lolol. a second mass protest in the russian capital against the parliamentary poll results . in syria all people want for the holidays is peace well there's no festive mood in the air as the latest round of violence leaves dozens dead. a new mission for a new year fueled by his successes in libya david cameron reveals plans for involvement in oil rich somalia describe the country as a threat to british security. five pm in moscow i met treasurer good to have you with us here on r.t. our top story thousands of protesters have gathered in central moscow to protest against this month's parliamentary election results the mass rallies being

organized by opposition groups who claim the vote was rigged thirty thousand people are reported to have turned up to demonstrate according to official data by the opposition say the number is more than one hundred thousand it's the second such protest two weeks ago tens of thousands took to the streets to have their say stay with r.t. for the latest on this developing story our correspondent lisa way will be live from the protest for us later in the program. we'll be bringing you all the latest updates on the developing situation in the russian capital you can go online for all the latest artie's a nice in the way reporting from the heart of the protest for our twitter feed for her updates as well as the latest pictures from the scene you can also see the opposition rally in moscow live right now by clicking over to our web site our team dot com. still to come later this hour behind the scenes of the big news.

yes there are interview we are you scared he said. he wants. artie's tessera cilia one of the few foreign correspondents allowed to report from syria she looks back at the fear and anguish she witnessed while reporting. maybe the season to be jolly for many around the world but not in syria which is mourning the victims of friday's terror attacks forty four people were killed more than one hundred fifty wounded in twin suicide bombings in damascus syria's muslim brotherhood has claimed responsibility this is the arab league starts mission to put up peace plan into action r.t. sara for ports from damascus. 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 but. the first day of the league's work was a bloody tragic day the people of syria will never forget these terrorists this

time if here the capsule is usually brightly lit it is christians who are cancer 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 us. this year is totally different because of the situation in our country. the police here planning their own mark of respect for the coast. of syria our people to avoid the external signs of history beauties but to go. 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 arms on the months quite downs by the government and this violence spreads its prevailing extremely hard to know exactly who is responsible for what. you have for instance. from somebody who is not. the government's. position the truth and do oppose and claims its is the government. taxing killings have been met repeatedly with claim counter-claim an accusation you have to use two different movies to use the. don't have the.

means to see who is more. to the truth of the arab league 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 that is one thing that everyone here is shaping full and that's for the violence to be stopped the christmas celebrations my having down this religious service this will be happening people. again for being with their country. and permanent members of the u.n. security council are still a lot over how to act on syria russia wants a balanced resolution calling on all sides to lay down arms but the u.s. and its allies seem committed to pinning the blame on president assad's regime political analyst ever go and her thinks the west has a severe agenda for syria'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 that the whole justification of protecting the population was really just a front to be able to overthrow and assassinate really a martyr out cut off the 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 you know the rest in syria has dominated world headlines since march and it's one of the top ten events that shaped nearly a whole year of news on our t.v. or correspondent a lot of time reporting from syria hears her thoughts on the crisis there. 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 journalist there in the center of the assyrian capital you can see behind me traffic is just about started to flow again 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 mostly for us is that we saw the kind of. diverse opinions on what was going on there was no clear. 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 we were interviewing a young man and he was rather critical of the government 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 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 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. 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 wholesale feel that they are angry at the protesters because their sons have been lost fathers have been lost husbands have been lost and you can't understand the point of view that they're coming from how console gers 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 sets and he when we called him he said i might have to cancel because

we there were security forces we think we were at the office and he wrote some threats on the wall. we had to 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 were threats at the members of the f.c.c. particularly leader. that was a scary time because we they were just outside we didn't know whether they would come in and we asked their our 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. and so forth.

every detail but that is your job you go in there he try to get you try to do what you can to try to film as much as you cat try to put it in as much context and we had to tell sometimes. to tell people please calm down otherwise we can't get anything on film work here on the steps of the syrian capital where the outlook gather to show their support for the government how did they get up far cry from the images we've been seeing in other cities of the country where there have been reporting a lot of specific areas or said to be a government protesters however what they do about it where and this country whenever they would be to use about syria would never really be everything you suppose syria i would really pay attention and although everybody here say that think that's correct i don't think that's or that scott 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 would look through with through that perspective rather than just what i see. all right and turning finally now to our top story of the unrest the protests and rallies going on in central moscow as thousands of protesters gather there to protest against this month's parliamentary election results we have been having some technical difficulties trying to get to an isa now way who is live at the scene but we have her for us now and we turn to her now for all the latest so fifty thousand people expected to protest were there on the scene how many people there are so far what's going on. with the numbers at this point are beginning to die down it's getting colder and darker and people are leaving in there are hundreds this is a number of hearings from an internal ministry now it is i'm going to was about i

think. it's actually more than i'm sorry i know you said. you're back to the highest number officially retired today was there. since a hundred twenty hours and i was the anybody who was here today knows that i said you know a hundred thousand people weren't here. people did show up two hundred three of their axes and lots of different political parties and organizations certainly are seeing a different colored flags a lot of these are coming out saying they're not connected to any particular party has come out to have their voices heard and make demands in fact saying that they will continue to come out until they get some kind of a review on the next protest already made plans on me to tell you right. what about the government isn't ready to meet the people's demands and what's been the kremlin's response so far. as to mrs mediately attitude about some of them sanctions some of them not saw some twenty minute house if you will to be so

honestly i cannot miss inside me those numbers were much higher i had there has been reaction from the government saying that it's not just these riots as it is and. don't lead to any kind of asked of people said have the right of course to go out to the man sometimes. saying that it's very rewarding russia's political development both the president and the prime minister as long as like i said it doesn't turn into chaos in that anybody say are we getting the wind of also just two days before this protest with parts of a turnout of sometimes a good idea about what it is in the country supports you tube i see decentralizing an hour from moscow to. for instance or giving regional governments in a laxative how the people try to develop for regional has this is something some of the protesters have their head against well they're lowering the number of signatures it takes to watch the presidential election and against me here today we certainly saw a big years like you know a programmers running for president before he did i just rally as expects him but

