the remaining two jailed pussy riot members will free as part of russia's presidential amnesty and pledge to fight for the human rights of complex. media spotlight pledging to fight for the release of his associates examine their cases and why they are still. also. designed and all of the world's most famous assault weapon. the age of ninety four . in the series of reports about the events that twenty thirteen today with. iraq in the post you will be remembered as one of fear and bloodshed.

from a studio here in moscow which just turned nine pm this is a national all three members of the russian punk band pussy riot are now free the two remaining women serving time for carrying out a protest stunt to moscow's main cathedral were let go today is part of president putin's prison amnesty. has been following the story. obviously they are very happy to be out of prison but they have expressed their desire to continue along the lines of working in what concerns he was rise in the country. i was very well treated many women asked for my advice and support and human rights and legal issues and it's my purpose now to protect the convicts who spoke to human rights activists and as much as we can within the letter of the law protect their rights. there's not going to go as well said that she intends to keep

a close watch on those who have remained in the penal colony where she was but first and foremost both with the right members intended to meet together we know that they have spoken on the phone already in the desert that according to were given a two year prison sentence following this so-called punk prayer in the country's main church one of them have literally months left over in their. mystic i mean from president putin initially. said that she didn't wish to take a part of this amnesty and leave the prison but but said she said that unfortunately those are her words she didn't have a choice so now both members are free and intending to take it upon themselves to go through with human rights situations in the country where the person celebrating his freedom as we call khodorkovsky the former russian tycoon emerge from prison straight into the limelight to insist he won't return to other politics or business

but he says he will pay back debts owed to those still behind bars and will fight for his imprisoned calm right. now of the people. to defend free after ten years but some of these comments after his release raised. some of my comrades remain in jail they are my fellow sufferers for example my friend platon lebedev alexei patrician 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 hodder called ski's oil company you cos he's currently serving a life sentence for five counts of murder in two thousand and seven

a court convicted in of ordering the shooting of a law to me a pet you call the mayor of a town in siberia bet you call four hundred clashed with you can also over his insistence that the oil giant pay taxes due to his tone the court found no link between the murders and the head of you cos however you call this widow believes this was a crime that went to the top. there was no investigation about her that portuguese involvement in my husband's death he wasn't even interrogated both myself and other people who are analyzing this have plenty of facts proving that he did of course he was directly involved in the killing of my husband. while on trial for the murder of pair of legs going was already serving twenty years in prison for the attempted murder of former holocaust the advisor all good cause dinner after quitting her post with you cos she went on to work is the head of p.r. for the mayor of moscow it was then that a bomb was placed in her moscow apartment fortunately it detonated while no one was

home because the inner sees the holocaust these comments about political prisoners as self-serving. how to craft a hostage of his own past he can't act differently now if he ever recognizes what his security forces were doing he will automatically become responsible i think now he fears that an exhibit you can may start talking and what the third ucas case could potentially be is a further investigation into those murders and assaults which the company security forces carried out how to craft he has no other choice he will continue to insist people from the security department are political prisoners and he will pretend to be pushing for release the ideal ation being heaped upon miss the holocaust years left some of those watching feeling that only half the story is being told the totally unknown in the west. a big economic or criminal

have stolen a lot of money from the russian people and from the russian state that every kind of businessman in the best who had done the same waterfall saw that in prison this story is i'm told in the west despite his insistence that he was a political prisoner many in russia believe broke the law and that was why he was said to jail peter all other r.t. belin. khodorkovsky complaints that his case was politically motivated was rejected by the european court of human rights it found no evidence that the political activities of those involved were relevant as many were neither opposition leaders or public officials that ruled the charges were not related to political life and had a healthy core professor mark almond who's a historian from oxford university i spoke to him earlier he thinks that's not enough to change the perception of color in the west. but fortunately the western

human rights groups seem to have rather constructs themselves. interest of all legal civil rights all the gods whether it's russia new crime and so on here or in prison. for instance the corporate. or intimidated. he is living in the west now and has no serious discussion about what happened to billions of dollars worth of assets which would want it out. into western parents and western real estate. he gave at his press conference in berlin yesterday returning to russia was the implication possible suits for coverage of the assets that still are effectively his hands in the arms of his cronies in the us. well for more of his first public comments after his release and to get opinion and analysis on his case and surprise party at a web site r.t.

