neither. on air and online this is r.t.s. weekly news review welcome to the program tens of thousands of people passed in moscow on saturday in another peaceful protest of the allegedly whipped parliamentary election police say thirty thousand gathered in a central square reading organizers claimed the number was far higher than the rally echoed one held two weeks ago as it remains the same hold another election president will have addressed the protesters in his annual state of the union speech promising widespread political reforms some of which i already underway in effect in state duma this can cause. i. 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 at his fourth and final state of the union address the president listed a set of proposals which have already been deemed to be sweeping political reform he wants to change the rules for the registration of political parties as well as for taking porting 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 canceled thousands now the meeting with wants to bring the vote back as part of the move to vertical eyes 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 tutorial 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. have been taking place across the country with tens of thousands of russians shouting out accusations of fraud and other while asians 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 norma's physical capital and has the potential to become a world leader and they would like the spirit of the educated people would like to

play a part in that the president praised the legal right to express opinion warrant any attempts to manipulate and provoke the people will not be accepted up with him when you know it's going to then that we won't allow the extremists are 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 media to finance to 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 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. upcoming

presidential vote in morning. is going to have orgy moscow. violence struck the syrian capital on friday when twin car bombings killed forty four people in damascus the suicide attacks are being blamed on the kind of the opposition says they were staged by the government to justify its crackdown on t.v. jean protesters the arab league has started its mission to put a peace plan into action syria remains on the run western and arab league economic pressure but it's the people who are feeling the pain sara first reports now from damascus. it's been nearly ten months since syria's uprising began the capital of damascus has remained largely sheltered from the conflict. in the bustling sun so it seems like it's business as usual this one says it's in the winds of change have begun to blow a little stronger the arab league's imposed tough economic sanctions the effects of which have been felt even head in a poor area in the suburbs of damascus and her family struggling to make ends meet

her son here has learning difficulties fava beans for a living that he barely makes a hundred and fifty syrian pounds a day three dollars to support him and he's white. now the fuel for his vending cart has become harder to get hold of with the economic sanctions driving by myself that. there are less products available and the prices are pushed higher there have been fights over gas we've been trying to manage by cutting back as much as we can but sometimes when we can't afford it which is don't eat the economic situation in syria was one of the areas president if that had been seen to be making progress here. for a population that it started seeing the results of economic opportunity say look financial transactions. have blackouts become the. they could be even the financial times ahead. because of the economic sanctions people

rushed to stockpile fuel and gas just. people are a little bit afraid of the fact that water or gas might one out this is when you see these queues this in place by the arab league it was hate the sanctions which the government had and when it came to ending the violence in the country because inside syria at the moment many feel it every day people are looking for economic sanctions so it's just like taking. the one hit. has become part of the daily life of many people here in syria. from the arab league will be paving the way for an observer mission to at the end of the month much opposition they remain skeptical about whether that to bring about any change . in the west of the conflict areas change can come a moment to seeing some parity of teeth of families like. finding life under the

sanctions increasingly desperate search. damascus. well 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 moscow's ambassador to the u.n. says their objections could be a barrier to securing peace it's a straightforward text meant for commendation and support and appreciation of the efforts of the to be. a pretty straightforward. expression of intention so it will help to put a number two out unfortunately i can tell you that the number of members of the security council objected to 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 inevitably met with all sorts of concerns about balance why didn't you do this why didn't you look at that and it

brings us to square one in the conversation. while the arab league observer mission to damascus follows syria's membership of the organization being suspended but jordan based professor in journalist for him these than the should not be lecturing another country. talking about reforms in syria especially when this kind of talk is coming from arab gulf states. even a constitution yet 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 whole lots of the very basic tenants of democracy is preaching to syria or other arab states that are in the pendant or somewhat untie imperialist about democracy what that's what the syrian regime has said we are

