today's news and the week's top stories from our take tens of thousands rally in central moscow protesting against the results of this month's parliamentary oh president promises sweeping political reforms. syria is locked in a spiral of violence more than forty killed in suicide blasts in damascus the country struggles on the mounting pressure from the west and the arab league. next to kim week after north korea's ruler of seventeen years kim jong il dies his youngest son steps into his shoes as the new supreme leader.

it watching our weekly news review on carrie johnson welcome to the program tens of thousands of people passed in moscow on saturday and other peaceful protest over the edge of the parliamentary election police say thirty thousand gathered in essential square the organizers in the numbers much. rally one held two weeks ago and the message remained the same to hold another election as a better dressed the protesters in his annual state of the union speech promising widespread political reforms some already underway at the union to state duma. reports. the time for change has come. people are tired of not being able to promptly solve the most pressing issues people are tired of having their interests ignored speaking areas for the final state of the union address. the president listed

a set of proposals which have already been deemed to be sweeping political reform but he wants to change the rules for the registration of political parties as well as for taking part in elections in fact a total ground up rebuild of the whole electoral system today governors in russia are up for him to directly by the president they used to be elected in the ninety's but this was cancelled and thousands now they need to remove it if it wants to bring the vote back as part of the move to vertical ice power in russia it took over a decade to build to the current vertical system of power but now russia's regions are told it's time to start gaining more independence from moscow the president's proposed reforms will also hit the state duma which will include two hundred twenty five deputies each independently elected within their own territorial constituency and when it comes to new parties in order to register political parties need to gather at least ten thousand approval signatures and have representatives in over

a half of the eighty nine regions the new initiative is to reduce this figure to five hundred which should give the green light for more political forces the president's speech followed the recent parliamentary election which caused widespread discontent among the public the biggest brutus rally since the collapse of the u.s.s.r. had been taking place across the country with tens of thousands of russians shouting out accusations of fraud and other way elation over fifty criminal cases have been opened looking into the allegations while the results from more than twenty polling stations have been cancelled russia has enormous potential enormous human capital physical capital and has the potential to become a world leader and they would like the pressure the educated people would like to play a part in that the president praised the legal right to express opinion warned any attempts to manipulate and provoke the people will not. be accepted up with you

when you know it's going to the middle we won't allow extremists or probably caters to draw society into their shady enterprises we won't allow interference from outside in our internal affairs russia needs democracy it's not chaos but getting back to the reforms to the need to be another proposal concerning his own post as well in order to run for president independent candidates have to gather at least two million approval signatures from voters three hundred thousand as asked the new figure currently being proposed which will most likely widen competition for a russia's top job even though the president doesn't plan to run for a second term in office it doesn't mean the reforms will be forgotten the meeting needed if he's aiming for the prime minister's seat if he wins the upcoming presidential vote in mark. is going to have moscow and. volunteers struck the syrian capital on friday when twin car bombings killed forty four people

in damascus the suicide attacks are being blamed on al qaeda though the opposition says it was staged by the governments to justify its crackdown on protesters the arab league has started its mission to put a plan into action syria remains under growing western and arab league economic pressure it's the people who flew the plane reports from damascus. it's been nearly ten months since there is uprising began the capital of damascus has remained largely sheltered from the conflict. in the bustling side and so it seems like it's business as usual there's one to say it's in the winds of change have begun to float a little stronger the arab league's impose tougher economic sanctions the effects of which be felt even head in a poor area of damascus interact and family struggling to make ends meet so new year has learning difficulties fava beans for a living that he barely makes one hundred fifty three in pounds

a day three dollars to support him and his wife. now the fuel for his vending cart has become harder to get hold of with shortages the economic sanctions driving the price up. there last products available and the prices are pushed higher there's been fights over gas we've been trying to manage by cutting back as much as we can sometimes when we can't afford it which is don't eat the economic situation in syria was one of the areas president had been seen to be making some progress be it slowly for a population that it started seeing the results of economic opportunity blocks financial transactions fuel shortages and blackouts have become the norm and this could be even darker financial times ahead. because of the economic sanctions people rushed to stockpile fuel of gas just in case people are

