please please please. please . dozens killed in syria's capital in the first suicide bombing since march as arab league observers get down to business in an effort to mediate of peace deal there. leaving a nation in despair tensions running high in iraq is the government plunges deeper into crisis after a bombing in trust that he claims more than seventy lives just days after the pullout of u.s. troops. privacy matter is every breath you take every move you make now be recorded human rights activists in britain fighting a surge of surveillance cameras now to be installed in every taxi in the city of oxford.

eight pm in moscow i'm at très a good to have you with us here on r t our top story around forty people have been killed more than one hundred wounded in two suicide bombings in syria's capital the regime is laying blame for the attack on al qaida it's the first incident of its kind in damascus since the uprising started in march as comes against the backdrop of the first batch of arab league monitors arriving to implement a peace deal a group of observers visited the site of the bombings and called for calm but former belgian m.p. lo dave i know spanx the foreign powers are actually seeking a reason for military intervention. some kind is already insidious for some time and may be and she may be there also to respond attacks so when the assad government is claiming that they are merely finding an armed resistance from abroad

little they do have to point the gun does not change the fact that there also is a popular uprising in the country need to indeed we think for such and i weigh my would be complicit excuses to intervene did they do anything to feel and. this involved but not necessarily because they're against what al qaeda is doing look at what they and what can you do real allies on in libya i mean something similar is happening in libya in syria sort of but it will succeed is another matter of the west if i can use that there is shade to west wants to control the middle east and for the moment syria is the day to ship out of out of their control the issue is not whether the sea is addicted to porn or not i mean the need to is and the west is supporting data ships to saudi arabia and bahrain and all those that's not the issue the age issue is when that sujit that is on their side or not receive it is

not on their side therefore they have to go syrian government troops allegedly gunned down hundreds of civilians this week the west wants the crackdown to stop but refuses to acknowledge that the opposition is armed this despite a legion of army desert earth now fighting against president assad as arky sour fourth reports from damascus international monitors will have their hands full trying to put a peace plan into effect. well the advanced arab league team is now in damascus they have of course to pave the way for the observer mission that is expected at the end of the month they're going to be looking at the government's promises to implement that peace plan now of course many people here in the country excuse me skeptical about whether or not any real change is going to come from that arab league observers mission entering here a big concern is whether they're going to be able to cover enough ground to get to the places where the colds and try to conflict is actually happening now that's

been a real problem here in the country was we've been here for the past week actually getting to these areas accessing these people that are on the ground where the armed conflict is breakout has prevented extremely difficult but getting accurate information and verifying it full stop has been a major challenge we visited the city of homs and there you can hear the gunfire ringing out in the distance but ahead of the arab league team arriving here in the country we've heard very caring for both the fighters breaking out at civilians us but they seem if anything should be policing the force of sitting around two hundred people having been killed in the past few days and as the conflict continues what we are seeing is this becoming of both sides seemingly increasingly increasingly bloody certainly that team of observers are really going to have that work cut out for them that everyone is going to be very much are you paying this

some form of change can now be a vote about that this is going to be an important step in the right direction but do remember it is of course just one step in many many more that are going to need to be taken before you see the situation here in syria coming down. opinion remains split on exactly what the arab league observers can actually achieve in syria we want to know what you think so click on our t.v. . tom and have your say by participating in our online poll at the moment most of the respondents think the mission will actually precipitate foreign military intervention in the country fewer believe the efforts will produce nothing more than a few headlines and barely so far think it will buy damascus more time to crush the opposition or that it will force the two sides of the conflict to finally behave if you haven't already logged on to r.t. dot com and click your vote. will stay with us plenty more coming your way here on r t this hour in the latest edition our special feature focusing on the year two

thousand and eleven artie's sean thomas this time talking about the extreme grief and pain he witnessed when covering the plane crash that killed the entire lokomotiv hockey team. i remember we were out of the scene when it was pouring down rain it was in the middle of the day we saw this one player in new jersey walking along with two of his friends in this moment of shock in this very rare and very roll moment and that was very special that he shared some of his feelings and his thoughts with us in a time when he was just processing what was going on. with this is. history in the making. testimony. ten stories that shapes two thousand and eleven on our t.v. . iraqi government plunges deeper into crisis with leaders and gauging a blame game following a wave of bombings rocking the country thursday it's prosody comes only a few days after the pullout of u.s.

