the week's top stories on our t.v. tens of thousands rally peacefully in the russian capital demanding a revote of the parliamentary elections while president medvedev vows bold political reforms. international pressure mounts on the syrian regime to end its crackdown on protesters as violence intensifies across the country with people struggling under a heavy set of western sanctions. and the end of an era while north korea mourns the death of its longtime ruler kim jong il his youngest son steps into power hailed as the new supreme commander.

for pm in moscow and that treasure bring you today's top stories and a look back at the week's news tens of thousands rallied in central moscow saturday in another peaceful protest over the results of this month's parliamentary election thirty thousand people turned out in the capital according to the russian interior ministry rally organizers said the true number was more than one hundred thousand protesters were calling for a rerun of the election which they say was raided the rally echoed an earlier one held two weeks ago when thousands took to the streets to make their voices heard president medvedev addressed the protesters in his annual state of the union speech promising widespread political reforms some of which are already underway in the newly elected state duma has been off point. the time for change has come. people are tired of not being able to promptly sold them. 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 part in elections in fact a total ground up rebuild of the whole electoral system today governors in russia are up pointed 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 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 you was a sore have been taking place across the country with tens of thousands of russians shouting out accusations of fraud and other violations 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 rest of the educated people would like to play a part in that. the president praised the legal right to express opinion but warned

any attempts to manipulate and provoke the people will not be accepted up with him when you know it's going to be in 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 not scales getting back to the reforms to the media to financed 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 needed immediate if he's aiming for the prime minister's seat if he wins the upcoming presidential vote in mark he is going to of moscow go on line to

get more coverage of the mass protest in russia's capital for a more direct from the state video of the rally you can also head over to our you tube channel and while you're there visit our twitter page for the latest feed and first head impressions from our correspondents covering the events of course you can catch up on the full background on the protests on our website and click away at our teen dot com. more news today violence is once again flared up. in these are the images. from the streets and canada. showing operations to rule the day. divison assyria say the opposition held city of homs under a heavy fire from thousands of government troops and tanks there calling on the

arab league to dispatch observers to the area at once an advance party of moderators fluted about is this week to prepare for the arrival of primary arabs of servers the mission is to oversee a peace plan that guarantees the regime to end its crackdown activists claimed hundreds of somebody you have been gunned down in recent days twin suicide blasts in damascus targeting government buildings also killed forty four people friday one of the prisoners under a heavy set of sanctions from the u.s. but as arky sorrow for reports from damascus it's the syrian people who are feeling the squeeze. it's been nearly ten months since syria's uprising began the capital of damascus has remained largely sheltered from the conflict in fact in the bustling sand say it seems like it's business as usual as one says sets in the winds of change have think on some level little stronger the arab league sometimes tough economic sanctions the effects of which have been felt even head in a poor area in the damascus interact and her family is struggling to make ends meet

his son here has learning difficulties fava beans for a living but he barely makes one hundred fifty three in pounds a day so even three dollars to support him and his why and now the fuel for his vending cart has become harder to get hold of and it's the economic sanctions driving the i think. there are less 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 that for a population that it started seeing the results of economical pitchiness a lot financial transactions. blackouts become the new. and is that they could be even down the financial times the heads. because of the

economic sanctions people. people are a little bit afraid of the fact that water or gas might run out this is why you see these queues this in place by the arab league it is hate the sanctions which the government has and when it came to ending the violence in the country was inside syria the name and many feel it every day people being punished economic sanctions still. taking. the one hit that must have become part of the daily life that many people here in syria and in the arab league will be paving the way for an observer mission to at the end of the month. position they remain skeptical about whether that too will bring about any change to these clues that in the west of the conflict areas change can come amazement tesing it's imperative teeth families like. finding life under the sanctions increasingly

desperate search a damascus u.n. security council faces mounting pressure to act on syria but its members are unable to agree on a resolution friday washington as european allies blocked a statement drafted by russia supporting the arab league observers mission to syria moscow's auditory to the u.n. said western states are not being cooperative. this is straightforward text evan got his mental commendation and support and appreciation of the efforts of it to be . repeated straight forward to the expression of attention to it will help to do islands 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 working with the security council because i would try to do something positive with inevitably the met with

