for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines. as a report on our. former russian tycoon mikhail khodorkovsky is getting ready to meet the press after finally being reunited with his family in following his surprise release from prison. also this week eighty civilians are executed by islamist rebels in syria while western nations signal upcoming peace talks might not need a removal after all. and a big deal for ukraine russia agrees to buy fifteen billion dollars of its debt and slash the price of gas which. as it's rescued from bankruptcy. i welcome the watching r.t.

international with me andrey farm now in a few hours mikhail khodorkovsky is set to give his first press conference since he was released from jail after ten years behind bars the man who was russia's most high profile prisoner is now in berlin where he was reunited with his parents and son on saturday artie's peter all of us has been watching the scene at the five star hotel where the x. tycoon is. and how to close he spent his first full day of freedom in ten years here in berlin and the out alone hotel just behind me now he met with his son pavol who flew from new york in order to in order to be with his father i'm thrilled to be here in berlin germany the day because my father is free. my family is finally going to see it and we're very very happy with us here and anything you can you hear people say to me how to cause he's mother and father had flown here from moscow now his mother has been here in berlin quite a quite

a lot in the recent past she has been receiving cancer treatments here and a bill in city hospital in such a shock to me as didn't come believe i'm going to see him now i feel like it's one of my regular the things we hear the whole reason behind because of course he being granted the presidential pardon on humanitarian grounds was the the ill health of his mother so they have been reunited here the press secretary of the russian president dmitry peskov now he said that because of course the remains of a russian citizen he is a russian citizen he's free to return to russia whenever he would like and live there should he want to you also said that he's he's free to stay here in germany should he want to as well it's is pretty much as simple as that and no peskov also outlined the letters that were written by her to call ski to vladimir putin he said there was to one of them was a personal letter to president putin the of the was the official petition to be to

be released from prison and that it was that petition that resulted in him receiving this pardon is released on humanitarian grounds to the former german foreign minister hands it to again i missed again she seems to have been instrumental in making sure that because of how to close the code come here he german chancellor in a statement paid tribute to the work done by mr gained share in the say in bringing her to cope ski here to cheer. i mean she also praised the work done by the german government behind the scenes in making this possible and well could be called how to cope ski it's germany so that's the way it stands would be we'll all focused on the berlin wall museum a little later on sunday when we'll be hearing from a lot of coffee as he outlines what he plans to do next well political analyst and expert on russian gym relations alexander was one of the first to greet me on german soil here's what he told us his face didn't change in the past ten years i

haven't seen him for ten years. i think he didn't lose his humor he's still. very strong mood well alexander was invited by the former german foreign minister hans dietrich genscher to consult him in his push to release hoda kotb state. doesn't think the ex oil magnate will involve himself in politics in the future though but if he does aren't if there is only smart and see if says he has little chance of becoming as powerful as he was in the one nine hundred 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. because 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 conglomerate as they said in 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 oligarchy in the chaotic yeltsin era right after the collapse of communism this is now engine history in russia. so it's been a roller coaster life a hoarder called ski from one of russia's richest men to high profile criminal now he's back in the lap of luxury flown on a private jet to berlin and accommodated in a five star hotel as easily as now he looks at the most dramatic decades of his life. around the world this is the most familiar image of former russian tycoon mikhail khodorkovsky and the book. is hereby sentenced to fourteen years imprisonment this was once the epicenter of his power and stature 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 allston dubious circumstances but it was a short lived fairy tale hundred corpses fall from grace began in october two thousand and three he was arrested at novosibirsk airport on charges of fraud and tax evasion he and his business partner plotted on that day that were found guilty in two thousand and five and handed an eight year sentence four years later fresh charges were brought against the two men and twenty ten both were convicted of embezzling two hundred eighteen million tons of oil worth twenty seven billion dollars and money laundering they were sentenced to fourteen years in prison later reduced to thirteen after appeal the term includes time already served which means harder cost and medvedev could have remained in jail intil twenty sixteen throughout his sentence supporters maintain his innocence khodorkovsky was not to blame because he had a whole team of very experienced lawyers who are used to tell him that.

