noise on our t. hopes fade of finding more survivors from the oil platform that sank in the cold waters off russian far east coast with rescuers failing to locate the missing. the cloud of uncertainty descends on eastern asia as the death of north korean leader kim jong il leaves neighbors on the edge of growing fears of violent conflict could follow its demise. and israel pushes for more settlements announcing over a thousand new homes in east jerusalem the west bank in response to palestine progress toward status. in. life from moscow this is r.t.

will malcolm to fiji's joins us it's now eleven pm here my name is kevin owen and first eleven bodies have been pulled out of the freezing sea off russia's far east coast where an oil rig capsized and sank on sunday crews are still working to recover other possible victims seen in the water earlier a life raft was spotted which was initially thought to be carrying fifteen people but sadly it turned out to be empty fourteen were rescued from the sea shortly after the rig collapsed but several dozen a still missing artie's jacob grieve is in no second linsky in the coastal region where that disaster unfolded. it's looking increasingly unlikely that any war survivors will be found search and rescue teams who have made contact with lifeboats and life rafts for out the course of the day but no people so far no survivors crucially have been found as a very similar story to that of sunday and largely this is owing to the fact that

this all reek sank so quickly in bad weather conditions that swept away many of these lifeboats before it seems people could board them and we're looking at a very grave picture present if there are any survivors though been in the water for well over twenty four hours now typically given nighttime conditions that means planes can't fly and can't we use try and search out any signs of life indeed throughout the course of one day we have seen the number of people found dead and mounting as for those who have been found alive for so far fourteen in toto took place on sunday where they're plucks from the water shortly after the sinking of this oil rig for the were immediately flown out to sakhalin here for further treatment a day have been ruled that they're in a fit and good state and that she those four have undergone questioning in it

because certainly in this case the criminal case has been opened to try and find out what exactly happened some of the theories that have been put forward so far looked so perhaps as this oil rig took on a significant amounts of water which meant it sank very quickly it's all occurred approximately two hundred kilometers off the coast of suck ali in russia's far east as it already has been towed support by an icebreaker a very bad weather conditions now of course the search and rescue operation is still ongoing there are many more still missing and expecting it continue throughout the course of the evening. well arty's crews in the region are following the latest developments for you hopefully over the coming hours we're going to show you more of how the rescue is progressing from both the air and the sea as well as hearing from those relatives of desperate of course for information about their love of this coverage when our web site tragedies through the eyes of a witness to vanish to track down an eye witness

a survivor recording the final minutes before but oil rig capsized the details from him on our website are to go. japan's voicing fears of a possible military escalation of the korean peninsula after the death of the north's leader kim jong il the warning follows a state of emergency and military alert declared by south korea china internes expressed its condolences but is also reported to have sent troops to its border with the reclusive state it's all being driven by fears of a possible succession conflict now as the late leader's youngest son kim jong un prepares to assume power the country has declared a period of mourning with state t.v. showing outpourings of emotion from across the country he said this is how he reports on the man who personified north korea's communist state. a mystery to the world what now for north korea with its leader kim jong il gone this massive military greet was held in two thousand and eight to mark north korea's

sixtieth anniversary general keane john eales wasn't there to greet the crowd that suggested he suffered a stroke in two thousand and three reports claimed kim john eales died of diabetes had been replaced in public by stand inspired previously as a security measure he never spoke to the media had a profound fear of flying and ate with special chopsticks which could detect poison rumors have surrounded the so-called supreme leader throughout his life beginning with. according to one source he was born in the soviet union in one nine hundred forty one during his father's exile or kim jong il's official. biography claims his birth was heralded by the appearance of a double rainbow. our people take pride in the fact that they are blessed with great leaders from generation to generation. the leader of the democratic people's republic of korea since one nine hundred ninety four he succeeded his father kim il

sung keeping korea close to the world kim jong il was also named supreme commander of the people's army one of the largest in the world with one million active troops and over four million reservist it's believed enormous funds allocated to its military might ate up north korea's resources needed to fight famine and other social problems but kim jong il and his regime tried to put on a different show when allowing the globe a glimpse inside one of the you know in our father the general kim jong il and thank you so much others you know after the korean war the demilitarized zone was drawn up sending north and south korea into very different directions decades on the north remains a closed communist state the south a modern democracy an innovative success story north korea has caused global outrage in recent years testing patience by carrying out underground nuclear test

