headlines from r t international volgograd mourning the death of thirty two people after two blasts through the city's main railway station and a trolley bus all in less than twenty four hours. fresh revelations claimed the n.s.a. intercepts computers bought on line and bugs them with special software and spyware before they reach their owners. we take a look back at the scandals and breakthroughs that shaped twenty.

ten am in moscow i'm at a very good to have you with us our top story this hour volgograd in mourning after the city was devastated by two bomb attacks in less than twenty four hours at least thirty three people killed and scores more wounded artie's margaret howell has been there covering this from the start she joins me live now with the latest so what's the mood in the city today it's probably fairly tense there yes. not it is tense it's also very somber the traffic seems to be moving more slowly there seems to be something in the air that is that is very somber here as you mentioned thirty two died among these two terrorist attacks it's now thirty three there was another victim who died just hours ago in the middle of the night in the hospital succumbing to their injuries i was able to catch up with some of the victims that are left i.e. family members of people who have died namely the father of the security guard whose funeral is actually being held today he's one of two people who will be

having a funeral today and here is their story. it's been one more of an easy night for the residents of russia's southern city of welcome and loved ones of the injured in two terror attacks held vigils in hospitals others mourned. he was a good man a good father a good son a good grandson there not so many of such good ones around the good ones die first they say. with barely contain tears a lot of near nelly vico clutches the memory of his son who was the first victim of sunday's attack in the train station thana gate was a security guard there. he had this job for about a year i saw how it all happened on the video footage he was standing by the railing during the security check and then there was this man coming in and he just barely made it towards him and then there was a blast and it was over and no more footage he stopped that man who was trying to

get through the security gate as he had to yes that's what the camera showed i saw him doing his job smiling he did what he had to do that it was his duty. sergei's family more and by the night with only the conviction that he carried on his responsibilities to bring them any small comfort for others in the night brought fragile relief and the knowledge their loved ones were spared but they woke up the next morning to a second suicide bomber this time on the city trolley bus. i can't remember anything i was deafened by the blast we had almost reached the bus stop when the explosion went off it was like an electric shock all over my body i can't remember i didn't see anyone i was sitting and looking out of the window when it happened i think i was the last to be carried out of the charley bus no no doubt any of the people of the southern russian city expected to have two suicide bombers

factored into their new year's eve celebration shopping and travel plans. is still reeling after two terror attacks within the span of twenty four hours we met the tolly in his home just hours after his friend was killed. i was shocked he had a family and a young wife and a small child so it is very sad to realize that a young man died in such a tragic accident. stories like these are poring over the ball the grove city limits with the residents there hoping for more time to mourn their families and friends and rebuild their lives in boca marker how will r.t.e. . another one of the victims of sunday's blast in volgograd main train station was police officer dmitri mark of cain who i wouldn't say threw himself at the bomber possibly saving dozens of lives investigators have been saying explosions were

carried out by male suicide bombers and sources have named a suspect in sunday's attack as a russian citizen who was reportedly a member of a dagestan. volgograd is a main transport hub which could be one of the reasons why it was targeted and as you can see the city is around a thousand kilometers away from the capital moscow but security has been toughened in the capital and across russia analyst at stopping puerile ism dot com eric draitser says russia's intelligence has extensive experience in dealing with similar situations what we're going to see is certainly a very public crackdown one that's intended to send a message but likely the real machinations are going to happen in private as the russian intelligence services in the various other relevant agencies do their work behind the scenes remember that this is precisely the kind of work that the russian intelligence services were doing in the in the aftermath of the boston bombing here in the united states which according to the narrative also emanates from that very same region so we'll see much of the same and hopefully at least from the

perspective of russian society we'll see an improvement in this situation as those services attempt to root out those terrorists. meanwhile the international olympic committee has rejected claims the attacks on volgograd could jeopardize security at the upcoming sochi winter games the body issued a statement saying it believes russia will have no problem keeping the olympics safe. the latest developments an expert analysis online a timeline of the tragic events in volgograd and much more a click away at our t.v. dot com. also online something to be read about in the new year hours of phone conversation the scores of messages between tony blair and george w. bush just before the bombs were launched over iraq could become available to the public plus. what used to be the sons of north has become its south find out of the burning giant really flipped upside down and what effect it could have on other elements of the solar system including the earth. it seems the n.s.a.