everything he did was within the law it was the blame of the laws that had the zero zero poles with others seeming far less forgiving just like it counts in a famous russian movie i'm sure that's a thief's places in prison he's accused of stealing tax evasion and fraud from the onset harder koskie supporters claimed he was singled out among other tycoons because of his political ambitions he actively criticised russian politics and finance opposition. hardy's arguably russia's most high profile prisoner cause he has found much support outside russia but within his own country public opinion is mixed i think that most of russian public smeller reckon the activity or all of those people like and that's why i don't think that. the russian broad public unlike liberals for whom he really is a he couldn't find compression news of his pardon and imminent freedom came as

something of a surprise for all sides including apparently his lawyers what he decides to do now is the tantalizing unknown whether looking after his sick mother will be enough to keep him occupied. and mikhail khodorkovsky press conference will be held at twelve g.m.t. in berlin and of course we will be covering it live on air and online as well at r.t. dot com. at least eighty civilians have been slaughtered in the syrian town of advair north of damascus after it was raided by radical islamic some reports but the number of those killed two hundred artie's arabic channel went there to talk to why witnesses of the bloodshed. terror still fills the hearts of those who witnessed the militants during the town about drug they saw panic disoriented people running for their lives and they ran themselves they will never forget the despair in the eyes of those who were forced to stay behind we have no reliable way

to communicate with the people trapped inside out but officials are saying the atrocities against the civilian population are continuing people are being butchered and even burned alive and every bit of news coming out of the town is doing a new blow to those whose families are still being held by the militants everyone working for the local authorities was to be killed regardless of their religion organon in a sion they were all taken to be killed they took everyone even those who supported neither the government nor the rebels they were all either tortured killed or used as human shields the things being done in a drawer unthinkable they're slaughtering children and throwing them out of windows and no one's doing anything about it the syrian authorities say they have evidence confirming that massacres have taken place and address the dad taqiyya and many other areas which remain under the control of the armed opposition the situation in syria has now deteriorated to the point that international norms of combat are no

longer being observed. he's an industrial town with a lot of the presidents working both in the private sector and for government their duties horrifying crying and have been committed in this town houses were set on fire with people trapped inside and. the syrian army which is a position just outside the town continues to carry out surgical strikes as part of their effort to liberate address which is now the only hope of the families waiting for news of their loved ones inside the town. r.t. in the meantime the u.s. says it's willing to meet with members of the newly formed islamic front cream which is also said has been involved in the bloodshed in address we spoke to e.g. a political analyst he believes there is no peace looming as long as the u.s. continues to support the islamic. in recent weeks there's been an important shift in the relationship between the united states government on the one

hand and what is now being presented as the new islamic front and we see that the united states is in fact no go c.a.t. and establishing a dialogue with the leaders of these terrorist organizations i should say that in this particular case the people who have dialogue with the terrorists they have blood on their hands they have provided funding most of the military and logistical financial aid has been channeled to these al-qaeda affiliated organizations and that's what we have to address there can be no peace as long as the west military alliance supports the terrorists. still to come on the program a pirate bay an alleged hacker is held in addition to tougher than days of mass murder is coming up we talked to the advocate of one of the founders of the pirate

bay website on his plight. now president putin held his annual i think you in a session this week which lasted for more than four hours bombarded by dozens of questions he shared his thoughts on intelligence leaks the controversial greenpeace case and tensions in ukraine r.t. as you go piece going off was there they'd never met personally but it's revolutions surely made an impact on the world. answering a question about edward snowden the president didn't reveal his exact whereabouts but he couldn't resist humoring his own relationship with barack obama and you are surveillance tactics. you want to know how my feel about mr obama after snowden's leaks i feel jealous i feel jealous because he can do these things and get off scot free still there is nothing to be happy about but on the other hand there's no reason to be frustrated however tough the criticism against the us may be all these

measures have always been aimed at tackling terrorism but there must be some clear rules and certain agreements including those of ethics. ukraine was also discussed it actually said it rough in the last few weeks with mass protest both in favor of against moving closer with the e.u. moscow is giving kiev a fifteen billion dollar loan to help of course with severe economic problems and according to putin integration is not the core reason behind the wave of unrest. those who are pushing forward the idea of signing an association agreement with the european union these people would govern in ukraine not so long ago. it was a foreign minister also headed the parliament to machinegun is a former prime minister who was ukraine's president why didn't they sign these papers when they were in power no one was standing in their way they could have gone ahead and sign them and there'd be no problem today i have legitimate downs that the current protests are about moving closer to the e.u.

