dozens killed in syria's capital in the first suicide bombing since the uprising started as arab league observers get down to business in an effort to mediate a peace deal there. leaving a nation in despair tensions are running high in iraq as the government plunges deeper into crisis after a bombing atrocity claimed more than seventy lives just days after u.s. troops. every breath you take every move you make could now be recorded human rights activists in britain fight a surge of surveillance cameras now to be installed in every city in every taxi in the city of oxford. and today russia has cut the intense rate of

inflation this eleventh levels in a decade well the thousand the business but it did lengthen the time. nine pm in moscow why matras 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 double 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 this against the backdrop of the first batch of arab league monitors arriving to implement a peace deal a group of the observers visited the site of the bombings and called for calm for more insight and analysis we turn to jordan based professor and journalist louche. good to have you with us so we haven't seen

a suicide bombing in damascus since the uprising started how close do you think the country could be now to civil war. i think we are already in civil war civil war is fought in many ways and we have seen in places like homs and hama and several other border areas in syria there were armed clashes between heavily armed insurgents supported by nato or turkey or the arab gulf states against syrian troops so this is just an escalation of the already existing civil war and the attacks happened just a day after the first arab league observers have arrived in country do you think it's a coincidence or what do you think about the timing i think that the opposition as we have seen on subdural t.v. in that where it's really irritated that the syrian regime has accepted to invite out of monitors from the arab league to come and monitor the situation in

syria so i think this is an attempt to sabotage the mission of the out of monitors as this would like a calm down by the regime since it's the responsibility of and that regime to preserve law and order this kind of thing especially so close to security some players of the mob are out of them televisions services and downtown damascus is going to have to cause the syrian regime to climb down hard on armed insurgents that's complicate things the mission of the of monitors so i think this was very well calculate the. mission of the out of monitors by the opposition of course whoever has done this is serving the agenda of the insurgents regardless of the name whether they are required or not you think the arab league observers then will not get a fair and accurate picture of what's going on on the ground. well i think the arab

league will face very difficult situations not since they go into early as where there are military classes and people blowing themselves up that's that's going to cause a huge security risk for them for their lives as the syrian regime has said that this is not responsible for the safety of the of monitors of they go into such on the other hand the i don't believe is saying and so is the international community that the syrian regime should be held responsible for the safety of the out of monaco's so there you have a very very tricky situation that could easily blow up in the face of the student regime and let me just add that having accepted the presence of a lot of monitor succumb and all the clauses of the out of initiative regarding syria i do not think that the initiative is going to succeed i think it was meant

to fail from the start that the syrian regime is just trying to show that when it fails it's not going to be the one held responsible it's not going to be the culprit for the failure of the initiative now the russians have sent a fact finding mission to syria this summer they concluded that damascus is trying to implement reforms but need more time what do you think. well let me be honest with you i mean talking about reforms in syria especially when this kind of talk is coming from out of gulf states. even a constitution get on top of. our freedom of the media or the other the right to organize and political parties or organizations so this is this is just nonsense i mean when when someone who lacks the very basic tenets of democracy is preaching to

syria or other arab states that are in the pendant or somewhat untie imperialist about democracy well this doesn't come across to go to an honest observer as honestly it's just simply a double standard that should not even stand i mean this out of gulf states they don't have a multi-party system they don't have free press they don't have free elections so what are they complaining about exactly what that's what the senators seem has said we are going along with all our reforms on our agenda and our time and we we need to see what those states have in the way of reform before they start preaching to us about reform this is obviously. an sos and see that has been instigated by nato and its cronies and the arab world. all right we have to leave it there professor ybor hema louche speaking with us from jordan thanks about your what.

