brochure is in anticipation of the annual state of the union address with the president expected to list a set of political reforms in the country. arab league observers are set to arrive in serious part of the deal and that tackling bloodshed there while sanctions imposed on damascus by the organization proved inefficient with people being the ones to feel the pinch but it's. the u.s. relies on you would be a drugs for you for the future and without them they are going to be stuck on the lives will be set. america's controversial practice of death by lethal injection hits a stumbling block as the drug supply lines caused by the e.u.

. and in business to solve the russian government says it's ready to help national companies grow and extend the broad what the firm shouldn't do is hide money offshore to avoid paying taxes joining me for that and more in our business bulletin. ninety am in the russian capital you're watching r.t.m. arena joshie well addressing changes in the country's major advantage is expected to announce a plan to reform russia's political system and his fourth and final state of the union address internal political issues are predictably anticipated to be the main focus of his speech following the post-election developments also cross live to respond to your piskun off has more on this so we go tell us more about this year's address and why. can we expect to hear. well this is going to be the meeting me

this fourth and final state of the union address since we do know he's not planning to run for a second term in office and day he is expected to focus on a set of political reforms in the country following the recent parliamentary election and public discontent over its results and the way it was conducted to december solve various protest rallies held across russia with the biggest one happening on december tenth in moscow and according to the most modest estimates that gathered at least twenty thousand people now the president previously has ordered to investigate all of the accusations into violations to during the elections and we know that over fifty criminal cases have been started already and the results from over twenty polling stations across russia have been canceled nevertheless with around ninety thousand polling stations across the entire country

. the election in general has been deemed officially a success and the new stay duma has started working and that's one of the reasons why this particular state of the union address is being held so only in december since traditionally it was held in november and that's the reason so that the president could address a working problem and ten also talking about the set all for political reforms which the president is going to use expected to talk about still need to mediate if he's not planning to stay as the president of russia but he's planning to become russia's next prime minister if you know which in windsor the top job during the election in march so all the things that meet him in video will focus on today are still definitely going to be quite relevant as well as when you're there are writing or thanks very much indeed for bringing us this. update. not arab league

observers are due to arrive in syria on thursday as part of a plan to halt violence in a country that's after one of the bloodiest weeks since the beginning of the unrest nine months ago activists say more than two hundred people have been killed in the last few days the u.s. has renewed its call for president also to step down warning of new international measures unless it was draw security forces from the streets syria is already suffering under a new set of sanctions and as artists are first reports ordinary people who are feeling the pain. it's been nearly ten months since syria's uprising began the capital of damascus has remained largely sheltered from the conflict. in the bustling side and say it seems like it's business as usual this one says sets in the winds of change have begun to float a little stronger the arab league's impose tough economic sanctions the effects of which have been felt even head in a poor area of damascus and her family struggling to make ends meet

her son uses learning difficulties beans for a living but he barely makes one hundred fifty syrian pounds a day three dollars to support him and his wife. now the fuel for his vending cart has become harder to get hold of with shortages the economic sanctions driving the price up. their last products available and the prices are pushed higher there have been fights over gas we've been trying to manage by cutting back as much as we can sometimes when we can't afford it which is don't eat the economic situation in syria was one of the areas president had been seen to be making some progress will be it slowly but for a population that it started seeing the results of economic opportunity. financial transactions fuel shortages and blackouts have become the norm. because of

the economic sanctions people rushed to stockpile fuel and gas just in case people are a little bit afraid of the fact that water or gas might run out and this is why you see these queues this in place by the arab league it was hate the sanctions would fulfill the government hand when it came to ending the violence in the country but inside syria at the name and many feel is every day people who are being punished as they could be even darker financial times ahead share prices in our stock market sicker things which are. down affected by some lows for example of the use of the computer of. banks in syria the increase of interest three of the banks. affected in directly on the decision of the investors the first ping from the arab league will be paving the way for an observer mission to at the end of the month much

opposition they remain skeptical about whether that too will bring about any real change for those caught up in the west of the conflict areas change can come a moment t. seeing some parity. the families like finding life under the sanctions increasingly desperate search for. damascus. they were based author and political analyst eva golinger says the situation in syria is not as clear cut as western media is trying to portray most of the international media with the exception of a few stations have ignored the fact that the bashar al assad government is fighting armed groups internally and its country groups that have been armed again by outside forces and they've instead tried to portray it as civilians peaceful civilians protesting for change in their country who are being massacred by the government this is an incredibly dangerous manipulation of fact that's occurring