it's an internal political struggle and signing or not signing this document is just a pretext. the current amnesty which should affect up to twenty five thousand people coincides with the twentieth anniversary of russia scots dushan members of pussy riot and greenpeace activists from the so-called arctic thirty are expected to benefit so obviously this issue was also mentioned including the president's stance on the organization itself. through their ship it entered our exclusive economic zone was not responding and they tried to scale the platform after an attempt to stop them the second boat started ramming our border guards is that a civil discussion about protecting the environment. it's just self p.r. or an attempt at blackmail racketeering or someone's order to disturb our work on developing resources what happened should serve as a lesson and unite us along with greenpeace into an effort to minimize environmental risks instead of just making a fuss but. of course these are only

a few topics touched upon which you also talked about recent diplomatic breakthroughs like the syrian chemical arms deal and the iranian nuclear program the conference was attended by over thirteen hundred journalists and last it over four hours you got pissed off r.t. moscow. where ukraine could still sign a trade deal with next year although on better conditions that was the announcement this week from the country's prime minister here says the agreement saved the country from the fold but while the opposition leaders are not convinced is. the reports the rallying cry a far from the united. he used to deliver hammer punches in the boxing ring and now he's given up his world champions belt to succeed in politics but old habits die hard but donna klitschko likes to use boxing language even in his politics his party's name is the ukrainian democratic alliance for

reforms which abbreviates to the ward which translates as a punch yeah. i call out a victory in a courtroom battle i make in my personal opponent. hearing the status of a living sports legend in ukraine klitschko made a rapid rise in politics with his party making it into parliament last year. known as a politician of relatively mild views she raised many eyebrows when she nearly provoked a major brawl by directing the ngo fired up protestors at security offices during a rally. ukraine cannot be controlled like one controls the situation in the boxing ring the chaos is too big in the country now i like klitschko but you can't use force to change ukraine another card in the opposition pack is a c. needs a new x. foreign minister relatively young but experienced in politics he took the reins of former prime minister yulia timoshenko sparty when she was put in prison you'd say

newcastle invoking the advocating her release. in order to release the results. are in. the second government to come in the president's ability on these matters though not everyone is buying it should tymoshenko walk free his days at the summit of the greats politics will be numbered and last but not least i looked at the book the leader of the nationalists were the movement gays migrants jews and particularly russians have been in his crosshairs all along. he wants to surrender us ukrainians to servitude to eternal slavery under moscow. supports your integration for ukraine but many say his values are incompatible with the european ones the western powers faith well anything will work if the if we can work with them together and elements and you radicals are ok i think it's a dangerous game i think it basically represents interference into ukraine's

affairs the european union is actually prepared to raise the stakes all cry in the european countries on the fringes and basically risking a sort of a civil war in this riding the tide of you know my down and the troika of ukraine's opposition looks like a solid unit but appearances can be deceptive when the storm settles and the twenty fifteen presidential election draws closer the lack of a clear opposition front runner could play into got a call which is hands and these three men would hardly miss a chance to grab at each other's throats to be their one alexy russia ski r.t. reporting from key if in ukraine still to come here in the waking as if fracking link quakes were bad enough. if you can't get into your home. if you break it. when you meet the texans living in the shadow of a shadow well he's drinking water has started to.

win into an economic crisis all over the world and france deserves to get out of the crisis and deserve to have back all the people who are leaving the country to go and work in other places and it's very sad to see that and it's really like that like. was no lights. to me speak or language. programs and documentaries in arabic it's all here on all t.v. reporting from the world talks about six of the r.p. interviews intriguing story for you. in troy arabic to find out more visit arabic.

hello again this week a group of researchers claims to have found another risk that fracking poses to human health but you say the chemicals used can disrupt hormones and have been detected in the colorado river locals living near the site already claim that property prices have tanked while running smells and earthquakes plague their daily lives and that's not all it's getting explains. the local government in texas

tells us the believe that the water from his well what of that he can set on fire is safe to drink and to use in his home. you can't hear it in your home. thank you but steve has the assessment of other experts who say he's well is it ticking bomb in his backyard loaded with methane and other contaminants why the starkly different assessments steve claims that a fracking operation nearby contaminated his well and that texas energy authorities are shielding the gas company. they don't want the world to know that it really is this bad they don't want it in official documents it could be that the fracking allowed gas from lower formations into the aquifer and subsequently into steve lipski as well the gas company denies the claim the lipski is sued the range resources corp but the firm counter sued and won in cause and effect

evidence a ground water is incredibly difficult to prove my d.s.l. us are is an engineer who worked with the federal environmental protection agency is not surprised that the state oil and gas regulator sided with the gas corp the agency that the rights it seen come in survival from oil and gas production. issue usually put him in charge of also regulating the protection of groundwater from going down swells and there's an inherent conflict of interest and that determined to fight for his home father of three steve has been shipping fresh water from the city on trucks at a cost of five hundred dollars a month but the family now faces another blow from the fracking corporation of four point two million dollars lawsuit for defamation steve lipski is dream house and