he certainly was walking around talking to people and what he said was it is related to the times residence he would actually exercise is to see we also heard from a former finance minister like six hundred or so that the people that took part in this alleged store voting should be brought to justice and he called for snap elections there was the response from the government it was when we were in short people should come out kids have their voices made and violations will be looked into doing to help with the force. and as you're speaking we can clearly hear the speakers behind you there tell us more about some of who these people are the opposition leaders and how much political leverage that they have. the opposition has a lot of different faces most of the big i think you could call them stars of the opposition i have spoken long ago perhaps that's why the crowd is becoming less and less. very early at the rally were heard from parties themselves was been in russian politics for years he was a former deputy prime minister in the ninety's he spoke to the crowd he was booed

a bit and that might have something to do with the fact that last week there were recordings of phone conversations and with cheers was very brutally insulting other members of the opposition came out so we didn't have such a great response at this rally very well received was the next in the minute it was known for his that and he is an anti-corruption campaigner and very well known for his blog syria russia not as well known for his nationalist line his so-called movement of russia is for russians and stop feeding the caucuses which is sort of an anti immigration movement here in russia but he has certainly become really the face of these protests he was arrested at one of the earlier process this month and detained and today was really his coming out as this new movement of people really getting involved and coming out to the streets i developed as you had gathered across part of it was very well known of course as we the world chess champion he did come for the roses two weeks ago was criticized for that me too and specially from new york to come speak at this protest and he was very well received but also

a lot of people speaking musicians writers and all sorts of famous russian figures coming out to take part in this rally this saturday. and he said i live for us in central moscow thanks for that update. still high on the apparent success of its intervention campaign in libya britain now turning its eyes to another oil rich african state somalia seen as a training ground for terrorists with potential to incite extremism along british muslims and its fate is going to be decided at a summit in london february artie's laura smith has more from london. 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's equipment and money other main donations despite a tough economic situation at home there around one 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 iranian which the u.s. and other countries have had their eye on for years many points also to somalia is

to teach it 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. second the oil or gas one of the biggest huge has a huge somali community around here. most of whom are from the north and they're not saying to me. 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 itself the campaign in libya operation l.m.a. to oust gadhafi six festival next stop somalia. take a look now at some other stories making headlines across the globe first to nigeria or in the northeast sixty one people have been killed during several days of

fighting clashes between suspected members of the radical muslim sect boko haram and security forces began thursday with gunfire and explosions throughout the area the violence has left at least two people dead two officers dead three churches bombed boko haram has launched a series of bombings against nigeria's weak central government in the last year hoping to implement strict sharia law across the country. a suicide car bomb has killed six soldiers wounded at least twelve others in pakistan 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 retaliation for the recent killing by u.s. drones of its commander in the area it's just one day after a similar taliban attack led to one person being killed and fifteen kidnapped. iraq's vice president has said the government was behind thursday's series of bombings that killed dozens in baghdad to recal hashmi claim that such an attack

was claimed and that the attack was on such a scale impossible without some kind of help from authorities he fled to a last kurdish national and arrest warrant was issued against him for terror charges at least sixty eight people were killed in baghdad on thursday by multiple car the roadside bombs. of violence comes just days after u.s. troops said farewell to iraq nine years after the invasion began more than one hundred thousand iraqi civilians and thousands of american servicemen lost their lives in the war that cost the u.s. a trillion dollars now many iraqis say the. it was a mistake and they're sending that message very clearly be us leaders are king sean thomas has more from baghdad. 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 that with confidence that in the next twenty or fifty years iraq will be a leader here in the in the gulf region that rivals a 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 balance regime the capture and execution of deposed leader saddam hussein and the implementation of a democratic government but now nearly nine years later these are the country better off a living or that they've been low in the halls of the u.s. troop invasion of iraq can sue thousand and three and their grief mystique 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 that 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 us. who bring you the damage to the infrastructure of iraq he said. so i think. we on american must cooperate in order to. put up this. culture of. 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 the because who it will stick is a grave mistake and it affects you. but is teach and also the future of relations and friends are few right now in a region in which america's reputation lies and friends in the eyes of many in iraq sean thomas r.t. . two thousand and twelve is almost upon us and it's said to be year of presidential elections as the us russia france and south korea all go to the polls with millions yet to make their choice the question is what in today's day and age

makes a good leader new york resident laurie hardness gauge opinion on the streets of the big apple. 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 the people the world and a lot of patience i equate intelligence with humor. i mean say oh yeah a quick line do 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 circumstances or controlling all the countries 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 they're true leader and were honest with people 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 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 just nelson mandela i mean you look america came from malaria ended up. i mean he understood what it was what it was like to have nothing else probably what made him such a good leader of course for me it was a new apostles the. kennedy was because of one of the lead of my mind because you

had this really a man who was my vision was an easy but he was a man who really wants to lead the nation 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 of sort of this totally different because of global vote is the. very complex and the management this included but. it's totally changed my mind over the 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. going to update our top story now the ongoing mass demonstration in central moscow thousands of turned out to protest against the results of this month's parliamentary vote leaders of various opposition groups are taking part and addressing the crowd they want both. the run 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 to have their say stay with our team for the latest on this story and covering the protests for us. and still to come our financial guru max kaiser explores how the u.s. and u.k. are looking for ways to cut their debt that after a recap of our top stories stay with us.

wealthy british style. is not on. market why not come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max cause or for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to kaiser report on our.