bringing you the latest in something in. the future covered. with the old i mean with the new we bring you the highs and lows of twenty ten years it'll be remembered in russia and around the world. it has been the turbulent twelve months in western countries with a wave of civil unrest raging across europe and some saying this is worse in store one feel sturdy cuts coming before. plus new year's nights of time for miracles for many russian families thousands will make their wishes when the kremlin strikes midnight by a chorus of clinking. this

is r.t. it's eight pm friday night the thirty first of december here in moscow my name is kevin o. and welcome to the program now just a few moments we'll be taking a look back at the biggest events of twenty ten but before that some places are already celebrating new year and parts of russia are among the parties invade in full swing in the far east and then it's set to sweep through all nine time zones of russia to the country's western most borders our correspondents give us a snapshot next of what's going on all around russia with alex had been in the capital sara furthur in the south and a lympics city of sochi and sean thomas in the eastern city of your quote. we've brought the party outside i don't know why because this is the coldest region on earth in fact it's about thirty four degrees below zero out here centigrade but that's ok it's not stopping any of the fun in fact i'm joined by actually khan who is the version of good models which of course is the russian version of father

frost celebrations couldn't be better out here in fact one of the main features about this area because it is so cold a lot of the decorations for new year are involve ice involve the cold in fact we're standing in the midst of a beautiful frozen ice sculpture a village which is all that a beautiful with lights it's just an amazing amazing time earlier today we had to you had the opportunity to spend preparing for the new year with families getting ready for their celebrations we went to the market with them which was an interesting experience in itself no need for refrigerators there have been because well in fact all of the fish are frozen all of the meat is frozen even the milk is sold in frozen blocks we then went in joined a family that had adopted more than eight children as they had their new year's celebration that meal it was a very special time as they had a traditional russian meal as well but really the people here they don't let the

cold bring them down that they embrace the freezing temperatures in fact believe it or not there is a heat wave going on here it is only minus thirty four degrees right now usually around this time it's about minus fifty minus your two can even get down to minus sixty two degrees below centigrade so right now they're embracing the heat wave saying they're enjoying these wonderfully warm temperatures as you can see i'm dressed to the hilt just so that i can stand these temperatures but this is a part of their life and it's a part of their new year and they're saying that two thousand and eleven is just going to be brilliant. thanks to date in your part of the world out of chile minus thirty four ok let's go to tempe is a plus ten though and had to. sure of the olympic city you choose to suddenly warm up there they are with you getting into the spirit of it preparations are well underway we've had a few more people turning out on the main square here and you can see them. his feet in the drink and we've got the band and in the background you've got the band doing a couple of sound checks ahead of the concert be having and we're enjoying an incredibly

mild evening still to. where it's much warmer climate so we've been able to ditch the warm place of the chill and so much of russia has been enjoying this sort of weather now even in the coldest month of january it doesn't much. we actually manage to paddle yesterday in the black sea which is about five minutes away from where we are here but not just the miles climate that attracts millions of people every year it's the largest resort city in russia and as well as the black sea and the beautiful coastline with its pebble and sun beaches about an hour away from that you've got snow capped mountains and the very popular. weather like president medvedev and prime minister putin to see sochi of course going to be the face of the twenty fifth when. they head back in the sense that today we're getting into

the spirit of things this new christmas tree behind us in the background in the mediterranean style climate means we've also got some palm trees that are certainly feeling the holiday spirit here the main as we gear up for our new year in just a few hours time sir first you go to baltimore it was slightly envious but of course. now there's always a big show to make up for the fact that we maybe don't have problems on the streets tonight big. heaven as there is a saying here in the russian capital good luck sticks to those who rush hour in the new year all right. square and whether or not you believe in superstition there's no denying that the policy that's going to take place on this historic landmark in just a few hours' time from now will full the focal point of the celebrations across moscow and indeed as the celebration focused on friends five words and of course champagne

drinking now we are expecting over a million other hall of people to descend on downtown of moscow across all its main historic squares and lawn mobs the main street sky is streets will be closed to cause them to destine eyes from eleven thirty pm on wood so a street policy of schools can take place there but of course the main event you take place all in red square behind me people not only from moscow russia but from across the world are where do you begin to converge on this site we spoke to some of the over they told us about their new year's resolutions and i just want everybody to be happy in the chinese here the rabbit i want this year to bring everyone only positive emotions of love and help you to see it should you this is my wish everyone the best of luck i hope that everything that is one that will happen. and that everyone feels happy in this new year are you sure money. on of course for me and for myself and we have always held a great insights

