former oil tycoon mikhail khodorkovsky says he's not interested in politics or business and his first news conference off to a decade. rebels in syria allegedly thousands of civilians during a battle in the suburbs of the capital damascus. protests have raged for over a month as ukraine secures a fifteen billion dollars economic rescue deal from russia. seven days top stories and the latest developments this is the weekly. x.

oil magnate. says he has no interest in pursuing politics or being involved in business he's been holding his first major news conference since being released from jail after ten years well now reports from berlin. 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 to former german german foreign minister. who provided him who helped him to get a private jet out of russia and helped him with a visa that he obtained here and now with regards to his political future he was peppered with questions about the holocaust and this is say. good morning i am at the retool to germany and german politicians for playing

a role in my thing the last thing i want is any problems as a result he gave me concerns are good people and country which i'm thankful to that is that it would do it so far i've been assured that there are no such a problem with each school choice i'm not planning to be involved in policy or 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 carmen in a smart blue sooty fielded questions from a a whole host of journalists packed into the burley and 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 it's seen him come here has been such has moved at such a whirlwind pace from when he was told apparently it to in the morning his time in

the penal colony our 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 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. so he has led a life of extremes going from one of russia's and indeed the world's richest men to a high profile criminal record how he ended up in jail or back in february ninety seven he became chairman and c.e.o. of the private corporation new course which produced a fifth of russia's oil well 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 linked to the privatization of state assets when he was eventually found guilty in may two thousand and five and given nine years in

prison an appeal sought a year knocked off that sentence in december two thousand and six there was a second case 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 served well all of this brings us to this week which saw president putin pardon khodorkovsky ahead of his release on friday because he was waiting to be let out next august but russia's president made the surprise announcement of his pardon on thursday the decision was made on humanitarian grounds after he sent a letter to putin describing his mother's ailing health he then flew to berlin and met his entire family while the media camped outside the five star hotel where he is staying legal expert and blogger alexander mccurry spill eaves that western attention only x. or a magnet is out of all proportion in any conflict between the russian government and business matters that the the reflex response of the worst media is to support the businessman beyond that of course mr holder of course he

had lots of people involved in his businesses who ruled him for investors all sorts of people of that kind he was. man and he had connections with the united states connection to germany and of course mr holder because he ran a full month to be effective public relations machine he had lawyers all over the place spokesmen all over the place who became involved in spinning his story it despite the fact that it's not just the russian courts that it said that he's guilty of 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 or what of course of course his former employees he was convicted to life in prison for murder is alexy peukan he was found guilty of ordering the murder of a mayor of

a siberian town who was in dispute with you course over tax freed for more or tycoon mentioned but you can when describing how he'll fight for the release of political prisoners in russia but political commentator alexander in the class have told us that these sentiments are inconsistent with our course you mention. and i think some others simply because he has his own understanding of the judicial process works and what people should be to the sponsible for all not if you have a court finding a person guilty of murder i think it's very difficult for anyone to then say well he's guilty but he's not actually guilty because he is a political prisoner i find that quite order actually and i find that also or in one sentence somebody says that he's not going to be involved in politics and basically in the same press conference says well yes but i will be involved in helping the political prisoners in russia be plenty more news on become

quite a costly throughout the day with analysis both here on r.t. and our web site r.t. dot com so make sure you check that out. so to other news now here on r.t. international a suicide bomb attack on a problem has gone in syria has reportedly killed several children it is the latest atrocity of the dozens of civilians were massacred earlier this week by radical islamist rebels a government forces expose the killings after taking back parts of the town of address auntie's arabic channel went to talk to eyewitnesses terror still fills the hearts of those who witnessed the militants entering the town of vadra 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 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 dealing 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 ation 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 syrian authorities say they have evidence confirming that massacres have taken place and address the dad 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 these residents working both in the private sector and for government agencies horrifying crying as have been committed to in this town houses were set

on fire with people trapped inside and. the syrian army which is positioned just outside the town continues to carry out surgical strikes as part of their effort to liberate which is now the only hope of the families waiting for news of their loved ones inside the town. r.t. . well western powers have indicated next month's peace talks in geneva may no longer involve calls for a cent to be removed from power is fear extremists could take control of the country if his government falls but washington says it is willing to meet members of the newly formed islamic front group which is implicated in the bloodshed in andhra we spoke with an advisor to the u.s. congress who warns extremists cannot 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 jihadist 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 the taliban next year number two if the united states will engage or has engage some of these organizations probably 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 minority is that exists in syria today. they want to keep syria minority groups looking to capitalize on the chaos the kurds have taken up arms to fight for autonomy and then a seat at the international peace conference next month all the details in

a few minutes from now. if you. start to construct your a. little bit. in a lot of. the time. came be we can see. you just made so that i was and i was on the hook. but i said. i don't want to i just really do not want to die young.