is determined to keep up its surveillance new revelations claiming the agency has been intercepting computers purchased online and then implanting spying software on them an article in germany's der spiegel magazine also states the agency installs rig monitor cables allowing personnel to see what's displayed on p.c. monitors of those under their surveillance what's this along with multiple disguise bugging devices sending and receiving data through the use of radio waves journalist david seaman believes that the revelations may backfire on the global tech companies. my understanding of it is that this is extremely widespread but is not so much the companies cooperating with the n.s.a. as it is the n.s.a. pouring tremendous amounts of money and talent into developing these hacks we're talking about complete orwellian control of innocent people's phones that innocent people's computers and laptops and i think that it undermines basic faith and

confidence in american tech companies this is going to lead to a massive loss of revenue technology has the power to lift all of us up to provide more innovation and transparency that ever before in human history and that's the path that the internet was already on you see the explosion in online media and everybody has a voice an opinion in this global society but the n.s.a. has destroyed a lot of that it's undermined basic faith in the internet. in the way we look back at how it worked so those revelations shocked millions of people worldwide is the n.s.a. spying can scandal became arguably the biggest news story of the year we'll recap details and other top of events of two thousand and thirteen in a couple of minutes. but first some other stories making global headlines this hour seven time formula one champion michael schumacher fighting for his life after a skiing accident in the french alps doctors warn they can't predict the outcome of the race or manes in a medically induced coma the forty four year old sports legend was skiing with his teenage son off piste when he fell and suffered

a head injury that required doctors to perform two operations. three tries by french chinese and i want to be an ice breaker is to reach a strain to the russian ship stuck in antarctic ice the academic chicago ski has been stranded since christmas with its crew said to be evacuated now by helicopter and american icebreaker the polar star could still give it a go but that won't be for another week despite all this scientists aboard the ship weren't wasting their time and continue their research and even got to know some of the local wildlife. more than one kilometer long train carrying crude oil crashed into another train in the u.s. state of north dakota the collision setting off a series of blasts that left more than twenty wagons on fire no one was injured but local authorities did evacuate a nearby town just in case the incident raised alarms over the safety of a growing oil by rail traffic following a spike in fracking in north dakota more than two thirds of the state's oil production is currently shipped by rail. the u.n.

refugee agency says a humanitarian crisis in the central african republic may be eminent many people there are seeking shelter from continuing fighting between christian militias and the muslim x. rebels now in power around a thousand people were killed earlier this month the number of those displaced now swelling to more than eight hundred thousand french an african soldiers struggling to contain massacres across the country. will be back after this short break stay with us on r.t. international. unexplored antarctica what is it in this icy expanse that attracts the people who come here. only go to the dock. and enter into. a new generation of polar explorers is coming. we have

a new group of specialists here now all of them are young how are they going to get along with each other i don't know. i used to be a bureaucrat. seriously. what adventures await this mysterious. way to live to the east and most of the actually doing it. thanks for staying with us twelve minutes past the hour as the world counts down

the final hours of two thousand and thirteen we're looking back at the key stories that shape the outgoing year well everyone will have some personal things to remember some of the year's events reached out to affect millions from the global spy scandal to diplomatic breakthroughs in the middle east and the early release of russia's most famous prisoner here's how two thousand and thirteen may go down in the books. i would describe this man as an american hero he's a hero but each node is a hero the whistleblower sent a world wide wake up call with the ultimate revelation of twenty thirteen the former n.s.a. analyst told it all america was spying on citizens world leaders friends and foes alike and the man has broken the laws and i damaged the country i think is a traitor snowden quickly became the most wanted man of the year with the us ready to stop and search a president's plane just in case. my first thought when i was forced to land was

how can your opinion countries obey the will of the us i imagine these nations would defenders of democracy snowden made moscow's airport his home for weeks before finding a way out and it was not his plan to end up here and there was the united states made him stale us by revoking us passport and russia to its credit i sure recognized international law and granted him powerful sar the whistleblower remains in an undisclosed location in the russian capital we didn't exist for just this one last. period is lying to somebody want. to suck a. person someone told the truth snowden promises to keep the leaks coming through twenty fourteen together we can find a better balance and mance surveillance and for a minute the government that if it really wants to know how we feel asking is

always cheaper than spying. the us government can and will shut down it came to a standstill for over two weeks in what's becoming an annual tradition grand america. took a beating here lawmakers couldn't agree on raising the debt ceiling and came very close to defaulting on some seventeen trillion dollars then surely the market's going to say we don't want to play this game anymore we're not ulit you money at any price the i.m.f. and world bank warned of dire consequences while china called for the world's d. americanization given that we see time and time again these political crisis appear in the u.s. i think there would be more calls for sort of trying to reduce dependence in america eventually a deal and thousands of federal employees could go back to work parks and war memorials reopened and protests die down but the shut down side effects lingered on

