format oil tycoon mikhail khodorkovsky says he's not interested in politics of business at his first news conference after a decade behind bars. radical islamist rebels a cigarette allegedly months ago dozens of civilians during a battle in the suburbs of the capital damascus. and crowds gather in central kiev where anti-government protests have raged for of a month as ukraine secure as a fifteen billion dollar economic rescue deal from russia. the latest news on the week's top stories you're watching the weekly international

with me here national thanks for joining us. ags oil market nate. says he has no interest in pursuing politics are being involved in business has been holding his fast major news conference since being released from jail after ten days i was he is peter one of our 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 and once he'd been released he paid specific gratitude to the german off for a tease on to former geralyn german foreign minister hans dietrich genscher who provided him who helped him to get a private jet out of russia and help them with a visa that he obtained here and now with regards to his political future he was peppered with questions about the holocaust he had this to say that. i am grateful to germany and german politicians for playing

a role in my feet 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 you saw far i've been assured that there are no such problems i'm not planning to be involved in politics 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 carmen 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 be timeline it seen him come here has been such has moved at such a whirlwind pace from where he was told apparently it to in the morning his time.

in the penal colony. penal colony on friday morning in russia that he would be set free. it's all moved at such a pace that saw him arrive here in germany just to live at that first press conference to speak to the world's media in tell him how he feels and basically is saying that he needs a little bit of time to readjust to live outside and pay thanks to everybody who helped him along the way anderson more let's now talk about this where there you are again alice a sad seeing chief of politico magazine compact very welcome to your to our senior national so mr holocaust he says he won't support the opposition here in russia all rianne to politics but he says that the struggle for power is not for me but also in the news conference and self political you're saying especially when he mentioned the rights of political prisoners here.

because on the one hand he has to care for his family now or he is happy that he is a free person but on the other side they are ours because there are kind of pressure on him from big factions of the oil industry to and mingle into russian politics to go back into the game or it is unclear what will happen. also the west sees it mr holocaust as a political martyr as we all know yet one of his associates he called a political prisoner was sentenced to life for murder why is that part of the eucharist case is so often overlooked by the west. totally unknown in the west the. big economic oh the criminal that he has stolen a lot of money from the russian people and from the russian state that is totally

unknown in the west. he has stolen a lot of oil not physically or barred by means of fiscal many policeman. every kind of businessman in the best who had done the same would have also or ended in prison this story is untold in the west. the whole magazine will publish it and already has published some parts of it and mr heard of course also things that lead to putin release him because because he was warning about russia's image abroad how much was russia's image at stake here. at the moment some parts of the west on political parties tried to build up. new front for a new cold war that is true and they used the un's in kiev to. buy

propaganda russia and in this situation it was wise to take the girl from president putin to release this prominent prison are to show everybody especially in germany especially interim many that he that russia is not interested in a cold war. russia wants a peaceful coexistence. inside europe and is not interested in build up new confrontation that was quite wise. let's hope that all to the players in the west in berlin and in other capitals will follow this course of of understanding and coexistence. could mr hodder cause skis release and his presence in germany now affect current russian german relations.

it's view of two spheres in german russian relations the one sphere is politics the others fear is economics in economics talking about business relations. the atmosphere is quite good all the loss leaders german businessmen know that they can trust in russia that they can make good business with russia saw on this pie on this part of the table there are no problems the problems are in the political sphere and there are is at the moment big discussion in the new government who is heading. the politics towards russia if it is headed by a new foreign minister my our who is interested in a balanced relation towards russia or is it headed by some so-called

human rights extremists like a member of parliament shock and of who is part of the. they are quarreling. lead politics towards russia in this german discussion the release of the can help to stop the falcons. to to play the. trump card for the moderate forces like. you again nell says sad saying chief of compaq's magazine thank you very much indeed for that. so they hired her has led a life of extremes going from one of russia's and india's the wiles of richest man to a high profile criminal that's recall now how he ended up in jail so back in february

nineteenth ninety seven he became chairman and c.e.o. of the private corporation you cause which produced and fearful russia's oil within six and a half years he was one of the country's richest men he was arrested on small charges around the same time so they progress of state assets and he was eventually found guilty in may two thousand and five and given nine years in prison and appeal so again knocked off that sentence in december two thousand and six there was a second case and he was charged with embezzling three hundred fifty million tons of oil he was found guilty again and given a fourteen year sentence but the court counted time already sat all of this brings us to this week which saw president putin pardon holder koskie ahead of his release on friday his flew to and met his entire family while the media camped outside the five star hotel where he is staying now legal expert and blogger alexander

mercury's believes the western attention on the ex oil magnate is out of all proportion in any conflict between the russian government and the businessman is that the act the reflex response of the worst media is to support the businessman beyond that of course mr holder because he had lots of people involved in his business is removed ruled in for investors all sorts of people about god and he was he was russia's richest man and he had connections with the united states you connections with germany so all of these countries all of the people in these countries were involved and of course mr holder because he himself ran a full mentally effective. public relations machine you had lawyers all over the place spokesman all over the place who became involved in spinning you story if you wish. it despite the fact that it's not just the russian courts that it's that

