russia's president orders sweeping with making it easier to work. and proposes a return to direct elections up regional government in his annual address to the polish. arab league observers a rise in syria as the conflict reaches a peak and international sanctions course in living conditions. tightening the noose on america's controversial death penalty plugs of the flow of drugs to kill u.s. inmates.

worldwide news around the clock this is live from moscow with me wrong. it's time for change in russia this from president dmitri outlined a plan for widespread democratic reforms this while the country's political system will be the first in line. and i was listening to the annual state of the union address. first and foremost make sure that it promised that people's voices will become louder thanks to a sweeping reforms of the country's political system or political stablish munt was listening carefully to his address to the parliament as he sketched out the first steps which need to be taken he plans to bring those initiatives to the newly elected duma in the very near future in the last months of his presidency should get pregnant. my proposals are to introduce direct elections for russia's regional heads to simplify the registration of political parties to remove the need to

gather signatures to take part in federal and regional parliamentary elections to cut the number of signatures needed to take part in the presidential election i also suggest changing the system for the parliamentary election i suggest introducing a proportional representation in two hundred twenty five constituencies this will allow each territory to have the director representative in the parliament. well this wasn't as comfortable as usual for the nation is that it to deliver these annual address mostly because who had to respond to the most recent events in the country protests and allegations which were followed the december or parliamentary elections and claims that the elections had been had been raked early admission of it if at ordered a thorough investigation as a result of that criminal cases had been filed for alleged violations during the elections the results of twenty one polling stations cancelled but the president

stressed today that elections in any country are part of domestic affairs of that country and the russian leadership would not allow any foreign interference but our . people's right to express their opinion by all means is guaranteed attempts to manipulate the people of russia deceive them to instigate social discord are acceptable but we won't allow extreme. mr provocator is to draw society into the shady enterprises we won't allow interference from outside in our internal affairs russia needs democracy not chaos. polls all this address looked more like a long to do list. should he become the country's next prime minister rather than a farewell address from him as president he again emphasize the role of the enlarged open government as an instrument to get feedback from the people this government consists of russia's prominent figures from different areas of society

it wasn't very dear he described it today as a social elevator for the most creative and active ones and he also quoted eisenhower when he was talking about a model of democracy suitable for russia it's not let the government do it for us he said but let us do it ourselves. reporting from the kremlin it was a final address to the federal assembly president with russia choosing a new leader in march next year political analyst dmitri babich says he made a positive contribution to the democratization of the country i think he leaves a pretty good legacy because even if we have concrete facts you know russia joined twitter when. he leaves a different society of the that he too when he became president now we have people who require more freedom i think that these measures that are humanitarian during

his speech for years they are not very they are they still who flagged as the desire for greater freedom desire for greater freedom from well to do part of the population and i think that's a very good development. well a key focus of movie matter to me was the economic reform dimitri and the aussie business desk for more on dimitri. well despite the more economic integration competition and along with the role of small business meeting the better the economy was in good shape and good health and back to pre-crisis levels tell you more about the people. you're watching azzi a team of arab league peace monitors has just arrived in syria as part of an ambitious plan to bring peace to the conflict torn nation their arrival comes as violence reaches a peak with hundreds reportedly killed in just the past several days this latest round of violence has drawn strong international reaction with turkey accusing

president assad of turning the country into a bloodbath the u.s. has also renewed calls for him to step down and order the military off the streets or face more international measures syria is already suffering under a slew of economic and regional sanctions but as is often the case it's the ordinary people who are feeling the pain as aunties investigations. it's been nearly ten months since there is uprising began the capital of damascus has remained said from the conflict. in the bustling sensei it seems like it's business as usual this one says it's in the winds of change has begun to float a little stronger the arab league sometimes tough economic sanctions the effects of weights being felt even headed in a poor area in the damascus grass and her family struggling to make ends meet as sony is learning to follow the beans for a living he barely makes

a hundred and fifty three in pounds a day three dollars to support him and physically. now the fuel for his vending cart has become harder to get hold of with the economic sanctions. there are less 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 assad had been seen to be making for very well be it. for a population that it started seeing the results of economic opportunity say. financial transactions. blackouts become the. fifth they could be even the financial times ahead. because of the economic sanctions people. people are

a little bit afraid of the fact that. this is when you see these queues this in place by the arab league it was take the sanctions which the government had and when it came to ending the violence in the country was inside syria at the name and many everyday people being punished economic sanctions still. taking. the one hit that. has become part of the daily life of many people here in syria. from the arab league will be paving the way through an observer mission to at the end of the month much opposition they remain skeptical about whether that to bring about any change. in the west of the conflict areas change can come in they meant to seeing imperative to the families like finding life under the sanctions increasingly desperate search. damascus.

