present a very of pledges the opposition will have a better say in a new parliament and reiterates that all claims of electoral violations will be investigated. sanctions on syria and one side of pressure don't work russia's foreign minister condemns the west for ignoring atrocities committed by all the opposition groups who he says aims to create a humanitarian catastrophe in the country. a deadly attack in belgium as a man throws hand grenades and opens fire in crowds in the city killing at least three people and injuring over one hundred more. than a russian convoy carrying humanitarian aid for cause of a service stuck at the border after being blocked by police from moving further into northern cause of the reporter is at the same.

present in between medvedev has promised all reports of violations during russia's recent parliamentary poll will be looked into he made the comments as he met with leaders of the party's elected to the state duma the lower house of parliament sara firth has more now from central moscow. we had mcdade of the pools addressing the concerns of the election violations he once again reiterated the old these claims are going to be fully investigated though we also heard him talking about the pol the opposition to going to have to play in the need to miss saying that they should have the best say in the team a committee of course we had all the elections united russia lost the parliamentary majority that she says majority so you know it's russia two we're talking about two

milledge in the thought they will have to work much closer with the opposition in the feature to boss important decisions that compromises will need to be made of course all of this coming on the back of tens of thousands of people taking to the streets over the weekend to have their political voices heard amongst other things demanded a rerun but they call them until elections now so it's already turning somewhat to the presidential election so it will be happening in march and we've seen russian billionaire mikhail prokhorov throwing his hat into the ring he announced his decision to run somewhat surprising he's been known in the polls much more his other pursuits which of course being russia's third richest man that is money and metals and. he's also the idea of an american basketball to name for his exploits as rush's most eligible bachelor but it's the political fail that he's been looking to play at the moment he was leading white schools in the some of the he quit that

quite visibly in september we're seeing him now planning to return to the political spin now he's. had his spokesman of this company announce that he has plans to buy media a major media holding here in russia that's. again a very interesting the times decision because thomas sand has seen a lot of controversy surrounding it today also its decision to fire its. i wanted the chief editor of a magazine now they were fired for publishing a pitch that depicted thing language that was related see the parliamentary elections they're firing cause a huge amount of. commentary among journalists inside and outside of russia. apologize for being published but that ongoing at the moment that's been. raising some eyebrows certainly. keeping lively in this post-election political debate.

but we've now receive reports that the spokesperson for the owner of newspapers denied there are plans to sell the publishing house and we'll wait and see her replies to that in due course well still to come this hour here on r t a russian convoy carrying humanitarian aid for kosovo serbs is stuck at the border after being blocked by police from moving further into northern kosovo and i reporter is at the scene. also still to come crowds of the former ukrainian prime minister supporters of storm the court building where you seven year jail term for power abuse is being appealed. but first russia's foreign minister has accused the west of turning a blind eye to armed opposition groups in syria which aim to destabilize the situation there and create further calls for foreign intervention so he could have a lot of repeated his belief that a one sided approach to resolving the country's crisis is wrong and wants both

sides to hold dialogue to broker peace. has more. foreign minister lavrov slams the west for what it says is a one sided approach by some western states to the situation in syria he says that instead of looking for ways to bring peace to the country more pressure is being applied on the syrian authorities while the atrocities committed by some of the problem western groups within the syrian opposition are being ignored and these groups use hostile and aggressive tactics which only rock the boat and worsen the crisis even further but it's not at all the preserve of our partners who are calling on us to be decisive don't want to condemn violence committed stream is groups which have become increasingly active in syria in the city of homes several blocks have been occupied by militants they regularly attacked army posts as well as administrative buildings hospitals schools police patrols and public transports

i think there's no doubt that their goal is to provoke a humanitarian crisis should have an excuse to coup for outside intervention. to go off added to that presenting these hostilities as the syrian opposition's efforts to gain democracy by some western states is an inadequate approach at the moment he stressed that the libyan scenario cannot be repeated in syria and reminded that russia and china are putting forward their draft resolution on syria to the un security council which condemns the violence but does not give way for any foreign military intervention in the country and said that accusing russia of hampering the work of the un security council in these conditions is immoral elbow foreign ministers including of course the i was serious with algeria being one of the keep whereas in the arab league have also called for syrian authorities to allow