international opinion remains split on exactly what the arab league observers can achieve in syria we want to know what do you think just please click on r t dot com to have your say and participate in our online poll at the moment most think the mission will actually precipitate foreign military intervention in syria if you are believe that efforts will produce nothing more than a few headlines barely any so far think that it will buy damascus more time to crush the opposition or that it will force the two sides to sudden doubt and behave themselves if you haven't click on r.t. dot com and cast your vote we'd love to hear from you. and still to come this hour the latest addition to our special feature feature focusing on twenty eleven this time around archy's sean thomas talks about the extreme grief and pain he witnessed while covering the yaroslavl plane crash that killed nearly the entire lokomotiv hockey team here's a peek. i remember we were at 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 with two of his friends in this moment of shock in this very rare and very well 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. with this is. history in the making. testimony. ten stories that shapes two thousand and eleven on our t.v. . the iraqi government plunges deeper into crisis with leaders and gauging in a blame day blame game following a wave of bombings that rocked the country thursday it comes only a few days after the pull out of u.s. troops it was the worst attack in months at least seventy two people killed nearly two hundred injured in a series of cross baghdad crisis talks between the country's political leaders were canceled friday following a dispute in which iraqi prime minister nuri al maliki was blamed by the opposition

for the bile it's us administration insists that left behind a stable nation nine years after launching the invasion of joseph the oil for the world socialist headshake thinks the latest flare ups in the region all of 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 elite who are battling over power over control over resources including particular oil contracts and drugs to unravel into the 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 i.q.

haitian has produced 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 is leaving behind a country embittered by occupation that's cost thousands of lives and billions of dollars and as u.s. soldiers returning home for the holidays for some the mood is far from joyful with suicide rates among veterans on a troubling rise artie's list wall reports. being in this environment. is killing us soldiers but surprisingly the biggest killers are not enemy combatants i am fortunate to 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 matha 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 last yourself all the time. you know that that for many you know needs 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 campaign such as army strong glorify life as a soldier and aim to entice america's young men and women. too unless. for being is there little. is 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 don't become one of us. and he hopes that message will prevent students from turning into a statistic from washington lismore. over some veterans who struggled after conflict and strive to face down the torment of their life after service a small number have resorted to desperate measures are two reports online by the story of one former soldier of fortune on his medals simply to put food on the table that and much more click away at our t. dot com. now it's time to take a look at some of the major events that shaped the year two thousand and eleven through the eyes of our correspondents covering that day we focus on a fatal plane crash that wiped out the entire yacht of. a locomotive hockey team in russia sean thomas shares some of his thoughts and memories that didn't make it into his previous reports.

you were hearing it on the radio in fact and. it was just. it was much bigger. as you got to. the personal connection. to the team. there was anger there was a frustration. there were tears. and the outpouring of support from everyone in the. picture. and stuffed animals and light candles in front of the stadium. it was just amazing to see such an outpouring of support.

every season and. scene when it was pouring down rain it was in the middle of the day my classes were just. thousands of people came. walking with two of his friends. shock in this very. very special that he shared some of his feelings and his thoughts with us 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. the most serious loss of my

life like losing family. they were like family they all had something to say and they all. internalised this last. that final day inside the stadium the coffins were lined up with flowers and one by one there is a procession of people including the prime minister vladimir putin who came to pay his respects the graphic images in covering the 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 and in chile who is 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 to us. and every day right up to the new year will bring in more personal reflections from our correspondents covering the year's biggest stories if you can't wait you can find them on our website our team dot com. turkey has now accused france of genocide 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 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 senate turkish protesters took to the streets of ancora and istanbul to express their anger over

the legislation turkey's already recalled its ambassador from france and halted all the military ties with paris more than fifteen countries recognize the slaughter of around one and a half million armenians but turkey denies charges of genocide here they are laying 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 good thing through the lower house the ottoman and then it has to go to the senate missed it would not go to the senate before the presidential election and maybe it would die out you know all these silly little political game he's still a have by various political parties. there is historical debate genocide is not going down there was a genocide and there's also that 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 that one of the stores it