dot com. we called kalashnikov the designer of the world's most used assault rifle the a k forty seven has died aged ninety four he's sixty year old invention has become a cultural icon and kalashnikov was acknowledged for services to his country receiving countless awards including the acclaimed let in prize well it is you get a position of joins me now live this man clearly made a mark on history and you met him tell us about him. spent the last month or so at an intensive care unit doctors said that he was in a stable but critical condition as he was recovering after surgery had undergone earlier although they didn't specify exactly which surgery but we do know that just this last summer. was treated in moscow where doctors fix them up with a cardio pacemaker perhaps one of the reasons behind it. death could have been his

heart although we don't know yet that still to be a determined yes i did have the privilege of meeting him of personally when he was made a hero of russia at the kremlin by the president around four years ago i want he was ninety years old at the time and despite clearly having difficulties with his hearing his hands were shaking quite a lot he still made a firm impression of someone with a very sharp mind quite in gauged in his work work and play quite affectionate about his homeland and i asked him whether he'd ever expected that his invention that a k forty seven would do whatever he could be so big so widespread and actually he told me that it was a great pity to him knowing that a k forty seven is often used by terrorists gangs and so on since he said his was only purpose of making it was just to defend his homeland and not to attack anybody else this is definitely one of the more

small store iconic personally people in russia and soviet union a kind of russians. off the last century and he's definitely made an impact on the wall done to the heritage that he's leaving us with definitely can't be underestimated. the man behind a weapon that many say changed the face of combat produced in over a dozen states and officially used by fifty armies it's the most popular and reliable small arm in the world no competition a key forty seven short for a. model nine hundred forty seven the year it was designed but the inspiration came a few years earlier during the war against nazi germany. this is one twenty one year old a red army tank commander mikhail kalashnikov was wounded in battle and was recovering in hospital dreaming of the. signing

a weapon that would help throw all the invaders out and so he did his automatic rifle combines the best features of machine and submachine guns killing power lightweight derby and simplicity often during the vietnam war american soldiers took a case from dead vietnamese troops preferring kalashnikovs to their own sophisticated but unreliable and sixteen's when the u.s.s.r. collapsed the a.k. began to be sold on the cheap throughout latin america the middle east and africa where they were used by fighters in ethnic conflict and in some countries by drug gangs and terrorists on al qaeda footage some of the london was often seen with a kalashnikov rifle nowadays the gun is believed to be responsible for a quarter of a million deaths every year this always upsets me kalashnikov called for tougher un measures to halt the illicit distribution of small arms. do you or your weapons should either be in the hands of those people who defend their country that is to

defend not to attack i designed a rifle not for international conflicts but to protect the borders of my homeland of designs different models of the gun but what unites them all is their simplicity and reliability. the assault rifle even became a cultural icon is the pic that on the flag and coat of arms of several countries and organizations mikhail kalashnikov had many honors including the highest state award the golden star of the hero of russia. who despite such astonishing fame and respect unbelievably he didn't make a penny from the sale of his weapons the only way he could profit from his invention was by allowing to use his name to promote various brands watches n p three players and even vodka but without a doubt his legacy is the a k forty seven its production continues to this day and the guns reputation as the world's top infantry weapon remains unchallenged you've got this going off party. binyamin netanyahu has spoken out against israel's

closest ally following revelations the u.s. has been spying on the country's former leaders the prime minister's ordered an investigation and says the close ties between israel and the united states means there are things that must not be done and will not be accepted icicle level on may former israeli ambassador to egypt and the u.n. agrees that only enemies should be monitored not long term allies. when you have an enemy any kind of enemy country is and. to understand to reach to and to to have information concerning what what is his agenda what his intentions what he is prepared to deal in order to protect yourself and sometimes also use this information we do not think states we have for over a few years longears even that we have very good cooperation on the field of intelligence i mean by that that you know we share with the americans the intelligence that we have and they say that we share they share also with us the

information that they receive so we don't see any reason why to do this to our leaders and in that country. meanwhile washington marks the one hundredth birthday of the federal reserve coming up we look back at a century of scandals and financial scandals in the world's most indebted country plus. people should feel free to go out and come back safely but where is that i can leave but there's no guarantee i'll come back alive our correspondent had to iraq to find out what it feels like to live in a country where thousands die from terrorist attacks almost on a daily basis that's a much more for you right after the break. we'll talk about language as well but i will only react to situations i have read the

reports from like the players and no i will leave them to the state department to comment on your matter. to secure yeah because i'm going to talk you know gonna. make you know more of. what you need a direct question the proof for a change when you. be ready for. freedom of speech. and the freedom to. dramas the. stories others houston. thinks is changing. the old picture. from a little. joke to. me.

today we're starting on look back at the events that shaped twenty thirteen. for the people of iraq this year was the deadliest since two thousand and eight marred by a deepening sectarian divide a more innocent lives being lost as a result the very latest news from iraq is that a series of attacks in a baghdad suburb killed at least four police officers and four soldiers more than one thousand people have fallen victim to violence this year alone and it's estimated around one hundred twenty thousand lives have been lost in the decade since the u.s. invasion started well while seeking to undermine the shia government some insurgents have attacked civilian targets in different parts of the country bringing the total number of suicide bombings to four thousand on the northern city

