david cameron reveals plans for involvement in a while rich somali is describing the country as a threat to british security. in moscow why matt trezise good to have you with us here at r.t. our top story thousands of protesters have gathered again in central moscow protesting against this month's parliamentary election results mass rallies being organized by various opposition groups claiming the vote was rigged for more on this we go live to our correspondent in isa now at the heart of the demonstrations good to have you again with us and nice oh so fifty thousand people expected to turn out of the protest you're there on the scene how many so far. while it's hard to count i'm bad with numbers we're hearing very conflicting reports as to how many people has still not let you take a look for yourself you can see a stage has been set up the official think you are hearing is around thirty

thousand the opposition is saying on the clock hundred that it's one hundred twenty thousand you can see this is a street at knox college very wide streets completely packed as you can certainly there are tens of thousands of people i think laying a hundred thousand is exaggerating a bit but as the afternoon rose on more and more people are joining the rally where opposition leaders are taking turns coming up and i dress in the crowd you can see it was a dear friend of my ex lots of different political parties here from the nationalists to the communists to the the national bolsheviks party which is actually have men already hairdressers there's certainly a lot of different little guardian here in a lot of people who aren't affiliated a bit of a party is coming out what i call for free hand maryland since various liberal arts was taught two weeks ago at a mass protest on my lonely is where they are the number was fifty thousand and it is looking like the numbers are going to be in that beloved place where protests which happened two weeks ago to correctly have to. results of the parliamentary

about the people here claim able to continue to come out onto the streets and hold until their demands are met marty hearing another day to spend nights at the end of january for the next rally. for the government's partners what's their response so far they ready to meet the people's demands or. not people come out onto the streets almost immediately after the vote and all of us start both president medvedev and prime minister they don't have their boots and so it is a long as protests are within the law and my you don't hate anyone even today either they encourage women to come out at all have their voices heard and making demands to to get to hold you up for the developments and political life and russia to have people more medically active and it's very clear that that is what is happening people are getting more involved out of it that. it's not something that we can sway would have said just a couple of years ago people really care about what's happening now in their well i guess we can say to come out onto the streets but really just two days before those protests we had a huge announcement from president medvedev about to propose

a political reform of the country system what i'm doing here some of the exact things that people here are making demands for which we basically decentralized power by moscow including having regional elections or people into regular be able to run a lecture a child has knowing the amounts of signatures to turn hired. political party it is our have parties we have all to be the run for the by the parliamentary election and also to number the amount of signatures needed to run her presidential vote and that's something that people have been demanding this for years to call though it should be said that protesters are saying that that is not enough that they will continue coming out in the streets until they see some kind of a rewrite. where the main opposition leaders how much political leverage they have who were to. ask you one more time and he said if you can hear me who are the main opposition leaders and how much political leverage they have. currently we have asked our connection

with a nice we'll check back in with her in future hours and keep you updated on the situation . we're constantly bringing you live updates on the developments in the rallies in the russian capital for all the latest you can also check out our our online page artes and he's in our reporting from the heart of the protest log on to our twitter feed to get fresh news from her as well as the latest pictures from the scene you can also see the opposition rally in moscow live right now by clicking on our t.v. dot com. and coming away later this hour behind the scenes of the big news. yes there are interview we are you scared he said you only die once artie's tessera sileo one of the few foreign correspondents allowed to report from syria she looks back from the fear and anguish she witnessed while she was there. but first tis not the season to be jolly

in syria which is mourning the victims of friday's terror attacks forty four people killed more than one hundred fifty wounded in two suicide bombings in damascus syria's muslim brotherhood has claimed responsibility for the attacks this is the arab league begins its mission to put a peace plan into action r.t. sara first reports. chaos and confusion in damascus as the capital which until now has remained largely spared from the violence starts to feel the effects of an escalating conflict. the first day of the league's war it was a bloody tragic day the people of syria will never forget these terrorists and this time of year the capsule is usually brightly lit as christiane's who counted ten percent of the population get ready to celebrate christmas but these scenes of devastation are a harsh contrast and a stark reminder of just how much the country has changed in the past nine months.

