breaking news an r.t. pussy riot member maria law leaves prison following a presidential amnesty while the punk bands and. is expected to walk free. while the u.a.e. free speech steps into the media spotlight he pledges to fight for the release of his associates we take a look at their cases and why they are still behind bars. the u.s. federal reserve marks one hundred years since its foundation conceived as a tool to stabilize the economy critics say there's little to celebrate about its century of money printing. and as we begin a look back at the big stories of twenty thirteen for iraq that becomes the deadliest in the past five years with david nine thousand killed in bloody sectarian strife.

are you watching r t international with me andrey farmer. pussy riot band member maria law has walked free from jail her lawyer says another member of the band. is expected to be released soon to been serving time following a stunt in moscow's main cathedral so let's get the details now from art. juggling did provoke a lot of controversy around the world but it appears they are now free yes we do know at this point that money i looking at is certainly free she's actually currently meeting with human rights activists and then she is supposed to be on her way back to moscow. to give an interview she gave a phone interview to one of the. t.v.

channels and in that interview she said that she plans to connect her future activities there with human rights activism and that if she had a chance or an opportunity not to finish up her jail prison sentence early she wouldn't have done it now when it comes to the second member. we at this point know that she hasn't been released yet i don't know if we can get live pictures from the penal colony were she is at the moment but it was her husband said that while he's actually right there also waiting for his wife's releases he said that he spoke to the ideas that i just saw on sunday she informed him of her impending release and he also said that they have absolutely no plans as of now to leave the country so we're just waiting for the second member. band member to be released from prison and of course once that happens we will

update you as soon as possible ok thanks for. keeping us up to date i mean more pardoned former tycoon mikhail khodorkovsky says he won't engage yourself in politics all business but will dedicate himself to helping his imprisoned comrades had his first press conference following his release he said he needs to pay back its debts to those still behind bars peter all of looked into one of the cases a portico of species associates. 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 uco saga one that's not often heard. free after ten years is that some of these comments after his release of raised eyebrows me up with. some of my comrades remain in jail they are my fellow sufferers for

example my friend platon lebedev alexei protrusion 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 society 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 a law to me a bet you call of the mayor of a town in siberia and his widow believes this was a crime that went to the top. their core skills 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 how that cost 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. of course 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 peter all of a r.t. berlin while responding to her call ski's complained his case was politically motivated the european court of human rights ruled it actually had nothing to do with the political activities of the applicants who were not opposition leaders or public officials it also stressed that the charges were not related to political life and had a healthy call you can also say is the head of the political magazine compact and he believes tax evasion and embezzle ment is the part of the story which is not receiving enough attention. totally unknown in the west the.

big economic oh criminal. have her stolen a lot of money from the russian people and from the russian state that he is still a lot of oil not physically a by the by means of fiscal many police. every kind of businessman in the west who had done the same waterfall saw that in prison this story is i'm told in the west. and there are kind of pressure on him from big factions of the oil industry to all mingle into russian politics to go back into the game or it is unclear what will happen. and to learn more about horticulture comments to the press after his release and to get opinions on his case and surprise pardon do you had to our web

pages r.t. dot com. as twenty thirteen rapidly draws to a close all this week we're looking back at the most significant events of the year . for the people of iraq this year has become the deadliest since two thousand and eight marred by deepening sectarian divide and more innocent lives being lost as a result more than nine thousand people have been killed this year sectarian violence has claimed up to one hundred twenty seven thousand lives in the decade since the u.s. invasion while seeking to undermine the shia government sunni insurgents have attacked civilian targets in different parts of the country bringing the total number of suicide bombings to four thousand the northern city of cookbook is often caught in the crossfire lying close to al qaeda strongholds and being claimed by

both the iraqi government and the autonomous kurdistan artie's who seek our final found out how people there cope with the daily by. the iraq war is supposed to be over but these pictures tell a different story chaos and confusion the aftermath of yet another deadly blast here in kirkuk. this oil rich city has been described as iraq's fault line a symbol for the country's most intractable woes escalating violence the conflict among ethnic and religious groups and the fight over iraq's resources. getting there was our first challenge a group of kurdish soldiers had agreed to take a sin both baghdad and the kurds lay claim to care coop and are sparring over control aside from the danger those entering from the kurdish side need special permission to get past the iraqi checkpoints we inhabit. roadblocks and concrete

barriers to find the new iraq checkpoints like this one are a dominant feature of life and they are everywhere aside from the house they're also frequent target of attacks for us it was a blatant visual reminder of a country still very much at war. inside your kook we drive quickly to avoid danger we're told to look out for a black b.m.w. is apparently they've become a favorite for iraq's insurgents who didn't pick the best day to come to roadside bombs exploded here earlier that morning around the same time that baghdad was rocked by a series of deadly blasts but it has been a flashpoint for years now and in the city center it's clear that life doesn't stop just because of the threats we were expecting empty streets but people continued to go about their business as normal vendors seemed busy families did their shopping the beneath the surface there are scars today kirkuk continues to be an incredibly dangerous place to think about it the city without the help of