a little bit afraid of the fact that water or gas might run out and this is why you see these queues this in place by the arab league it was hate the sanctions would fulfill the government's hand when it came to ending the violence in the country but inside syria at the moment many feel it every day people who are being punished economic sanctions still these are like taking the lead that he she is like the one here. has become part of the day life for many people here in syria and the first ping from the arab league will be paving the way for an observer mission at the end of the month much opposition they remain skeptical about whether that to bring about any real change for these coups up in the west of the conflict areas change can come and they meant to seeing some parity of t.v. families like finding life under the sanctions increasingly desperate sara r.t. damascus. russia is supporting the arab league's mission in syria but attempts to

get official backing by the un security council were blocked by some western members or scales ambassador to the u.n. says their objections could be a barrier to securing peace it's a straightforward text. of commendation and support and appreciation of the efforts of the arab league. a pretty straightforward. expression of invention it will help to put a number to well and unfortunately i can tell you that the number of members of the security council objected to hold up this is a little strange one of the difficulties we encounter in working on the security council because i would try to do something positive will inevitably met with all sorts of concerns about balance why didn't you do this why didn't you clued that and it brings us to square one in the entire conversation. of the arab league's observer mission to damascus although syria is membership of the organization being

suspended but jordan based professor and journalist abraham a douche these the should not be lecturing another arab country. talking about reforms in syria especially when this kind of talk is coming from out of gulf states. even the constitution mirrored on top of. our freedom of the media or the or the right to organize and political parties or organizations so this is this is just nonsense i mean when when someone who lacks the very basic tenets of democracy is preaching to syria or other arab states that dependent or somewhat untie imperialist about democracy but that's what the syrian regime has said we are going along with all our reforms on our agenda and our time and we need to see what those states have in the way of reform before they start

preaching to us about reform this is obviously. an sos and see that has been instigated by night so and it's cronies and the arab world. one country which felt the full force of western interference this was libya. is not over yet russia wants an investigation into the civilian casualties caused by nato mission. so well to the hands of rebels also takes a look back at the events that shaped the year. my western colleagues explaining that. brics is hotel at the time was the safest place in media because nature knew that's where journalists were but we couldn't stop thinking. what if they make a mistake. witnesses. to history in the making. testimony. ten stories that shapes two thousand

eleven. it was the end of an era in north korea this week with the death of its veteran through the kim jong il from a heart attack at sixty nine he's youngest son kim jong un has already been named as supreme leader to keep it in a state getting this secretive states t.v. channels have shown thousands of people weeping in the streets. diana we can go and see what is lying in state in the capital pyongyang successor was the first to pay his final respects using north's neighbors on high alert japan called a special security meeting fearing instability in the region south korea said its military standing ready for political analyst agency says actions are being directed from washington important thing here to understand is that for example the south korea being on military alert it's not south korea it's our military or it's

the united states that is actually using south korea as a beachhead ever since that the end of the korean war the other hand we have to understand or should really be asking ourselves will the military the north korean military which are very powerful one million strong army four million reserves nuclear arms ballistic missiles will they really be subordinated to the new government or will they have a larger stanford is probably the key question is how will all of this unfold what will china do china has a very special relationship with north korea it's sort of a love hate strict father versus problem child relationship i cannot see how. these things should be because north korea will undoubtedly do that which china does not allow we have to always interpret north korea within the scope of the regional geopolitics of china which is the key power in the region. iraq's

government is a punching deeper into crisis with leaders and gauging in the blame game in the wake of multiple bombings that hit the capital on thursday dozens of dollars in the attacks which came only a few days ultimately can choose pulled out even though the u.s. insists it's left a stable country behind but for this bennis from the institute for policy studies believes their presence never security in iraq this is not a stabilizing force it never has been i don't accept the premise that the us occupation force has provided stability if we look at what happened in two thousand and six two thousand and seven at the height of the u.s. occupation that was the year the the two years or so of the worst kind of sectarian warfare that iraq had ever seen in the original invasion an occupation of iraq the u.s. brought into being a level of sectarian discord and ultimately sectarian fighting that had not been the case in iraq prior to the u.s.