it's a beautiful property has become his nightmare several of his neighbors apparently have the same problem but they're reluctant to speak out after they saw how the gas company went after mr lipski they shouldn't expect much help from washington either why do you sell us are says the environmental protection agency has not put nearly enough resources into studying the effects that fracking has on groundwater but that didn't stop the p.a. from coming up with a reporting favor of the practice. believes his word vice to vent the gas constantly to keep it from accumulating under their property as their neighboring gas well continues to frack these guys thousand feet deep or you were pretty much standing around the top of that one hundred years from now when somebody dies because there's some contaminant the border area and they're able to trace it to this frack him and we've got the officers ted who piers invest in

a philosophy for now it seems that the authorities at all levels are so fired up on fracking potential profits that households like steve leaves his family are left to fight alone to get a healthy environment in their homes going to check on our team parker county texas . meanwhile a new energy boom may be coming to the british countryside but so far it's been given a far from wall a government report has laid the groundwork to open up vast swathes of the u.k. for oil exploration including shale gas drilling the light blue on this map shows how much land has been earmarked for potential fracking the u.k.'s energy ministers hailed this report as the next step in unlocking britain's fracking potential but as friends of the earth helen rheumatologists it's time to stop before it's too late we've only had a handful of exploratory drilling sites across the u.k. but already we've seen huge local opposition whether it's been in the south east of

mainland or the northwest where we're seeing it now and i think with the government's new licensing round which is going to open up another two thirds of the country to have potentially to fracking we're going to see even more position and i think the government is going to have to put a moratorium in place like it had done previously and actually listen to the concerns of communities because there's a very loud and clear message. well web scene brings you the best stories and pictures on r.t. dot com is a glimpse breaking radioactive records the huge amounts of the terai emitting substances discovered at the crippled fukushima power plant in japan on line we weigh the risks of toxic leaks into the ocean and no early christmas no better spacing issue delays a second vital space walk to fix a faulty cooling system you can check out all the details at r.t. don't come. right to see. her straight. and i think you're.

on the record there's going to. be. some world news in brief and a suicide car bombing bombing at an army base in eastern libya has left at least six people dead and injured more than fifteen it's reported that all those killed in the explosion were soldiers no group has yet claimed responsibility of course we'll bring you more details as we get them. i in germany police clashed with protesters after thousands took to the streets to oppose the massive expansion of a squat in hamburg objects were hurled at police who responded with water cannons the violence there dozens injured the building has been occupied for more than

twenty years but authorities claim it's at risk of collapse. in modern sudan rebel tree at least the key oil producing states again is he taking control of much of the country former science and vice president has been accused of leading the group and attempting a coup meanwhile four people were injured when rebels opened fire on a u.s. mission to evacuate american citizens from the region at least five hundred people have been killed since the fighting began as the government struggles to hold on to the capital. occupy romania activists have clashed with police in front of bucharest university had started as a peaceful rally calling for the resignation of the president and a ban on fracking the money has been engulfed in a wave of anger against the energy giant chevron which is planning to drill for natural gas across the country. now more news in brief

which is grabbing the headlines around the world is coming your way very shortly. that is not a killer or a terrorist but he's being held in conditions worse than if he was online activists in the alleged hacker got freed safad home vog was one of the founders of the pirate bay has engulfed in a complex legal battle the keys by denmark of stealing millions of personal id numbers the file sharing website first came under fire back in two thousand and six when it got on the wrong side of hollywood it was taken down for several days when swedish police raided its headquarters after the government decided it was time to take action in two years later its founders were charged and eventually sentenced to a year in prison for encouraging copyright violations well earlier r.t. spoke to his father home. louise hold who told us her client is treated much worse than is warranted by the charges against him. it's got

a little bit better since we talked the last time he's been moved to a different facility. to be honest the first facility the first prison it couldn't really get anywhere else and that so now he's in a different facility and he's been allowed to. be with another in mexico it's another inmate two hours per week but it's still not good he is allowed to go outside as well one hour every day and during that hour he would you know by coincidence you want to talk to other inmates he said not good at giving given the conditions that other in the same case would be given believes very cautious about this case they don't really want anything to go wrong because it's a very sensitive sensitive case in denmark by sitting with this is mourning are still to come this hour why britain wants no money from the to fund its food banks and hide and i.g.p.

teenager was arrested for bringing his ruler to school but right now it's artie's business show venture capital capability. right. first. and i think. on our way. wealthy british style. is not out of respect for. market why not.