you want. me how you hold of course kay says he's not interested in politics or business at his first news conference up to a decade behind boston russia's most high profile prison is now reunited with his entire family in berlin following a surprise release on friday. also this hour radical islamist rebels in syria allegedly massacred dozens of civilians during a battle in the suburbs of the capital damascus. crowds gather in central kiev where anti-government protests have raged for over a month now as ukraine secures at a fifteen billion dollar economic rescue deal from russia.

the latest news on the week's top stories you're watching also internationally with me. and welcome to the program. and magnates and held her casket he says he has no interest in pursuing politics or being involved in business has been holding his fast major news conference since being released from jail after ten days i'll see his piece on of i reports now from baghdad during that time while he was speaking to journalists he expressed his gratitude to those who it supported him throughout the years that he was in prison and expressed his gratitude to those that it helped him being released he paid specific gratitude to the german operatives on to form a generally german foreign minister. who provided him who helped him to get a private jet out of russia and helped him with it be that he obtained here and now with regards to his political future he was peppered with questions about the

holocaust and this is say that. i am grateful to germany and german politicians for playing a role in my thing the last thing i want is any problems as a result of these humane concerns for the people and country which i'm thankful to that is so far i've been assured that there are no such problem which i'm not planning to be involved in politics secret which i've already made clear in my letter to president putin and confirmed many times i'm going to devote myself to social issues the struggle for power is just not for me appearing calm than in a smart blue sooty fielded questions from a a whole host of journalists packed into the borough in a wall museum just not too far from where i hammer i am right here in central and in amongst those questions he did appeal for some kind of privacy for him and his family. said that he didn't have any concrete plans to exactly what he would be

doing right now would be timeline that seeing him come here has been such has moved at such a whirlwind pace from where he was told apparently it to in the morning. in the penal colony our penal colony on friday morning in russia that he would be set free . it's all new that such a pace that saw him arrive here in germany just delivered that first press conference to speak to the the world's media and tell him how he feels and basically he's saying that he needs a little bit of time to readjust to life outside and pay thanks to everybody who helped him along the way and let's not get more analysis from political commentator and former kremlin advisor and xander and cross of live from london mr nick ross and welcome to aussie it's always nice to talk to you so as to what a cost he says there'll be no more point takes a business for him to believe him well i think he chose his words very carefully and when but but he made one mistake of course when he said that i'm on the good

not going to be involved in politics anymore and then the bit late that was saying that he's going to try political prisons in russia. sounds a bit here because if you're doing political prisoners and helping them that sort of gets you involved in politics ultimately it will be very difficult for mr cannot of course get to stay away from politics and this press conference shows us that that's the case as regards his business ventures well he is a wealthy man he's managed to keep a lot of his money abroad so in one sense yes he probably will not be open involved in any business but on the other can't part of his empire exists in america that are volatile level twelve top managers from yukos living in britain so there will be some business obviously but what does he mean in saying that he will fight for political prisoners in russia. well it's difficult to

explain what he means but what that what that implies is that you will continue to be involved in some sort of political activity because. for some people for example some of the these this political prisoners are not political prisoners but criminals. for human my political prisoners so it's already he's getting involved in the politics here in the debate of it and i think that he will be dragged into politics simply even if you doesn't want that. but. talks about what he called other political prisoners including alexey be true again we know the former you could chief of security who was actually sentenced to life for murder. how can a holocaust he called for his release yet hold himself up as a symbol of civil society. well i think it's very difficult i think it's very

difficult to say for example that the likes of which again can be called political prisoners if the court finds him guilty of murder i think it's a very tough call here and i think that some other people whom he's going to call political prisoners all consider us to be a political prisoner that's a is is going to be a tough call this well i think that we also need to understand one thing the mystic about of course ski broke the rules of the game and i don't understand why you know but just talking about that mr conduct it for example was presiding over the embarrassing collapse of the minutes of bank even before he was in charge of yukos when millions of people were denied their savings and never recovered them so for him to call himself a brilliant manager or to say that he was a good manager i think is taking it to be too far and those who would you cross was not a clear cut picture you know you come to say that this is a this was a company that did everything by the rules or by the book and so on so on the one

kid on the one kind of course he can always claim that he was himself a political prisoner on the other hand he did break the rules and i remember to clean it when he was arrested the day i was flying out of more school to london and i got a call from one of my on the phone for from one of the officials from the minister of finance to explain to me what actually happened and what's going to happen and he told me quite clear to the course he said almost up the line he broke the arrangement with the kremlin and that arrangement was that none of the oligarchs american idol in politics there what that they were not prosecuted for in the old the since but they were told not to meddle and he did that and by the way some of the other order goddesses they they support that idea that i'm not mentioning them here and i thought that's was the case and i remember. the response in the country