president putin held his annual marathon q. and a session this week which lasted for more than four hours bombarded by dozens of questions he shared his thoughts on the hottest topics of the past year and. was that 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 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 and clued in those of ethics. ukraine was also discussed that actually said it rough in the last few weeks with mass protests both in favor of against moving closer with the e.u. moscow's giving kiev a fifteen billion dollar loan to help to cope 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 signed in which they can then be no problem today i have legitimacy now is the current protester about moving closer to the e.u. it's an internal political struggle and signing or not signing this document is just a pretext for. the current amnesty which should affect up to twenty five thousand people coincides with the twentieth anniversary of russia scots jewish and members of pussy riot and greenpeace activists from the so-called particularly are expected to benefit so obviously his solution was also mentioned including the president steps on the organization itself. their ship it entered our exclusive economic zone was not responding and they tried to scale the platform after attempt to stop them the second boat started ramming our border guards is that a civil discussion about protecting the environment is 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. 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 hundred journalists over four hours you've just got off our t.v. moscow. meanwhile rallies go on in ukraine despite assurances from the government that the country still plans to move closer to the e.u. we've got a report coming out from central kiev and first i have been here on r.t. . first infertility birth defects and cancer all potential side effects of chemicals found this week near fracking wells in colorado scientists claim they also discovered substances capable of disrupting hormones but u.s.

companies are pushing ahead with the exploration and it's going to church carports 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 why did it set on fire is safe to drink and to use in his home. if you can't get in here how. would you rank it but steve has the assessment of other experts who say his well is it taking 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 here 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 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 corporation conceit 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 ongoing gas wells and there's any parent conflict of interest in that. determined to fight for his home father 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 a four point two million dollar 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 lips they shouldn't expect much help from washington either this is the first time 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 report in favor of the practice. believes kids were advised to vent the gas constantly to keep it from accumulating under their property as their neighboring gas well continues to frack this guy thousand feet. pretty much

standing around the top of the one hundred years from now when somebody dies because there's some having that the war and they're able to trace it to this frack him and everybody else instead who appears 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 leave his family are left to fight a low to get a healthy environment in their homes. to check on our t. parker county texas we modern new energy boom heading for the british countryside is yet to receive a warm welcome a government report has laid the groundwork to open up vos swathes of the u.k. to oil exploration including shale gas drilling now the light blue on this map shows how much land has been earmarked u.k.'s energy minister has hailed this report as the next step in unlocking britain's fracking potential friends of the earth's helen rimmer believes it is time to stop before it is too late. we've only

had one hundred full 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 england 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 potentially to fracking we're going to see even more opposition 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. saudi arabia and its neighbors team up to let the gulf know who is boss as we report on our website countries are creating a force of over one hundred thousand troops i don't know why they are making a show of strength. to their us journalist who has access to edward snowden's documents says he's got four alarm systems and he's home to keep the secret safe but that wasn't enough to prevent intrusions details that.

this comes after a mass hunger strike that returned the world's attention to the place. the gulag of our time. is an undeclared global battlefield in which a young man is just one of the front lines. that's. ukraine could still move closer to the e.u. next year if the bloc sweetens the trade association deal now that announcement from the country's prime minister still didn't appease the protestors in central

kiev crowds have once again gathered there are. 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 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 deigning fifteen billion dollar bill in the ukrainian eurobonds as well as receiving a much coveted discount for the russian gas almost one hundred thirty dollars but.

