i'm not planning to be involved in politics. reveals his plans for the future at his first news conference as a free man but some questions about his past are being avoided. people consistently overlook the european court of human rights has repeatedly said that he's guilty but that never seems to get repeated. a suicide car bomb attack in syria claims the lives of up to seven children that comes amid allegations that is on this massacre dozens of civilians in the damascus neighborhood. you've gone into your home. you think it apparently not many but especially after a report found that cancer causing chemicals were found in water samples collected

near fracking sites in colorado. the latest development on a look back at the top stories of the past seven days this is the weekly on our. says he will not pursue a career in either politics or business the former oil magnate outlined his plans for the future at his first news conference since his release from jail. his new months. i'm not wanting 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. media the struggle for power is just not for me.

but it wasn't listed and despite the former businessman being flooded with cutlass question some aspects of his past were avoided by the media and peter oliver reports mikhail khodorkovsky entered into the press conference in a whirlwind of media hype into a room packed to the rafters with journalists many of whom were congratulating him on his release as a political prisoner however there is a nother side to the u.k.'s saga one that's not often heard. free after ten years is that some of these comments after his release of raised eyebrows may have . some of my comrades remain in jail they are my fellow sufferers for example my friend platon lebedev alexei protrusion says there are still other political prisoners in russia not only those related to the u. cos case i am free now and i'm asking you to think of it as something which symbolizes that the efforts of civil societies can lead to the release of some

people who no one thought would be able to walk free. to choose again was the head of security for mr holder called ski's oil company you cos he's currently serving a life sentence book by counts of murder 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's a political prisoner i find it quite order in two thousand and seven a court convicted it too good of ordering the shooting of that immediate bet you all of the mayor of a town in siberia and his widow believes this was a crime that went to the top. that of course skis behind the murder of my husband he's a free man now it's painful for me to talk about this because nothing can bring my husband back the international community should know the facts are that you should confess his sins and stop trying himself as a victim the court found no link between the murders and the you cause head

holocaust he was jailed in two thousand and three for fraud and embezzlement he refuses to accept any guilt for the crimes he was convicted of despite the conviction outside of russia to 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. peter all over r.t. berlin. khodorkovsky was released from jail on friday after being pardoned by president putin on humanitarian grounds he flew straight to berlin where he was reunited with family including his mother who is suffering from cancer earlier we spoke to jurgen else a seer who editor in chief of political magazine compact he says there are parts of the former all the guards past the west prefers not to know about. totally unknown in the west the. big economic oh criminal. have stolen

a lot off or money from the russian people and from the russian state that he stole a lot of oil not physically or by the by means of fiscal many police. every kind of businessman in the best who had done the same would have all sought ended in prison by this story is i'm told in the west there are are speculations and there are a kind of pressure on him from the factions of the anglo-saxon oil industry to mingle into russian politics and to go all back into the gave him the law it is unclear what will happen. and you can get more on the release of mikhail khodorkovsky at our website r.t. dot com and we have the courts in-depth analysis and opinion. to syria now where a suicide bombing near a primary school has killed up to seven children in the province of arms this comes

hours after dozens of civilians were allegedly massacred by islamists in the town of hadera party's arabic channel went there to talk to witnesses. 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 address but officials are saying the atrocities against the civilian population are continuing and 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 and everyone working for the local authorities was to be killed regardless of their religion organon an asian 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 the dad will attack here 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 crime must have been committed in this town houses were set on fire without people. from the syrian army which is a position just outside 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. r.t.

. well western powers have indicated next month's peace talks in geneva may no longer involved calls for assad to be removed from power it's fair to extremists could take control of the country if his government falls washington says it's willing to meet members of the newly formed islamic front group which is implicated in the bloodshed in algeria we spoke with an adviser 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 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 minorities that exists in syria today. infertility birth defects and cancer all potential side effects of the chemicals found this week near fracking wells in colorado but that hasn't stopped us energy companies from pushing ahead with their drilling operations and as candidates you can report it's residents living near the wells have almost no allies in their fight for a safe environment 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 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 caution 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 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 going down swells and there's any parent. conflict of interest 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 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 e.p.a. from coming up with a report in 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 these guys thousand feet deep they were pretty much standing around the top of the one hundred years from now when somebody dies because there's some being on the border and they're able to trace it to this frack him and with the horse's head who cares 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. down our t. parker county texas. meanwhile the u.k.

