a second mass protest in the russian capital against the parliamentary poll results . moscow's biggest rally in recent history has come and gone without incident ten thousand came on to the streets of the capital to protest against what they call a rigged vote and they want a rerun join me now wait for more details in central moscow. in syria all people want for christmas and the new year is peace but there is no festive mood in the air as the latest round of violence in the dozens dead. a new mission for a new year fueled by successes in libya david cameron reveals plans for involvement in oil rich somalia calling the country a threat to british security. seven

pm in moscow très a good to have you with us here on r t our top story thousands gathered in central moscow today to protest against this most parliamentary election results the mass rally was organized by opposition groups claiming that the vote was rigged or he's an isa no way has the latest from the scene of the demonstration. it's certainly fair to say that the head count of this saturday's rally beats that we saw two weeks ago at below has square official figures we're hearing from the interior ministry is that thirty thousand opposition is saying some hundred thousands but certainly tens of thousands of people came onto the streets of moscow today to call for free and fair elections you had lots of different political groups here people that just came out and say they're not part of any political group that in fact they don't want this to be politicized they want to just come out and have their

demands made and what they're demanding is a rerun of december as part of the meant to revote we saw several different faces of the opposition but also some celebrities it's fair to say will procure of who of course is a relatively new politician who's running for president in march showed up he didn't speak to the crowd like was expected but he did go around and really talk to people it looked a little bit from a far like some kind of campaigning really and what he did say was that if he becomes president he would dissolve this this state duma and call for new elections we also saw former finance minister alexei couture in speak to the crowd he spoke officially on stage and he called for people who were involved in the so-called of vote rigging to be brought to justice and calls for snap elections in terms of the parliament really well as soon as we saw protests which happened almost immediately after the vote some of them sanctions others unsanctioned we heard reaction from both president medvedev and prime minister putin saying that protests are encouraged in terms of people coming out and voicing their demands and that's

important for russia's political development and important that people are politically active as long as it stays within the law but we also just two days before this rally heard from president medvedev a proposal about some mass reforms to russia's political system disease centralized power from moscow but also to create more of a representative proportional system in the russian parliament there are a lot of different political parties and organizations that have been coming. these protests really the most common thing we're hearing today is that people will continue to come out onto the streets until their demands are met and the next protest is already being there are rumors circulating around that it's already been plans for the end of january we're constantly bringing you updates on the situation in the russian capital go online for all the latest on our twitter feed you can get the first head information from anisa reporting from the heart of these protests all the latest background on the moscow rallies plus the video all there at your fingertips

a click away at all it's. all stay with us still to come this hour behind the scenes of the biggest. after the interview was finished they all came up to us and get us on camera we want to see what we feel. are these tests are so one of the few foreign correspondents allowed to report from syria she looks back at the anger and fear she witnessed while reporting there. well it may be 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 the capital damascus syria's muslim brotherhood has claimed responsibility this is the arab league begins its mission to put a peace plan into effect r.t. sara for reports. in damascus is the capital which until now has remained largely spared through the violence starts to feel the effects of an escalating conflict. will be on. the first day of the

league's work was a bloody tragic day the people of syria will never forget. this kind of here the capital is easy brightly lit it is christie and the ten percent of the population get ready to celebrate christmas with these scenes of devastation their highest contrast and the stark reminder of just how much the country has changed in the past nine. nine months. last year to 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 priests here planning their own mark of respect for the coast. of syria our people to avoid the external signs of festivities but to go.

there one really feels like celebrating anyway when the country's hospitals are full of casualties the government claims it's fighting militant groups sponsored from abroad the while 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 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. position the. government. taxing killings have been met repeatedly with claim counter-claim an

accusation. you know we have to use two different varieties. to see more. for the truth 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 heaping full and that's for the violence to be students of the christmas celebrations my being down this religious that if this were to have been a peoples of the sun again for being with a country. of the whole of the. permanent members of the u.n. security council still at odds over how to act on syria russia calls for a balanced resolution calling on all sides to lay down arms but the u.s.