still despite many experts saying that this would help the this would greatly help ukrainian economy which has been suffering an ailing and pretty much in a pretty fault state this would help it 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. not to look at some other news making headlines today and we start with libya where a suicide car bombing at an army checkpoint outside benghazi killed at least seven people and injured many more a truck approached the signs and exploded when soldiers came up to examine the vehicle no group has claimed responsibility yet troops in eastern libya regularly come under attack by islamist militias. ranty government demonstrate is a pattern streets of thailand's capital yet again the latest wave of protests against the prime minister has been ongoing for weeks protestors accuse the leader

of ruining the democratic system she's trying to calm tensions by calling a snap election or the beginning of february the opposition has vowed to boycott the poll. you can a government this week has not been offered by the e.u. to help subsidize its food banks london told brussels such funding would be better delivered by member states individually and that has provoked anger in a country where the use of the charity handouts is rising dramatically as artie's laura smith reports. just a stone's throw from the seat of government in westminster is something that's becoming a more and more common sight in the u.k. this building's used as a food bank handing out emergency supplies to families so poor they can't afford to eat as the cost of living rises the number of people turning to food banks increases with its funding tighter all the time but nevertheless the government has turned down a potential twenty two million pounds in funding for food aid why because the money

comes from the european union britain we've caught i government with a very anti european ideology appears to be more keen to. warn europe to get credit for something than to get money which can how fate hungry people are if you are starving you need some food and you pray to die and this government's refusal to provide the parish is literally taking food out to the merits of how great the european aid for the most deprived fund amounts to two and a half billion pounds but the position britain's taken means the country will receive just two point nine million and instead of using that for food aid as intended it's expected the government will spend it on helping unemployed people find work all well and good to say critics but there are people who need survival basics now and this money is meant for them. more news for in just about

fifteen minutes from now here not international. business and finance venture capital is just ahead. more news consumer is easy and i see it with me in the country is the federal government simply saves property of the united states government. this the united states somebody mentioned it was probably going to realize you can't just buy. your own just throw it away. for instance belongs to the united states environmental protection agency i found this on a dump site here this is their computer it's not always. produces of these and

that's what i think should be able to collect these though i believe that this should be responsible for the products from cradle to grave. to mexico comment on mental health property will sell to merge trying to cooperate are also belongs to the washington metro area transit authority properties of a dentist aids patient and trademarks. you're watching but count two with me katie paul we both went to a christmas show on to be joined by the one and i mean that's kind of his views on a bank has been to save a lot small cuts by which a toy still to find out what we've had to do to compete with the economy was booming in russia the crap was all the way some fun stuff in fellas as well. we're

the couple that. ever is the other one one of the missing out just tell you about the bankers' bonuses already a topic of frustration every taishan whether sent to almost. managing directors at banks in london are set for a forty four percent rise in bonuses at least that's according to financial recruitment firm asked mas' don anyways if we rewind back to remember the e.u. set up a law to control bank expenses but you can't challenge this and it's yet to be implemented it now one who is always brutally frank about his views on this particular topic yes i'm talking about the one and i have a max card or from the cars report he's joining me from london though so much that despite all the attempts to rein in bankers' bonuses they seem to be getting even bigger what is going on right now. where we've seen. ten years or so innovation in central banking came in under used to be when the fed printed lots

of money you see prices of wages consumer items and assets go up in value but under bernanke the there's been an innovation in central banking where they print money and they put it directly into the pockets of bankers so wages don't go up so it's a beautiful new world where the central banks simply hand over billions of dollars to their cronies in the banking system and wages never go up so this is the new world order one of you is christmas and what about if you have to buy your favorite banker jamie diamond a christmas present this year what would it be why. i think if i could give jamie diamond a present for christmas it would be syphilis so that he could experience firsthand what everyone around the world experiences with his day to day banking terrorism what about don't believe that what we get from a. well for george osborne my

first choice would be maybe a little polonium two ten but maybe not bad aggressive something along the lines of . some fog walk from a fog off farm in france to kind of personify what's happening to the world banks are being stuffed with all this cheap cash and in the end are going to be harvested and his liver along with a bunch of ducks will be exempt taken out and sold on the open market right. at the gay people going christmas party entertainment what would you do. for the course of party entertainment of j.p. morgan that's a good question i guess we have to hire some. of the cast of the soprano's to come in and reenact some of the famous scenes there where several people got whacked i think i'll be very entertaining you could tape it put on paper of you i think it's a fantastic way to extend the brand of j.p. morgan j.p. morgan made.