and short range missile launches leading to us in un financial and military sanctions it is now not a matter of the united states and north korea it is really a matter of the region saying to north korea that it has to change its behavior russia has tried to be a mediator for peace on the peninsula by pushing for negotiations. in the asia pacific region this serious potential for conflict and there's no alternative but to set up dialogue an improved understanding between the sawyer in twenty ten new op around the north with talk of the possible next leader that's when kim john on became a four star general. and first moved into line to take over for his father. tensions reached its highest point in decades after the north launched an artillery strike that left four dead and south korea continue to hold large scale you war games with the u.s. and japan and want a conflict would break out if another attack was launched now kim jong un

a young and inexperienced leader is happy helm either open the door or continue to keep it shut this roadway station was built in two thousand and two with hopes of connecting seoul and pyongyang but the north korean regime backed out at the last minute making this a lot stop train heading back into the south now with kim jong il. that soon we could see a train heading in. that it might be the most secretive and. he's now our team korea well tensions across the korean peninsula are at a pig then as the world waits to see what direction the north new leadership set to take and to discuss what that direction could be as talking to independent journalist to make sure of him hi there thanks for the program give us your thoughts condone he'll spend fourteen years preparing to take power off for his father can we all know not only three indeed the most the rest of world saving for

less the less it is the blessing of his late father enough to secure his position is needed to thank. and well we still see that's true he's only been around for three years in the public light he went to school in switzerland apparently he knows a lot about how the internet works and he knows a lot about social media but beyond that we know very little except he's been appointed a four star general and it did take kim jong il who just passed quite a few years to actually gain total acceptance with the power structure there with the powers that be there in the in the party in the government to actually you know take firm control so i think that's an open question well you say he made a four star general you know we know that what does that mean in the hierarchy of how does that cut any weight with the with the other generals that are there maybe some higher up i guess. well i would say it probably would with the military but obviously he has no military training very very you know this zero next to zero

military experience but i think what these two leaders this closely held leadership in north korea once is a symbol of their regime and this is a clear you know successor symbol they can they can use to continue their power and i think that the fact that it took two days to announce his death and they announced one hundred fifty person in a funeral committee means that they have the people lined up behind them a bit you know on this decision and they're getting ready to move forward on whatever was going on before in terms of the kinds of discussions with the united states south korea with other countries including russia about this pipeline that may be built through the koreas how much power does kim you know we were already had today reports of a rocket being launched from the north but as he begs himself is there a worry that he might want to put forward some of the show of force to prove that he is all powerful. well that's the kind of speculation that's going on in the us

media today i don't really see any sign of that yet this missile test was long planned and had been there's been talk about it within the department of defense here in washington for a couple of weeks that they were expecting another missile test and of course you know if you're going to have missile capability you have to test these missiles i think the best thing the united states and the surrounding powers could do is to get would would be to get negotiations moving to put an end to their missile program and i think that's a possibility as far as foreign policy also precedent as well the nuclear policy that the countries adopted so far is it business as usual well i think over the last couple months business as usual has been changing a little bit it was interesting that yesterday the associated press had a story that the united states the obama administration and north korea were close to an agreement where the united states will continue to send food aid and in

exchange north korea was going to put a stop to its uranium enrichment program this was just a story but it's been discussed quite a bit here and i think there have been these kinds of discussions going on so i wouldn't i wouldn't quite painted as any kind of crisis until there is a sign of it i think the signs that there are some serious discussions going on to end this nuclear standoff and perhaps get things moving and a in a better way forward for the international community and for north korea itself north korea's also says a political battleground between china and the u.s. what moves you think we'll see next from the u.s. . well that's unclear i would i would expect that the clinton administration if they were me the obama administration was serious about these these talks are trying to have an honest restart again on the nuclear issue if they're serious about that they will make some you know reach out to the new regime not necessarily to this new successor but people they have been dealing with already and say you

know they're ready to talk on the food aid in the uranium and so on and i think that's that's kind of what i expect to see but i'm but clearly the military the u.s. military is watching the situation very very closely and they've already said they've seen no unusual movements north of the d.m.z. which by the way it's important emphasize that that line was drawn right after world war two not after the korean war that that division has been there since one thousand nine hundred forty five when since it was drawn by the former u.s.s.r. and the united states thought so thanks been on the program tonight to a shark independent journalist thank you. thank you syria has signed an agreement to allow arab league observers into the country to monitor the regime's dealing with the unrest the league hobbs threatened to ask the u.n. security council to take action unless damascus gave the green light let's talk about this new significance and go to beirut based political analysts campbell was