a very distraught some people we wishing for all the strike of midnight when the policy really will kick off the red square and the kremlin spastic a clock time i will chime marking the beginning of the celebrations a launch show featuring singing and dancing and five will take place on the square itself president deby to read that is new year's message we carried on big screens across the capital and it will crescendo up to an enormous fantastic follow words take place over the most of course most muscovites will be enjoying the celebration from the comforts of. they're ok with but there you see you do decide to brave the elements will be treated to a fantastic show that i think is being lined up for them here in the russian capital. a bit of the rest of the team lined up or to bring in the action tonight well as twenty ten comes to a close we open the vault to the year just past capturing the despair and disaster

as well as the heroic and historic and it was a year when also espionage and intrigue took hold with spy scandals and embarrassing wiki leaks causing global sensations there's also cause for hope to with the world's biggest nuclear powers decided to cut their arsenals i'm for russia now it's the world cup was a crowd a moment now to do this in though it takes a look at what's behind what's ahead for us. twenty ten it was a year filled with leaks and laughter tears and tragedies it got off to a good start for russia signs of economic recovery no gas crisis with ukraine or bell the roots like in previous years and a relatively bearable winter but that all changed in march when terror struck. twin blasts rocked moscow's metro during morning rush hour killing forty and injuring over one hundred two women suicide bombers blew themselves up on

a central line one just meters from r.t. headquarters. we will find all of those who are guilty and we will punish them too kumara from chechnya who's on the international most wanted list and has links to al qaeda is the suspected mastermind behind the attack and its chain of special operations several terrorist involved in the suicide bombings were taken out by russian special forces. presidents dmitri medvedev and barack obama signed the new start treaty in the spring setting to slash both countries strategic nuclear stockpiles by a third this is the most significant arms control agreement in nearly two decades congress only approved the pact just before christmas and the russian duma is expected to follow suit after months of waiting for their counterparts on capitol hill to get through bipartisan wrangling there were fears the pact would be amended or blocked by senate republicans over unrelated domestic issues both the kremlin

and white house see sealing the deal as a cornerstone in the restart between russia and the u.s. . april tenth a tragedy with echoes and history shocks the world polish president lech kaczynski and most of the country's political elite were killed when their t.-u. one fifty four crashed near smolensk. the delegation was going to mark seventy years since twenty thousand polish officers were massacred at cut them by soviet secret police just days before the accident a joint commemoration that could win was seen as a tremendous step for russian polish relations with a new over the past few days we held remembrance ceremonies mourning the victims of told told a tear in his room kaczynski was coming to russia to pay tribute to the killed polish officers all russians share in your grief and sorrow. russian

polish thais continue to warm as the two nations mourn together. in twenty ten russian mark sixty five years since defeating nazi germany in what's known as the great patriotic war. an elaborate parade was how down red square as heads of state looked on to commemorate some twenty seven million soviet lives lost during world war two. it was the first time in history countries that made up the allied forces took part in the tradition. twenty ten also saw the return of cold war spy scandal sending bombshells like her anna chapman into the headlines for weeks and then home to russia. she's. innocent inspires me more than the amount and the quality of people i met in new york it's the strongest largest and

the most solid community in the world. but you didn't get to stay for long fam fatah and the chapman was just one of ten alleged russian spies exchanged in vienna for four american spies serving sentences in russia the scandal worthy of a hollywood blockbuster broke just after obama and medvedev dished out politics over burgers in virginia the media frenzy was a lot hotter than tempers in the u.s. and russia who ignored the hype with cool cooperation. record heat wreaked havoc in russia with summer temperatures in twenty ten lingering at forty celsius for over a month hundreds of wildfires ravaged the country killing over fifty and leaving thousands homeless. the flames left the capital covered in a blanket of toxic smog for weeks almost caus mayor stay on vacation in the outs yuri luzhkov was sacked the next month with president medvedev saying he lacked

confidence in the mayor and sergei sabean and soon became our scouse top man. officially our first in the middle east iran's bushehr nuclear power plant was launched and loaded and is said to be connected to the country's electric grid within months saving iran eleven million barrels of oil a year the plan design provided by specialists from russia which also provides the nuclear fuel and deals with the waste iran considers the launch a victory and proof of their peaceful atomic program despite criticism from the u.s. and israel. he never made it off the short list as time's person of the year but for many he is the man of twenty ten wiki leaks founder julian assange exposed hundreds of thousands of iraq war documents and american diplomatic cables to name just a few the u.s.