is not something that should be done and established by law better watch what you say especially if you're set to ride in oxford taxi authorities in the british city plan to install an audio and video surveillance system in every cab by twenty fifteen campaigners of call the city council's decision a staggering invasion of privacy claiming people's rights will be violated artie's laura smith has more. in oxford surveillance cameras everywhere and now in a city council scheme taxis will become the latest targets of state bugging 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 who fear for their security late at night or reassured others see it as a staggering invasion of privacy i think is good idea i think it will make people feel a bit safer it's amazing and pretty same advice you have to talk in taxi just like . you can. put a lot of pressure on people. 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 somebody 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 i 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 great. everybody should be recorded indiscriminately for example a public bus insistent big but it treats everybody as potential criminals. treating everybody as a citizen and while the council says it has the support of copies many at they. object to the blanket approach if people used. is it going to be because. well the puzzle.

is. it. looks that city council doesn't think it's going to have any trouble pushing this measure through but privacy campaign is see it differently than a complaint with an independent data protection body to try and stop what they see as the further creeping in creech meant to the state's prying eyes and is into innocent people's lives. that. some other stories making headlines across the globe thousands of egyptians protesters gathered in cairo's tahrir square rallying against military violence demonstrators demanding security forces stepped down after soldiers were caught beating female protesters stripping and

arriving in the streets just a week ago last week anti-military demonstrations led to the deaths of seventeen people in the capital protesters want the military to hand over power to a civilian authority ahead of next year's presidential elections. christchurch new zealand has suffered a new series of earthquakes the strongest reaching a magnitude five point eight amateur footage showed people streaming into running out of a supermarket and panic the quake. rattled buildings and prompted mass evacuations despite its strength no so far reported casualties and no tsunami warning issued a city still recovering from an earlier quake in february that killed more than one hundred eighty people and caused billions of dollars in. special new year's edition of technology update coming your way in about ten minutes but first a look at the latest business news with katie. welcome

to the business program. interest rate as inflation drops to the lowest level in decades the races in cup by a quarter of a percentage point eight percent the government hopes cheap alliance will help business grow amid instability in the global economy. that's a look at the markets european stocks benefited from the coming from the. head of the christmas week and on the russian markets closed lower. just a notch. and to the point seven percent. let's have a look at some individual days in the my six and blue chips close mixed today all major lou call those point four percent. has been in the red for much of the day i lost almost two percent on telecommunication provider. is among the top again is almost pulls the government would take around seven on the whole percent of the comp mistake alexander which. wraps up this week.

we do not see any signs of continuing christmas christmas rally while we can say that the first part of the week was probably. trying to understand first of all these. last two days of the week but 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 maybe already are in the christmas we don't know when we will be when they will come back in the beginning of next week monday tuesday so basically we do not see the size 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 you want us to. russia's biggest bank has made another step abroad as part just swiss bank commercial banks almost eighty one

million dollars from russia no major loophole spevak will revive the same ground and use it to develop syndicated lending and trade financing businesses in europe. up to twenty five russian banks may lose their licenses next year that's 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 agency says some of the nine hundred banks currently operating in russia would not be able to meet the new standards of liquidity lending to affiliates all over the place as problems in the russian banking system. from observing would be the weakest part of those banks which to their own there's an affiliate of structures this phenomenon is still here and some even bring this is normal practice but that's actually an extremely risky business. gas giant

gazprom has to propose postpone plans to create its first electricity joint venture in western europe john the second largest utility all the parties and it talks to set up the venture after failing to agree on a deal the j.v. was planning to operate power plants in germany. the netherlands the talks started in the summer as part of the plan to mitigate the cost of germany's decision to phase out nuclear power in ten years and separately gas from says it's considering taking paul's and up to five electricity projects. that's all the business news for now join me in fifty five minutes for another edition good bye now.

welcome to the future thank you new year's wishes on technology updates next generation playfields made from super strong culture lately building materials to help with community isotopes cleaner planet themes to the revolutionary new ways to get rid of our growing man fields and along listening to russian invaders. the potential.

to. be a man limited to just sleep. wealthy british style. is no time to experiment.