it happened in volgograd, six weeks before the winter olympic games in socchi. peter sharp has the latest. >> the chaotic after math of an attack at a railway station in volgograd. a body lays on the ground as emergency services struggle to treat the survivors. police say a woman set off a suicide vest. the blast was captured on camera at the entrance to the station. the station was packed with people leaving for christmas holidays. >> translation: everything was covered with smoke. after 10 minutes i could see again. >> the attack killed and injured dozens of people. >> translation: according to preliminary information, the power of this explosion with the equivalent of 10 kilograms of tnt. there would have been more victims if not for the guarding system at the station, provening the bomber getting through the metal detector. there were three trains because they were running late. >> the the latest bombing was a bus. it raises concern at socchi, 400km from the troubled republics of check nia and dagestan. president putin offered support to relatives killed and

but it comes weeks before the start of the socchi olympics. >> it's an enormous event, especially in the run-up to the olympics. it's a big step to soften a negati negative attitude towards putin's russia. i think that was the main motive >> during his time in prison mikhail khordorkovsky's image was transformed from that of a ruthless businessman to political activist. even behind bars he was an outspoken critic of the kremlin. it's unclear how loud the voice will be, now he's on the other side and out of russia. >> he was 10 years in different areas. he has to learn what it means to live in a modern society. it's difficult. he needs time. >> the kremlin will watch every move that mikhail khordorkovsky makes. on sunday we expect him to come here and give more details about his future and how it involves russia. >> mikhail khordorkovsky's release was part of a string of pardons by vladimir putin, the russian president giving amnesty to two gaoled members of pusey ri jot -- pussy riot and the greenpeace ship. >> the indian diplomat has been moved to a job about the u.n., which would p

it comes week before the start of the socchi olympics. the western public opinion, it's an enormous event, especially this the run-up to the olympics. it's a big step to soften a negative stood forwards vladimir putin's russia towards a civilized society. >> during his time in prison mikhail khordorkovsky's image was transformed. from that of a ruthless businessman to political activist. behind bars he was an outspoken critic of the kremlin. it's unclear how loud the voice will be now he's on the other side and out of russia. >> he was 10 years in prison in different areas. he has to learn to live in a modern society. it's difficult. he needs time. >> the kremlin will watch every move that mikhail khordorkovsky makes. on sunday we expect him to come here and give more details about his future, and how it involves russia. >> in a press conference mikhail khordorkovsky had since his release it is wrapping up in berlin. he hopes ukraine's president will follow putin's example and free political disdents there. >> the u.s. special envoy expec

. >> coming a month before the start of the winter olympics in socchi, the consecutive attacks raised fear of a concentrated campaign of violence before the games. the sochi winter olympics is a prestige project for president vladimir putin. no one claimed either attack. earlier this year chechen leader called for maximum force to prevent the olympics from being held. the chechens want to sort of an islamic state out of russia much tens of thousands of police have been deployed to protect the olympics. organizers promised to make the games the safest olympics in history. >> well, let's speak to fred weir a journalist with the christian science monitor, joining us from moscow, via skype. little doubt that the people behind the bombers are the islamist fighters in the north caucasus region. explain why volgograd is being targeted. not only the attacks today and yesterday, but in october, on a bus. >> yes, this is the third attack in volgograd. it certainly demonstrated or demonstrates a concerted ability by this terrorist organization to hit repeatedly in a single place. it should be a

delegation to the 2014 olympics in socchi. president obama will not travel to russia. the delegation includes no other high-ranking officials. he is sending two highly gay athletes, billy jean king, and hockey player caitlin cahol. the delegation represents the diversity that is the united states. russia is taking heat over its inacted laws against gay proppa glandsa. ondeuce billy jean king sent out this tweet: >> the u.s. says russia's massive bailout of ukraine will not address the concerns of ukrainian protesters. demonstrators opposed to the deal gathered in the capital kiev, and want ukraine to have closer ties with the european union. russia is providing a financial live line for a country that is trapped for cash. >> it was a public display of affection, an affirmation of close cultural and economic links between russia and the ukraine. putting the kremlin and vladimir putin and viktor yanukovych - memories of a shared history. >> a landmark agreement by russia promising to reduce the price of sales to natural gas to ukraine by 30%. prices per barrel dropping f