going along with our reforms on our agenda and our time and we we need to see what those states have in the way of reform before they start preaching to us about reform this is obviously. and insolvency that has been instigated by night so and it's cronies and the arab world. but one country which felt the full force of western interference this year was libya after all this is not something that russia wants an investigation into the. claims by. all tests of. the rebels also takes a look back at the events that shaped the yeah. my western colleagues explaining that. brics as hotel at that time was the safest place in libya because nato knew best where journalists. 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 and eleven on our t.v. . it was the end of an era in north korea this week with the death of its veteran rue the kim jong il from a heart attack aged sixty nine he's youngest son kim jong un has already been named the supreme leader to keep it in the city getting the secretive state t.v. channel have shown thousands of people weeping in the streets kamal jong il died a week ago his body is lying in state in the capital pyongyang his successor was the first to pay his final respects and he was put the north's neighbors on high alert japan called a special security meeting fearing instability in the region south korea said its military standing ready independent journalist tim shorrock told r.t. that despite having started in europe kim jong un is unlikely to bring change. he's

only been around for three years in the public light he went to school in switzerland apparently he knows a lot about how the internet works and he knows a lot about social media but beyond that we know very little except he's been appointed a four star general he has no military training very very you know this zero next to zero military experience but i think what these two leaders this closely held leadership in north korea once is a symbol of their regime and this is a clear you know successor symbol they can they can use to continue their power and i think that the fact that it took two days to announce his death and they announced one hundred fifty personnel funeral committee means that they have the people lined up behind them have been you know on this decision and they're getting ready to move forward on whatever was going on before in terms of any kinds of discussions with the united states south korea with other countries that did take kim jong il who just passed quite

a few years to actually gain total acceptance with the power structure there with the powers that be there in the in the party in the government to actually you know take firm control so i think that's an open question. iraq saddam and his plunging deeper into crisis with leaders in gauging in a blame game in the wake of multiple bombings that hit the capital thursday dozens died in the attacks which came in the a few days off the back and troops pulled out the u.s. insists that a stable country behind veteran american diplomat. the latest flare ups a consequence of the occupation. united states unleashed a lot of demons in iraq when we invaded in two thousand and three the most significant of which was the ethnic and religious tensions between the sunni's the shias and the kurds that was an issue that plagued the american occupation for all of its long desperate nine years and even though the united states troops have pulled out as of last week that doesn't change the equation those tensions still

exist in iraq and will have to resolve themselves one way or the other i'm afraid that the resolution will likely involve violence hopefully not at the levels that we saw in two thousand and five and two thousand and six but politics in iraq is very much a full context sport it's a dangerous game to play there and people often do die in the course of political resolutions. when russia is edging nato to look into reports of civilian deaths in that it caused by its seven month campaign human rights groups contesting nato has claimed that its twenty six thousand and strikes did not cause any civilian casualties while for rebels are still targeting supporters of colonel gadhafi as a son a boy in the reports. this is what it's like to look down in the face a group of man the young and knowledge captured after the nato propped over iran get off his hometown of sirte there was behind a camera delivers the verdict did you work for gadhafi did you. and the captives

then found scenes dad about what's coming next. and it seems like these where you know that possibly be as the rebels assisted by western powers so to liberate the country from gadhafi i've been 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. 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 get back his ferocity is here and hatred still resides in this neighborhood. obviously is a poor area installed in tripoli where more margot duffy had strong support base prior to his flame the district also has its name to the tourists present a scene of torture and arbitrary killings but while gadhafi is gone the human rights abuses still remain valid from this area are still disappearing without a trace their 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 mammoth formed and your earlier this year to investigate 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're scared to tell

me that this son or husband was with the khadafi forces they usually say he was a civilian court 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. mohamed and his friends have been taking photos of unidentified bodies that have been popping up across lee 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 frontlines of banter about. i hope he's in tunisia maybe his in hospital maybe he's lost his memory or has no way of contacting us. they say a whole dies last. it's still alive even if many people aren't going to boycott artsy tripoli hospital when the violent ousting of libya's colonel gadhafi with

nato help was arguably the defining event of shifting sands this year what is more if a national travels inside libya throughout the year talking to both gadhafi family members and rebels here's a firsthand account of a time in tripoli. we arrived only beer in the evening this is how you'd expect this kind of story to start but actually we crossed that unusual 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 they sway may turn khadafi. could both blame each other if journalists got killed.

