beginning in russia's new discover the arctic circle. dozens killed in syria's capital on 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 running high in iraq as the government plunges deeper into crisis after a bombing atrocity claims more than seventy lives after the pullout of u.s. troops. every breath you take every move you make could now be recorded human rights groups in britain fight a surge of surveillance cameras now to be installed in every taxi in the city of oxford.

eleven pm in moscow i match reza 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 the syrian capital the regime placing the blame for the attack on al qaida it's the first incident of its kind in damascus since the uprising started in march and it comes against the backdrop of the first visit of arab league monitors arriving to implement a peace deal group of observers visited the site of the bombings and called for calm by jordan based professor and journalist peter hima louche thinks the league shouldn't be telling the syrians what to do. talking about through forums in syria especially when this con the talk is coming from out of go. even a constitutional mid-month of. freedom of the media that i had to organize some 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 dependent or somewhat untie imperialist blood democracy well this this doesn't come across to. observe what i was honestly it was just simply a double standard that should not even stand i mean these other 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 schumer has said we are going along with reforms on our agenda and our time and we need to see what those states have in the way over to form before they start preaching to us about reform this is obviously. an sos and see that has been instigated by a nights ago and it's cronies and the. syrian government troops allegedly gunned

down hundreds of civilians this week the west wants to crack down to end but seems to be refusing to acknowledge and arm the opposition this despite a legion of army deserves now fighting against the assad regime as r.t. sarah furthur of course from syria international monitors will have their hands full trying to put a peace plan into action. 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 concert is whether they're going to be able to cover enough rounds to get to the places where the coltan trade to conflict is actually happening that's been

a real problem here in the cult you also 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 breaking out has proven 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 harrowing reports the violence breaking out at civilians us in fact they seemed if anything to be increasing the force of putting around two hundred people having been killed in the past few days and as the conflict continues what we are seeing is this becoming both sides seemingly increasingly increasingly bloody certainly that team of observers are really going to have their work cut out for the 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. there i'm sure opinion remains split on exactly what the arab league observers can achieve in syria but we want to know where you think click over r t dot com and have you. say by voting in our online poll at the moment most of the respondents think the mission will approach a separate state foreign military intervention in syria fewer think the efforts will produce nothing more than a few headlines barely any so far think it will buy damascus time to crush the opposition or force the sides to sit down and behave themselves well if you haven't already put on the r.t. dot com and cast your vote. stay with us still to come in the hour the latest edition of our special feature focusing on twenty a levon thomas this time talking about the extreme grief and pain he witnessed while covering the plane crash that killed the entire lokomotiv hockey team. 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. this is. the story in the making. testability. 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 game after a wave of bombings that iraq the country thursday the atrocity comes only a few days after u.s. troops pulled out it was the worst attack in months with at least seventy two killed nearly two hundred injured in a series of blasts across baghdad crisis talks between the country's political

leaders were canceled friday after a dispute in which iraqi prime minister nuri al maliki was blamed by the opposition for the violence the us administration insists it left behind a stable country nine years after launching the invasion joseph writer for the world socialist web site the latest flare ups in the region are a byproduct of the occupation. this was not about you know securing iraq and giving it freedom it was about securing oil resources and in the process the. sectarian tension devastated the entire society and this is really the product of that you have different factions of the iraq elite who are battling over power over control over resources including particular oil contracts and it threatens to unravel into a civil war the 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 in iraq is the site i mean look at what was his occupation has produced over one million people killed by some estimates thirty five percent of rocky children. living now is orphans definition of infrastructure the entire society has been scarred by this occupation by this war. well u.s. troop withdrawal leaves behind a country in bitter and by a patient that's cost thousands of lives and billions of dollars as u.s. soldiers return home for the holidays for many the mood is far from joyful with suicide rates among veterans alarmingly high artie's correspondent lose war reports . being in this environment. it's killing us soldiers but surprisingly the biggest killers are not enemy combatants i am fortunate that the demographic in the united states 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 an average of eighteen veterans per day commits suicide and many more attempt it last year twenty percent of the thirty thousand american suicides was a soldier or veteran 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 and then all of

a sudden they're there back things happened in their families while they were gone the situation they came to 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. so unless. 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 don't become one of us. and he hopes that message will prevent students from

turning into a statistic from washington liz want. some veterans who have struggled after conflict and tried to face down the torment of life after service a small number have resorted to desperate measures r.t. reports online the story of one former soldier forced to pawn his medals to put food on the table that and much more click away at our t. dot com. time now to take a look back at some of the major events that shaped two thousand and eleven through the eyes of our teams correspondents covering that today we focus on a fatal plane crash that wiped out the entire lokomotiv jaroslava hockey team in russia sean thomas was covering it and share some of the thoughts and memories that didn't make it into his reports. you were hearing it on the radio in fact. it was

just. it was much bigger. the personal connection. there was anger and 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. seen when it was pouring down rain in the middle of the day my classes were just.

