hello and a very good evening to you very good every company really happy to have you with us and hear about international these next couple of hours hopefully we were sent to take a look back at the events of twenty third scene where we've got a live two hour special lined up for you to take you back through the stories that matter the most over the past twelve months the pictures that stuck in all our minds over the past twelve months of the hot spots our correspondents traveled to so that you get the latest reports from the ground well also look at the people who dominated the headlines in this past year and what's moscow rolls into the new year exactly well a little less now an hour from now will have we'll take a look at what twenty fourteen holds for us and i hope you can stay with us for

these next two hours reporting from around the globe and many of our correspondents are here with us tonight i'm very pleased to say wishing you a very happy new year wherever you're watching us happy new year from red square in moscow coming up i'll bring you all of the action happening at the center of the celebrations here in the russian capital. also all out here as well as light a very happy new year for all of us here in london hello from lynn wishing everybody in moscow and watching around the world a very happy new year greetings and happy new year from the heart of ukraine. independence square how i and happy new year from jerusalem i'm to the must say happy new year from start to see the city there will host the olympics and paralympics of twenty four t. . in washington i'm going to check and i wish you

a happy new year let it be full of great news. well there's a go there is going to go of roads we're going to see the mall isn't it ok well before we begin i go by the twenty third and we'd like to first spend a moment of course to consider the poor souls of the russian city has been marred by tragedy this last week earlier this year to grow witness to suicide attacks on its public transport system as people got ready to mark the holidays are over thirty people have lost their lives there within just less than twenty four zero isn't it that's right on sunday the first extremists blew up at the city's busy railway station the very next morning another blast ripped through a trolley bus during the morning rush hour as you might expect the new year festivities have been canceled involve a grad in the first three days of january will be a period of mourning margaret how has been reporting from volgograd for us for r.t. to keep us up to date on how the city is trying to cope with all of this margaret a deeply somber mood i would assume involve

a grand this new year's. it is a somber mood here of course with all that has happened over the past couple of days i want to say though of volgograd is a city of hope and i was really encouraged on our way back from dinner we saw some children and they were dressed for the new year and you know this is a city of hope and it this something this is something that does happen globally it is a global issue it's not a russian issue and cities across the world have dealt with terrorist attacks like these and unfortunately volgograd this has happened here but a sober mood yes with the three days of mourning and there is a damper here on the city we do hear a little bit of fireworks in the background but not what you would expect on new year's eve but of course it's so you see what's actually hard for us to talk about it it's easy enough for us to talk about it but it's so tough for the families their memories and emotions so roll just going through this.

you're absolutely right we were able to visit with the victim's family members who had them you know other family members die as well as victims who survived these attacks and in particular one young man the security officer who died the first victim of the terrorist attack r.t. was able to speak with his father earlier. this month 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 trolley bus. looters i bend down to collect my documents when you saw much of lunch there was a blast with food and i was thrown back by the explosion when i came to my senses

a man who was scaring me only out. side was i able to get a breath of air and saw the to understand what was happening. to go because i was with a child not far from where the blast happened i saw a blast shot at last why i pushed the child to floor and covered him with my body of. course oversee that wasn't the father there of that poor guy that they were the victims go off to say it is a new year's is such an important holiday here in russia it's probably the most important holiday of the year this night can't be easy for the city i mean people perhaps taking more time to reflect that really celebrate the new year's. eve you are right there and there does need to be a period of reflection here and i believe that that is underway but this again this is a city of hope and i have faith that they will be able to to overcome something this this heinous to tap into them and using this period this time to reflect and not

to celebrate as much as the rest of the world and our cheese margaret howell reporting live from volgograd where of course they are mourning this terror attack these terror attacks i should say. let's now take a look at how the world changed in twenty thirteen people living in the euro zone camp counting how much of their hard earned cash is going to balance the banks while a digital currency made a surprising leap peace and stability unfortunately still remain elusive across the middle east. the worst terror attack in the u.s. since nine eleven we saw a feud over funds of course between a congress that resulted in a partial government shutdown i was definitely there too when the secrets of the secret service is still being secret said although we're far from clandestine by the time. remember how we started the year where you were we were all good we've

done this every year we started the year phoning emailing texting our friends to wish them happy new year believing that those messages were securely only going to be sent to the intended recipient it didn't quite work out that that is how things have changed this year we all found out just how closely big brother could be watching us edward snowden's name became synonymous with the steady stream of revelations about how america's national security agency might literally be keeping an eye on everyone the former n.s.a. contractor rist his life and freedom by downloading nearly two million secret files before fleeing the u.s. and then going up in russia here's how that amazing journey unfolded well the first snowden disclosure was published by britain's guardian newspaper on june the fifth it revealed that the n.s.a. collected numerous phone records from a u.s. telecoms giant because nobody actually knew snow was until four days later when the whistleblower revealed his identity then that's right it took prosecutors in the