monitors from the organizations to enter the country see what's going on there on the spot and actually said you are all source said. wanted monitors from the bric countries could also drawing them meaning brazil russia india china of course. the violence in syria that's plagued the country for nine months has recently intensified with the death toll now exceeding five thousand people according to the un's latest estimates but syria's ambassador to the organization has dismissed the allegations as incredible with some experts also questioning the source of the figures. there are definite questions on the credibility of the theory of human rights observatory particularly when it comes to the number of victims that they allege sherriff victims after the government atrocities. and you can watch our full interview with the specialist on the region dr rania massereene on our web site r.t. dot com where there's also plenty of other expert opinion on syria's ongoing unrest and all the latest news from there. at least three people have been killed and over

one hundred twenty injured in the hand grenade and gun assault on a crowd in the building city of leisure police say the attack was carried out by a building citizen who died in the incident. cilia has more details. as police continue to investigate the matter details are becoming clearer so what it what happened is at around twelve thirty afternoon here in. about eighty kilometers from brussels in a crowded city center a gun man had thrown about three grenades into a crowd and also opened fire at those people and it's it was reported that he also have more grenades on him now the prosecutor has confirmed that this man has a serve time in jail for crimes related to guns drugs and sexual abuse and he was on his way for police questioning when he launched the attack and among the dead include the gunmen a fifteen year old boy a seventeen year old girl and an elderly woman and of course there were dozens injured the those numbers continue to change. goes on now what this

terrorism has been ruled out of this incident but of course any such attack of this nature in the city center in an urban area is thinkable unimaginable for people and it does draw memories of that recent attack in norway where a bomb explosions went off in the capital and although then a gunman had gone on a shooting spree on the island of utah where there were students gathering for a political meeting there were several dozens killed in this incident so of course such an attack of this kind of this scale has rocked the contrary and of course has taken the people off guard. u.s. troops in front of you to withdraw from iraq by december thirty first in the early years of war u.s. president barack obama reiterated that point in a joint news conference with the rocks prime minister who's on an official visit to washington the boma says the troops are leaving a sovereign and so on to iraq but as well as he's sure to was discovered many

iraqis still wonder what america really accomplished. as two thousand and eleven draws to an end and historical chapter for iraq and the us is finishing as well the occupation is over six feet deep i'm glad that the americans are leaving who are still concerned because after the troops leave who do not know what will happen next meanwhile despite all the efforts by the us there is doubt that anything significant has been accomplished in implementing a new form of democratic government but i think that's why they're not. on. the old system is it. and they split the hope in. think that this thing would be more done from said down syndrome that's for generations iraq has been plagued by sectarian violence now moving forward there is concern whether different parties can agree to work together for the benefit of the country the problem of the with the u.s.

forces but i know. for sure that the from the top to pick. up now the problem the fight to securing that border to come. one of the problems here in iraq is that the infrastructure it was already crumbling but as the conflict progressed it was all but destroyed now the people living here say there's a lot of rhetoric about rebuilding but the political infighting and corruption is blocking any real progress on the military is getting very big footing and i think but in the same time will not see yet another new projects going people you know. the city the same the security just little is that the this is that i think over and beyond the political challenges there has been an exodus of critical thinkers and educated talent in the country a much needed resource for any developing nation we hear people who are working and

need to see a world where you keep. everything. so we need to lean. on . leaving iraqis in a position of continued reliance on american resources in baghdad sean thomas r.t. . the us troops may be were drawing from iraq but one of its military contractors is planning to return to the country the company formerly known as blackwater has been involved in several scandals including the killings of iraqi civilians now and for the second time the company's changes name dr joseph fitz a markets from the security and intelligence studies program tells r.t. about the company's future and its checkered past. i cademy represents a long term trend a very visible trend in american security and military areas in which we see the privatization of all of these organizations or agencies and what we're seeing now basically is

a corporatization of privatization of american military and security services and that's exactly what it represents it's got in trouble several times in iraq the fallujah incident the square massacre that killed seventeen iraqi civilians and of course constant. constant cases of smuggling of weapons. being caught several times by the state department for instance and later we hear from a former indian ambassador to iraq and author of the book the ultimate prize he thinks that america doesn't plan a complete pullout from the middle east country in that interview in full comes later this hour but here's a quick clip of what's to come. i don't consider this an american withdrawal i think it's just a reshuffling of the pack if you would draw from iraq completely you leave this. in the hands of a shiite led government which means we're going on to counter this the americans have now thought of withdrawing their troops but at the same time strengthening