and its allies seem committed to putting the blame on the assad regime political analyst david gold your thinks the west has a specific agenda for syria. 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 interests to control a 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 mart out coffee and put in place a government that would be friendly to the u.s. they have to remember that right after the obama administration withdrew troops from iraq to some of those were relocated to the border of syria from jordan and in preparation of arming this conflict and possibly engaging and 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 the unrest 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. our correspondent to spend a lot of time reporting from the country hears her thoughts on the syrian crisis. 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 will. be a syrian 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 you 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. we also spoke with soldiers families those who have been killed and you can't wholesale feel that they are angry at the protesters because their sons have been lost or 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 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 who were at the office and they 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 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 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. 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 or here on the steps of the syrian capital where our lives have gathered to show their support for the government how did it end up far cry from the images we've been seeing in other cities that a country where there have been reporting lots of it makes a great roar says that at least government protesters however what they get. nowhere in this country whenever they didn't use about syria would never really be everything you suppose syria i would really pay attention to everybody here say that they gots correct i don't think that's or got stopped 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 had gathered and would look through with through that perspective rather than just what i see. each day up to the new year we'll bring you more personal reflections from the correspondents who covered the year's biggest stories and you can see them all on our website right now at r.t. dot com here's what else is a click away you know you know why it's the city of los angeles pushing people detained during the occupy l.a. protests to take classes on the first amendment to learn the proper way to exercise free speech plus. a bioterrorist scare the worst pandemic humanity's ever faced could be unleashed was a recently developed recipe for creating a virulent manmade flu gets published.

still high in the imperent success of its intervention campaign in libya britain is now turning its eyes to another oil rich african state somalia seen as a training ground for terrorists with a potential to incite extremism of all young british muslims and its fate is going to be decided at a summit in london in february artie's laura smith has been. 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 six acts 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. backs transitional government equipment and money other main nations 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 baghdad 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 out of the kidnapping of aid workers and tourists but crucially somalia also has boston gas reserves and other natural resources including the rainy of which the u.s. and other countries have had their eye on for years many points all say to somalia

is to teach it position presiding over a large parts 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. oil gas one of the biggest suit is a huge somali community around here. most of whom are from the north and 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 of the campaign in libya operation to oust gadhafi successful next stop somalia. stay with us here on r.t. still to come a controversial goodbye just days after u.s. troops withdraw from iraq r t takes a look at the legacy some say they have left behind.

could you take three. three. three. three stooges free. videos for your media projects a free media. from phones to. t.v.

don't come. thanks for staying with us here on our team nineteen minutes past the hour in the russian capital taking a look now at some other stories making headlines across the globe starting in nigeria where at least fifteen members radical muslim group boko haram have been killed during clashes with security forces the gun battle was the northeastern town of. those living near the city's central mosque to evacuate before soldiers moved tanks into the neighborhood at least sixty one have died in clashes since the. thursday's boko haram campaigns to implement strict sharia law across the country. suicide car bombs 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 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 a 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 of people in baghdad to recall hashmi claim such a large attack was impossible without some kind of help from the core of these he fled to iraq's kurdish region in the north after me an arrest warrant was issued against him for terrorist charges at least sixty eight people were killed in baghdad thursday multiple car and roadside bombs. and the violence in iraq comes just days after u.s. troops say goodbye to the country nine years after the occupation began 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 u.s. leaders or he's shawn thomas reports from baghdad. packing up to head home it may

be easy to overlook the total costs of war at least one hundred or two thousand iraqi civilians killed as well as thousand american soldiers millions displaced from their homes not to mention a one trillion dollars financial burden still the former occupiers leave behind of encouragement i can see it with confidence that in the next twenty or fifty years iraq will be a leader here in the in the gulf region that rivals any country in sizable region i think that right now is a safe and six. your environment is 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 is of the country better off well it is i that they below in the house of a u.s. troop invasion of iraq in two thousand and three and their grief mystique

recommitted made the situation here worse there are so many mistakes committed by the u.s. military leadership especially in managing the 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 a. whole damage to the infrastructure of iraq he said yes and 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. american. police. because it is a great state. but teach. 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. well it's twenty almost here and it's set to be the year of

a presidential election as the u.s. russia france and south korea all head to the polls with millions yet to cast their vote the question is what makes a good modern team leader laurie harford also knows the resident gauged opinion on the streets of new york. 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. a lot of patience i equate intelligence with humor. i mean you say oh yeah a quick mind 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 that circumstances are controlled 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. their true leader who were honest with people is having the ability to lead people more important than having the intelligence or the right kind of policy. 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 that they're in touch with people is probably important for them to have come up having no money i mean. when you look from. 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 the leader of my mind because you had to really man . my vision was and what 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 war it is a. very complex and not easy to manage including by. its totally change of mind over how to leave 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. and. some of the men who took part in a unique russian space experiment by spending a year and

a half in isolation is coming your way after a recap of our top stories stay with us. from.

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