and and that we've seen in other countries like the case of libya that's been used to justify outside aggression military action and war and and political assassination of a head of state so i think that again this is an attempt to try to garner support from public opinion try to alter the perception of what's taking place in the country and also to get the support from other countries on board for those countries and their governments to be able to justify their actions to the people of their nations think again we have to be very cautious about the information that's coming out of syria about what's going on in that there's no question that they're armed groups that are fighting against the government and that any government in any country in the world has the absolute right to defend itself against armed militia inside its own country we've seen it in the case of the u.s. we've seen it in the case of other countries throughout europe and it's happening in the case of syria. and later this hour we return to the place where the unrest

the trip the arab world started as we look back at landmark advance of two thousand and eleven through the eyes of our correspondents who witnessed and covered them. i was very very frightened and it was moments like that when you realize that the news in a place like toughness from one second to another will change dramatically. from the dangers of being a female journalist reporting from the front line to the frustrated hopes of egyptians in the second part of our special series in just a few moments. witnesses. to history in the making. testimony. ten stories that shapes two thousand and eleven on r.t. . the european union's imposed tough new restrictions on the sale of drugs used to execute people in the u.s. the move that's likely to worsen an already short supply across the atlantic is

aimed at fighting capital punishment and some of its controversial methods but there are fears that intrepid states may find a way around the controls as artie's i'm about it reports. they've tried hanging electrocution and most recently a drug used to euthanize animals but now american jails will find it much harder to kill prisoners on death row the main supply line for its lethal injections has been cut off after the e.u. slaps new restrictions on drug exports i really think this will make a difference and we will see the effects of this this control order in the coming months that the the u.s. relies on european drugs for use of executions and without them they're going to be stuck and lives will be saved specific execution drugs are made in the e.u. but several american states have been importing sedatives instead drugs designed to help being used to hurt. exports of drugs like sodium thiopental will

now be controlled to stop their use in a three part lethal cocktail the interstate it was being used to put the condemned inmate to sleep as another drug paralyzed before the final heart stopper was administered without that initial numbing stage lethal injections are unconstitutional under u.s. law the usual supply for these drugs has been dwindling since the only u.s. manufacturer ceased production last year american prisons though found an alternative source right here in west london at this fairly unassuming driving school buildings also shared by dream farmer a british firm exporting british drugs the us prisons to kill people the u.k. government soon found out and banned its use so american prisons searched elsewhere r.t. reported in may how some states have begun using pen to bob or to a drug normally used to put pets to sleep that's never been tested for human

executions its primary use for humans is to treat epilepsy but it has no pain killing properties many feel its use on death throes tantamount to torture this can cause excruciating pain if something goes wrong and because we have no tests we can't guarantee that nothing will go around so people are at risk of not just being killed being tortured to death following our report danish manufacturer impose their own restrictions to prevent printer barber tools misuse the new e.u. embargo covers eight barbiturates in total including painted by us stockpiles will eventually run dry but many fear it's only a matter of time before prisons try again with something else unfortunately the death merchants in the us can sometimes be creative in terms of what they put to use in order to put people to death and so i think what we need is a clause which said if other drugs should appear on the market and we discover the

u.s. is misuse. those we can quickly have a quick procedure to those to the list without you know waiting of the year aside from lethal injection of the methods like hanging in farming scored a still sanctioned in the u.s. but in now really used these new restrictions may not choke off the drug supply completely but it will certainly talk in the noose on america's controversial death penalty. might have been its own. despite going to play with american prisoners britain's pulling no punches was by a long stay at home real bullet instead of a rubber one report says u.k. police who have used live ammunition against arsonists during the riots in the summer. also soaring into space to russia so use rocket has been successfully launched from the baikonur cosmodrome with an international crew of three on board to find out what they'll be doing on the final frontier at r.t. dot com.