commenting on the situation in syria new york based political analyst. says that she believes the true situation in the country is not being told by the mainstream media most of the international media with the exception of a few stations have ignored the fact that. the charlotte 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 being used to justify outside aggression military action and war and and political assassination of a head of state again this is an attempt to 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 out to justify their actions

to overthrow a government to implement another that would be subordinate to a foreign agenda. just a little bit later in the program we return to where the very first spock's of on rest and ignited in north africa and the middle east to ultimately giving to the arab spring. i was believe very frightened of this moment when you go allies. at least. someone say to them a change in the. middle east correspondent discusses what it was like at the epicenter of events that shook the entire region this year the latest episode of aussies a special series of testimony two thousand and eleven in a few minutes time. this is. history in the making. testimony. ten stories that shaped two thousand and eleven on our t.v. . you're watching live from moscow

a wave of synchronized bombings has ripped through the iraqi capital killing at least sixty three wounding almost two hundred. could be heard racing to and fro as massive plumes of smoke rose above baghdad authorities say at least fourteen devices were set off throughout the city ranging from car bombs to hidden explosives while no one is taking responsibility in the bombings that come as tensions between shia and sunni muslims reach boiling point it's almost been less than a week since u.s. forces withdrew from the country leaving behind in air all. of them or in this tragedy and what it bodes for iraq i'm now joined by middle east blogger cole shero live from london thank you becoming on the program today what's shocking about this latest news is the sheer scope of the bombings it's leading to some to say that these atrocities ultimately a pit of the future of iraq what are your thoughts on that. i think we have to put it in perspective i mean it's very sad and tragic news doesn't

determine for certain what's going to play out in iraq but i think let's have a overall look at what's been happening in the last few days because it wasn't only the explosion and security deterioration of security situation but also there's a political crisis that is kind of in the process now so basically although we've been told in the past few years that american success in restoring security and as a stable political order there leave before the last american soldier has actually left iraq are both kind of in the process of completely and revealing and kind of not to blame because certainly iraqi politicians have a responsibility for what's happening on the ground but let's understand that the fundamental problems that iraq will face in the immediate and near future are primarily due to the failure of american policy and particularly the obama administration in taking crisp. instability for the failure of or for the

intervention rather an occupation of iraq by the bush administration and kind of pursuing lowest common denominator policies in order to arrive at a semblance of political stability and a sample of security to say that the job has been done and now we need to leave i mean for me to jump in for a moment here and i do apologize to mr sharon for interrupting but as you were saying moments ago with the u.s. forces now just days out of iraq you are saying also believe that this situation is just a rattling of the country's destabilizing but could this level of devastation and bloodshed be maintained fourteen bombings across the iraqi capital today two hundred injured sixty killed is this possibly a long term strike that you see. hopefully not but we've seen cases in the past where where things might play out. if you like america out of the equation at least military and there are still other. foreign hands if you like involved in

that country i'm not talking about any particular conspiracies in our us but rather that they're just looking for power and if you kind of look at examine the details of the current crisis it was initiated by prime minister maliki kind of. just being kind of grabbing more power. than american withdrawal so what we see now is due to kind of course of the prospects either short by a lot of violence that hopefully common sense would prevail and there would be a return for political solution or a complete breakdown which are the moment. sounds more and more plausible in which those who don't have the political power and authority left to them by the kind of previous american at arrangement and there will have to utilize anything at their disposal or will use anything well it's interesting what you say utilizing anything at the disposal to try and quell what appears to some to be a sudden uprising of violence as the tensions are some way some might say are

beginning to boil over perhaps would it be in everybody's interest to actually have the u.s. back in iraq it was the american senator john mccain recently saying that the iraqi and american government should perhaps get together and in some form or another bring back american troops to bring back in some way some sort of a peace and normality. that sounds like a really bad joke to be honest because obama's administration have for the complete failure of nerve and sense of purpose and ability to take responsibility kind of for his actions in iraq. what i would like to see the kind of discuss that my. hope here is it's inaccurate to talk about sectarian violence in iraq is not necessarily if you like a boiling point of sectarian violence it's a cynical attempt by people who play the sectarian card for political gain to kind of jostling for space but that cross is by far isn't over determined at this moment

the iraqi people can still play their part and we've seen examples all across the middle east in order to kind of stop this. conflict for power and kind of contain iraq from descending further into chaos colorado a middle east a blogger life in london thank you thank you. for watching r.t. now the european union has restricted sales of drugs used in the u.s. to execute convicts over forty inmates have been killed by lethal injection in america this year alone and supporters of the move to disrupt supplies hope it will cut that number result is either bennett explains the restrictions could actually make the situation a whole lot worse. 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. allies on european drugs for use in executions and without them they're going to be stuck and lives will be saved specific execution drugs aren't 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 they use in a three part lethal cocktail the end of 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 that is fairly unassuming driving school buildings also shared by dream farmer a british firm exporting british drugs to 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 baba told 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 cannot guarantee that nothing will get around to people at risk of not being killed being tortured to death following our report danish manufacturer imposed their own