invasion so i think we have to link this very closely to the role of the u.s. in the invasion and occupation that began in two thousand and three the fact that u.s. troops are being withdrawn now doesn't mean that the consequences of those years of occupation simply disappear those consequences are remaining and in fact getting worse. rushers urging nato to look into reports of civilian deaths in libya caused by a seven month campaign human rights groups are contesting the claim that its twenty six thousand strikes did not cause any civilian casualties and former rebels are still talking supporters of clinton don't think they find some of the images in the us on a boycott report disturbing. this is what it's like to look death in the face a group of men the young and old captured after the nadir propped rebels overran get off his hometown of sirte there was behind the camera delivers a verdict. for gadhafi. and the captives themselves seem doubts

about what's coming next. scenes like these play now with a costly beer as the rebels assisted by western powers so to liberate the country from gadhafi are going lodgings about he said district tendencies grow more and more outlandish by the day and that seems to justify any sort of treatment for his perceived loyalists in some places the violence is quite bad the town we looked out in was called told and the militias from the neighboring town of misrata are terrorizing the people of to where they accuse them of having fought for qaddafi of having committed atrocities in his name this is one of the liberated tripoli's new landmarks a prison where moammar gadhafi was set to hold his political opponents with no access to lawyers and no chance for a fair trial. but while the

prisons new guards have a very elaborate in their rating gadhafi is ferocity his fear and hatred still reside in this neighborhood. obviously is a poor area in southern tripoli where more margo duffy had strong support base prior to his fleeing the district also as the tourists present a scene of torture and arbitrary killings but while gadhafi is gone the human rights abuses still remain rather from this area still disappearing without a trace where families are too scared to talk about. this is probably the only place in all the beer with families of a logic get out his supporters can turn to for how mohammed to form peace and your earlier this year it investigated the fate of those who disappeared in good office prisons he is now primarily dealing with people who went missing under libya's new leadership it's usually mothers who come here and at first they are scared to tell

me this son or husband was with pick a daffy forces they usually say he was a civilian courts in the crossfire but i tell them that i don't care which side he was on all i need is accurate information so that we can start searching. mohammad and his friends have been taking photos of unidentified bodies that have been popping up across lead beer in recent months this naturists are probably their relatives most realistic hope of finding closure but even after sifting through them many managed to retain hope like this man whose brother disappeared on the front lines of banter about. i hope he's in tunisia maybe he's in hospital maybe he's lost his memory or has no way of contacting us. they say hope dies last only bit it's still alive even if many people aren't. artsy tripoli.

volunteer are staying over the years colonel gadhafi with some nato help was ultimately the defining event of the arab world's shifting sands this year parties were for national travelled inside libya throughout the year talking to both gadhafi family members and the rebels here's her first hand account of her time in tripoli. we arrived in the evening this is how you'd expect this kind of story to start but actually we crossed the border when the sun was too high. our driver told us to be careful we all thought that was a little bit unnecessary. but he explained that base way may turn khadafi. could both blame each other if the scope killed.