a military escort residents here say that attacks have happened at any time and any place in fact it's not really safe to stay here for too long so let's get inside. we need car want to his family there kurds who say they're happy that saddam is gone but their fear of political repression has been replaced by fear of the unknown. we don't know who the enemy is or when the next bomb will go off but it's a daily for years we've gotten used to it i do small things to feel safer like driving with all the car windows down that way if there's a blast at least the glass won't hurt us. such precautions didn't help sixty year old mahmoud who says that a decade of war has ruined iraq he happened to be in the wrong place at the long time when a bomb blast went off injuring his leg for him daily life has become a painful struggle to survive. like this what benefit did the your bring democracy only explosions shootings and kidnappings people should feel free to go out and

come back safely where is that i can leave but there's no guarantee i'll come back alive but you. know it's not about the sectarian differences unfortunately it's book the black the oil and behind this oil is the hidden interests of politicians pawns in a political game playing with their livelihoods and lives for conflicts not of their own making the iraqis we met didn't hate their neighbors or care about who controls the oil just like fall they simply want the peace of mind of knowing they can go out and return to their loved ones alive to seek out r.t. iraq. well the us led invasion of iraq in two thousand and three marked a clear start to what would be a very bloody period in the country's history in this daily carnage shows no sign of stopping as the president of the arab roy's association told us. you know it's

much worse than a two hour spree two thousand and three because there is no security there is no infrastructure the there is a total failure of the infrastructure of the society the health education the teachers and there have been either assassinated or emigrated you have a situation where four million refugees outside the country almost two million displaced in the country within the country and the killing is continuing on a daily basis that it is unprecedented so this situation is much worse now. made by both the government of iraq and the western powers who created the situation and they still want to say it was a success but it wasn't. and we have created a special online project on our website which does bring together detailed reports on the diet scale of the violence in iraq to take a look at that if you can and for more of the big events of the year our series why

twenty thirteen matters will be running all this week here on r.t. . these are very close to being counted salaheddin braving the elements in order to stand up to us oil giants chevron. this comes after a mass hunger strike that returned the world's attention to the place that sometimes up to the gulag of our times. is an undeclared global battlefield in which again and just one of the front lines . now that is it. still to come this hour fed up with the world's most indebted country marking the hundredth birthday of the federal reserve we look back at

a century of scandals and find out who gains from the months the financial bubble they created this story is coming up. but all told about language of what i will only react to situations i have read the reports of. the pollution and no i will leave that to the state department to comment on your latter point to save mr kerry a car is on a dog you know is going to. do no more weasel work. when you need a direct question be prepared for a change when you plunge be ready for a. printout of speech and a little bit on the freedom to crush. dramas

that can't be ignored. stories others use the notes. so this is changing the world right now. so picture. from around the globe. hello again welcome back now today the u.s. federal reserve has one hundred candles to blow act on its birthday cake and to prevent boom and bust economics in its first century it faced many challenges from double digit inflation ten a depression so on its anniversary it seems the right time to ask how is the fed actually doing artie's miniport looks for the us. secretive powerful

wealthy and now it's got a birthday america's central bank wields enormous and almost unchecked power over the world's largest economy for sure. under the change and basically that. is the. other agency of government which can overrule actions that we take the country has seen as many as eighteen recessions since the fed was created leading many to argue it has singularly failed to end the boom and bust economics that it was designed to prevent it's been abject failure it's been a dismal failure in promoting prosperity. sustainable prolonged prosperity and raising the living standards of americans. the past thirty years have produced the biggest growth of income inequality wages for the low and middle class have remained stagnant while the fed has allowed banks to double in size

accounting for forty percent of the u.s. economy the fed has twelve regional banks and this one in new york is not only the largest it's also the closest to wall street as salaries profits and bonuses have all grown over the past century one thing has shrunk the value of the u.s. dollar has declined a reported ninety five percent since i'm there across central bank was created following the two thousand and eight financial crisis millions of jobs in homes were lost to wall street went on to make a record breaking profits courtesy of the feds quantitative easing program done is it's basically taking a lot of the credit that was on wall street's balance sheets and it's on to its own balance sheets and so it's playing this huge support function in the economy andrew star who spearheaded the first quarter of q.e. has apologized to americans for what he calls a backdoor bailout for the bank. most americans can't really get credit after the

financial crisis still to this day even though wall street's been stabilized and so we have this long term decline in the economic prospects of the average american and yet a lot of our leadership both in washington and within the fed specifically are really focused on trying to put humpty dumpty back together again in terms of wall street and resists resuscitate a system that i think is a working less and less for for the person on the street for one hundred years america's currency and economy has been run by unelected and virtually unaccountable central planners and while the fed has helped the rich get richer the gap between the top one percent and the rest. is the largest it's been since the great depression. r.t. . we mourn every day americans have little chance to influence the federal reserve despite it's a known. as professor of political economy jack krisna says the way the fed is