this was really a spectacle following a series of spectacles that has downgraded america's image worldwide to levels i've never seen so low. with a new president a new mood iran's hassan rouhani broke the ice on over thirty years of frozen times between tehran and washington rouhani is a. diplomat he will not be the one to back up from diplomacy first a phone call with obama while on his maiden visit to the un then the nuclear deal of the decade the iranians have shown time after time that there is no evidence that iran's nuclear program is anything but peaceful is something that has been ignored by the western media and western governments but this despite all that iran's real cillian is has forced these countries to accept. enrichment and again

the russians and the chinese have played a very constructive role iran agreed to restrict and regulate its nuclear program but maintain the right to peaceful energy in return sanctions and rhetoric eased russia held diplomacy for sealing the deal the west said it's harsh sanctions. keurig the breakthrough. ten years on and iraq still reels from violence a decade since the u.s. led invasion but twenty thirteen was also one of the bloodiest years. the united states employed a classic divide and rule strategy pitting people of different sects against each other and in inciting violence that is completely unprecedented in that country this is million deaths continue to mount at the time of the occupation the us

occupied years favored certain groups in the population against others demolish the state that existed and so they're put in its place we are going to give you something new and better democratic and wonderful. but this is just as good he has the most phenomenal amount of blood on his hands assad didn't go nor did the rebels. meantime the syrian civil war reached a hundred thousand deaths well it's still not resolved as to who was behind august chemical attack which killed some fifteen hundred people appear on. to our investigation that that was used by opening so neighbor who reads the facts and puts the dots together which is easy to do and they made it easy to do. understands what those facts mean those facts weren't revealed yet brought obama

very close to direct military action against a mascot he was committed to launch a bombing campaign but then a breakthrough for there's a historic resolution is to force the whole for dualists on syria in the wrong time russia and the us let it deal which saw president also agreed to give up syria's chemical weapons the slow disarmament process began but still no sign from the fractured rebel factions of a willingness to unite for peace. the arab spring is still not blooming it's actually quite shameful to see countries and leaders of western governments who hail themselves because of democracy supporting the slaughter of democracy and its supporters in into it the only may have pulled the trigger yes but it was the west that loaded the gun mohamed morsi and the muslim brotherhood didn't survive long at the helm of egypt he spent most of twenty thirteen behind bars when he was removed by the military after mass protests hit

again we have seen the german. government overthrown. is shameful that the western leaders are around. this is an old sanction military coup in tunisia and libya the chaos continues people are desperate to try and put a cover all of what has been created by the libyan disaster in the fall of gadhafi . one ton and most not going the guards strap it it out to a chair put a mask over his face so that the detainee can't move bite or spit and the nurse snakes the feeding tube into a nasal cavity a mass hunger strike refocused global attention on the prison at one point most inmates. we're refusing food the prisoners has not met one another and speak different languages keep saying the same thing that we were tortured we were abused

they tied. to the chair they shackled our legs to the ground they put a struggle across and they forced in a tube into our noses for said twice daily the routine for many at the prison which president obama pledged to close over five years ago. drones targeting terrorists but killing more civilians how many people are we going to have to kill before we can finally say ok that's it objective achieved war over we can call this thing of terrorists in yemen and pakistan but also wedding parties and family dinners entire communities being shattered so you may have one or two or three intended targets being killed the bad guys but then you have one hundred two hundred three hundred completely innocent people being killed america does not take strikes to punish individuals we act against terrorists who pose a continuing and imminent threat to the american people.

aren't is back mass protests has returned to kiev almost a decade after the orange revolution because ukraine dropped out of an e.u. trade deal and plenty of politicians from around the world joined in the us in the e.u. talk a lot about european values and western values but is it a western value to allow a foreign country to come in and influential electoral process to influence politics on the streets of course it's not the east wants to go east the west wants to look west and everyone in between wants to say what about the look at the rhetoric that was emanating from brussels in washington when ukraine failed to sign it became clear that it was very much directed against russia and that it was good for the ukrainian people. space rocks pack a punch