their position in iraq now the u.s. embassy in iraq is going to be about twenty thousand strong it's going to have. offices like training training of troops. who will be. basically americans who would be military men but working for the u.s. embassy by agreeing to withdraw troops as per the agreement they are coming back varying civilian clothes and in fact i don't see any lessening of american influence as far as iraq is concerned. and you can logon to our website r.t. dot com for more stories comment and analysis and here's what's there for you right now or should you log on there's much western media hype over this footage filmed during russia's weekend election protests which claims that the strange aircraft used for aerial photography was a u.f.o.

or a government surveillance drone. plus a bridge ablaze dramatic pictures of fire raging on this vital piece of infrastructure in russia's far east with hundreds brought in to help fight the flames. russian trucks with humanitarian aid bound for serbs in kosovo have been blocked on the checkpoint by e.u. forces and eagle has the details from their. this humanitarian convoy has become a little bit of a political hot potato and the crisis only seems to be growing it set off of from russia a week ago it doesn't carry anything controversial just basic necessities which i needed full. and said i had thought of course we've been struggling through the

past few months with blockades and everything else and it was doing i'll tell you until it seemed to reach the border this morning at which point it was apparently some of the trucks and the corner let through but then the whole congress stopped and they received information that apparently elect which is the e.u. mission and culture which is manned mainly by albanians which represent their interests mainly want to see you as call this convoy into the problem of course and this is something which is unacceptable to the i think this was from the point of the serbs an attempt once again to try and weaken that official backup from the specials and that policeman in the serbian territory and the like this information which we received from the russian side is that now there will be no compromise to what connally will be it's simply the struct will be turned back and they'll have to get although i'd like to refer. hundreds of protests has been storming ukraine's court of appeal that's why the country's former prime minister's conviction for

peace of power is being challenge you to machine guns trying to avoid spending seven years in jail but could be present in court you to pull health meaning the hearings with a spring to wednesday season next year just he has this report. the fate of ukraine's former prime minister still remains in the shadows because we understand according to her lawyers that according to the iranian law the appeal decision the decision on her appeal cannot be taken without your presence in the court room and she is not here and there's also a great deal of controversy on that story as well so some sources say that she has a very serious blood disease other sources say that she has a ruptured spine and she cannot walk by herself that's why she was not delivered to the court building as of today on the other hand. the medical crew inside the detention center report that to her condition is not as severe as it's been told and that in fact she can and she's able to attend this court session so it is a mystery why she was not delivered to the court building as of today now. it's

being convicted to seven years in prison for abusing her power during when she signed gas deals with russia in two thousand and nine but even if the appeal court brings a positive decision on her appeal she would not be set free immediately because the stars were understand there's almost a dozen other charges against her this is only the first day of the appeal hearing and definitely this is not the last protest we'll be seeing over the next few weeks or even possibly months as some experts predict time now for a quick look at what else is making news around the world in our world update at this stage of the day as his new president months have most uki has been sworn in a transitional government becoming the country's first leader after the popular uprising almost a year ago president zene. was ousted off to weeks of public protests the election of the interim leader for his approval over the weekend of temporary bonds to guide the nation until a new constitution can be adult. footage has emerged from china of

a group of bystanders lifting a car to free young girl who'd been hit by the vehicle and trapped underneath security video shows the five year old sitting in the street just before the call drove over sixteen people work together to ensure to ensure that the child was pulled to safety. canada has pulled out of the ninety ninety seven ninety global warming kyoto protocol saying the treaty is not working the party comes a day after further climate talks in south africa led to a new agreement which is set to replace kyoto by twenty fifteen peers called in the founder of the weather action foundation supports kind of his exit and here's why. i don't believe in climate change because there is no evidence for it in fact carbon dioxide is control boy world temperatures rather than the other way around so frankly i'm glad that i left the kyoto protocol process and i hope it heralds the collapse of the whole thing climate change is going on and the