designed will hardly ever make it act in the interests of the people. even today it's very much determined by the big banks themselves if you can get a nomination and become the director of the new york fed without the ok of the big banks themselves and in fact people aren't aware that the banks actually pay for the operating expenses they did day of the federal reserve itself so it's always relatives attention for the bankers and you know it's really a bit of a misrepresentation to say that the fed is going to stimulate the economy by pumping money into the economy what's happened is that money ends up in the hands of the investors and speculators but because that money is not getting into the real economy mom and pop business you know stimulating real investment united states we don't see any real recovery in the real economy for real folks here in the united states and there are more stories for you just to click away including

a great respect for jim many that's what edward snowden says is driving him to help and investigate n.s.a. spying activities on its soil but with one tiny condition to find out what had to watch he don't come plus nature's extravagant gifts to canadians who were all mice left to celebrate christmas in the dark that south the heavy snow storms batted beast of the country dog on to our web site for all the pictures of this pretty festive disaster. right see. first street. and i would think that you're. on a recorder's. not

supposed to be the season of goodwill isn't it but a local authority in the u.k. is not. getting into the spirit in fact is ati's sarah ferguson finding it there are claims it is acting like the grinch with the festive season but the tenants in one part of london in the talks mean not so much about his coming down your chimney but about what's coming through your letter box how dismissal for them council had sent this message out to seventeen thousand homes warning people to pay their rent and asking them not to indulge now the council have defended their actions saying that there's more than forty six percent of the tenants in rent to raise and that it's a time of year when people will be spending less and this is a straightforward message it's part of a hard hitting campaign but with the cost of living crisis in the headlines in britain at the moment and others have branded this message disgusting we've been talking to some of the people who live in this part of london to find out what they

think i think. the reaction. from the levy go to. people are caught between a rock and push you know they want to enjoy christmas and play year and. people should obviously be paying their rent it's pretty explicit he says if you're having trouble. presumably this is where you could cause you know i think that's actually quite a good miss to church you know you know it's christmas to feel you know charlie i mean hey your friends really maybe boxing day. like clever with your money because you're going to have a bit of fun for like a day or two and then you're just going to have a whole year just so hard. no i don't think so i think they should get rid of those princes so. the london. let's have a look at some other news tonight in egypt three prominent secular activists from

the twenty eleven uprising have been convicted of holding an unauthorized rally and attacking police the move was the first use. of a controversial law restricting demonstrations or free activist received three year jail term and were fined or around seven thousand dollars meanwhile the islamist coalition's announced it will boycott january's referendum on the constitution amended by the interim government which toppled president morsi. in the capital of the central african republic fashions 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 the african union and french troops arrived to end the sectarian bloodshed and a crowd of around sixteen thousand to the streets of stockholm to demonstrate against racism the police presence was heavy is a previous rally ended in violence a week ago when a group of far right activists attacked protesters twenty eight people were arrested and two were taken to hospital following the assault sweden has seen

a rise in the far right triggered by a growing influx of migrants a recent poll gave the anti immigration sweden democrats party around ten percent support ahead of next year's general election. and the bomb which israel has accused palestinians of planting exploded on a bus near tel aviv police say no one was hurt after they evacuated passengers from the vehicle before the blast israeli forces set up roadblocks to that entrances to be occupied west bank and search cars for suspects violence in the west bank has increased in recent months and at least nineteen palestinians and four israelis have been killed since the peace talks got underway after a three year break. up next the terror blight film on the hazardous legacy of computers that were thrown out with the rubbish.

he wasn't like the easiest person to negotiate i mean many people who've met him or even those who knew him. all say that he wasn't completely sane what was he like when you were talking. with him about the lives of these people very he was very. how can i say maybe drugs or medicines. but he was maybe it wasn't the right place at the right.

length. we. will be able. to. find ways. to enjoy.

and really we're going to have such a way to be frustrating and making a life professional. who are unable or doing. 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 great but if you want to play all brand new games coming out we have to create 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 trying to keep up with the joneses a lot of the times you know friend gets you know new video farther a bigger mama bear or something so i hate at school i want that.

thing to remember when your fashion is just make sure you get everything. just never fails there's always somebody gets forgot. to use them at work to look up parts of a gift finder look like use google map to find addresses a way to visit stress have a rough day on the roads get home or whatever or work and come home blow something up at a video game and nothing gets harmed and i feel a little better. if

we turn the computer on a new 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. and then the. we always try to retain the fighting techniques in the video games later on a football field we imitate the technique among ourselves. let's just move over this way. and i move around this way and when there's an attempt to throw a punch at me i step aside through a punch like this kick him when he falls to the ground i'll step on him. this place is very small if it was affordable feel he'll make you laugh your head off. i was encounter monteux at the time selling pure water there was this friend of mine

called anna ho he was already breaking these computers apart and i asked him to show me how to collect these metals from the computers when i started with them i usually would collect the wrong metals and show them to my friends who advised that what i had collected were the wrong ones they showed me how to hit the metal against a stone a unique stone from the metal will indicate the correct metal or not. lol where you've been six years yes it's worse so i don't like it i don't want my son to go out there but sometimes the situation here is so hopeless there is no money to send him off to school so on saturday he'll ask me to go out there to the dump say to look for some money so he can go to school on monday where making no sales these days at the market people are not buying. on. what is the purpose of your work why are you working here.