. >> woodruff: putin's news conference comes as russia prepares to host the socchi winter olympics in february and just over a week after he was criticized for shutting down a state news agency which attempted to include the voices of the country's opposition in its coverage. the exact timing of the release of khodorkovsky and the others is still unknown. now, to help us understand what's behind putin's announcements, i'm joined by: dimitri simes, president of the center for the national interest, a foreign policy think tank; and angela stent is director of the center for eurasian, russian and east european studies at georgetown university. her latest book is "the limits of partnership: u.s. russian relations in the 21st century." welcome to you both. angela stent to you first, why the khodorkovsky pardon? >> well, i think it reveals two things. one of them is that putin clearly doesn't feel threatened any more by khodorkovsky sow doesn't have to keep him in jail. and i think there's a lot of-- it that it's been ten years but i think secondly it has to do with all the things we heard

. >> the olympic skier whose dreams is not to win in socchi, but to promote his sport in his homeland. >> hello welcome to al jazeera america. i'm thomas drayton. first a look at the update economy. the retail season spurred sales, the highest in three years. a bright outlook on the jobs front. more americans stayed employed. jobless claims fell by 42,000 last week. encouraging news for traders as they headed back to work after the christmas holiday. the stock market continued its climb with the dow hitting on all-time high. is the economy on track? here is what economist mark lieberman had to say. >> we says hurdles going forward. at the end of the month 2.5 million people go off unemployment insurance. the program will end. that's money spent. it's spent every day by every recipient. plus the jobs have not necessarily been the higher paying jobs. in october, for example, half the jobs created were in the retail sector or a hotel tore restaurant personnel. not career jobs or the best paying jobs. the best thing we can say about the economy is it's improving. there won't be a particul

sea resort of socchi. >> president putin offered support to families and relatives of those killed and injured in this attack. security at the winter olympics will continue to be an overriding concern for the kremlin. it's already deployed 30,000 troops and security personnel into the region in an attempt to lock down the olympics. >> in an internet video. the leader of russia's muslim separatist levels urged supporters to use force to disrupt the games. he was cancelling his moratorium on attacks inside russia. his group claimed responsibility for attacks, including the 2010 moscow underground attack that killed 40 people. two days ago a car bomb killed three in a southern russian city. as the violence continues to claim lives ordinary russians may wonder when the next attack will come. >> security has been tightened at railway station and airports across russia. for nearly 20 years russia has been fighting an insurgency in the north caucasus, including chechnya and dagestan and sochi. there has been 15 attacks in russia over the last 10 years. the attacks killing and -- killing hundr

it raises concerns for the winter olympics , starting on february 4th at socchi, 600km south of where the bomb went off. it's in the same reason. militants promised to destruct the games and as we have seen, they've been able to do what they did today. >> peter sharp reporting from moscow. thank you for joining us. >> ukraine's opposition stages a protest rally. what the government is doing about it - up text. >> iran is looking to draw in 10 million tourists next year. how an international agreement on the nuclear program could give the tourist industry quite the boost. >> good morning. welcome back. i'm morgan radford. these are the top stories we are following. >> a suicide bomb attack in russia killed more than 15 people and injured dozens of others. here we see a picture of a blast which tore through a train station at volgograd. a female suicide bomber detonated explosives as she walked through the metal detector. new analysis of those rockets used in a major chemical weapons attack in syria called into question how the event went down. >> the analysis points to the syrian regim

that was our olympics up until socchi. >> known for his near flawless slope of this style runs the indiana native skied when he was five years old. >> i started skiing at five and doing flips at 11. i grow up in south-eastern indiana, not known for skiing, but five minutes away from a 350 foot hill that i skied on after school and on the weekend. that got me into it. >> this sport is costly, so nick had to get creative to continue to ski. >> when i was 14, 15, dad lost his job and was unemployed for two years. financially my family was unstable. they were not able to support me to the full extent with skiing endeavours. i had to take the initiative to finance my skiing career myself. i was kind of an entrepreneur. i went to mum one day and gave her an idea that i had. she supported it. we went to the store and bought candy bars in bulk. and i would go to school, on the bus, with 20 pound box of candy bars every day and sell them to my friends for a dollar on the way to and back from school. i am sure i was a pest and they were sick of me asking them to buy candy bars. >> and for the pittsb