states another five days to actually charge snowden under the espionage act meaning that he faces decades in prison well snowden was in hong kong by then he flew on to a moscow you may recall drug in washington into a global game of catch me if you can snowden was supposed to fly to cuba but instead journalists and those who just wanted to see him in person were left staring at an empty airplane seat well as american passport was an old he asked russia to grant him asylum at the time the thirty year old was struck and was stuck in. moscow's sheremetyevo airport the global hunt first snowden certainly intensified bolivia's president had his plane grounded in austria because of suspicions a high profile fugitive was on board. but the blower got his wish and received a russian passport and with a valid until next august for the us mr chance to get their man but their u.k.

allies went to work on snowden's associates in london the partner of n.s.a. leaks journalist glenn greenwald was detained at london's heathrow airport and questioned for nine hours because he had some of snowden's documents in his possession then the guardian newspaper in august revealed the men in black suits that entered their offices telling them to destroy hard drives containing classified files or else that g c h q raid took place in july according to the newspaper but by then it was too little too late the publications outed her and chief said there are many copies of these documents in other parts of the world or syria for correspondence but on top of this story let's cross to her she's in london she's been following it closely so either a happy new year to you very shortly thank you for being with us tonight to see you as always snowden certainly put his name on them are a lot of other information too putting it mildly. absolutely well for worse or for better twenty thirteen certainly been

a year that demanded our attention and the snowden revelations arguably the biggest security leak in u.s. history and the impact of that really cuts governments and countries worldwide in no more was that felt than here in the u.k. but as you're about to see it wasn't just edward needed he paid the price for getting the truth out there. as revelation to revelation came put in the began playing hardball if the government couldn't get its hands on snowden they'd get he has a kid even the part knows the journalist he got the leaks into the. this case the valence was this year laid bare deeply embarrassing the prime minister he promised to protect our privacy rights but instead of reining in the spooks the knives were out for the newspapers of this concrete. how do you want.

to. live in a democracy. most of the people working on this story british people who have families in this country who love this country. yes we patriots. and one of the things we all patriotic about is the nature of the democracy in the nature of a free press for a while and it looks like something was going to be done all the u.k.'s intelligence chiefs down themselves for the first time giving evidence in the public but there was none of the high handed interrogation that the whistleblowing journalists enjoy it presents serious conflict going on between a. growing national security system in the west and those people who are trying. to expose what that system is doing and. then tis twenty fourteen these who worked so hard to expose the truth remain more resolved than

ever to keeping that debate alive. well the twists and turns of that story has certainly been fascinating and huge debate here in the u.k. not just about surveillance not just about privacy but also about the very meaning of the free press and how our government goes about defending that and certainly as we look forward to twenty fourteen i think there's going to be many more revelations to come in the new year whether the government's like it or not looking back now is there a what would you say these leaks have had as an impact what impact have they had on the world. well it's really sparked such a huge discussion i don't think anyone really had any idea just how far reaching the surveillance governments were undertaking on the public actually were now certainly the response to the stories worldwide and very much so here in the case have been very mixed not everyone has sided with whistleblower edward snowden and

those who've come on the side of exposing exactly what has been done in the governments name surveillance why but i think it's been really interesting to see just where the debates have taken us because as we said it's not just been a question of the surveillance it's not just been a question of privacy but also about free press and how that's treated and you've got a country like the united kingdom that's always very much stood up for a free press and for democratic rights and we've seen the government really come down very hard on the journalist who works very hard to expose those trees so it's going to be very interesting to see where this goes come the new year. ago nice to see you tonight. well talking of people being come down on a hard day a soldier for bradley manning of course was lucky is maybe edward snowden has been the u.s. army private who now let's be honest chelsea serving thirty five years for giving secret military cables to wiki leaks they reveal didn't they thousands of

previously and reported civilian deaths in the iraq and afghanistan conflicts and shocking accounts of american soldiers seemingly willing to shoot anything that moves the cyber community more into we mustn't forget this the loss of one of its biggest innovators and activists spokesman a couple of times on this channel was he hanged himself so sadly such a young start of the year best known of course for working on the reddit social news site he was facing up to thirty five years in prison for downloading academic articles in bolt from a university database of sorts with his family tonight of course as they had into in years well well before his suicide swartz developed software called secure drop which allows whistleblowers to speak to journalists anonymously without leaving any trace whatsoever ray mcgovern a former cia analyst let's get his thoughts he joins us live tonight on the line of great thanks for being with us this new year's happy new year to you first off do you think the future of whistleblowers the future of them their work will be