a flaming meteor streaked across the sky and slammed into two lab and in central russia with a shockwave equal to twenty nuclear bombs though so many rumors from a jet we sure down to a satellite and even to the start of the end of the world it damaged dozens of buildings injured hundreds of people but took everyone by surprise no one saw it coming. viral videos of its final moments helped r t two a billion views on you tube the first news channel ever to do so. you might have hit or miss an online gold mine bit coy as. absolutely triumphed as a dollar has crash and ninety per cent i guess a bit coy as bit coy is set to take on the world en route out the bank stirs the world's most popular digital currency stirred up supporters and cynics cyber criminals love it drug dealers use it terrorists are looking into it the risks are

clear but bitcoin snapping at the dollars heals and the banks are getting nervous if they were complete with the monetary system if they felt it was safe then they wouldn't be looking for an option like the point it's a sign of where the society is going but it's old money that troubled greece and the austerity crowds weary of years of financial life support from abroad or the government crackdown on the rising right shouting the openly fascist golden dawn party which was connected to the killing of an anti right wing rapper. people are ready to go after go live with chemical companies are feeding us and our families now sort of black already to the table rather than farm to table protest against food giant monsanto peaked in two thousand and thirteen with activists trying to spread aware. this about what they say are the dangers of genetically modified foods while sandhu has been continuously voted as the most evil company on

the planet year after year with stiff competition most media outlets didn't cover this growing global movement nor the one gathering steam to fight the likes of chevron and the energy giants fracking projects. the controversial process to release oil and gas deep underground ignited global campaigns against its damning environmental potential irrefutable evidence of contamination air pollution water contamination battle between big business and the interests of the people. put in proved hard to predict. recently wrote a petition asking me to pardon him he spent more than ten years in prison this is a serious punishment he saw as humanitarian reasons saying his mother is sick and i believe taking jus account of all the circumstances it's possible to take a respective decision and in the near future i will sign

a decree to pardon him mikail ski was released along with members of pussy riot and greenpeace activists in a nationwide amnesty international a their relations with the rest of the world have been deteriorating rapidly ever getting worse and worse and perhaps a person with this is trying to put a stop to that or a marker and to slow down the process but inside russia there remain questions about how their course ski and the fall of the oil giant yukos the russia will be able well to know where is the money all the people who are well russians to of course shakily feel the call of course he got what he deserved the move has been called everything from priya lympics p.r. to simple logic and continues to puzzle many in and outside of russia most are waiting to see what mikhail khodorkovsky will do with his freedom in twenty fourteen and beyond.

stay with us here on our team breaking this hour with abby martin coming your way after this short break. i'm an old school kind of guy i like tradition and heritage and all that stuff when i look to the past i see that there's a lot that we could learn from our ancestors however one thing we don't need from them are debtors prisons which according to a fox news report are somehow on the rise in the united states in the twenty first century the a.c.l.u. and the britain center for justice claim that the local courts have been sending individuals with unpaid fines and fees jail which the courts may not even realize is illegal these courts are locking up people with fines that have exploded in size due to interest imposed on initial amount and for the representation they had when

they were in court which i always thought was supposed to be free but worst of all some are still in prison for fees they occurred while being in prison like having the audacity to use toilet paper hey that's taxpayer money down the toilet the kicker to this all is that throwing people in prison for their public debts costs more than the debts the prisoners have to pay off that's right the local governments lose money doing this someone please resurrect the founding fathers america is running out of time if you aren't worried about this comeback of debtors' prisons are you think those rednecks deserve it so let me ask you something how's it going with paying off all your loans and bills i hope for your sake you don't miss a payment a fascist my opinion. speak to language. programs and documentaries in arabic. school

here on the. fourteenth of the well talks about sympathy ip interviewers intriguing story are you. trying. to find out more visit arabic. was up. martin and this is breaking up the set after weeks of intense negotiations in geneva about iran's nuclear program diplomacy amazingly prevailed so to her on has signed on to a six month agreement that limits its uranium enrichment to five percent a level well below the necessary requirement for the development of a nuclear weapon in exchange iran will receive a minor reduction in harsh sanctions on many of its most valuable exports such as oil and gold and while most of the world is celebrating this encouraging

development between two countries with historic ice cold relations one head of state just just isn't that they've used. the iran got the deal of the century. and the international community got a bad deal this is a very bad deal what is actually a clip from november eighth near days after negotiations began as you can see bibi was already quite perturbed before anything was even close to being settled so you can only imagine this theory now. that was concluded in geneva last night is not a historic agreement it's a historic mistake. it's not made the world a safer place like the agreement with north korea in two thousand and five this agreement has made the world a much more dangerous place so according to prime minister not me.