd go that well i don't know why he would choose to go to germany personally i don't think he would want to stay in russia that's my own. personal view i think he will want to go somewhere in the west it may be the germany is an easy place for him to go to but i wonder whether he want to stay there permanently he might want to go to britain he might want to go to the united states idea that he want to stay in russia itself. for someone who was convicted of

stealing billions and billions of bare of rewards as well as dollars does how to kosky deserve to be pardoned from your point. well i think the first point to make is that he is guilty and i i want to say that because this constant attempts to say that he was a political prisoner there's been six or seven decisions by the european court of human rights are i've lost count how many there are which are said unequivocally that mr holder koskie is guilty of massive tax evasion on a simply enormous scale now he has been punished he's been imprisoned for that for ten years and i think most people would feel that that is in fact. most people who look at these things would say that's that's probably enough time for him to be imprisoned if he's business has been destroyed his political career if you ever intended to make one has been just destroyed within russia he is

a discredited man he does not pose the kind of threat to to russia or to the russian economy or to the political system that he arguably did in two thousand and four he was due to be released in august anyway so i don't personally see that there's any compelling reason to keep him in prison longer now to refuse him his request for a pardon right and and also pretend told reporters yesterday that he sees a little likelihood of the new k.'s being opened against her across or do you think . well i think that may actually be the explanation for this whole thing is that we don't really know very much about this third case the first case was tax evasion the second case was in belgium and we don't know what we've heard cases all about the suspect mr holder cos he was worried that if there was

a third case he would stay in prison longer beyond all and he basically asked for a party in order to as some sort of a deal if you like whereby he leaves prison youth or refuse who are not enthusiastic about this case therefore don't have to proceed with it and the line is drawn under the whole affair which i think is to the mutual benefit of both parties he's been in prison he served his time. leaving him out for eight months and avoiding a complicated further case which would have been politically embarrassing for russia is probably a good thing a legal expert on blogger alexander america thank you very much indeed for that we appreciate it thank you. and now ben aires editor of business new europe says the release of the eckstein korean sounds a positive signal to the business community in and out of russia. has been a cause celeb here put some eyes and personify

a lot of the concerns investors have particularly portfolio investors into doing business and investing into russia to let him out is not to say it's going to fix the problems with russia's perception but certainly it's a step in the right direction and i think at the end of the day the investors stock investors quite pragmatic if not even cynical and to see how to cause to be released for them will be a positive signal and so much is a step in the right direction for investing into russia. and that will be bringing you more news and perspective on. throb the day on l.t. and that's our website. so come on all seem to national a fresh push for independence see where demand a seat at next month's international peace conference on syria as they continue their quest to set up a nation of that that's after the break. wealthy

british style. is not on to the typewriter let's go. to the. market why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy is a report on our. dramas the truth be ignored. stories others to houston noted some. places changing the world the lights never. killed picture of the states. from around the globe. dropped in.

on the money with the business over russia is. other news now in our international and the european union's long term credit rating has been dealt a blow standard and poor's has downgraded it from aaa to travel and plus one of the has that he's have done that imposed financial services agency have decided that the european union's credit rating of aaa was too good for it so they've downgraded it one point to double a plus now the reasons that they've given for this is they said that the financial profile of the e.u. deteriorated also that there was a lack of cohesion within the european union and if you look across the individual economies that make up the e.u. well it's it's quite clear that there's winners and there's losers economically

just this last week the you agreed that they would be agreed in principle how they could put together a banking union perhaps this was an attempt to to assure their creditors that they were trying to get some cohesion the fact they put that plan a plan in place doesn't seem to have swayed them one bit in the slightest one of the countries within the e.u. that has seen the the green shoots of resurgence is ireland they were able to leave bailout conditions just recently however as my colleague tess are still reports it's still not stopping the irish from looking abroad for better options 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 was home to the are you should accompany death at the forefront of industry now stands empty this sound is only one hour away from dublin but miles 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 south used to be this is the center of. it for you. hundred year old. history here an. absolutely nothing 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 effect of immigration in the country and now it is back growing sectors of this economy which are importing workers from outside a while and on high wages with high skills and so forth completely deservedly but that is starting to draw these a little bit of a tension within the population as well the european commission statistics office figures show thirty five thousand more people left arland than arrived last year