one our first night and truthfully we got a very warm welcome rixos hotel we stayed was just. away from. his residence. and that was born that night as it had never been before and would never be wards. it was literally shaking curtains in our room were moved even with doors firmly closed my bed was just beside a glass wall i did. into the room because i was scared that an explosion could destroy literally. my western colleagues explaining that. time was the safest place in the because nature knew best where journalists order but we couldn't stop thinking. what if they make a mistake but as it is so secrecy with this search here in st for they have been

woken up by a strike in the middle of the night and all summer all moms in london hear this story as you can see behind me some world three story buildings. and there were no professional rescuers at the scene. only man with bare hands. and one after another they pulled out five dead bodies. where she couldn't see that but is themselves. because they were just wrapped up in blankets. lifeless bundles. in the morgue we heard that they were three little babies. they were lying there. the cold tables still in pampers. and next morning nato confirmed. it had made

a mistake the intended target during last night's best strike in tripoli was a military missile site. from our initial assessment of it appears that one weapon did not strike intended target due to a weapons systems. of course i wanted to meet khadafi or his son say for every turn listed but that was kind of impossible. as you will one day after a news conference my friend and a time photographer came to me and pointing at the man. in his suit told me he wants to meet you the next night i got a call the card he said wait someone told me weeks back to them to blindfold us but they didn't do anything like that. you know the option of hold the line to the room and no one paid any attention to them. but he was different when he entered we all

noticed we all knew that he is right now in the room. there was an injury common knowledge from a very powerful man. he invited me to follow him in a separate. group. with questions many questions like what do you think about what do you think about the uprising hey and maybe what do you think about me what do you think about my father but i was calm and confident and then he suddenly stopped and looked at my shoulders high heels. and he went. sweetie what about your questions and you know he looked like he didn't take me seriously actually looked at my notes and among the first questions there was did you or your father. give the order to kill civilians. but i

didn't tell him that and i was like smiling just ordinary questions. and he said ok let's go. and that interview was one of the past interviews in my life it's not the best interview safe was very sincere. very open and he thought always before answering that was really literally electricity about true. will left next morning and i had a feeling that i would never see this country again. i didn't go back six weeks later. but that was a different country already with new faces new heroes new everything. the country i had traveled in the summer of two thousand and eleven which is now just a part of history for good. the party is remembering ten key events which define the year you can catch them all

online at r.t. dot also online snooping on the only song the pentagon won't use the surveillance program tapping to troops private correspondence and computer files. pepper spray and the rest but this isn't the right it's a short piece stateside to get there until some retro style switch off the sneakers details and footage of. the search for workers still trapped in the sunken oil rig in russia's far east continues with the chances of finding anyone else alive are remote one saturday six more bodies were plucked from the icy waters and brought ashore the sixty seven people on board only fourteen were rescued and thirty six remain unaccounted for the rig capsized in just twenty minutes while it was being towed back to port. well turning to some of today's world headlines narrow. days of violent clashes between government security

forces and the muslim sect have left at least sixty dead in northeast nigeria dozens of members of a militant group were killed in a shootout in the city of goma to the violence became so intense that troops were forced to evacuate the center the military task force has been deployed to try and contain the violence. security forces have opened fire and protesters investments capital killing nine leaving scores wounded the embattled president vowing to leave the country tens of thousands of demonstrators descended on the presidential palace to on the presence of a b. and on trial place and military troops used live rounds tear gas and water runs to disperse protesters during this hour charles trinity true enties thirty three for every. hour let's take a look at how people throughout the world are celebrating christmas during midnight

mass at the vatican the pope around on the commercialism of christmas. photos to pass the superficial glitter and concentrate on the days leading. west banks christian minority gathered together to commemorate the birth of jesus and the taiwanese capital people flocked to see the christmas eve raid in a coastal display between acrobats and the marching band. russian military communications satellite crashed back to worthing siberia out of failing to reach its planned orbit on friday space experts say it was caused by a malfunction during the rocket third stage of launch one fragment of a satellite hit a house making a hole in the roof luckily no one was injured but it's not only in bad knees in space this is the russians spacecraft did make a successful launch for talking with the international space station but new crew

members on board three were spend five months of it conducting dozens of experiments. i'll be back of the headlines in just a few states. well going into the future crime new year's wishes on technology updates next generation

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