looking at some of them from beirut the eye there i mean it took so long for damascus to allow observers into the country will this step a change of in terms of resolving the conflict in syria do you think. well obviously syria took the brave step today because allowing those observers said from the beginning those observer are well come to see and witness what is taking place in syria especially there is terrorist as the syrian chemical stories are going to stop if i may just stop you said it took the brave step can you outline why you use that. because you have to remember syria is an independent dependent country has its own sovereignty and those those initiatives by the arab league they want to frame it in the first place on the sovereignty of syria and they strengthen syria and they apply economic sanction and

they try to take that file to the. u.n. the fact that the syrian was able to a man. of to actually to balance with the national security and was the sovereignty of the country then syria in front of this huge collision which actually threaten syria every day was able to manage and to put a lot of pressure on the on the arab league to work the way the syrian national interests will work but at the end of the day was it not the moves of the arab league and the heightened international pressure that kind of for syria's hand to say yes we'll let these people in finally. well i think the syrian spoke very clearly they don't have anything to hide they have to they let those observer to witness how the weapons smuggling from turkey from levanon and from jordan are

coming into the country and how these what bin infiltration cause and. those how to feed into those terrorists and how they terrorize certain area in syria today. there was a propaganda actually launched by some satellite out of satellite trying to bitrate different pictures i was in syria just two days ago i was in damascus there is nothing. when i was there i went to the cafe i went to a lot of places but when you listen to that satellite you think there is like a whole war is going on so there is reality and there is a propaganda and i think that the observer on the ground can testify to some of the facts on the ground and you don't have to say there is an eyewitness and actually

there is somebody invented the eyewitness so this is in a way the observer if they coordinate as was requested by the foreign minister could be an indication and verify the syrian account that those country who said they want to help syria they actually work in to destabilize syria ok well the opposition leaders let's just talk about what they want they still say it's not enough for the opposition leaders continue to call for a different type of intervention a military one why are they doing this still. well obviously because a rising country and they've been smuggling weapons and they been actually that they feel they lost what they hope for they can change the regime in syria today their their dream of a change in their regime and collapsing of the regime did not matter allies and i think after nine months of that international coalition western and some gulf

country against syria syria was able to steadfast and prevail over all the obstacle that has been put by these country i think there is a map that has been drawn for the middle east and they wanted some somehow for the regime of assad to topple because american got defeated in iraq and and was forced to withdrawal from iraq and they wanted a regional mob that for some how to please america and to please the persian gulf and i think the way things are going it didn't please but there are a persian gulf and it didn't please what they called the opposition and that's why you see they don't really want to negotiate those opposition they don't want they want to still continue the process and to geisha and causing instability inside

syria over for the story very closely thank you for your thoughts on it and your viewpoint barrow political analyst campbell was no thank you you thank. coming up in just a couple minutes on r t continuing crackdown on an endless uprising is violence in egypt raises into it for rages bought into its fourth day with gun fire from government troops and the country's medical officials raising with death toll now to fourteen golden globe latest developments from there. but legs israel says it plans to build over a thousand new homes in east jerusalem in the west bank it's part of a speeding up of settlement construction in response to palestine succession and to unesco palestinians say peace negotiations are impossible while settlement expansion continues paula slayer's following developments. what we're hearing is that the israeli government has announced it will be building more than a thousand housing units across the green line on palestinian land now the purpose of the housing units is to try and help alleviate the shortage of accommodation

particularly among young israeli couples in the jerusalem area but no doubt this announcement will draw the anger of the international community as indeed have similar announcements in the past so it does not bode well for any kind of resumption of peace talks between the israelis and the palestinians it seems out a strong message that the netanyahu government is not interested in sitting down and talking with the palestinians while at the same time continuing to build settlements on palestinian land while we're talking palestinians in the west bank all celebrating and this is because of the release last night sunday of five hundred and fifty palestinian prisoners from israeli jails this was the second phase of an israeli prisoner exchange swap that was carried out back in october you remember there that the first phase of this prisoner exchange deal started that will ultimately see more than a thousand palestinian prisoners released for one israeli soldier gilad shalit who has already returned to israel now it was