spain is facing a stare and cuts of more than sixteen billion euros announced by the new prime minister it's hoped the measure will prevent madrid from following in the footsteps of fellow eurozone nations like greece and italy that are teetering on the brink of financial disaster because of their debts next hour we hear from a member of the european parliament who thinks measures taken by governments in those countries have come at a cost to democracy. last month we saw crews in two e.u. member states initially as in greece elected prime ministers were toppled in favor of bureaucrats respectively a former european commissioner and a former vice president of the european central bank they had what are called

national governments but the governments have been put together for the sole purpose of pushing through an agenda that would be rejected at a general election so that we see the if you like the anti democratic tendencies that were always there implicitly in the eurozone we now see them explicitly apparatchiks in brussels deal directly with apparatchiks in athens and and wrote the people and their representatives have been cut off altogether. now it's time for our special series of first hand reports on events that mark twenty two of the egyptian revolution did not just change the course of the country's history but spearheaded the arab spring the wave of protests that swept across the middle east policy was reporting from there and shares what never made it into her live news reports.

i think my biggest impression from covering the egyptian story this is the status of betrayal and anger that people in egypt still have when i was there back in january when the revolution started talking to protest as they the general consensus and really this is what people were saying to me was that they felt that they were part of history they were creating a new time to see a new future for egypt. going back again in november when the second verse the nation happened all the second part of the first revolution depending on you talk to those same protesters told me that they felt that the trust that they had placed in the army had been misplaced there are hundreds of thousands of people who lost on arriving in times square as you can see many of them feeding. occupation it was dangerous covering the egypt stories of goodness and i think it was even

more dangerous because of that as a foreign journalist i remember when we go back to save you we we kept a very low profile we tried not to go too much into the crowd in tahrir square we took all kinds of signage that we had on us that said we were journalists i mean of course a con tied to temora of by and large you don't want to do the attention she knew that is necessary the officers from which we were for cost and we took all the signs that say that we were media because this was also was inside some anger and frustration among the people. people often ask me if being a woman is an advantage or disadvantage to going to dangerous areas as a journalist most of the time that is an advantage because we find that people help shape things move with you and i'm talking to men and women because you're a woman and you list three things perhaps in a male colleague but i did feel frightened being a woman in tough experience that people. they believe it needs to be replaced why

not take ten months remembering one time when i can tell me that anything i'd look for tough is square if i walk through female target whether it was an egyptian temperamentally russian cameramen and i always felt much safer putting my arm through his but people would still possibly brush up squeeze a part of my body and look at me with this kind of knowing that leaves you feel very frightened and very vulnerable as a woman. back in february when the police were taken off the streets there was a real sense of complete enormousness in cairo and i remember doing a lot of reports of my talks. and i'm not a. crack guests and certainly at night i had to move back to the hotel because there was a curfew and there were no cars on the street and it was almost soon walking past apartment buildings and seeing people coming in front of the apartment buildings that had formed a kind of nightwatch group and you had people in their eighty's and their ninety's standing there with literally a kitchen knife or

a kitchen broom and with that they were going to protect their apartments following these gangs that were patrolling the streets of cairo they were trying to steal what they could because as i say there were no police around this is your friend as if. there was one going to go to particularly i was very frightened we were standing on the outskirts of tusker square i was talking to a group called people and as always have to just speak to one person and then everybody comes to see what's happening and and people in the waiting room so it's not that they are listening to what's being said often they just want to get a voice is expressed on the camera and in the moment and that's and that's the scary part is that these things happen in a moment in a moment the entire change and people started yelling and shouting not that they just wanted their voices to be heard but that they actually wanted to protest as journalists and the digital camera man that i was working with understood in egypt . was happening he started screaming for me to get into the cockpit i remember the

drive up because we had a driver that had been allocated to us came screeching down the road i remember being pushed by the crowd and the journalist who did the kemah and was pushing me into the common to getting into the car he kind of flung himself in off to me in the car was banging on the car as we sped away i was very very frightened and it was moments like that when you realize that the mood in a place like toughness square from one second to another can change dramatically. and i don't even know if the word revolution is the mark would you don't think the revolution in egypt is over we've witnessed to say sizzles perhaps the same revolution or two revolutions but again the anger the frustration the disappointment the same sort of hopes of not being realized is poll people on the streets of cairo every week when there is a sense that this country is nowhere near where people had hoped and dreamed it would be back in february and i think this is the general uncertainty that is

sweeping the middle east there is a sense that things are changing but another sense of no one not knowing exactly where and how and what ultimately these changes will bring. and as we look at other news from around the world the fear paula and many women feel on the streets of cairo has come into focus tends thousand marched into your square as they continue to show their outrage over the treatment of female protesters several women have been physically assaulted by soldiers during the recent government crackdown on activists were challenged including be by their hair beaten and stomped on while they lay on the ground the military council issued a statement of regret for what it called violations against women and promised to punish those responsible protests began last week when troops cracked down on a sit in to demand egypt's military can work to civilian authority.

