rescuers continue a desperate search for thirty nine people who remain missing in icy waters off russia's far east two days off for the oil rig capsized eleven bodies were recovered on monday. a cloud of uncertainty descends on eastern asia as the death of north korean leader kim jong il leaves neighbors on the edge from growing fears of bolland conflict could follow his demise. i did as well pushes for more settlements announcing over a thousand new homes in east jerusalem in the west bank in response to palestine progress toward state.

hello live from moscow this is r.t. it's one am here now my name is kevin know it and our top story rescue is a desperately continuing the search for thirty nine people still missing after an oil rig capsized off russia's far east coast on sunday morning fourteen did survive the disaster but eleven bodies have been recovered from the freezing sea as hopes and fading for the others jacob grieves in new secularly disk in the coastal region nearest where the tragedy unfolded. is looking increasingly unlikely that any war survivors will be found search and rescue teams have made contact with lifeboats and life rafts through 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 wreak 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 being in the water for well over twenty four hours now typically given nighttime conditions that means planes can't fly and can't be used to try and search out any signs of life indeed throughout the course of monday 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 plucked 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 fits and good state and that she those four have undergone questioning in it because this case is a criminal case has been opened to try to find out what exactly happened some of the theories that have been put forward so far looks of 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 south korea russia's far east as is or it was being towed to port 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 to continue throughout the course of the evening. jake a part of our news team covering that we've got people in the region there monitoring the situation on the rescue effort of course daylight started it mostly hours out of moscow but all coverage of other blogs our website r t v dot com including an eyewitness account of the tragedy from a survivor who tells of the final minutes before the oil rig collapse from of them had twenty minutes to get on the high and very icy seas i want to. hear more about his remarkable story of survival. japan is voicing fears of

a possible military escalation now in the korean peninsula following 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 in turn has expressed its condolences but it's also reported to have sent troops to its border with the reclusive state to the so being driven by fears of a possible succession conflict as the late leader's youngest son kim jong un proposed to assume power the country's declared a period of mourning with state t.v. showing outpourings of emotion from across the country parties in a somalia reports of a 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 parade was held in two thousand and eight to mark north korea's sixtieth anniversary general kim jong il wasn't there to greet the crowd report suggested he

suffered a stroke in two thousand and three reports claimed kim jong il died of diabetes and had been replaced in public by stand ins hired 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 birth 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 of fish. biography claims his birth was heralded by the appearance of a double rainbow. our people take part 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 keep in korea close to the world. 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 thank you so much 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 and 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 u.s. and 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 and improve understanding between the sites in twenty ten new cars blew up 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 south korea continue to hold large scale war games with the u.s. and japan and want a conflict would break out if another attack was launched now kim john on a young and inexperienced leader is at the helm and will either open the door or continue to keep it shut this railway station was built in two thousand and two

with hopes of connecting seoul and killing yang but the north korean regime backed out at the last minute making this the last stop train heading back into the south now with kim jong il. that perhaps we could see a train heading in. that it might be the most secretive and. he's now our team korea. for a wider look at the implications of kim jong il's death toll now to christina hall a professor at the university of california santa cruz is an expert on korean affairs thanks ever so much taking the time to be with us and as we heard in that report there are hopes that north korea could maybe change its foreign policy and open up to the world is that hope likely to become reality do you think. well i think that that is a position that north korea has actively promoted you often hear these kind of

demonizing portraits of north korea as honest a kind of marlon terry reclusive state but actually if you follow closely the policies. on the international stage and then his son kim jong il and then now we have to earn and we have yet to see what his tenure will be like you can see that there's been a kind of. a kind of double sort of footed approach of attempting to maintain north korean sovereignty while trying to engage with the international community how will he be accepted by the million strong north korean army this this man of course only in his late twenty's he's got little experience as only being really on the public stage for give or take the last three years how did likely to be accepted by the hierarchy of the army that. well as of last year last fall of twenty ten. actually at the party conference

he was officially recognized as a four star general and i think that the cook question that you asked it might be rephrased somewhat when it comes to conjunction when it comes to these various sort of singular leaders that we associate with the succession of leaders that we used associate with north korea it doesn't do to make too much of them as singularities actually or to reduce the very sort of complex. governmental structure of north korea down to a single leader even though he may be a figurehead he is actually very much integrated into. and larger sort of leadership structure including the military leadership structure that america easier for better or for worse to deal with well that's

