freedom of speech and now the freedom to cross. the remaining two jailed pussy riot members walked free as part of russia's presidential amnesty and pledged to fight for the human rights of convicts. on the . steps into the media spotlight pledging to fight for the release of his associates examine their cases and why they are still behind bars. also the inventor of the iconic a k forty seven assault rifle we call kalashnikov dies at the age of ninety four. the first in a series of reports about the events that march twenty first team to day we look at lucy kavanagh trip to rural iraq for the past year will be remembered as one of daily fear and bloodshed.

for most of us and here in moscow was just ten ten pm this is international all three members of the notorious russian punk band pussy riot are now free the two remaining women serving time for carrying out a protest on to moscow's main cathedral were let go today as part of president putin's prison amnesty. has been following the story. obviously 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 and. 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 convents who spoke to human rights activists and as much as we can within the letter of the law protect their rights. you know 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 with the right members intended to meet together we know that they have. vulcan on the phone already. does 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 sentences but were released following an amnesty coming from president putin initially. said that she didn't wish to take a part of this amnesty and leave prison but but said this she said that unfortunately those are her words and 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 and another person celebrating his freedom as mikhail khodorkovsky the former russian tycoon emerged from prison straight into the night to insist he won't return to the politics of all business but he says he will pay back debts owed to those still behind bars and

will fight for his imprisoned comrades. all of it looks at one of the people. to defend after ten years in jail. is now decided to do new found freedom and some of his plans caused a few raised eyebrows. some of my comrades remain in jail they are my fellow sufferers for example my friend platon lebedev. 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 picture good was the head of security for his daughter oil company you course he's currently serving a life sentence for five counts of murder. in two thousand and seven

a court convicted her children of ordering the shooting of blood in me a pet you call of the mayor of a town in siberia better call for heard clashed with you cos over his insistence that the oil giant paid taxes due to his tone the court found no link between the murders and the head of u. cos however because widow believes this was a crime that went to the top. there was no investigation about her that 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 of course he was directly involved in the killing of my husband while on trial for the murder of pair of legs you put your gun 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 as 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 dinner 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. may start talking and what the third you can scase 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 are being heaped upon this the holocaust years left some of those watching feeling that only half the story is being told. totally unknown in the west. is a big economic criminal. for 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 waterfalls or ended in prison by this story is told in the west despite his insistence that he was a political prisoner many in russia believe what it called ski broke the law and that was why he was said to jail peter all over r.t. berlin or khodorkovsky complained these case was politically motivated it was rejected by the european court of human rights in far no evidence of the political activities of those involved were relevant as many were not the opposition leaders or public officials it ruled the charges were not related to political life and had a healthy core but professor mark oldman who's a historian from oxford university thinks that's not enough to change the perception of color koskie in the west. but fortunately the western human rights

groups seem to have rather constructs themselves. the interest of only dogs for the rights of all the gods whether it's rush or commission can ukraine and so on here what about imprisoned rich people but not about for instance the corporate. or intimidated article skiis living in the west now and has no serious discussion about what happened to the billions of dollars worth of assets which will laundered out to russia in the ninety's and into western banks into western real estate and so on and one. he gave at his press conference in berlin yesterday on returning to russia was the implication possible suits for coverage of the assets that still are effectively his hands in the hands of his cronies in the us. of a more in court across his first public comments after his release and to get opinion and analysis on his case and surprise pardon head to our web site r.t.

dot com. for the calculation to call the design of the world's most used assault rifle the a k forty seven has died aged ninety four is sixty year old invention has become a cultural icon and kalashnikov was acknowledged for services to his country receiving countless awards including the acclaimed lenin prize r.t.g. going to reports. i did have the privilege of meeting 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 words work and quite affectionate about his homeland and i asked him whether he'd ever expected that his invention that a k forty seven would be 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 all 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 so iconic personally i kind of people in russia and soviet union kind of russians. off the last century and he's definitely made an impact on the world and 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 thirty 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 designing a weapon that would help throw all the invaders out and so he did his autumn. 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 conflicts 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 and the gun is believed to be responsible for

a quarter of a million deaths every year this always upset me. call for tougher your measures to halt the illicit distribution of small arms. weapons should either be in the hands of those people who defend their country that is to defend not to tack i designed a rifle not for international conflict but to protect the borders of my homeland 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 depicted 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 the hero of russia. but 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 and p

three players and even vodka but without a doubt his legacy is a k forty seven his production continues to this day and the guns reputation as the world's top infantry weapon remains unchallenged is going off party. that's now go light and he took a jones off with a book kalashnikov in combat the written a very detailed book on this from your point of view why do you think this was such a significant invention. i think as we've just heard in reports you know it was it. your ability and its simplicity to use it as was touched on again in the previous report. is sort of counterparts from the west are always difficult to maintain didn't like dirt and might draw a line whereas the clash and called could be dropped in rules of anything and it would still function. the m. sixteen initially had a terrible jamming which he did during the vietnam war and in opportune moments.

and also of course the fact that it was very easy to manufacture. the thing run away from the current kalashnikov very quickly in the other countries initially produced under license and then effectively stole the design and moving beyond warfare it's become an icon and also a brand hasn't it why this particular rifle. yes i mean it's been used to sell everything from t. shirts to boca i think it's probably attained its iconic status during the late sixty's and early seventy's because it was used by so many. you're in a sort of high school only walls and therefore it made a bit of a darling of the left you know unless this girl forces used it and again as we just heard on the new report in fact was incorporated into to a number of flanks of different countries where moscow who organizations. are.