last year at christmas we used to wish health and pray for people in other countries that were going through hard times with war we never thought that this year it would be. this year is totally different because of the situation in our country. the police here are planning their own mark of respect for the most. of. our people to. avoid the external signs of history beauties but. no one really feels like celebrating anyway when the country's hospitals are full of casualties the government claims it's fighting arms militant groups sponsored from abroad meanwhile the opposition originally marked by its insistence on peaceful protests it's now been joined by growing numbers of army defectors and has become

increasingly armed after months of quite downs by the government and as violence spreads it's prevailing extremely hard to know exactly who is responsible for what . you have for instance. from somebody who is not. the government can use the position to do oppose and claims its is a government. taxing killings have been met repeatedly with claim council claim and accusation you know we have to use two different movies to use the. we don't turn as a means to see who is more inclusive to the to one of the big team will be attempting to cut through the rhetoric and discover his version of events is most

accurate they many remain skeptical about how much they'll be able to achieve but there's one thing that everyone here is shaping for and that's for the violence to be stopped the christmas celebration having down this religious service this will be happening people. are going to be with their country. the. permanent members of the u.n. security council still at odds over how to act on the syria russia wants a balanced resolution calling on all sides to lay down arms the u.s. and its allies committed to putting all the blame on the assad regime political analyst eva golinger thinks the west has a specific agenda for the country's future. the reason they would want to provoke regime change is to put in place a government that would be friendly to us and its allies interests and of course to enable those interest to control strategic resources in syria and throughout the region which is the same case that we saw in libya i mean the whole justification

of protecting the population was really just a front to be able to overthrow and assassinate really a moammar gadhafi and put in place a government that would be friendly to the u.s. they have to remember that right after the obama administration with drew troops from iraq some of those were relocated to the border of syria from jordan and in preparation of arming this conflict and possibly engaging in it as well and i think that these terrorist attacks are part of that or part of maybe a justification to say hey there needs to be a stronger military presence from abroad in order to prevent further military conflict internally in the country that could result in the deaths of so called innocent civilians. in syria has dominated world headlines since march and it's one of the top ten events shaped almost a whole year of news broadcasting for our team our correspondent spent a lot of time reporting from the country here is her testimony.

well when we went to syria it was sometime in october and the situation was getting very tense there so our flight arrived at the around three in the morning so you can imagine the surprise and the shock of security forces when three foreign journalists arrive at a time when there was a media bad international journalists there but we're here in the center of the assyrian capital you can see behind me traffic is just about started to flow again we're going into the city damascus was rather peaceful it was quiet although very tense still because everybody knows what was going on in the country. and what's interesting i think mostly for us is that we saw the kind of. diverse opinions on what was going on there was no clear to sightsee been there were more

than two sides it was not i want the regime or i don't want the regime. and there was one time you were interviewing a young man and he was rather critical of the government so he gave his point of view and what you didn't see on the camera is that there was a group of men around him and us listening to what he was saying. and afterwards after the interview was finished they all came up to us and said get us on camera we want to see what we feel. and then we also spoke to those people who were protesting specifically those who were on the streets in how to stop that's about twenty minutes outside of damascus one of the guys that we interviewed he actually disappeared for two days and he said he was held by security forces he was beaten up after forty eight hours of detention and torture they took all of my money and belongings and threw me out into the. st. we also spoke with soldiers' families

those who have been killed and you can't wholesome feel that they are angry at the protesters because their sons have been lost fathers have been lost husbands have been lost so you can understand the point of view that they're coming from you from how console jer's kill other soldiers this is impossible whatever media says this is plainly lawyer. speaking about fear look out tell you one incident we were supposed to interview one of the leaders of the national coordination council the local opposition. the interview was set and he when we called him he said i might have to cancel because we there were security forces we think who were at the office and they wrote some threats on the wall. we had our fixer who translated what it meant. it said you're working for the

u.s. we're going to kill you. and so they were there wreck threats at the members of the f.c.c. particularly pleader. that was a scary time because we they were just outside we didn't know whether they would come in and we asked there are interview are you scared he said you only die once. so the syrians are very i felt hospitable people but when when it comes to political talk when it comes to expressing a political view in a crowd it can really get heated they would. jostle at the rally that we went to it got pretty rough. our camera was procured and so forth. and they're do you know but that is your job you go in there she try to get you try to do what you can to try to film as much as you can try to put it in as much context and we had to tell sometimes. to tell people please calm down otherwise you