troops was the works to tack in months with at least seventy two people killed nearly two hundred injured in a series of blasts across baghdad crisis could talks between the country's political leaders were canceled friday following a route with which the iraqi prime minister nuri al maliki was blamed by the opposition for the violence you have this industry the u.s. administration insists it left behind a stable country nine years after launching the invasion but joseph to shore a writer for the world socialist web site thinks the latest flare ups in the region are a product of the occupation. this was not about you know securing iraq and giving it freedom it was about securing resources and in the process. so sectarian tensions devastated the entire society and this is really the product of that you have different factions of the iraqi lead who are battling over power over control over resources including particular oil contracts and threatens to

unravel into a civil war that conflict the violence in iraq is very much a product of the occupation itself and you know that's really the source of the crisis facing iraqi politics and iraqi society i mean look at what what does occupation is produce over one million people killed by some estimates thirty five percent of iraqi children. living now is orphans destination of infrastructure the entire society has been scarred by this occupation by this war. u.s. troop withdrawal leaves behind a country embittered by occupation that's cost thousands of lives and billions of dollars as u.s. soldiers return home for christmas for many the mood is far from joyful though with suicide rates among veterans on the rise liz wahl reports. being in this environment is killing us soldiers but surprisingly the biggest killers are

not enemy combatants i am fortunately and have is the demographic in the united states that kills itself pretty much more than any other out there for the second year in a row more soldiers killed themselves than were killed in combat four hundred sixty eight soldiers took their own lives in two thousand and ten and even off the battlefield suicide rates continue to soar mathur sure rose in afghanistan war veteran turn anti-war activists we come home feeling terrible despicable about what we did and what we saw sure roe is one of thousands returning from deployment feeling detached and conflicted the laws of decency don't apply to soldiers in combat and when you go back to having to apply those laws yourself all the time. you know that that for many you know leads either to the grave or to jail an average of eighteen veterans per day commit suicide and many more attempted last

year twenty percent of the thirty thousand american suicides was a soldier or better and it kind of cumulated in. disaster. in that you really start to wonder if you're ever going to be who you were again dr jan kemp says many soldiers come back feeling disconnected from the world in which they once lived then all of a sudden they're there back things happened in their families while they were gone the situation they can come back to is not often the same one that they left in fact many come back to bleak situations a quarter of the homeless in america are military veterans the unemployment rate among vets hovers over twelve percent meanwhile campaigns such as army strong glorify life as a soldier and aim to entice america's young men and women. unless. that's

the. average size since retiring from the army sharon has been committed to showing students the other side of the army experience the side recruiters fail to show it's all part of the we are not your soldiers tour his message is clear don't become one of us. and he hopes that message will prevent students from turning into a statistic from washington listen. to some veterans who have struggled after conflict and strive to face down the torment of life after their service a small number have resorted to desperate measures are to reports online here's a story of a former soldier forced upon his medals to put food on the table that and much more click away at our t. dot com. times delayed a look back at some of the major events shaping the year two thousand and eleven through the eyes of our team correspondents who covered them today we focus on a fatal plane crash that wiped out the entire jaroslava locomotive hockey team in

russia sean thomas are some of the thoughts and memories that didn't make it into his previous reporting. you were hearing it on the radio in fact in the taxi on the way to work you know they were they were listening to it when everybody was it was just hitting them the gravity of what happened but. this was much bigger than a plane crash it was much bigger than russia it was a worldwide event. as you got to jaroslav all you felt that the personal connection of everyone in the town to the team. there was anger there was frustration there was sadness there were tears. and the outpouring of support from everyone in the town coming to place flowers and

pictures and jerseys and stuffed animals and light candles in front of the stadium where the locomotive practice it was just amazing to see such an outpouring of support. i haven't missed a single much since i've been living and. i go every season and that's why it's painful. we were at the scene when it was pouring down rain it was in the middle of the day my classes were just. thousands of people came. as soon as we finished our live shot we saw this. walking with two of his friends in this moment of shock in this very. moment that was very special that he shared some of his feelings and his thoughts with us in a time when he was just processing what was going on. the entire community