was nothing of the sort that the media here is trying to portray that there was an uproar and the people you know ask you why people are asking you another thing why is only a court of course. for your sins why not other people so i think that you've heard of course you really want to show the world he's not going to be involved in politics you would not even close. this press conference. and say those things that double meaning. political commentator and former crime advise alexander nick ross of mr grasso thank you very much indeed for your time we appreciate it thank you. so we have. the live streams going from one of russia the world's richest men to a high profile criminal recall how he ended up in jail and back in february nine hundred ninety seven he became chairman and c.e.o. of the private corporation you cause which produced

a fifth of russia's oil within six and a half years he was one of the country's richest men he was arrested on fraud charges around the same time links to the promise of his asian of a state assets he was eventually found guilty in may two thousand and five and given nine years in prison and appeal sawyer knocked out of that sentence in december two thousand and six there was a second case and he was charged with three hundred fifty million tonnes of oil he was found guilty again and given a fourteen year sentence but the court counted time already served and political analyst and expert on russian german relations alexander rar was one of the first to greet me. on german soil and he told us that it was neither a mystery not a surprise that the one time only god chose his destination. the reason why i heard of course he came to germany's very simple because his mother is here in hospital she's very very sick and to this is not a secret. i asked putin to release him because he wants to meet

his mother before it's too late and. as it happened mr sort of course he was not here when the son the arrived but she's in germany. she left on a germany for russia but of course she's now with her son. and of course there'll be plenty more news on the hellhole of the day today with analysis both here on r.t. international and our web site r.t. dot com so be sure to check it out. to other news now a suicide bomb attack on a primary school in syria has reportedly killed several children is the latest atrocity after dozens of civilians were massacred earlier this week by radical islamist rebels government forces exposed the killings after taking bug parts of the town of try archie's arabic channel one there to talk to eyewitnesses. terror

still fills the hearts of those who witnessed the militants entering the town about drugs they saw panicked 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 adder but officials are saying the atrocities against the civilian population are continuing our 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 the drawer unthinkable they're slaughtering children and throwing them out of windows and no one's doing anything about it because 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 us residents working both in the private sector and for government agencies horrifying crying must 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 that continues to carry out surgical strikes me 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. . western powers have indicated next month's peace talks in geneva may no longer involve calls for assad to be removed from power it's feared extremists could take

control of the country if his government falls the u.s. says it's willing to meet members of the newly formed islamic front group which is implicated in the bloodshed in our drive and we spoke to your political analyst who believes peace is unlikely if the u.s. continues to support that. 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 the goes to. 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 china holds 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 so calls to terrorists. and while ronnie's go on in ukraine despite assurances from the government that the country still plans to move closer to the e.u. but reports coming out from central kiev just ahead but now it's a short break. down the study a correctly that you don't believe that ad words snowden performed a public service may be in all of in the best interest of the united states but at least in the best interest of humanity two countries don't want to turn over their play book to the other side and that's essentially what's happened here it is true that it is heard a big debate about the role of our intelligence services in the united states i think that debate was coming anyway after nine eleven but i don't think we've had

sort of anything in the interest of humanity served by this step so. please speak your language. programs in documentaries in arabic it's all here. reporting from the world talks about six of the c.r.p. interviews intriguing story to tell you. the troy arabic to find out more visit our big. dog called. here watching that we can all change the national welcome bank president please him

how to martha q. and a session this week which also for more than four hours bombarded by dozens of questions who shared his thoughts on the hottest topics of the past year. was that for us. they never met personally but his revelations 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 all relationship with barack obama and u.s. 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

the countries had 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 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. was a foreign minister also headed the parliament to machinegun is a former prime minister you schenker 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 like 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 steps on the organization itself. their ship had entered our exclusive economic zone was not responding and they tried to scale the platform after an attempt to stop them their second boat started ramming our border guards is that a civil discussion about protecting the environment. it's just self or an attempt to 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 in joint efforts to minimize environmental risks instead of just making a fuss but. of course these are only a few topics touched upon which 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 lasted over four hours of

r.t. moscow. saudi arabia and its eastern neighbors team up to let big know who's the boss as a reporter on our website the countries are creating a joint force of about one hundred pounds and call the troops had a mind to learn why they're making aeschylus trying. and the us journalist who has access to edward snowden's documents says his call for alarm systems in his belly and home to keep this secret safe but that wasn't enough to prevent intrusions modi's house at time t. the. ukraine could still move closer to the e.u. next year if the bloc switches the trade and association deal that announcement from the country's prime minister still didn't appease the protestors in central kiev cross to once again gather that has lost his and exceed russia's can out of. tens of thousands are back in the streets of ukraine's capital kiev to protest on

this sunny day that's after several days of relative calm in the unit suspicions on the ground here that the protests in the depended square may dispersed by itself sooner or later obviously today is the prove that this would not happen at least in the nearest future in fact we've heard from the opposition talking from the state that they're planning to keep the protest alive at least until january the twelfth they're definitely planning to spend the new year's eve at the independence square so this is a clear indication the anti-government protests would be lasting for some time here in ukraine this week represented something of a turnaround for you great at least economically with the article which president is going to moscow and signing several agreements with russia particularly gaining . ukrainian the euro bonds as well as receiving a much coveted discount for the russian gas almost one hundred thirty dollars per month discounted still despite many experts saying that this would help lead this would greatly help ukrainian economy which has been suffering an ailing and pretty