can't get anything on film where you're listening to the period after the knowledge of show their support for the government how did you get up far cry from the images we've been seeing in other cities of the country where there have been reporting that the current. government protests those elaborate one think it's a matter where in this country whenever they beat news about syria whenever we use about syria i would really pay attention everybody here say i think that's correct i don't think that's or that's not as precise as i think it was so i'd like to think that because of my trip there and my experience there. that when i see something about syria i don't take it at face value i remember everything that i have gathered and look through it through that perspective rather than just what i see. each day right up to the new year will bring you more personal reflections

from our correspondents who experience the biggest stories of the year first ten and if you can't wait for them to air here on our child you can watch them on our web site r t v dot com there is where is a plenty more waiting for you there are a click away including this know your rights the city of los angeles pushing people detained in the occupy l.a. protests to take classes on the first amendment to learn the proper way to exercise free speech and. bioterror scare the worst pandemic humanity's ever faced could be unleashed as one so recently developed a recipe for creating a virulent manmade flu was published. still high on its apparent success for the intervention campaign in. libya britain

now turns a size to another oil rich african state somalia is seen as a training ground for terrorists with a potential to incite extremism among british muslims and its fate could be decided at a summit in london in february artie's laura smith has more. in the words of prime minister david cameron somalia is a failed state that directly threatens british interests his solution options ranging from humanitarian aid right through to military intervention and reports suggest that in the new year following the perceived success of the libyan campaign in government circles somalia could be the next target for u.k. forces newspapers as saying that the royal air force could be sent to help african union troops to support the weak u.s. backed transitional government equipment and money other main donations despite a tough economic situation at home there are around a hundred thousand somalis living in the u.k.

making up one of the largest muslim groups according to m i five somalia is the native terrorists training ground where british residents from a variety of backgrounds pakistan bag that dash yemen go to study jihad the risk is that they then come back to the u.k. and carry out terrorist attacks there's also the threats of piracy and the kidnapping of aid workers and tourists but crucially somalia also has boston gas reserves and other natural resources including the rainier which the u.s. and other countries have had their eye on for years is many points also to somalia as to t.j. position presiding over a large part of oil transport routes through the gulf of aden you usually find when the military strategists are planning long term intervention somewhere. i'm looking at political map second and the oil and gas one of the big issues because

a huge somali community around here that i represent most of whom are from the south but not all and they're not saying to me he's in to free they're saying can we please have support to get a functioning system of government and. so you see this as a direct result of the perceived success by the government of the campaign in libya operation oust gadhafi successful next stop somalia. well stay with us here on our he's still to come this hour a controversial farewell just days u.s. troops draw from iraq some say they've left people thinking of them as terrorists. but first a look at what's happening around the world turning to pakistan where a suicide car bomb has killed six soldiers wounded at least twelve others the bomber drove a car packed with explosives into a paramilitary camp in the northwest of the country a taliban spokesman has claimed responsibility for the attack saying it was in

revenge for the recent killing by u.s. drones of its commander in the area just one day after a similar taliban attack led to one person being killed and fifteen kidnapped. cuba set to release almost three thousand prisoners including some convicted of political crimes those accused of serious offenses including murder drug trafficking and treason would not be granted such amnesty president castro said eighty six foreign prisoners from twenty five countries would also be freed he added the gesture would show cuba's strength and unity ahead of the upcoming papel visit. at least sixty one people have been killed during several days of fighting in the north west nigeria clashes between members of a suspected members of a radical muslim sect boko haram city and security forces began thursday with gunfire and explosions throughout the region violence has left at least two police officers dead and three churches bombed residents living near the central mosque of

the city were asked to evacuate before soldiers and tanks drove through the neighborhood shooting. iraq's vice president has said the government was behind thursday's series of bombings that killed dozens of people in baghdad terry hashmi claim that such and the attack was on such a scale impossible without some kind of help from authorities he fled to iraq's kurdish region after an arrest warrant was issued against him to show charges at least sixty people were killed in baghdad thursday multiple car and roadside bomb. the violence in iraq just comes days after u.s. troops say goodbye to the country nine years after the invasion started more than one hundred thousand iraqi civilians and thousands of american soldiers lost their lives in the war that cost the u.s. a trillion dollars now many iraqis say the war was a mistake and they're sending that message very clearly to the u.s. our correspondent sean thomas reports. packing up to head home it may be easy to