discouraged from all that we've seen this year that clamp down on whistleblowers throughout the globe really. yes their work will be discouraged but it will be inevitable in other words the discouragement will appear more and more crass more and more ineffectual because the cat is out of the bag this is a new generation technical people without whom people like n.s.a. and general hayden and general alexander cannot exist and so as julian a scientist said very recently he encourages this new generation to play the role that the industrial generation did back in preparing the way for the twentieth century seize the initiative. act courageously realize that you have wood julian calls extraordinary power they can't make the systems work without you

and when you call and talk about a systems administrator it's not just one system it's administrator that ties together a whole that work of systems the cat is out of the big those who cannot bear those that cannot bear is martin luther king jr used to say as the natural medicines of air and light on what they're doing are going to be very frantic will try to stop this but it is unstoppable and that's good news for the world and thought just having an aussie is a thing of a positive aaron swartz we're talking about just now there'll be a feature of the gods like him in the future yet computer whiz activists if you like. yes this is the you know general general hayden who actually is the first one that let himself be suborned by dick cheney and george bush into violating our constitution now it may spear queen to people on the outside of the united states but this constitution the united states is

a sacred document ok it has a fourth amendment and the fourth amendment says the right of the people to be secure ok secure from and reasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated and no warrants shall issue except upon probable cause describing the things to be seized of the persons to be seized of looked at now that that that constitution that amendment has been violated to the point where wags friends of mine have called the n.s.a. no such amendment it used to be no such agency now it's no such amendment and hayden himself before the national press club denied the probable cause is in the fourth amendment it's right here i could read it to you if you wish but ultimately right do you think that snowden's revelations are actually going to change anything is it going to change the n.s.a. or the way the people approach and try to protect their privacy. that is the big

question for the first time in my professional life we have a situation where not only the executive and the congress but huge parts of our judicial system the three printers of our government are all complicit in either winking at or endorsing or letting past these gross violations of our constitution now the cat is out of the bag one judge has said this is almost orwellian and you know what orwell stands for it is almost or will even and it's crass violation of this constitution now another just as well maybe it's not sweep it so it's going to play out in the courts but before that can happen because that will take many years it's got to be done in congress and the person who is responsible for the patriot act jim sensenbrenner from wisconsin is in high dudgeon he's angry as can be he said i never intended the patriot act to be interpreted in such a way by secret interpretations to allow bulk collection of everything we type

everything we listen to everything we communicate it's got out of hand and now we'll see if the president of the united states has enough courage to enforce the constitution that he like i and like millions of others americans swore a solemn oath to support and defend against all enemies foreign and domestic yeah right well only twenty forty will see if. your and your a fellow is and colleagues hopes come true of course that is nice to meet you want tobe when you come into the studio it's nice to see again tonight very happy new year to you. thank you right there most of the government over thank you sir. former cia analyst of course is is well the u.s. had a lot of explaining to do after all the digital spying revelations came out but the country's intelligence was also in for quite an embarrassment this may in what proved to be a real life tom clancy cold war spy novel with

a pretty hilarious wardrobe malfunction there you may recall it is the u.s. diplomat ryan fogle there is a low season. trying to disguise his identity with this as we last met ill fitting week he was still cool. really after apparently trying to recruit a russian security officer to the cia one of the oldest story certainly for me into accessories is look at the cutting edge spy tools that were on the table a map of moscow a knife a cell phone sunglasses a water of cash that other spare wig you know just in case he fancied a change of startled innocently thing well also had a letter offering up to a million dollars a year for a long term cooperation with the u.s. signed as your friends but the affection wasn't shared by russia who actually declared him person a non grata and sent him back to the u.s. hopefully with the phone number of a decent stylus those calls were pretty terrible and well it seems like a cold war era spying tools can get you said but from russia with no love if you

photos a potential replacement should go with the next going to be in the book but with the way things are right now the future of futurist groups i should say just might be better off offering up big clients to potential informants. yes that you know it well let's now turn to a major development that came out of russia at the very end of two thousand and thirteen former oil teuku me. who had spent a decade behind bars is now free once russia's richest man he'd been in prison for tax fraud and embezzlement president putin signed pardon after receiving an amnesty plea from him he said it was granted on humanitarian grounds for the cough ski's mother is very ill when the same time the russian president to affecting some twenty five thousand people it meant to see the release of pregnant women women maybe with young children or elderly disabled people but only if they were serving a sentence of less than five years for the normal violent crimes it's also part of