finish authorities have impounded a china bound ship after uncovering dozens of peavy of missiles and over a hundred tons of explosives on board dock workers in kaka found the missiles in containers marked fireworks and weapons lacked the proper transit permits that have been handed over to the finnish military patriotic or surface to air interceptor missiles supplied to the u.s. and allied forces. parts of colombia are still on the water after unusually have the rains battered the region flooding and mudslides have killed nearly two hundred people since rains began in early september government officials have released more than five hundred million dollars to help those affected forty said it's the worst prolonged rainy season in decades and is expected to continue through january. three more bodies have been recovered from the sea taking the number of confirmed dead from the weekend's or oil rig disaster

in russia's far east to fourteen search teams say there are no there are now no more bodies floating at the side of the tragedy forty two people are still missing after the call from capsized while undertow to poor and saying with a g. twenty minutes fourteen people were rescued from the waters within the first few hours of the rig going down a breach of safety regulations is being investigated as the main cause of the incident. i remind our headlines is coming your way in just a few minutes before that they'll take a look at what's happening in business with carrie. hello and welcome to our business update this thanks for joining me the russian government is ready to help national companies grow and expand abroad what it needs in return is loyalty that's according to the reporter who's been meeting russia's business elite on wednesday the prime minister says firms shouldn't go offshore

instead they should pay tax at home business decisions but he will do all we can so that you can develop your enterprises and come to new markets but businesses should also understand their responsibility to the country don't hide money and assets in . it is unacceptable in every way be it legal or semi legal to evade taxes business in the shipping the money the prime minister is talking about include seventy four billion dollars that have already left russia this year that capital after low from the country is equivalent to four up to over five percent of what the economy produces some businessmen have agreed to sail back from offshore or require an amnesty in return. don't leave. the euro in for business or anybody who wants to be declared. it will sleep in iraq the money will. go rushing this is most importantly. we will not see the same

things. as the music you know strengthening the situation and that business is running that we. keep those around you get weak in the bureaucrats keep you money you will. the podium of the global oil majors has witnessed a reshuffle as russia's rawson have became the biggest oil producer among public companies to the first nine months of the year it has produced one point six million tons more oil than the previous leader american exxon mobil analyst say the output of the u.s. firm was hit by the arab revolutions which led to an eighteen percent loss of its well production in the region. have increased its output to by two point seven percent with the majority of its oil deposits located in russia. now market watchers believe that the global oil market is deeply confused middle east tensions and eurozone recession casting a cloud over the world economy investment banker maxime shushing call from explains

what investors are up to and how this could affect crusher. the market is very confused regarding the future. of people. in the position to. lead us. to. move on to the pressure of expectation. meanwhile oil has pared gains earlier futures rolls half a percent to ninety nine dollars a barrel a sharp drop in u.s. crude stocks overshadowed persistent worries that the eurozone debt crisis which could. light sweet is currently trading at over ninety eight dollars

a barrel while brant. over one hundred and seven dollars twenty eight steps to asian markets are in the red massive central bank lending in europe is adding to investors caution ahead of the year and european concerns that some financial stocks across the region tokyo listed a whole group a last one percent while bank of communications is losing the call. now it's less than one hour ahead of the opening bell here in moscow the russian markets ended wednesday on a negative note has dropped almost one percent. one point seven percent and the red . lows financial news coming out of europe these days tends to drive markets down but say the latest move to strengthen the banking sector will boost investor confidence. providing almost i think. over the next three years to the banks so i think this news should be.

very much oversold i mean the russian market is very much oversold it's very attractive valuations at this point however if you look the best in the gold plays in a limited. company limited. over him. and with their cost structure their margins were. twenty three twenty. thousand. one hundred. dollars but the plan.

among the least explain the areas live and untouched by muslim surrounded by steep long. cave paintings on display for thousands of years.