overlook the total costs of war at least one hundred fourteen thousand iraqi civilians killed as well as four and a half thousand american soldiers millions displaced from their homes not to mention a one trillion dollars financial burden still the former occupiers leave behind some words of encouragement i can say it with confidence that in the next twenty or fifty years iraqi leader here in the in the gulf region that rivals any country inside of the gulf region i think that iraq now is a safe and secure environment it's not a safe and secure is as it should be or it will be but it's it's progressing very well the american occupation of iraq saw the fall of the maddest regime the capture and execution of deposed leader saddam hussein and the implementation of a democratic government but now nearly nine years later is the country better off a little that they've below the u.s. troop invasion of iraq in two thousand and three and the grave mistake he committed

made the situation here worse there are so many mistakes committed by the u.s. military leadership especially in managing civilian aspects here this had a negative effect because in fact many here say it was the american mismanagement of iraq and that led to the rise of sectarian violence in the country all people if you us who brings the threat of us to iraq he said usa. damage to the infrastructure of iraq he said usa so i think. we on american must cooperate in order to. put up this. culture that hate. between two peoples the timeline for u.s. troop withdrawal was set in two thousand and eight and while the obama administration initially tried to extend the deadline the official transfer of

power came sixteen days ahead of schedule on december sixteenth two thousand and eleven right now the u.s. and iraqi governments are working on a new type of diplomatic relations building a new type of trust if you will but now the next step is in the hands of the iraqi government to move the country forward as america's influence waned political infighting and sectarian divisions in the iraqi parliament have diminished as well giving iraqis hope for a strong future but as iraq prepares to move past this dark chapter they have a message for their former occupiers to defend america and the police don't another atomistic in there because you want to stick is a great mistake and it affects you. but it's teach. you the future of relations and friends are few right now in a region in which america's reputation lies in shreds in the eyes of many in iraq sean thomas r t twenty twelve is almost here and it's said to be the year of the

presidential election as the us russia france and south korea all go to the polls with millions yet to make their choice the question is what makes a good body and a leader new york resident laurie harkness gauged opinion on the streets of the big up. important elections will be held in many countries in two thousand and twelve what's it going to take to be a good leader in today's world this week let's talk about that what do you think is the most important quality for a world leader to have right now just empathy for what's going on right now just the inability to be able to be flexible just with the american people and the people the world and a lot of patience and i equate intelligence with humor. i mean say oh yeah a quick mind so you think that sense of humor would be appealing in

a world leader think it's an international way of speaking you know everybody gets it and everybody likes it that circumstances are controlling all the countries right now so somebody step up and take the reins you know would you follow someone that was strong like that even if you didn't necessarily believe yes yes their true leader who were honest with people absolutely is having the ability to lead people more important than having the intelligence or the right kind of policies. yeah i would say it is because you have to have a whole team of people that are actually implementing your the work so you have to be able to provide that process for them you know is it important for them to have money so that they understand how it works or is it important for them to not have so much money so they're in touch with people who is probably important for them to have come up having no money i mean the latest nelson mandela i mean you look at mary came from malaria ended up. i mean he understood what it was like to have

nothing. made him such a good leader of course. kennedy was leader of my mind. my vision was and he was a man really wants to lead nations of a future do you think it's possible in today's world or is it too different a time now than it was in the path. because of global war it is a. very complex and. it's totally changed. people no matter what qualities we'd like to see in the new world leaders of two thousand and twelve let's just hope we aren't too disappointed in who they turn out to be. turning back now to our top story the ongoing mass demonstration in central moscow thousands have turned out to protest against the results of this month's

parliamentary election this is a live video you're looking at from the rally eaters of various opposition groups taking part and addressing the crowd calling for a rerun of the election to the state duma which they claim was rigged it's the second such protest two weeks ago tens of thousands took to the streets also to have their say stay with us here on r.t. for the latest on this developing story a correspondent and use in our ways covering it all with the latest updates. soon in our special on the money program how good are russians at saving their cash and how far will the russian consumer market expand in the coming years but first the headlines stay with us. on.

the east explore areas. touched by. surrounded by steve. case paintings on display for sylvia's. eastern sun the only time good. to see.

on the money with the business of russia is. four thirty pm in moscow these are your r.t. headlines thousands rally in the russian capital in a second mass protest against the parliamentary poll result the opposition claims the vote was rigged and they call a recount by the government has promised political reform. in syria all people want for christmas is peace but there is no festive mood in the air as the latest round of violence leaves dozens dead and maybe escalation the arab league deploys observers to try and mediate a peace deal. feel by his apparent successes.