a time when clashes broke out shortly before the exchange last night took place these clashes were between israeli soldiers and families who were waiting for prisoners to come back the soldiers were firing tear gas and rubber bullets the palestinians were throwing rocks and burning tires so you do have this policy which seems quite strange to some observers on the one hand israel that hearing to a prisoner exchange deal and seemingly one thousand. and create some kind of of negotiations with the palestinians but on the other hand we do have this flare up in violence and we also have this continuation in settlement building by the netanyahu government. middle east correspondent israel's aggressive so from a policy threatens to split the jewish state from its western allies while receiving no real political goal busta view anyway of dog. from palestinian israeli preset geo for. the whole idea of punishing the palestinians

by building another one thousand units in. the west bank is a big mistake from the point of view of the israeli interest. is the direction that this government is taking and the direction is to work. against. the palestinian demands of stopping. but i'm afraid that it works. is that. in your. states. you said. this is not the time neither have a fight with the europeans or with. a couple of stories. for you from the festivities to fire as independents a deadly encounter with an angry mob burning dozens of buildings as their industrial action goes on how to bring that story. so i want to get

a moment why doing what the bank say to get us out of the recession is already a tried and failed formula the crucial about the reporting an argentine it was discovered that the hard way just a decade ago. security forces have opened fire on anti military protesters in cairo killing at least three health ministry says the total number of casualties after days of a new violence now stands at fourteen with seven hundred reportedly injured while ask and local blogger and journalist who told me the military rule is he thinks it deliberately provoking the violence. not a single month has passed without the army creating some sort of violence there are

so many reports that it's always the army that starts it always the army that instigates protesters and they've been doing very provocative. things we don't know what's going to happen after elections some people think that a confrontation between the islamists and the military is bound to happen in the very end we don't expect that things will calm down because the way things have been run in the country is really just like a mob running running the country rather than a real government no order break show cross talk is that weighing up the odds for next year's u.s. presidential race shortly tonight program there about ten minutes time for us let's catch up with you they've got the latest business for you this monday night. thanks kevin and welcome to the business program russia's prime minister vladimir putin is calling for a corruption probe at state owned power companies inspections will take place in

the next two months and will include firm such as gas from bank. the milestone and was made at the country's largest power plant this is such an appealing is there with the details. the government meeting devoted to the power sector surprised many and it started in the routine way with a large number of putin announcing new investments in the sector but none of that was done the prime minister devoted half an hour to naming people in the industry suspected of corruption he highlighted how top managers used offshore a company is and i feel it's still siphoned off madea he called these schemes a legacy of wild mind his and said russia has to make sure to check sectors worked in a transparent way. if we want to good investment climate we do not accept offshore schemes any longer especially in the infrastructure sectors those who want to keep

profiteering you welcome it's in compliance with the law but withdrawing money from the country through three companies cannot be accepted we need to pull the plug on the legacy of the arrow capitalism. what's different this time is that it appears to be more the grand words officials and managers have been put a lot has cleared up your act all software as a consequence is that you have a bit of color business are to siberia. and has been called the deal of the here by one of russia's business magazines the country stock exchanges have completed their merger the r.t.s. and my suits will continue to trade separate indices the trading platforms clearly systems and data centers will be integrated the new exchange is expected to go public listing in twenty thirty they need to raise at least three hundred million dollars the merger is an essential government to promote as an international financial center. so i have

a check on the markets the solid stocks a low off the comments from the european central bank to the fresh lot of pessimism into the market. and european markets were low as your area policymakers discussed additional financial support through the on. math and finally moving on to russia where the markets closed in the right they are chance last a quarter percent found it might spin is just. that some look at some of the individual share moves in the minds that some energy may just were in the right full of approach and speech and it's just to produce. more than three percent off to russian prime minister said the company should cut its consumer prices by twelve and a half cent next year monopoly gazprom also posted losses off to vision mr newspaper reports its spending may rise to fifty five billion dollars next year and precious metal might have pulled the metal gained the company plans to increase production by as much as twenty percent in twenty twelve and expect the goat fries to rebound

two thousand dollars an ounce but simple farmer all see capital outlines two main factors that affected the day straight. the situation room gus form was a stock is down new two percent almost six largely in the bag or new political pressure to raise taxes on the. elusive the universe the. second biggest story was. scrolling through the field this was a performance with the cutest were pretty mixed with the rules i would see were the key factors driving gershon market to the. that's it from. another business hub days at eight am tomorrow.

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