making arlin go from having had the highest net immigration levels in europe to the highest net emigration in just six years if we see what the families i believe if. we want to feel you are treated differently. 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 are here from london. canada ever just completely. 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. arland. despite the vigorous attempts to whistleblowers to expose the wrongdoings

of governments it's often quite difficult for them to find media outlets willing to publicize the truth media stana recent movie bank spy we can leagues highlights their struggle confident spoke to one of the film's co-producers. it's been described as a wiki leaks 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 have difficulties in responding to and publishing secrets that had to do with the united states with the

empire and our yohannes well 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 in that attempt to get the material out to the public and to people realize that there were . some interesting things happening in the way that the media were actually reacting to it the team travelled 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's. still going to version was only at the bulls you were it's game over with. the other. question as to. whether you know another thing to this notion in case after case editors would initially show interest and then back off.

to me it was surprising. not as much based on the idea that these countries are bastions of free press and. but i was more surprised about the honesty. in their limitations and was surprised that many of the of the editors and journalists that we met. in the central asian republics they would would actually explain that there are certain things we call in certain cases we can actually see where we are. having your fun or something else does actually physically influence your ability in reporting. 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 challenged by records 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 to freedom of from 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 it's not just their relatives 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. is that the censorship that we had just a few years ago has become irrelevant. and of course we'll be showing you the movie in falls around the day on our c. international of course you can watch it online now at our website assy dot com. cirrus kurdish minority wants a seat at next month's international peace conference in geneva the kurds are pushing for autonomy in northern syria and have been fighting to protect their homes from radical islamist rebels the kurds are the largest people with our

country in the middle east and are mostly spread out across a region they call kurdistan here we go and they make up key majority groups minority groups in turkey syria iraq and iran would be total kurdish population estimated at around forty million and as r.t. is clear reports now the kurds have their sights firmly set on a long awaited independence. 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 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 iraq across the border in turkey

as much as twenty percent of the population is kurdish their fight for independence has long been a thorn in and his side. 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 face the toughest fight they're caught up in the middle of a bloody civil war their territories are being trained by al qaeda or villages raided their people killed residents of this a kurdish village of pursue fina forty five kilometers from aleppo so all it does is make them tougher fighters they're 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. . and time now for more world news and brave and at least eight people have been killed in a double bombing in iraq that explosions struck a live stock market town north of the capital baghdad where the victims were being buried. another bomb went off killing three more just yesterday a group of suicide bombers targeted share programs in another region taking as many as thirty six lives in iraq this year has reached levels not seen since two thousand and eight as all sort of call we've got a special project looking back at how the violence in twenty certain. crowds of parents clashed with riot teachers in southern mexico former members of staff arrived on pickup trucks to take over the school but faced fierce resistance

hundreds of anti riot police had to be deployed to restore calm in september the teachers went on strike was socks and replace with members of a different trade union. checks are being conducted on theaters across london's west end after a ceiling collapsed at the historic apollo theater also stay at least eight people were hurt when a section of the century old plaster ceiling fell on to the seven hundred and twenty theatregoers watching the show some reports address cracks in the roof water to drip through engineers are due to conduct a structural assessment of the home building. up next the issue of a pardon for edward snowden take center stage and crosstalk stay with us.

the parliament of yemen has put forward a motion to ban drone attacks in the country the motion is no 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 u.s. military take care of the al qaeda problem for them for free could be really entice and 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 for a weaker states battles for them but the problem is that 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 the 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 good old rifles and bayonets pointed at the right targets but that's just my opinion. hello and welcome to cross talk we're all things are considered i'm peter lavelle and it's a whistleblower edward snowden has always maintained his motivation was to force a serious conversation about the all encompassing surveillance state well he certainly has achieved this so with mission accomplished is it time to cut

a deal with him or even grant him a pardon. to cross edward snowden i'm joined by my guest mary fan in seattle she is a professor at the university of washington and a former federal prosecutor in washington we have ray mcgovern he is the co-founder of veteran intel. professionals for sanity and in new york we cross to timothy car he is a senior director of strategy at free press all right folks in fact that means you can jump in anytime you want and i very much encourage it if i go to you first in washington isn't it time to cut a deal with mr snowden i mean he's made his point everybody knows his name if you can if you're literate you know who he is anywhere in the world we certainly know a whole lot more about the n.s.a. i mean isn't it time to move forward in reform the n.s.a. and the intelligence community and let this guy off the hook he did.