of kirkuk is often caught in the cross-fire line close to al qaeda strongholds and been claimed by both the iraqi government and the autonomous kurdish authorities but he's due to come in and find out how people there cope with the daily violence . right it is. 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 your kook. this oil rich city has been described as a 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 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 when habit. road blocks and concrete barriers define the new iraq checkpoints like this one are a dominant feature of life and they are everywhere aside from the household but also frequent target of attacks for us and is 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 black b.m.w. 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 continue to go about their business as normal vendors and busy families did their shopping beneath the surface there are scars today kirkuk continues to be an incredibly

dangerous place talking about it after the city without the help of a military escort residents here say that attacks that happened at any time in 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. you know. 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 got used to it i do small things to feel safer like driving 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 mood who says that a decade of war has ruined iraq he happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time a bomb blast went off injuring his leg for him daily life has become a painful struggle. is what benefit did the war 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 it's not about the sectarian differences unfortunately it's book but. 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. r.t. iraq. investigative group iraq body count has been collecting data on casualties in the embattled country for years now nearly how much the who is a leading researcher for the organization should have fought somewhat the country's gone through this year. what most people don't understand is that the violence in

iraq is daily at the best of times in iraq three to four hundred civilians have lost their lives in the month that was of this climate and that is completely unacceptable iraq has become so fragmented and has suffered such a serious internal collapse with so many interests being. fought on is grounds internal interests of the shias the sunni is the kurds the religious fundamentalists the terrorists the insurgents also externally u.s. interests raney and interests you came trysts but this is a terrible legacy and a state that was already weak in two thousand and three has now completely collapsed ten years later how to make the situation better at the moment i cannot see a way and i don't think those parties who are behind the violence would let it get worse there are far too many competing interests there is too much struggle for

power on so many sides that i cannot see it being allowed to get better lottie has created a special online project a website which brings together detailed reports on the dar scale of the violence in iraq you can see that online at r.t. dot com for more of the big events of the year our series why it twenty thirty matters will be running all this week here on r.t. . in syria a week of air raids on the northern city of aleppo has allegedly left almost five hundred people dead although the exact figures coming from the anti government group local coordination committees of syria could not be independently verified activists say government forces showered the city with barrel bombs are they are oil barrels patmos shrapnel nails and exposed follows the alleged massacre of dozens of civilians by islamist rebels in the damascus suburbs hadra it's being cleansed by government troops. founded to prevent boom and

bust economics the u.s. federal reserve is marking a sentry since its creation its face many challenges from double digit inflation to near depression but has it served its purpose well arty's miniport has been asking that question. 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 your independent agency basically. the other agency of government which can overrule the 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 because 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 been it's brought it onto its own balance sheets and so it's playing this huge support

function and he calling me andrew sar who spearheaded the first quarter of q.e. has apologized to americans for what he calls a backdoor bailout for the banks. 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 resist 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 merino. new york. boden used

to move from just over half an hour from the mean time it is we can support for you on our to international.

wealthy british style. market why not. why not what's really happening to the global economy with my stronger no holds barred look at the global financial headlines. guys report on r g. hello welcome to the all team sport show i'm kate partridge and all the bringing you twenty six action packed minutes of the latest sport from russia and around the world and here's just

a taste of it. cup upset host russia win just one of their three matches in sochi as the czech republic play in the china one cup and finland the overall euro tour with six weeks to go until the winter olympics. plus a lot of the ring the roy jones jr beat is in a better match to fight a unanimous decision to win the w.b. you cruiserweight title here in moscow. and all in saying we look at why russia all the world's best in synchronized swimming is champions past and present close another dominant season with a spectacular end of year show. but let's start with ice hockey as host russia lost two of their three matches at the china one cup in sochi to finish third overall from four in the euro to the last tournament before the winter olympics at the black sea resort the red machine started well at the bolshoi i started coming back from a goal down to beat sweden three two on thursday time bondo open for breakthrough

not only in the first period russia where level within four minutes through maxi should be enough one one it remained until the third quarter to date. netted his and russia second but sweden quickly bounced back to make it two to go with two minutes and eleven seconds left the youngest player at the tournament nicholai played cork and grabbed the winner three to eight. but russia then lost to finland three two before also getting down to eventual champion china one cup winners the czech republic to one it was the hurry so opened early in the final period courtesy of an alexander a duel of penalty shots but within four minutes no say and usually about the maid is a nightmare for russia and their fans to warm the final score one victory from three for the host at the last event and at their home olympics venue just over six weeks

to go until the winter games. so a not the best preparation for russia ahead of the olympics but the team did get a boost after the charges of domestic violence were dropped against their first choice goaltender simeon belhomme of the colorado avalanche star was facing up to two years in jail after his model girlfriend claimed he attacked her last month but prosecutors said they had no proof beyond a reasonable doubt and the case was dismissed. while staying with ice hockey and russia's judea team are preparing for their opening game of the world championship against norway in sweden on thursday and before they headed off richard vanpool feet went to see the squad as they looked to improve on last year's bronze. when millions across the globe the rocks the western christmas tree the twenty sixth of december easily seen the start of our new. championships held in this region city of my.