rallied around this team and speaking to the individual members of the community the fans the people who really felt like they knew every single one of these players. it's the most serious loss of my life like losing family. they were like family they all had something to say and they all internalized this loss. that final day inside the stadium the coffins were lined up with flowers and one by one there's a procession of people including the prime minister vladimir putin who came to pay his respects. the graphic images in covering this story there's images of the plane still on fire images of them pulling the bodies from the actual crash site one of the survivors who survived the crash in chile who was one of the stars of the team and then later to find out that he passed away just taking the

hope away from this entire community. the desire in the willingness for this team to go forward to the team itself and the players and the young players really rallied and were on the ice the very next day. after the plane crash while there were funeral services and while there were rallies there were players on the ice ready to rebuild the jaroslava locomotive team so that there could be a team in the future and that was an inspiration. and each day up to the new year will bring you more personal reflections from our correspondents covering the year's biggest stories and if you can't wait you can also see them on our website our team dot com. turkey has now accused france of the genocide during the during the colonial occupation of algeria this after the lower house of the french parliament approved legislation making it a crime to deny any genocide including by the mass killings by turkey of armenians

in the early twentieth century the bill imposes a fine of forty five thousand euros a year in jail for offenders but still needs to be approved by the french senate turkey's already recalled its ambassador from france halted military ties with paris more than fifteen countries recognize the slaughter of around one of the half million armenians but turkey denies genocide saying it's up to an international committee of historians to decide what really happened here in a professor of political science at paris west university thinks france's move is just a way of scoring political points. first of all you have to realize that it's a build through the lower house of commons and then it has to go to the senate men . it would not go to the senate before the presidential election and maybe it would die out you know. so little political game he played by various political parties. there is the historical debate genocide is not going down there was a genocide and there's also the political games being played by various parties to

get the armenian vote in the french elections every nation has to investigate its crimes in the past but establishing historical truth is the work of the story and it is not something that should be done and established by law what better watch what you rather you better watch what you say especially if you're set to ride an oxford taxi authorities in the british city plan to install an audio and video surveillance system in every cab there by two thousand and fifteen compares of call the city council decision a staggering invasion of privacy and claim people's rights will be violated artie's laura smith as more. in oxford surveillance cameras everywhere and now in the city council scheme taxis will become the latest targets of state operations over the next few years license caps will be required to install equipment monitoring both driver and passenger it's

a fact of life in towns and cities across the u.k. that you'll being watched wherever you go on the high street in shops on public transport the surveillance along this stretch of street will only record images but the systems in taxis will record sound to effectively eavesdropping on the conversations of private citizens some who fear for their security late at night are reassured others see it as a staggering invasion of privacy i think it's going to india i think it will make people feel a bit safer it's amazing and pretty seem the dice you have to talk entices just like you know being pointed out. there all. day and night recording will stop when the car engine switched on and and thirty minutes after it's turned off the council says footage will only be available to police for ongoing investigations i don't believe

that it will be. let's remember this is not someone's front room this is not some of his bedroom this is the back of a taxi with a driver in the front seat who will be able to overhear any conversation but you're having with a passenger or someone's privacy campaigners on the other hand can't understand how the council can justify this and accuse them of refusing to hand over statistics on taxi related crime. threats which exist that requires them to record not just video but the conversation of. passengers we simply don't accept that the force is greater toward everybody recorded indiscriminately for example a panic button system being how it treats everybody as potential criminals. treating everybody as a law. and while the council says it has the support of cappy many at this local

firm object to the blanket approach people used. in the i was. going to be. family and friends. whoa that is you know for me. we want to. feel. like a prison oxford city council doesn't think it's going to have any trouble pushing this measure through but previously campaign is see it differently they're launching a complaint with an independent data protection body to try and stop what they see as the further creeping encroachments of the state's prying eyes and ears into innocent people's lives laura smith oxford. a russian satellite has reportedly