government would like to see greater energy of exploitation in the countryside report has laid the groundwork to open up vast areas of britain to exploration including shale gas drilling now the light blue on this map shows how much land has been earmarked for that the u.k.'s energy minister has hailed the report as the next step in unlocking britain's fracking potential friends of the earth helen rimmer believes it's time to stop before it's too late we've only had a handful of explorer truly drilling sites across the u.k. but already we've seen huge local opposition whether it's been in the south or just a little over 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 so 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. that co-founder of the pirate bay website is being treated almost like public enemy number one that's according to his lawyer who says

he's in solitary confinement with little contact with fellow inmate starts after he was charged with hacking into a danish government database. but if you want to know how much feel about mr. jealous. ten talks about the n.s.a. surveillance program and explained why moscow is pouring cash into ukraine and the annual marathon q. and a session with the media after a short break. the . technology innovation. developments around russia. the future of harvard. this is a media lead us so we leave that maybe. by the same motion secure. your party

there's a bill. for shoes that no one is asking with to get that you deserve answers from. politics. are. discussing the crisis in ukraine joking about the n.s.a. surveillance program and talking about his stance towards a green peace activists these are just some of the issues president putin covered during his annual marathon q. and a session this week are to see corpus going off was there and brings us the

details they've never met personally but is revolutions truly 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. it was billed as a blip 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 country 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 governing 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 scott's addition 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 so. good suing someone's order to do work on developing. 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 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 only journalists who were arrested over four hours you go to school of moscow. well bad news for beefcake says american scientists develop muscles for robots they're

a thousand times stronger than their human equivalents but if you're concerned about a rise of the machines head to our website for the full story. china's planning to construct a new aircraft carrier because of washington's a growing military presence in asia you can get the latest on what's behind growing tensions in the pacific at r.t. dot com. he's not a killer or a terrorist but he's being held in conditions as bad as if you were online activists and alleged hacker got treats for tom vargas one of the founders of the file sharing website the pirate bay he's been accused by denmark of stealing millions of personal id numbers and it's not the first time one of the pirate creators finds themselves in court and the website first came under fire back in two thousand and six when i got on the wrong side of hollywood it was taken down for several days when swedish police raided ted quarters several years later its founders were charged and eventually sentenced to a year in prison for encouraging copyright violations earlier this week our two

spoke to start home lawyer told us her client is treated much worse than is warranted by the charges against him. it's gotten 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 any worse than that so now he's and different facility and he's been allowed to. be with another inmate to talk to another inmate two hours per week but it's still not good yes allowed to go outside as well one hour every day. and during that hour. you know. you need to talk to other inmates he's certainly not giving given the conditions that other in the same case would be given leaves very cautious about i don't really want anything to go wrong because it's a very sensitive sensitive case in denmark time for

a brief look at some other news making headlines around the world now. oh. in istanbul turkey police have fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse people venting their anger over a government corruption scandal at least twenty four people close to prime minister adelanto were arrested on suspicion of investment money laundering and bribery the turkish leader has dismissed the case as a conspiracy to discredit him and his government. in the capital of central african republic thousands of muslims have marched against peacekeeping operations in the country according to locals the rally was triggered after three gunmen were killed in clashes with french troops it was the first demonstration since african union and french troops arrived to end the sectarian bloodshed in the country. eastern canada has been hit by a major ice storm leaving more than four hundred thousand people without power and

threatening to leave them in the dark over christmas hundreds of flights were canceled while roads have been blocked by fallen trees no casualties have been reported but some are comparing the storm with the january one thousand nine hundred eight disaster that left dozens dead. a suicide car bombing at an army checkpoint in eastern libya has left at least thirteen people dead and scores more injured a truck carrying explosives drove up to the checkpoint and was that needed when soldiers approached the to check the vehicle government troops in the east of the country regularly come under attack from armed militias they did their duty and repave a sickness service men with the royal air force were tasked with carrying out nuclear tests and southern australia at the height of the cold war and as artists are selling are reports calls for the u.k. government to compensate them are growing louder jeff lydiard was seventeen when he joined the royal air force and was eventually posted to mari lingered in south