government would like to get a silence here and we hear lakes the wiki leaks website will continue to run. these documents were stolen the freedom of speech any breach of security like this is bad for diplomacy to have gone to an extraordinary job of journalism many people believe mr song to be innocent and in sweden he faces allegations of rape and sons was arrested in the u.k. where he was seeking refuge later being granted bail after a legal wrangle and now has to wait to find out whether he'll be extradited to sweden clearing my name is not a hard task i have the highest task i have is to continue on with my work the whistleblower continues to leak into the new year. well and yukos had the record ski was found guilty of laundering over twenty five billion dollars worth of oil and sentenced to fourteen years in jail he has nearly served out an eight year sentence for tax evasion and fraud and faces another six

behind bars russia has been criticized for politicizing the case but putin says compared to financier bernie made offs one hundred fifty years fourteen years is nothing more than a slap on the wrist. and last but not least twenty eight hundred feet from both ladies and gentlemen to be organized. it was a nail biting way to the announcement with russia and england going head to head till the very end. little sloshes secured the bid with his big dreams of football and england secured have minds by doubling russia's win a fix for them both down over my high thank you prime minister putin only went to zurich after the announcement saying he didn't want to pressure fi fuck but david

cameron and prince william weren't enough to bring the world cup home to england russia didn't let the sort of losing rain on their parade winning the right to host the world cup certainly goes down as one of the most enduring will moments of the year but that does it for our look at twenty eight hands top ten and now away and from all of us here at our happy new year stay with us for the top of dance in twenty eleven. well for europe twenty ten was the year when some of its countries came to realize that you can't spend what you don't have a loud sound austerity began to be closely associated with the euro and hundreds of thousands of angry people all across the continent lashed out in response sprigs at the timeline for. the summer of discontent that became a winter woes for europe in crisis across the continent tens of thousands repeatedly turned out to protest against their government often resulting in

violence and destruction. and it's not over yet after a brief holiday hiatus most assured the unrest will return in the new year and we haven't seen the worst of it yet. the first bomb on the door mats the credit card bills people will be beginning to lose their jobs people have been living the proof of this on their credit cards to pay their mortgages they're going to start defaulting that's when the real protests are going to stop in the u.k. was a huge hike in college fees that sparked the violence. in our land the country's near collapse forced its toughest ever budget to secure an e.u. and i.m.f. rescue in greece in spain public sector pay slashed while taxes rice. for the french it's the prospect of being forced to work longer all measures which

ensure working people pay for the mistakes of bankers and governments britain's enduring the harshest cuts since the second world war also reeling over forking out around twelve billion dollars for a u. membership and as we've seen the contribution rise i think is going up by two point nine percent unfortunately that is you know it's enough to get people actually quite quite red in the face quite hot headed because we are having to see massive cuts here local authorities are cutting back on their frontline services and actually we don't feel as british people that we get that much in the we put a lot in we don't get an awful lot out london's biggest protest of more than fifty thousand fell on deaf ears as inside the house of commons members. noted to make students pay three times as much for their diplomas but they insist the vote hasn't dampened their spirits what parliament can do. to the movement can and do in fact

we believe that we still have the chance of defeating the higher education bill which is going to be debated in the new year so far in the u.k. students and trade unions have been the most vocal but veteran politician and campaign attorney says the next move would be so for united front. students support pensioners who are finding their pensions. disadvantaged public support those who benefits are being cut to the thing becomes a very powerful political movement for justice and once the governments have to listen right now the cuts are on paper but once they begin to bite so too will an increasingly angry public not even the christmas tree on trafalgar square emerged unscathed from this winter's violence an annual gift from the people of norway and a symbol of peace and goodwill protesters tried to set fire to the tree and graffiti on nelson's call in nearby and this isn't the end of civil unrest in the

u.k. or across europe as governments continue to dig their way out of the crisis by forcing austerity onto the people the people continue opposing them you're at this party. well on. for many russians new year's eve results of the perfect time to look for miracles it seems all you need is a napkin a pen the obligatory glass of champagne. as if it was on a boy who explains next your wish has to be made when the kremlin clock strikes midnight if you want to come. it was a hectic new year's eve four years ago because some family was marking their six year together with all of finishing the cooking and paid to entertain in the guests . but as the cramming clock started counting down the last seconds of the year everybody poor as. they rode out wishes and napkins burn them and soak the ashes in