an eight hundred page tribute to him by printing and. that's one of the reasons. that it has become so iconic and also because she lent her service so it's been it's been in use now. you know for. sixty years plus and has probably got another twenty thirty years of life in it why there why why would it be superseded by other rifles. one of the thing now is of course is that there are so many of the music lation this been estimated that the winds one hundred million of the thanks. in use around the world. simply be impossible for another far sign it into something all that went into the success and indeed the rational course is announced he's about i'm going to replace it with a new design and fact have something in ninety four in service but it's but it's simply not produced in similar numbers you know when nothing else will attain that

sort of iconic status as a classical and you say in your book one of its most significant moments came in the hands of the in fighting the soviets in afghanistan i mean that's ironic to say the least. well it is because the already is of course that many of those guns were by the cia into our mujahideen many. came from china. the chinese and so. produced a version called type fifty six which actually quite often when you see them being used around the world they are actually chinese manufacturer of north and not russian or in eastern europe so it's in a more sort of lot of countries also produced launched large numbers of things. but certainly it has a vietnam and in afghanistan a lot of those crash course in circulation were actually chinese built copies and to me great to talk to jones off of the book kalashnikov in combat life you're not international thanks your time frankly. washington logs the one hundredth

birthday of the federal reserve coming off international we look back at a centrist scandals and financial scams on the walls most country plus. people go out and come back safely. i can leave but there's no guarantee i'll come back alive a correspondent had to iraq to find out what it feels like to live in a country where from terrorist attacks almost on a daily basis that i'm much more for you right after the break. wealthy british. time let's go. to market. really happening to the

global economy with. global financial headlines kaiser report. on a. pleasure to have you with us here. today on naughty international we're starting to look back at the events that shaped twenty.

for the people of iraq this year was the deadliest since two thousand and eight marred by deepening sectarian divide and more innocent lives being lost as a result and the bloodshed has continued today five media workers died when government ambushed a t.v. station north of baghdad while at least eight troops were killed by mortar shells in the capital itself or more than nine 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 or 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 kirkuk is often caught in the cross-fire line close to al qaeda strongholds and being claimed by both the iraqi government and the autonomous kurd authorities audi's lucy come to 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 into 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 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 when habit. roadblocks 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 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 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 continue to go about their business as normal vendors and busy families did their shopping beneath the surface there are scars today care could continues to be an incredibly dangerous place for thinking about it after the city without the help of a military escort residents here say that a toxic happen 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 are kurds

who say they're happy that saddam is gone but their fear of political repression has been replaced by fear of the unknown and. 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 the car windows down that way if there's a blast at least the glass was heard. 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 long time a bomb blast went off injuring his leg for him daily life has become a painful struggle to buy the only. 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 no it's not about the sectarian differences unfortunately it's book the black

. 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 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 really how many who is a leading researcher for the organization shares her thoughts on what the country has gone through this year. what most people don't understand is that the violence is 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 its flight and that is completely unacceptable iraq has become so fragmented and has suffered such

a serious internal collapse with so many interests be. fought on its grounds internal interests of the shias the sudanese the kurds the religious fundamentalists terrorist 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 corpsed 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 us would let it get. there are far too many competing interests there is too much struggle for power on so many sides that i cannot see it being a launch to get better on our website right now a sea change beneath the waves the russian fleet welcomes its next generation

nuclear submarines online find out more about the backbone of the missions the turn for decades to come and. also the website what does it take to get a residency permit in boulder under the desperate afghan asylum seekers stage a sit in in one town the morning the prime minister himself intervene to help them stay. to prevent boom and bust economics the us federal reserve is marking a sentry's since its creation its face many challenges from double digit inflation to near depression but has it served its purpose or didn't report not ask the 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 the federal reserve is an independent agency and that means 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 craven

following the two thousand and eight financial crisis millions of jobs in homes were lost. but wall street went on to make a record breaking profits courtesy of the fed's quantitative easing program board's 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 calling me andrew sar who spearheaded the first quarter of q.e. he 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 resists resuscitate a system that i think is

a working less than last four 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 marina point ny r.t. new york. the news continues in just over half an hour from now in the meantime it's a c a ts the former first lady of france talks to sophie shevardnadze on so i think that's after the break.

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 could 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 another words to 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. the college years i think the edge of 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 or libertarians in america would take too kindly to it and rightly so but that's just my opinion. hello and welcome to surf and co i'm sophie shevardnadze and sorrier sinead sass works for the party led by her then husband. and stood by his side at sea

successfully complained to become the french president but a few months into his term the couple divorced since then she has dedicated her life to the cause of women's rights around the world she's normally shy of being going to spotlight but now sicilia has panda and memoir calling it a desire for truth and she is our guest today. she succeeded where others failed in libya free services from colonel gadhafi has preserved the world long to see a new princess diana. the. cheaply personal above public and gave up her presidential marriage as well as her country. so why do frost lose one of its brightest minds is something happening in the country one sees as the bride light in europe. why is frons a land that has known fire. in our guests today sicily at c.s. .