a very good question when you're talking about the obama administration there has been for all intents and purposes no visionary policy when it comes to north korea ironically enough just before this news came to us. can john il's demise we had on sunday news that the u.s. was about to announce that it was going to send food aid what it calls nutritional aid to north korea in a kind of diplomatic breakthrough the first in about three years with north korea in exchange for concessions in terms of north korea's diplomatic program so whether or not the u.s. but you know it's hard to say i'd say that thus far the obama administration has closely followed its cues from south korea's leadership and south korea's leadership under him as a neoconservative as virtually been an eclipse policy toward north korea kristie

wire on the line what you make of these reports the report saying that two missiles were test fired by the north on the day of the this death why would that happen well i think that it doesn't do to make too much of this and indeed. the south korean agency they reported this indicated that news these. short range missile firing came before the announcement of his dad and i don't think that we should see this as dangerous or shortsighted publication on the part of north korea time and what we would regard its vulnerability i think that the correct context context to put this into you and keep in mind these are short range ballistic. missiles not the dreaded long range missiles that south korea traditionally is concerned about when it comes to north korea but the credit

context is really one unresolved war on the korean pin peninsula and the consequent formation of two of the most intensely militarized societies in the world for the past sixty years both north and south korea have routinely conducting military exercises and mine many are much more massive and dine when this was a lot we could talk about for a time know for now though tonight christiane thanks ever so much professor of the university of california santa cruz and of experts on korean affairs appreciate it thank you. israel plans to build over a thousand new homes in east jerusalem the west bank it said it's part of a speeding up of settlement construction now in response to palestine's accession to unesco palestinians say peace negotiations are impossible while settlement expansion continues artie's paula slee our middle east correspondent is following the latest 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 certainly it does not bode well for any kind of resumption of peace talks between the israelis and the palestinians it's a result 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 are 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 there 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 to move forward 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. general assemblies to syria for its crackdown on protesters and human rights abuses linked to it which investigated five. died hundred thirty three countries are voted in favor of the resolution drafted by

britain france and germany it follows syria's signing of an agreement to allow arab league observers into the country to monitor the regime's dealing with the rest the league threatened to ask even security council to take action unless damascus gave the green light a route based political analyst cover was need tells me that the real situation in the country has been highly exaggerated by arab states 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 in. 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 betray

the different pictures i was in syria just two days ago i was in damascus there is nothing. more than i was there i went to the cafe i went to a lot of places but when you listen to the arab satellite you think there is like the whole war is going on so there is reality and there is a propaganda and i think the opposite the observer on the ground can testify to some of the facts on the ground. iran has reinstated an offer for u.n. nuclear agency officials to visit the inspectors is supposed to scrutinize the country's controversial nuclear program amid allegations it's geared towards creating atomic weapons iran's under un sanctions right now for refusing to stop you will even richmond but it insists it's purely for peaceful energy purposes diplomatic sources say a top level international atomic energy agency mission could fly to run in late january now it's not yet clear though whether the inspectors will be able to

examine whether the radian scientists are working on nuclear arms that's a key condition set by the un's nuclear watchdog. the security forces have opened fire on anti military protesters in cairo killing at least three egypt's health ministry says the death toll is now risen to fourteen following days of renewed violence with seven hundred reported injured while ask and there's a local blogger and journalist who says the military rulers who deliberately initiated 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 is these 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 running the country is really just like

a mob running running the country rather than a real government. take a look at some of the world headlines a brief a mass burials been organized for more than mine hundred victims of the flash floods in the southern philippines efforts continue to try to help survivors caught by the deluge that was triggered by a tropical storm and high tide last friday search operations have been hampered by flooded roads and wrecked infrastructure the red cross estimates that over eight hundred people still missing. thousands of pages rallies across italy in protest of the stereotype cuts which include tax and pension changes a bailout package of over thirty billion euros as recently approved by lawmakers headed by mario monti's a new technocrat government is expected to be passed by the senate by the end of the week but many believe the brunt of the cuts will be borne by the poorest. you could always read more about what's happening around the world on our website as well r.t. dot com stories tonight you might want to look at fanning the flames an angry mob

sets dozens of buildings the lighting kazakstan is violence in the central asian states sparked by an oil strike leaves at least twelve dead after clashes with police we are bringing you updates on this story all weekend there's more online tonight and and the piracy or is it selfish if well there are fears growing that the controversial stop online piracy act aimed at fighting copyright infringement threatens fundamental principles of freedom of expression on the internet that's happening in the u.s. for the online for us. next hour to talk to russia's deputy foreign minister about what's ahead in missile defense talks between moscow and washington.