the so-called arctic thirty as well there's so much of a loser last couple of months those green precept of his face in those hooliganism charges after they scaled that russian oil rig as well as two members of the public what they have of course been in the news a lot again this year the amnesty law the two year terms for hooliganism motivated by religious hatred after this stunt in russia's main orthodox cathedral and for their part the woman have declared the slashing of the jail time a p.r. stunt by cavite was the release of me how hard they're called ski that was definitely definitely to say the rest of the news when it came to global headlines even more than certainly pussy riot parties are going to go to school looks at what could be ahead for the man who until very recently was russia's most high profile prisoner after ten years in jail and we hope that that of course can now has to decide what to do which is newfound freedom and some of his plans have caused a few raised eyebrows. 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 that you can was the head of security for mr hurd of course does your company you cause he is currently serving a life sentence for five counts of murder in two thousand and seven a court conviction that you're going to order in the shooting of slicing up to the mayor of a town in siberia but had clashed with us over his insistence that the oil giant pay taxes due to his town by the us was registered there so when it came to tax revenues it was answering to the mayor of newark to uganda with the hope they depended on him and that was the only reason why he even mattered only time will solve the mystery surrounding my husband's murder but i'd just like holocaust he to

confess and clear his conscience while on trial for the murder of her to call for an exhibit to get on with serving twenty years in prison for the attempted murder of for most of the posters visor. but after quitting her post with you because she went 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 doesn't need a bomb no one was home. comments about political prisoners as self-serving. how to cough accuse 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 case could potentially be is a further investigation into those murders and assaults which the company security forces carried out a lot of cost. he has no other choice he will continue to insist people from the

security department are political prisoners that are and he will pretend to be pushing for release the adulation heaped upon mr herder of course he has left some of those watching feeling only half the stories being told just by his insistence that he is a political prisoner many in russia believe that course he broke the law and that's why he was sent to jail you know go school i t. was called. mo to some credit cos he wasn't expecting to spend the new years a free man of course the big question is what is he going to do in twenty four to what he says at the moment to russian out of politics to those no more they will become the shrewd business motive was was you know i guess only twenty forty was going to tell i don't think we've seen the last a quarter cosco yet though do you know not at all ok right now this. august the eurozone emerged from its longest recession since the eurozone was introduced of economists aren't quite ready to pop the champagne to say goodbye to the crisis.

that first hit the block back in two thousand and nine top e.u. officials admit the growing unemployment a particularly that among young europeans puts the region's financial future risk in spain and greece a situation particularly drastic with over half of people under twenty five out of a job both countries also rely heavily of course on brussels for financial help with athens looking at the prospect now the third deal may be well across the region people are weary of austerity cards and we've seen plenty of public discontent and mass protests of course covering the eurozone is our main man in berlin artie's peter oliver has been with us throughout the year and can now join us live he is there an end in sight when is this seemingly never ending financial crisis going to come to an end. well i don't think the end is really on the horizon just yet there are still big problems facing the eurozone you mentioned there youth unemployment i think it's it's fair to say that we are staring at a lost generation of young people here in europe of heat so many people out of work

particularly in countries like spain and and greece but it's not just youth unemployment there's twenty six million people out of work across the so that's a big. big problem that needs to be sorted out if the eurozone countries are to get themselves out of the recession that they've they've been in for so long now but we have a little look now at just how those countries in the eurozone a fairing heading into twenty fourteen. next year will be the first of the bailed out countries to try and get back on its feet trumpeted as proof that works but that's not how it looks elsewhere francois lawns on crusade with it on the vine the french people saw little change and he starts twenty fourteen the least popular french president ever but didn't people expect to have a strong president and now they understand all on doesn't have enough experience or

competence to improve things he's too weak as we say and from next year looks to hold economic paralysis for italy after this year's election did nothing to revive the eurozone the biggest economy then there's greece still bottom of the pile and staring at a third bailout stumbling for paymaster nations to again get to athens to propping them up a happy new year for germany though exports to asia keep on trucking in the euro zone's biggest economy stays on track for now across the board though the euro parliament's old guard needs to watch out there's an election ahead and the euro skeptics snapping at their heels. so there we have it it's a bit of a mixed bag really when you look across the eurozone some countries like here in germany doing pretty well others though still a long way to go before they're back on their feet makes picture indeed peter what

about any further evidence of europe's north south divide what are the chances that euro elections will happen that will see any further wedge next year and twenty fourteen. well these elections that are coming up in may the european parliament elections are set to be well the most important elections of their kind ever seen in the history of the european union we've seen a whole host of political parties spring up here in germany we've seen alternative for germany also in austria in the u.k. as well they have these these new parties coming out who are on t. establishment their immigration a lot of them are anti euro they're brussels and they're anti austerity and they could be they could cause a huge upset in the parliamentary elections because there's a magic number of thirty percent now if all of those those political parties can get thirty.