weeks from the start of the olympics when the eyes of the world will be focused on socchi. >> utah's attorney-general is appealing a court ruling on same-sex marriages. on friday a federal judge ruled a ban on same-sex marriages was unconstitutional. current laws deny citizens a fundamental right to marry. in doing so means a dignity of same self couples. the court finds that these laws are unconstitutional. salt lake county has begun to issue marriage licences to gay couples. the highest court in capital weighed in on constitution laws. sex for hire had some restrictions. the court is changing the rules. >> this was not a ruling on the legality of prostitution. it was a ruling on whether the restrictions imposed by parliament on prostitution, which is legal in canada is endangering sex workers. justices found they are. they struck down the prohibition on keeping a brothel. making a living. the plaintiff's argued that means they'll be able to take the security precautions need the. >> this is the first time in canadian history that sex workers are truly persons. we are truly citizens

socchi. >> on perfect snow, beneath the blue skies on the mountains of british columbia, a salary -- solitary skier trains. you're on your open, you are must at your own pace, and you are thinking about a million things. a monning the many things, memories of a night four years ago, the opening ceremonies of the vancouver games. >> you walk out, and it's, "oh, my god", and you feel the roar of people and it's - you can't put it into words. absolutely happy to be brilliant and carry the flag. >> he lives in seattle with wife frank and daughter filling out support. he gets some support from the international olympic committee and the sol darty program supporting ath leets and coaches from developing countries. he covers a third of the cost. $50,000 from his pocket. kate works for microsoft. he has a consulting business. born and raised in peru roberto was a surfing champion and long-distance runner before trying skiing, a sport that he admits he is still learning. >> i'm getting older and bette

. >> the olympic skier whose dreams is not to win in socchi, but to promote his sport in his homeland.

security at the winter olympics will continue to be an overriding concern for the kremlin. it deployed 30,000 troops and security personnel into the region in an attempt to lock down the winter olympics. >> in an internet video doku umarov, leader of russia's muslim separatist rebels urged supporters to use maximum force to disrupt the socchi games and was cancelling his moratorium. his group claimed responsibility, including the underground attack. >> two days ago a car bomb killed three in a russian city. ordinarily russians may be wondering where the next attack may come from >> here is background on the violence in russia. for two decades the government has been fighting with rebels in northern caucasus. from 1995 to 2013 there has been 15 attacks in russia, many involving chechen fighters, killing 1300 people, including hundreds of children. we take a closer look at chechen violence and security concerns ahead of the olympics. >> violence is no stranger to vladimir putin's russia, stemming from decades of conflict. 1999, the russian army inviteded chechnya, under order

there was little in the way of snow around socchi. preparations are going well, and the basic snow there is practically finished. this was a -- the scenery. we have had this month alone 2 metres of fresh snow. looking good, as i said there. we are not expecting to see snow over the next couple of days. that's probably it. we have snow around the turkish mountains. looking south heavy rain coming back into the eastern side. syria, lebanon, jordan. it will make its way east, running into iraq, and it's tied up with an intense area of low pressure across the eastern side of the mediterranean. it will run across southern parts of turkey pushing to the eastern side. it's a mobile situation. it has a fair amount of snow over the alps, fine weather into sunday. as we make our way towards the new year it turns wet again. >> in the united states extended benefits for the unemployed are set to end this saturday. it means a grim january for 1.3 million americans cut off from cash assistance. payments are unlikely to resume. congress let the emer

he is concerned somewhat and he needs people to come to socchi and for socchi to be a success and he needed to score the points. the world in the next month before socchi, it will be slightly more hesitant, perhaps, to be critical of him and say maybe if you release mikhail khordorkovsky on humanitarians grounds, maybe human rights abuse, there is his propaganda, it may not be a horrible thing as we think it is. >> thank you for coming in today, we appreciate it. >> chase bank is trying to protect customers' debit cards after a massive data breach at target stores. the move affects 2 million customers. the bank is temporarily limited atm withdrawals to $100 and restricting card purchases for $300 and recommends they go into a branch for additional cash. >> now i speak to someone from a security firm specialising in chip technology. what is behind the move by chase. i was struck by it. have you seen anything done like this before? >> i think it's normal that data is breached, that you need to reduce the financial institutions and the retailers financial exposure. so it is not an unusu