worldwide news around the clock this is live from moscow with me rory sushant it's time for change in russia this from president dmitri medvedev who outlined a plan for widespread democratic reforms this while the country's political system will be the first in line. because i didn't get a job and i was listening to the annual state of the union address. first and foremost made him a better promise that people's voices will become louder thanks to sweeping reforms of the country's political system or political stablish meant 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. 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 you had to respond to the most recent events in the country protests and allegations which are followed the december of war parliamentary elections and claims that the elections had been had been raked early admission and that 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 by 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 it. 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. goals but 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 emphasized 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 traitor when. he leaves a different society of the that he talk when he became the president now we have people who require more freedom i think that these measures that he mentioned

during his speech for years they are not very they are they still reflect a desire for greater freedom for greater freedom from well to do part of the population and i think that's a very good development. well another key focus of movie matter to me was the thought of economic reform that some of us who were dimitri at the aussie business desk for more on that dimitri. well despite the need for more economic integration competition and along with the role of small business meeting the better said that the economy was in good shape in good health and back to pre-crisis levels tell us more about that. and watching out see 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 the ordinary people who are feeling the pain as ati's investigates. it's been nearly ten months since their is uprising began the capital of damascus remain low as he sells it from the conflict to fight 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 play a little stronger the arab league sometimes tough economic sanctions the effects of which have been felt even head in a poor area in the damascus grass and her family struggling to make ends meet. in the years learning to follow the beans for

a living he barely makes one hundred fifty syrian pounds a day and 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 driving by ice 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 for very well be it . the for a population that it started seeing the results of economic opportunities a. financial transactions. blackouts become the. fifth they could be even the financial times ahead. because of the economic sanctions people rushed to stop fuel and gas just. people are

a little bit afraid of the fact that water or gas my home out this is when you see these queues this in place by the arab league it was hit the sanctions with the government hand when it came to ending the violence in the country because inside syria at the moment many feel it every day people are looking. the economic sanctions still just taking the lead that he the one here. has become part of the daily life of many people here in syria. 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 to bring about any change . in the west of the conflict areas change can come and they meet tesing imperative to families like. finding life under the sanctions increasingly desperate search for. damascus. commenting on the situation in syria new york based off

a 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 been 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. you were 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 very very frightened and it was moments like that when you go allies that the mood at least one of the talking square from one second to another change to 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. to history in the making. testimony. ten stories that shapes 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 ambulances it could be heard racing through 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 the air all uncertainty over more of this tragedy and what it bodes for iraq i'm now joined by middle east blogger live from london thank you for coming 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 mice 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 past 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 as a stable political order there leave before the last american soldier has actually left iraq both kind of in the process of completely and rivaling 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 responsibility for the failure of 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 semblance 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 that mr sharon 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 the situation is just rattling and the country is 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 with america out of the equation at least military and there are still other. foreign hands if you like involved in

the 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 kind of grabbing more power. that 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 will prevail and there will 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 here 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 the complete failure of nerve and sense of purpose and ability to take responsibility kind of for us 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 it's 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 ross 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. middle east or 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 that 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 specifically 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 their use in a three part lethal cocktail the n.-s. that 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 u.s. 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 barbara 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 impose their own

restrictions to prevent misuse the new e.u. embargo covers eight barbiturates in total including ten to help us stop falls 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 us 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 r t london. seven twenty pm on thursday here in

moscow and as promised we continue our look back at the past twelve months where the assays 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 after you support shares what she went through reporting at 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 sense 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 heating oil and occupation it was dangerous covering the egypt stories of

journalist and i think it was even more dangerous to cover not as a foreign journalist i remember when we have a better time so if you read 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 ican tied the camera there by and large you don't want to do the attention she then is necessary the officers from which we were forecasting we took off all the science that says that we were media because this was also was inciting 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 i'm talking here men and women because you're a woman or at least we think perhaps in a male colleague but i did feel frightened being a woman in tough experience the people here. believe in they'd be replaced one

dictator hosni mubarak one i can tell me that anything i'd look for tough is square i want to female 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 walk past me brush squeeze a part of my body and look at me with this kind of leering 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. since i was completely honest most in cairo and i remember doing a lot of reports of my talks. i am not now not to. marry. him 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 studio work impost apartment buildings and soon people coming in front of the apartment buildings that had formed a kind of night watch 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. there is one is there a particular i was very frightened we were standing on the outskirts of classical square i was talking to a group of people and as always had to speak to one person and then everybody comes to see what's happening and and people who live 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 telegraph 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 move changed when 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 cameramen that i was working with understood immediately both was happening he started screaming for me to get into the cockpit i remember

the drive that 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 did the kemah and was pushing me into the calm in the 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. 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 we've. just to say says of perhaps the same with aleutian or two revolutions but again the anger the frustration the disappointment the sense of hopes not being realized is palpable on the streets of cairo if you will 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 and certainty that is sweeping the middle east there is a saying things are changing in another sense of no one not knowing exactly where

and how and what ultimately these changes will bring. the r.t. crew has prepared eight more reports that you can see every day until the new year there's certainly more memories of two thousand and eleven for you to experience here on r.t. i try not to miss it and the entire that's a cross over to the business has got to retreat now joins us with all the latest prisoners. welcome to business on the economic achievements so high on president envelops agenda and in the spotlight of his address to the federal assembly on thursday with a 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. in the russia has successfully overcome the most difficult period of global economic instability and has returned to pre-crisis growth levels are economies growing by around four percent which is close to the most developed countries but we keep

government debt at a very little. ability so 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 the 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 looking for an organization and 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. in 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 the jobless claims the dow jones is up point four percent the nasdaq half 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 focus is up one percent and on the dax which is up point nine percent. to russian is the 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 second ago so what's been moving the my thanks most blue chips actually ended the day a mix so he can say that gazprom up point six percent down by the same amount pretty much as the call make was down at the close point three percent the company launched sales of its latest model them on the ground. and i'll be back in fifty five minutes time with a business update join me to get. wealthy

british style. time to time on. the. markets why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger

for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines in two counties a report. if you're just joining us a very warm welcome to you this is. russia needs democracy but chaos president outlines the primary challenges for russia saying the country is on the brink of a new political era where every voice will be. arab league observers arrive in syria as the conflict. and international sanctions.