he's guilty of the fact that people consistently overlook the european court of human rights has repeatedly said that he's guilty as well but that never seems to get reported and there were plenty more news on the health care cost throughout the day with analysis both here on our c international and our website r.t. dot com vishal to check it out. to other news now a so side 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 expose the killings after taking back parts of the town of. r.t. is our big 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 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 address 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 the 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 or going on 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 because the syrian authorities say they have evidence confirming that massacres have taken place and address sadat latakia 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 adnan sees a horrifying crying must have been committed in this town houses who are set on fire with people trapped inside. the syrian army which is a position just don't side the town that 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. well some 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 a control of the country if his government falls washington says it's willing to meet members of the new formed islamic front group which is implicated in the

bloodshed in our drive and we spoke with an advisor to the u.s. congress who warns extremists can't be trusted. well first of all it would be a strategic mistake if the u.s. administration or europe or their allies would be engaging in a partnership and a partnership meaning they would be collaborating with organizations that are jihadi and have not committed to become moderates or recognize the fact that if they come to power or part of power they will recognize human rights that did not happen that would be a mistake of the size that was done in afghanistan and maybe done again with a party band next year the number two if the united states will engage or has engaged some of these organizations probably it's in the goal of a very tactical engagement to make sure that those forces are not going to bring more foreign forces from the outside including al qaida but again i'm very skeptical so we have to have a better strategy to engage with the more moderates with the seculars and also with

the minorities that exists in syria today. meanwhile rallies go on in ukraine despite assurances from the government that the country still plans to move closer to the easy for the full report coming out from central kiev just ahead of the break. largest consumer of the season i take with me in the country is the federal government the simplicities property of the united states government. this the united states number given to me was troubling us to realize you can't just buy. here i'll just throw it away this is a problem for instance belongs to the you know this leaves environmental protection

agency i found this on a dump site here this is interference not the way to go and the producers of these little. should be able to collect these though i believe the vision responsible for the products from cradle to grave. state of mexico. mental health property will south america incorporated it also belongs to the washington metro area transit authority properties of a dentist aids patient and trademark office. you're watching the weekly on our team to national welcome back president clinton held his annual march on q. and a session this week which lasted for more than four hours bothered by dozens of questions he shared his thoughts on the hottest topics of the past year and. a half

hour. they'd 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 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's giving key of a fifteen billion dollar loan to help because of severe economic problems and according to putin integration is not the core reason behind the wave of unrest as

. 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. 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 p.r. 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. of course these are only a few topics touched upon which and also talked about recent diplomatic breakthroughs like the syrian chemical arms deal and the iranian nuclear program the conference was attended by over thirteen only journalists and lasted over four hours you're pissed off r.t. moscow. saudi arabia and its eastern neighbors team up to let the gulf know who's boss to report on our website the countries are crazing

a joint force of over one hundred thousand combat troops had a line to learn why they're making aeschylus trying. to us journalist who has access to edward snowden's documents says he's got some for alarm systems and he's but in harm to keep the secret safe but that also turn up to prevent intrusive intrusions more details at all to dot com. these loopholes been found so here braving the elements in order to stand up to us oil giants chevron. this comes after a massive hunger strike that returned the world's attention to the place that some have dubbed the gulag of our times. is an undeclared global battlefield in which yemen is just one of the front lines.

ukraine could still move closer to they you next check of the blocks which runs the tried and association deal that announcement from the country's prime minister still didn't appease the protestors in central kiev kraus who once again gathered that sounds he's an excess cash cow reports 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 and that you would be suspicious on the ground here that the protests in the independence 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 deigning fifteen billion dollar bill in the ukrainian 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 the this would greatly help ukraine economy which has been suffering ailing and pretty much in a pretty full state this would happen 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 resigned and the president to step down. infertility buzz defrags son cancer all 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 as. reports residents living near 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 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 is 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 but 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 view solace 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 agency that the rights it seen come in survival from oil and gas production. issue should we put him in charge of also regulating the protection of groundwater from going down swells and there's any 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 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 so 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 p.a. from coming up with a reporting favor of the practice. phillips kids were advised to vent the gas constantly to keep it from accumulating under their property as their

neighboring gas wells continues to frac slide thousand feet do you pretty much standing around on top of the 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 horses to head who cares invest in a few loss of feed 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. down our t. parker county texas. up next here in our international way explore they have the does legacy have can see thrown around with their rubbish.

the parliament of yemen has put forward a motion to ban drone attacks in the country the motion is now awaiting 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 being blown up from the sky that we fear 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 entices 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 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. of the. moment. of the hour and only a day in the history of mankind has man made any significant advantage. over his. computer. more than any other. a romance. when you've been with less than a million of a second in. command three i'm already given chroma. you know a way of life and why you think you. know

this isn't true said girl if marriage is to common good to men we. let you smoke signal i was. wrong. you are right food now you. are out the wall from where i'm for this. i. just want to live on this it. was a student from the ground source. that. you. know as the dumber grow bugs in me the if you. don't know. what the first time i saw one was that the song go area where we were going

for a after school study. and as soon as we finish studying we go and play with the computer . there are many things we can do on the computer games educational games and so on. yeah. yeah and what i'm trying to say is that the computer broadens your horizon. it's just dumping and nobody wants them in their backyard and near open the united states so they find a way to dispose of here this is the color blue it was teamed with so much trish but this is what is left of the local.