much in a pretty fault state this what happened to survive at least until the next six seven months the opposition is not happy they're describing it as a sell out of the country and they are unwilling to keep protesting as long as it takes to have the government resign and the president to step down. infertility bus defects and cancer potential side effects of chemicals found this week near fracking wells in colorado scientists claim they also discovered substances capable of disrupting homeowners but u.s. companies are pushing ahead with their exploration and can now reports residents living near the wells have almost no allies in their struggle for a safe neighborhood the local government in texas tells steve lipski that the water from his well water that he can set on fire is safe to drink and to use in his home . you can hear it in here. thank you but steve has the

assessment of other experts who say he's well is a 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 lips 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 do you sell 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 concede that

the rights it seen come in survival from oil and gas production issues really put him in charge of also regulating the protection of groundwater from going down swells and there's an inherent conflict of interest in 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 his 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 lips they shouldn't expect much help from washington either

why do you sell us our 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 e.p.a. from coming up with a reporting favor of the practice. phillipe skis were advised to vent the gas constantly to keep it from accumulating under their property as their neighboring gas well continues to frack despite thousand it were pretty much standing around on top of the one hundred years from now when somebody dies because there's some contaminant in the border area and they're able to trace it to this fracking and we've got the office ted who cares invest in a few lawson three 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 t.

parker county texas. and up next on our international the n.s.a. spying scandal is up for debate and while that comes with x. amount of money. they're calling obama's happy smiling sophie photo with the danish and british prime ministers at the mandela funeral an international incident but before we rail on obama for doing something stupid a funeral we need to clear one thing up the washington post says that this action occurred at the memorial service after the funeral was over and trust me after about three hours of serious lectures at a conference or some sort of super long wedding most of us would just be banging our heads against the wall out of boredom and i'd probably check my email about seven times obama's place you know i said most of us but the president isn't supposed to be like most of us because he represents all of us it's one thing when

you're fourteen and too stupid to realize that sophie photos at the wake after grampa's funeral is a bad idea but it's another thing entirely when one of the most photographed and powerful people on the planet takes a selfie at the memorial service of someone he claims to respect although i might sound annoyed this sophie is pretty much irrelevant this is just a big error of etiquette there are plenty of real concrete things with real consequences to be bad at obama over like our being religious wacko rebels in syria or signing into law the n.b.a. i wish with all my heart that we only had to be angry with obama over some minor etiquette errors but sadly they're just a drop in the obama bucket but that's just my opinion. we speak your language i mean some of the will inevitably and. programs and documentaries and spanish what matters to you breaking news it will turn into

bangles stories. you. spinal cord out me visit i don't know it's called. hello and welcome to worlds apart ordering and major overhaul of intelligence operations once every ten years is seemingly becoming a new american tradition last decade was brought about by nine eleven this time around by public opera or over the expanse of n.s.a. surveillance but are these reforms really after whipping as they're presented in the media well to discuss that i'm now joined by michael allen who worked on national security policy for both the bush and obama administrations mr allen thank

you very much for being on the show if your book blinking red you describe what you called the most momentous overhaul of america's national security infrastructure since the second world war spurred by nine eleven and the iraqi misadventure but i wonder if that's whipping the reform really brought a new substantial change because previously the intelligence community was criticized for inadequate communication among various agencies and as the boston bombing revealed that communication was still inadequate the cia used to be in believe it still has the dominant role within the intelligence community so what has really changed as a result of that major overhaul that you describe in your book i think you're on to something and that's one of the central questions in my book blinking red which is all the institutional reforms and new intelligence agencies that we set up after september eleventh and after the intelligence failure in iraq. whether they have

done a good job as we say here in the united states connecting the dots trying to collect information and connect it to each other if they have some sort of effect that might give us a warning of a terrorist attack like in boston or any islamic extremists that might be coming after the united states or our allies well one thing that has definitely changed is the massive infusion of money since two thousand and one the united states has spent i think over a five hundred billion dollars on intelligence during that period and american officials have long claimed that you know the main outcome of that exorbitant spending was the lack of any. additional catastrophic terrorist attack but of course many other countries that have the same result for much much less i wonder if these. you know all that spending has really led to any increase in

efficiency of operations or rather what they've had possibly an opposite effect because we all know that when money is not an issue efficiency is usually not the first concern well i would disagree with you i don't think it's exorbitant spending at all when you look at what happened in the united states on september eleventh to have two of our biggest buildings in new york knocked down the pentagon attacked and another plane that was heading for washington d.c. that was very appropriate spending and i think we've seen the results of it you mentioned other countries other countries are not the target that the united states is for islamic extremists and so i think the united states citizens have gotten what they've paid for when they because we've been able to for you all and prevent numerous attacks on the continental united states and in europe with some of our allies because we're spending.