it will. we're sitting down with. russia's deputy foreign minister he's heading the russian side of the us russia working group that deals with issues of global security arms control missile defense thank you very much for joining me mr russia and void to nato said the u.s. seems to be surrounding russia with military installations like an anaconda and that was his comparison and that russia would have to try and break out of that not how deep is the misunderstanding on the issue at the moment and does it seem like

all of russia's concerns are falling on deaf ears in washington i wouldn't describe this. along the lines as you did i think we have a very very productive and all the way straightforward a difficult one but a very productive dialogue with our u.s. partners we are making no secret of our concerns we are definitely disturbed by the fact that this strategic instability will grow according to our assessment because of the u.s. effort to deploy a missile assets in several regions of the world including in europe according to what was described by president obama and his people as european face the dept of approach when you're saying strategic stability will be disturbed what do you mean by that strategic stability is a very multiverse the term notion that implies several things we

can for example not allow. well for further cuts in or fence of strategic weapons in nuclear weapons in the absence of a meaningful arrangement in the area of missile defense in the area of. conventionally armed or fancy weapons of strategic range in the absence of real settlement in the area of imbalances with regard to conventional weapons it would be very irresponsible to believe that we just move forward in cuts in numbers of strategic weapons while advantages. and even predominance of the us and nato parties as a whole in other areas just grow you know it will always stretch the very concept of strategic stability and it may well break apart we are very sponsible in this

regard how close or how far is moscow from possibly pulling out of the start treaty of the us advances with their missile defense plans in europe we have a very clear explanation of this situation by a president with video of who on november twenty third presented what i would describe as a phased adaptive answer to the fees the dept of approach our phase the dept of answer means that we are not rushing into any dramatic decisions like you kind you have just described we begin with a very militant limited response to what we think is a real danger a real threat to our assets the u.s. is winding down wars in iraq and afghanistan but for example they're expanding their military presence in the persian gulf what will the american security architecture look like after the pullout we regularly exchange views with the u.s.

on this issue or regional security in the gulf is a very moment. topic withing that the point here is to underscore my part would be first. this should be ensured a real local regional ownership for security arrangements should be made that no one feels that its security is threatened because of the u.s. pull out secondly with respect to afghanistan we are telling our u.s. partners that we cannot understand the for what purpose they're contemplating a long term presence in forms of u.s. military bases in this country and in some of these years and there is i think that we need further explanation for these plans you were talking on withdrawal i think this withdrawal should be full and complete with regards to syria the possibility of a military intervention in syria do you sense that it is diminishing and as far as

armed rebels in syria does russia have any information on who is arming them we do not want a repetition of the libyan scenario there the problem here is not that much of who is arming whom and through what channels although this is also an important part of the whole equation and we are in constant discussion of this aspect but the major political point on our part here is everyone all actors around all and all foreign powers everyone who really wants us stabilize situation there should avoid action that may be regarded by opposition elements in this country as an incitement as you know a push towards a military solution no illusions should be left that this is possible we should do their reverse we should encourage and urge these forces and the government for that

case as well to find compromises to move together towards a better future for the country. to reform the country and we're working with both sides we should not take part the whole goal would be a more democratic more stable and more inclusive rather than divisive towards a yet another civil war in a country that centrally policed very dangerous situation in the middle east thank you very much for the thank you. for sure is that so much of it which of course he's right on it will be like a pleasing phoenix rising from the ashes newt gingrich again shows himself to be a major figure in american politics does he represent the republican party.

the plant that was responsible for causing the world's worst industrial disaster and it had been abandoned in a condition where it had become a source of pollution of the most recent study that was done shows that this water pollution and spreading. more than hundred thousand people. walking the. ten times more likely to be born with birth defects in children. in the sea as little as five hundred dollars lifelong. unpunished.

much. to. keep.