the champagne according to the time honored russian ritual drinking it should a grand even the most unattainable wish of the hour. i can tell you what i have asked for because this way it won't come true let's wait and see if i am lucky with my wish you will know about it a symbol of russia's officialdom the kremlin charms are also an embodiment of people's most private hopes every year has the clock strikes midnight millions of russians ask fortune for favors for those few seconds even cynics start to believe in magic. you can call it the cinderella fact according to polls the majority of those who are scribed wish granting powers to the kremlin chimes are women and some of the most popular new year's wishes include finding your chill live getting married and having a baby. the largest cloak in moscow these kremlin timepiece is also among the oldest in russia the current mechanism was installed in the late nineteenth century

and it's still a measure of precision and while the chimes have more of the pendulum of russian history swinging many times according to historians the wish making tradition is relatively new. put it over the fish tradition could be traced back to soviet times because never before had red square and the kremlin had such a sacred status it wasn't well publicized back then because there was no place for superstition in communist ideology but people made their wishes anyway and here's why four years after synchronizing their hopes for the kremlin. chimes the descent the family has that own little new year a miracle running around the house and helping with the festive first decoration at the will of the farmers and she's the wish i wrote on that piece of napkin in the one i mean in many many other occasions but i know for a fact from my own experience in the experience of my friends that on new year's eve you need to ask for something very dear to your heart and it will definitely

come true for you there will be no gifts of frantic cooking deceiving but all in biggest say was there dora goes to see the dream fairy they're all going to have a bottle of bubbly t.v. saturday crumbing chimes and proceed with the wishful thinking they're already think they're like a store but didn't stop dreaming. artsy mosco. well here in moscow still just over three in our foes to go until big night but of course if you are already celebrating the new year twenty eleven in your part of the world all very best wishes not forgotten as they say to you and thank you for watching out. ok look now at some of the last major headlines than of twenty ten first off devastating floods in eastern astri affecting some two hundred thousand people as rising waters submerged homes and businesses officials in queensland saying the flood zone covers an area bigger than france and germany combined the

entire populations of two towns have been evacuated from their homes to safety while others have been completely cut off it's estimated the cleanup will cost billions of dollars. the u.n. is warning followers of ivory coast's defeated leader to drop the threat of attacking the hotel where its security forces and the president elect based it's feared that saturday's planned assault could spark another civil war long refuses to quit his rival's been recognized by the international community is winning last month's election resulting violence has claimed over one hundred seventy three lives so far. and a few more of those new year's celebrations they are of course well underway now in the pacific asia zealand and australia marking the beginning of twenty with a bang usual amazing scenes there from sydney and the harbor bridge so to instantly did tyvon it staged so far would display against the spectacular backdrop of the skyscrapers millions of people are expected to brave harsh weather conditions to

attend events to bring scenes of celebration all over the world in the coming hours . i'm kevin thanks for being with our team tonight this new year's eve a round of the best sporting events of twenty ten in about twenty minutes time for now but before that the latest business from moscow. they are welcome to this special business program here on out a looking at some of the highlights of two thousand and ten. this year so russia and its most ambitious privatization program since the one nine hundred ninety s. the government plans to sell stakes in major state owned companies within the next three years in the hope of attracting around thirty billion dollars the list contains hundreds of companies of different sizes of the berries sectors of russia's the biggest oil producer rose in the twenty five percent the same goes for

russian railways the country's biggest lender has to sell seven percent of g.d.p. will sell thirty five point five percent bottles and cans a seventy percent stake in hydropower holding was under fifty percent minus one share stake and shipping companies solve conflicts russia will keep control of the retaining fifty percent plus one share fault if the sell off is a success the state says it's ready to offload even more. as the first step we plan to retain fifty percent plus one share for the state in the next three years but depending on the results and looking at the market trends we can go further and sell the controlling stake so in the majority of companies we can lower the state's share to twenty five percent plus one. for the second year in a row russia's stock markets have taken a leading growth positions among global indices as a mistake rose you reports. very strong and better than expected that's how most

analysts describe this year's performance of the russian stock markets both the r.t.s. and my six have grown over twenty two percent in comparison the japanese nikkei lost two percent the footsie s. and p. five hundred and jones in the seas are lingering around the ten percent mark of wood in russia this is been a year for domestic retailers pharmacies utilities can make is they grew the most outside as well oiled companies and guns boom that didn't gain anything analysts say the oil and gas sectors growth was hampered by b.p.'s oil spill in the gulf of mexico low oil and gas prices and relatively low realization of volumes however russia is still looking cheaper than its peers russian companies now trade at a price to earnings multiples of nine and a half versus brazil and companies brazilian market trading at a thirteen year a share and cheney's above sixteen in fact.