restrictions to prevent printed bottles misuse the new e.u. embargo covers eight barbiturates in total including printed. u.s. 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 add those to the list without you know wait another year aside from lethal injection other methods like hanging and firing squad a still sanctioned in the u.s. but in now rarely used these new restrictions may not choke off the drug supply completely but it will certainly tighten the noose on america's controversial death penalty. by the bennetts artsy london. seven twenty pm on

a thursday here in moscow and as promised we continue our look back at the past twelve months with our season ten reports on the events that shaped two thousand and eleven today it's all about egypt a country where a million man uprising became a springboard for a tide of riots and protests t's'pol shares what she went through reporting of the center of the arab spring telling us part of the stories that never made it to where. i think my biggest impression from covering the egyptian story this is the status of betrayal and anger that people in egypt still have there are hundreds of thousands of people who lost on arriving here in times square as you can see many of them heeding the. occupation it was dangerous covering the egypt story as a journalist and i think it was even more dangerous because in that as

a foreign journalist i remember when we are there back to say if you read we kept a very low profile we tried not to go too much into the quality tough to 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 town right there by and large you don't want to do the attention to them is necessarily the officers from which we were for cost or who took us through the science that saved 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 have to shake things mode with you on twitter you can hear men and women because you're a woman and you laced with me perhaps in a male colleague but i did feel frightened being a woman in tough experience that people. may believe in a place to want to take months remembering what not i can tell me that anything i'd

look for toughness square i walked with a male colleague whether it was an egyptian cameramen away russian cameramen and i always felt much safer putting my arm through his but people would still want possibly brush 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. in cairo and i remember doing a lot of reports at night. i'm not out to. get them 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 looking possed 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 wish 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. there was one minister there too was very fine we were standing on the outskirts of tefl square i was talking to a group of people and as always have to just speak to one person and then everybody 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 exposed 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 new change and people started yelling and shouting not that they just wanted their voices to be heard but that the actually wanted to protest as journalists and the commandant i was working with understood immediately both was happening he started screaming for me to get into the cockpit i remember the

driver because we had a driver that had been allocated to us came screeching down the road i mean looking pushed the crowd and the journalist was pushing me into the comedy getting into the car kind of throwing himself in off to me in the car was banging on the cot as we sped away. and i don't even know if the word revolution is there why would but i don't think the resolution in egypt is over. just to say says that's the same with aleutian over two revolutions but a day when the anger the frustration the disappointment of hopes of not being realized is poll people on the streets of cairo if you will when there is a sense that this country is no way to 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 at another no one not knowing exactly where and how and what ultimately these changes will bring.

the crew has prepared eight more reports that you can see every day until the new year the memories of two thousand and eleven for you to experience here on our to try not to miss it and for the meantime let's cross over to the business desk go to retreat now joins us with all the latest business. welcome to business on the economic achievements so high on president got its agenda and in the spotlight of his address to the federal assembly on thursday with the his term as president coming to an end he pointed out that the russian economy has managed to grow faster than its peers despite the global downturn. the lead in the russia has successfully overcome the most difficult period of global economic instability and has returned to pre-crisis growth levels our economy is growing by around four percent which is smarter than most developed countries but we keep

government debt at a very low level and meet all our liabilities russia has become the world's sixth largest economy. while the rest of the present event of speech centered around top economic priorities for the coming years and these include integration boosting competition and increasing the role of small business he got mr jacob nell from morgan stanley russia believes medvedev speech echoes a recent statements by prime minister vladimir putin. what i see is a combined effort by both of them to articulate a economic and political program and you i think that if we think back to earlier in the year when you had a debate between medvedev who was talking about a program for. putting more stress on stability i think that we could now see what the choice of leadership is and that is to go for a program of modernization short the impact of these reforms may be somewhat

negative because we may see acceleration capital outflows in companies who may have an increase in uncertainty but in the medium term if these reforms are implemented i think that they. should improve russia's growth prospects and make the realization of the top line objectives of the reform program which are twenty five percent of g.d.p. and investment and six to seven percent growth rate that much more realizable. froze most of the markets and oil is headed even higher now it's a ninety nine and a half dollars per barrel for light sweet and brant is over one hundred eight that's after a sharp drop in u.s. crude stockpiles and this is overshadowing persistent worries that the euro zone crisis would occur so global world. u.s. stocks are up for that softer yet another decline in jobless claims the dow jones is up point four percent the nasdaq half a percent. european stock markets are also feeling this optimism about the macro

economic data coming out in the united states of banks and miners are the top gamers both in london where the footsies up one percent and on the dax which is up point nine s. . a russian is a closing picture for you the r.t.s. and m i six both managed to end the day on a positive note the my so it's up by just a notch the r.t.s. almost of the senate and that's related to. the ruble was strengthening versus the dollar. so what's been moving the my six most blue chips actually ended the day the mix when you can say that gazprom up point six percent down by the same amount pretty much. was down at the close point three percent the company launched sales of its latest model a lot of the grounds. and i'll be back in fifty five minutes time with a business update join me to get.

wealthy british style some time to. time. the. market. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger or no.