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

woken up by a strike in the middle of the night and some old bombs landed here this story as you can see behind me some world three story buildings. and there were no. professional rescuers at the scene only man who bare hands. and one after another they pulled out five dead bodies. where she couldn't see the butt is themselves. because they were just wrapped up in blankets. lifeless bundles. in the morgue we heard that they were three little babies among the. they were lying there. on. the cold mats hold 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. from our initial assessment of it appears that one one of them did not strike the intended target due to a weapons systems failure. of course i wanted to meet qaddafi or his son say for this every journalist did but i was kind of impossible. as you will one day after a news conference my friend and a ton 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. what 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 him very powerful man. he invited me to follow him in a separate room and a group. with questions many questions like what do you think about what do you think about the uprising hey 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 and i looked at my notes and him on 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 and that 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 two thousand and eleven which is now just a part of history for good. but artie's remembering ten the key events which define the year you can catch them on

air or online at parties and. also at r.t. dot com sleeping on their own soldiers the pentagon launches a surveillance program to tap into troops private correspondence and computer files . lost pepper spray and the rests but it's not a riot it should be stateside to get their hands on some retro style sort of the sneakers details and footage earth partied off. the search for survivors from the sunken oil rig in russia's far east was called off on thursday cover operation is now on the way the chances of finding anyone else alive on a moat six more bodies were plucked from the icy waters and brought a shore on saturday of the sixty seven people on board and the fourteen were rescued and thirty six remain unaccounted for the wreckage capsized on just twenty minutes when it was being towed back to port. some of today's other world

headlines now the sudanese army says it has killed the leader of the main darfur rebel group the death of abraham that the justice and equality movement has not been independently verified and therefore rebels rose up against the sudanese government in two thousand and three the conflict the u.n. says has killed three hundred thousand people rames group is also accused of fighting for the former libyan leader colonel gadhafi. days of violent clashes between government security forces and in the midst 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. the violence became so intense that troops were forced to evacuate the center of a military task force is now being deployed to try and contain the violence. security forces have opened fire of the testers in yemen's capital killing nine and leaving scores wounded the embattled president vowing he'll leave the country tens

of thousands ascended on present sunday's palace to man who had been put on trial police and troops used live rounds tear gas and water cannons on protesters has signed power transfer treaty which enables you to believe. now that such a look at how people throughout the world are celebrating christmas during midnight mass at the vatican the pope grounded on the commercialism of christmas janish followers to look past the superficial glitter and concentrate on the holidays tree meaning. in bethlehem the west bank's christian minority gathered together to commemorate the birth of jesus. in the sydney sun took on the surface beach to assure themselves from a sweltering summer sun really hurts and a bit of a festive feel for the proceedings. the russian military communications satellites crashed back to work in siberia after

failing to reach its planned orbit on friday space experts say it was caused by a malfunction during rockets third stage of north's fragment of a satellite hit a house making a hole in the roof but luckily no one was injured and it's not at all bad news spacecraft did make a successful launch before docking with the international space station with new crew members on board three respond five months in orbit conducting doesn't experiments and out the back in just a few moments with the headlines. well

going into the future new year's wishes on technology update next generation playfields made from super strong cultural lightweight building materials good health with the help of nuclear isotopes a cleaner planet thanks to the revolutionary way to get rid of our growing man fields and a long list of those who know the russian invaders. please don't look in church. here in bygone days dogsleds were vital to get around.

but today they're more leisure than lifeline. one drives people to quit their modern lives and settle in remote woods. one finds them up to survive in the freezing cold. a new beginning in russia's nals discover the arctic circle on r.t. . witnesses. to history in the making of. testimony. ten stories that shapes two thousand and eleven on our t.v. . and. paintings on display for.

the. story to get. lost.