australia nuclear tests were carried out there in the fifty's with some publicity but minor trials reportedly continued in secrecy until the my nine hundred sixty s. run. we knew every or for every fortnight flew in with a nuclear flask in which we are loaded onto a lorry and it was taken away and. we didn't know what we were doing with it when he turned fifty illnesses he believes were caused by his exposure to radiation that beryl linger started manifesting i started off with tb then started having degeneration of my spawn my daughter has got a prank reality condition which can only be of traced back to genetic source so i have the question in my mind. was it many was it because i was there and many others are asking the same questions even before world war two radiation

was a hazard. measuring it in a meaningful way very very difficult indeed nevertheless there is undoubtedly i think contrition among the british authorities not to own up to any responsibility these people were experimented on quite honestly i was disgraceful how those soldiers were created and they've long been asking the government for recognition and compensation their service is part of history and more lies a future generations will not forget but for those who would actually serve the forgetting is not an option especially for those who feel better decision they made decades ago may have cast a shadow on very large eyes and those of their loved ones if you look out of the country's nuclear countries are treated that veterans and compensate them and recognise them and we are standing right at the bottom of the table that is wrong

france the united states and even the tiny aisle of men have already done so with the ministry of defense maintains that while there is a quote huge debt of gratitude owed to the veterans the government rejects any link between veterans' health problems and their military service citing a two thousand and ten health needs audit overall the range and severity of problems reported was typical of older people in the u.k. in general and a veteran who believes they have suffered ill health service has the right to apply for a no fault compensation jeff knows the clock is ticking and while he's hopeful he has no illusions about how difficult the fight will be at the very least what he wants is this and so he found. cost money money to say thank you we're like goes. we don't exist does or sylvia r.t. london. up next on our team international the terrible documentary on the hazardous legacy of computers that are thrown out with the trash.

summer break a time when all students rejoice and most importantly relax but in russia summer break for male students could change dramatically and involve lots of guns currently male russian citizens have to put a year into the armed forces but the ministry of defense thinks that they can make things easier by having students spend their summer breaks in the military this training would tie in with their future professions such as engineering students being put into military engineering position now the question is does your summer break belong to you or no other words does the government have the right to tell you what to do and make you serve in the army even if just for three summers during your college years i think the answer this really depends on your culture in places which haven't been invaded countless times or have a strong individual ism streak any form of conscription sounds barbaric and

oppressive but if you come from a country that is less individualistic and has been attacked invaded by pretty much every country that possibly could like russia then having a draft makes more sense i think this program could work and if i was in college i would be pumped to spend my summer vacation with some heavy artillery but this is definitely not a universal idea for all countries i don't think liberals are libertarians in america would take too kindly to it and rightly so but that's just my opinion. requires me to do oh i'm sure. we have more. children and grandchildren. will be. able to realize three

potentiality that we would like our own society to one able to develop we shall have to find ways of training on how to enjoy the leisure that we presumably i'm going to have to agree to believe that we're going to have in such a way that instead of being frustrating and making life potential. will enable us to engage. a creator. now if you're if you're going to play the same old game and it doesn't really matter there's a lot of people out there they almost refuse to upgrade but if you want to play all brand new games coming out. just to keep up i mean it's it's it's not. it's not anything you have to do. it's more just you know it's trying to keep up with the joneses a lot of times you know friend gets you know a new video farther

a bigger mama there's something inside hey that's cool i want that. thing to remember when you're you know it's just make sure you get everything. just never fails there's always somebody gets for god. a user might work to look up parts that we can't find or look like you use google map to find addresses of the weight of it stress you have a rough day on the road to get home or whatever or i come home blow something up in a videogame and nothing gets harmed and i feel a little better. yeah

we turn the computer on and you select the game you want to play when you kill the killer the game allows you to go to the next level you kill the killer again you go to the next level and so on. them. we always try to retain the fighting techniques in the video games later on a football field we imitate the technique among ourselves. just know lower this way . and i move around this way and when there's an attempt to throw a punch at me i step aside throw a punch like this kick him when he falls to the ground i'll stay.