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 people who really felt like they knew. the most serious. they were. 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 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 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. remember every day right up to the new year will bring you more personal reflections from our correspondents who covered the year's biggest stories and if you can't wait to see it here you can all find it all on our website our team dot com. turkey has accused france now of genocide during its 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 turks of armenians in the early twentieth century the bill imposes a fine of forty five thousand euro and a year in jail for offenders but still needs to be approved by the senate turkish protesters took to the streets of on her and istanbul expressing their anger over the legislation turkey's already recalled its ambassador from france and halted all military ties with paris more than fifteen countries have recognized the slaughter

of around a million and a half armenians but turkey denies charges of genocide peter de lay 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 good. through the lower house that are meant and then it has to go to the senate most probably it would not go to the senate before the presidential election and maybe it would die out you know. so little political game is played by various political parties. there is that historical debate genocide has not been done 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 establish an historical truth is that work of the story and it is not something that should be done and established by law you better watch

what you say especially if you're said to ride in a taxi in oxford authorities in a british city planner with style and audio and video surveillance system in every cab by twenty fifteen campaigners of call the city council's decision a staggering invasion of privacy and claim people's rights will be violated artie's laura smith has 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

all reassured others see it as a staggering invasion of privacy i think it's good idea i think it will make people feel a bit safer it's amazing and pretty same. talking taxi just like. a lot of pressure on people who behave. in a. 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 this let's remember this is not someone's front room this is not some bedroom this is the back of a taxi with a driver in the front seat who will be a able to overhear any conversation but you know having the passenger or someone on fire previously 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 or. 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 to go to war every profitable so should be recorded indiscriminately for example a panic button system being sold it treats everybody as potential criminals. treating everybody as a law abiding citizen and while the council says it has the support of cappy many at this. object to the blanket approach if people used. is a kind of still going to be because they're not going to family and friends well the puzzle would be moot it's. just. me. they

make. it. sort of. 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 states prying eyes and is into innocent people's lives norris myth that a russian soyuz spacecraft has docked with the international space station bringing a replacement crew to the us the docking took about three hours and the space men from the rocket any i.s.o.'s have finally made up. busy giving the newcomers a tour around the station crew members are holding a video conference with their families and russian space administration officials three members will spend five months in orbit conducting dozens of experiments but

not all good news in space today for russians as a satellite has plummeted back to earth after failing to reach its orbit friday a soyuz booster blasted off from a cosmic drama in central russia but couldn't take the meridian military communications probe to orbit official suspect or rocket failures to play. turning now to some other stories making headlines across the globe thousands of egyptian protesters gathered again in cairo's tahrir square to rally against military violence demonstrators demanded security forces step down after soldiers were caught beating female protesters stripping and dragging one through the streets just a week ago last week's 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 vote. chinese riot police fired tear gas to break up mass protests in a small town in southern china it's the fourth day of rallies against the construction of a new power station activists also say any existing coal fired power plant has

contributed to a recent rise in cancer rates as well as heavy sea pollution the crowd demanding authorities release a number of demonstrators was a locked in a standoff with police five people so far detained. but in a few moments is there a glimmer of hope for a shattered iraq after the u.s. withdrawal just one of the questions raised in today's cross talk with peter lavelle first though the business news with katie. welcome to the business program. interest rate as information drops to the lowest level in decades the races in cut by a quarter of a percentage point eight percent the government hopes cheaper loans will help business grow amid instability in the global economy a. look at the markets european stocks on the days are coming from the. head of the christmas and on the russian markets closed lower. just to no.

end to the point seven percent. of the some individual in the blue chips close mics 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. seven on the whole percent of the companies state alexander wished him. luck so this week. we didn't see any signs of continuing christmas christmas rally while we can say that the first part of the week was probably the most 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 more or

less in the positive territory basically investors maybe already are in the christmas we don't know. 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. instruments as we have seen on the markets for a couple of months so you want us to. purses biggest bank has made another step abroad as part just swiss bank commercial banks almost eighty one million dollars from russia no major. ground and use it to develop syndicated lending and trade financing business is. 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 banks i would not be able to meet the new standards of liquidity lending to affiliates all over the place has problems in the russian banking system. what would be the weakest part of those banks which led to their own nurse and affiliated structures of this phenomenon is still here and some even going that this is normal practice but that's actually an extremely risky business. russia's gas giant gazprom has to postpone plans to create its first electricity joint venture and western europe germany is second largest utility all w e says apologies and to talks to set up the venture off to failing to agree on a deal with the j.v. it was plants will pull right pol pot's and johnny u.k. on the level of the talks started in the some us part of the all w.a.'s plans to mitigate the costs of germany's decision to phase out nuclear power in ten years

separately gas bomb says it's considering taking paulton up to five electricity projects involving area. a muscle the business news for now you can find more on our web site www dot com forward slash business goodbye for now. the tour is the same or different if you visited. the markets with the american

occupation in iraq officially coming to a close this week it's time to take stock was the war in occupation worth it for you. odd.

into the future new year's wishes on technology updates next generation playfields made from super strong cultural lightweight building materials good. old nuclear isotopes a cleaner planet thanks to the revolutionary way to get rid of our growing landfills and a long list of russian innovators. pleased to introduce. days . to get around. the lifeline. one drives people to. unsettle. one finds them up to survive in the freezing cold. russia's noles discover the arctic circle. among the

least exposed areas. and untouched by much. surrounded by steep rock. case paintings on display for thousands of years. eastern science beyond the time. on the odyssey. witnesses. to history in the making of. testimony. ten stories that shapes two thousand and eleven are to. download the official antti application on the phone all i pod touch from the i choose apps to. life on the go.