key aspects of the big very extreme events happen in the last eighteen months were predicted boy asked whether actually using solar activity carbon dioxide has zero effect here effect no effect whatsoever it is a complete waste of time it's a waste of public money it's. a gravy train for so-called scientists looking into things that don't exist and of course for governments to impose taxation and oil companies to increase oil prices on the back of. increasing energy prices which is the thing demanded by the global warming just nonsense lobby that's the news for you this hour i'll be back with headlines of our top stories for in about ten minutes from now in the meantime despite america's military withdrawal from iraq washington is still preparing plans to control the country's rich oil reserves well that's according to ranjit singh color he's india's former ambassador to iraq and that interview is next stay with us for that.

president obama has announced the united states will definitively end the war in iraq at the end of this month but as the united states attempts to get the military personnel and contractors out of the country questions still remain about the implications of this decision for security in the region joining me to help discuss

this is the former indian ambassador to iraq and the author of the book the ultimate prize saying kala things so much for joining me first of all i want to ask you about the recent terrorist attacks in iraq obviously there have been quite a few in the past few years and they've claimed hundreds of iraqi citizens lives do you think there is still a role for the united states in iraq when the americans walked in there not to have done anything but to introduce some semblance of democracy otherwise what was the reason of going in and once they went in and they decided introduce some semblance of democracy it was going to be a shiite led government and because it was a shiite the government it has very strong links with its cool. you don't. and therefore the main aim which i should say was to make sure that

the oil be vast oil wealth of iraq remains available would be in jeopardy and i think that is basically the present dilemma if you withdraw from iraq completely you leave this why must you call in the hands of a shiite led government which very close links with iran and therefore it upsets the political balance as far as the middle east is concerned so to that extent. to counter this the americans have now thought of withdrawing the troops but at the same time strengthening the position in iraq now the u.s. embassy in iraq is going to be about almost twenty thousand strong it's going to have numerous what they call some offices like training training of troops etc who will be. basically americans who will be basically military men but working for the u.s. embassy similarly there will be a consulate in there will be

a consulate in. good cook there would be a consulate for the not each one of these gauntlets is about a thousand strong it will perhaps be the largest u.s. embassy anywhere in the world i mean normal embassies are usually between thirty to forty maybe if it's a very big embassy perhaps one hundred strong but twenty thousand strong it means that they're going to be lots of other people who are going to be still in iraq and you sort of just spoke about these sectarian issues with then. one and if the united states technically leaves the country how do you think the iraqi government will be able to stop these sectarian divisions into becoming a full fledged civil war it's going to be extremely difficult because if you see the communities of iraq as they existed most of the military

in the u.s. invasion iraq was sunni dominated most of the officers were sunni. the shirts were basically foot soldiers they had more basic military training as such and therefore because it was a similar government they were able to keep them in check it was basically by force of arms that people were kept would be called in check and of course the strong arm methods of every ruler who has been there whether it was even earlier most of them were using very tough methods to keep. the population in check no whether the new government that is the shiite led government will be able to equally dic stronger measures to control the what they called situation is a bit doubtful because frankly i don't think they have the experience to be able to run a country like iraq i foresee sectarian violence perhaps may not be of the scale that it is no but may have little more than what is presently going on and you mention

the united states troops going to crawl way how do. i think the arab gulf countries are going to react to that are they going to welcome the americans i don't think so because i don't see i don't see this withdrawal. actually i think it's just the shuffle of the cards so as to speak because the american not going very far they're just going to quit which is next door and you can always come back because the bases will be kept intact and as i mentioned with a twenty thousand strong u.s. embassy most of the staff etc will always be there and secondly they have made sure that there is no iraqi air force in fact you find that there is hardly perhaps not even less than they don't even have five planes to fly around so they don't control the airspace the airspace will be controlled by the americans. which means that you can green force at will whenever you want however you want and you can

also prevent anybody else from coming in perhaps even if the iranians were to decide the american air force would be available make sure that they don't cross over so i don't see i don't consider this an american withdrawal i think it's just a reshuffling of the pack and i want to thank you so much air time thank you. twenty years ago in the largest country in the. disappearance of. say. what had been. each began a journey. where did it take them.

to. come up. with. more news today violence is once again flared up from these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada.

sheinkopf orations or on the day.