plummeted back to earth after failing to reach orbit friday officials suspect a rocket failure to blame an investigation is underway a soyuz booster blasted off from a cosmic roam in central russia but couldn't take the meridian military communications probe to orbit the accident could cost the russian space agency about six hundred million dollars but there are many more space excesses than failures and most successful soyuz launch has reached its target docking with the international space station crew members up to the i.s.a.'s will spend five months in orbit conducting dozens of experiments and if you're lucky and have a clear enough sky you can actually watch the docking from right here on earth. turning now to some other stories making headlines across the globe thousands of egyptian protesters gathered in cairo's tahrir square to rally against military violent demonstrators demanded security forces step down after soldiers were caught beating female protesters stripping and dragging one through a street just a week ago asking exam time military demonstrations led to the deaths of seventeen

people in the capital protesters want the military to hand over power to a civilian authority headed let's next year's presidential elections. chinese riot police have fired tear gas to break up a mass protests in a small town in southern china that is the fourth day of rallies against the construction of a new power station activists also say that the existing coal fired power plant has contributed to a recent rise in cancer cases as well as can see police in the crowd demanding authorities release a number of demonstrators it was locked in a standoff with police five people so far detained. the city of christchurch new zealand has suffered a series of earthquakes the strongest region a magnitude five point eight amateur footage showing people screaming and running out of a supermarket in panic the quake rattled buildings and prompted mass evacuations but despite its strength no reported casualties and no tsunami issued it was born a new issue the city still recovering from an earlier quake in february that killed

more than one hundred eighty people and caused billions of dollars in. haiti's up next with the latest business news stay with us here on r.t. . welcome to the business program here and i'll say russia has cut its key interest rate as inflation drops to the lowest levels in decades the rate has been cut by a quarter of a percentage point to eight percent the government hopes cheaper loans will help business grow amid instability in the global economy so let's have a look at the markets and what's happening ok all prices are high all supported by u.s. economic reports that indicated that the modern the world's largest crew consume up will accelerate its weight is trading at just below one hundred dollars per barrel what brant is up one hundred seven dollars per barrel over in u.s. positive data showing jubal goods rising in november by the most informed blog

seems to be reflecting in the market is the dow jones. trading positively this hour although there was a separate report showing consumer spending rising less than full cost last month and over in europe stocks are also benefiting from the upbeat data coming from the u.s. well they've bought into it with coming up to the christmas weekend and in london trade is have already gone off to celebrate the festive season on the russian markets have closed the all ts lost just a notch well my socks and his point seven percent in the red and individual movements on the my says blue chips close mix call rose zero point four percent bank has been in the red for much of the day lost almost two percent and telecommunication provider have a couple among the top guy knows on the porch the government would take around seven whole percent of the company's stake alexander with ken i have seen measured

wraps up the weeks trade. we do not see any signs of continuing for christmas christmas really while we can say that the first part of the week was probably more than one. busters who are trying to understand first of all these are it's not going to be here and so for the last two days or week we see a slight positive move from europe we see that european stock futures are down more or less in the positive territory basically investors and maybe already are in the christmas we don't know that one will be when they will come back in the beginning of next week monday tuesday so basically we do not see the side of the christmas rush here and this is probably the result of. disturbances we have seen on the markets for a couple of months so if you want us to. his biggest and despair bank has made another step a boat as bull swiss bank s.o.b commercial bank for almost eighty one million

dollars from a russian oh my dear lou call the bank will we do use its own brands or use it to develop syndicated lending and trade financing business is. up to twenty five russian banks may lose their licenses next year has a fifty percent increase in two thousand and eleven the federal deposit insurance agency says a key reason would be doubling of the minimum capital requirements to six million dollars the agency says some of the night hundreds of banks county operating in russia would not be able to meet the new standards problems with liquidity lending to affiliates are among the biggest problems in the russian banking system. from abuse in. the weakest part of those banks which led to their own nurse and affiliated structures and this phenomenon is still here and some even playing that this is normal practice but that's actually an extremely risky business. to russia's gas giant gazprom has to postpone plans to grazes first and it does do

joint venture in western europe germany's second largest utility all w e says the policy is and it just sets up the bench after failing to agree on a deal but j.p. . it was plants will write power plants in germany u.k. belgium and the netherlands which took started in the sum up as part of the all w.a.'s plan to mitigate the costs of germany's decision to phase out nuclear power in ten years separate problems as it's considering taking part in up to five electricity projects involving area. and that's all this is news for now obvious that in about fifty five minutes.

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