all sorts of concerns about balance why didn't you do this why did you create that and it brings us to do to square one in the conversation and later this hour the inside track on the year's most momentous events. needs a new best way journalist. but we couldn't stop thinking. what if they made and we stayed. later on our team or if the notion of looks back on her visit to war torn libya and reflects on what she saw and felt reporting from the heart of the revolution. but first north korea is still mourning the death of its leader kim jong il who died last saturday from a heart attack at age sixty nine his death was announced on state t.v. on monday by a weeping newscaster and thousands of people were shown crying in the streets his youngest son kim jong un has already been named as supreme leader to keep the dynasty going the president's body is lying in state in the capital pyongyang as

koreans continue to play to pay their final respects at the funeral planned for december twenty eighth news that is dens of the country's neighbors on a high alert japan calls a special security meeting fearing instability in the region south korea says its military is standing ready independent journalist tim shahrukh thinks that the successor will need time to secure his position as leader. 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 next to zero military experience but i think what these two leaders this closely held leadership in north korea once is the 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 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 libyans are celebrating their real liberation from colonial powers for the first time in forty two years independent state was bad under colonel gadhafi who was ousted with nato assistance and killed in october but the revolution has so far failed to bring peace with tribal violence on the rise or he's outside of boyko reports from tripoli. this is what it's like to look down in the face

a group of men the young and old captured after didn't need to. get off his hometown of sirte and there was behind the camera deliveries that very day. look for gadhafi did you. and the captives then found something that fountain is about what's coming next. and it seems like these you know they leave here as the brambles assisted by western powers so to liberate the country from gadhafi i've been large and it's about he said to stick tendencies growing 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 where god 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 but no access to lawyers and no chance for a fair trial. but while the prisons new guards have a very elaborate in their rating go back is ferocity here in hatred still reside in this neighborhood. obviously is a poor area in southern tripoli where more and more of gadhafi had strong support base prior to his fleeing the district also 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 of 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 and get off his reasons he is now primarily dealing with people who went missing under libya's new leadership it's usually mothers who come here and 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. mohammad and his friends have been taking photos of unidentified bodies that have been popping up across lee bear 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 banjo. 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 hope dies last.

it's still alive even if many people are going to boycott artsy tripoli. the libyan uprising that started in february and ended in october is one of the top ten events that shaped nearly the whole year of broadcasting here on r t the civil war saw a nato led coalition intervene with thousands of deadly airstrikes which frequently cause civilian casualties artie's marie if a notion to cover the revolution from inside the country and looks back on her experience. we arrived in libya in the evening this is how you'd expect this kind of story to start but actually we crossed the tunisian border when the sun was too high. our driver told us to be careful we all thought that was

a little bit on necessary. but he explained that they sway nato and qaddafi. could both blame each other if the scope killed. when our first night in tripoli we got a very warm welcome rixos hotel we stayed was just. away from. his residence. and that was bombed that night as it had never been before and would never be wards. it was literally shaking curtains in our rooms were moved even with doors firmly closed my bed was just beside a glass wall i did to her into the room because i was scared. an explosion could destroy literally. my western colleagues explaining that. rixos hotel at the time

was the safest place in the because nature knew best where journalists order but we couldn't stop thinking. what if they make at least take the residents of secrecy with districts here in street for they have been woken up by a strike in the middle of the night and all summer long slender to 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 who bare hands. and one after another they pulled out five dead bodies. 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. 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. however from our initial assessment of us it appears that one weapon did not strike an intended target due to a weapons systems. of course i wanted to meet khadafi or his son safe as every journalist did 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 enter 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 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 and i 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 if not the best interview safe was very sincere. very open and he thought always before answering that was really literally electricity and that truth. 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. he should say right up to the new year we'll bring you more personal reflections from our correspondents who saw the biggest stories of two thousand and eleven first hand in case you missed any of them you can check them all out again that are t. dot com well stay with us still ahead this hour having regrets the citizens of iraq for cash is still many are paying the price for joining the euro as they're forced to fork over for the nations of the for other nations in the stakes. but turning first to some other stories making headlines across the globe nigeria an explosion has rocked a catholic church near the capital abuja killing at least twenty five people a further explosion was reported in the city of jos but there's no information yet there about injuries officials say there's a shortage of ambulances in the region and more in the number of casualties could arise the blast come after

a wave of violent clashes between military forces and members of islam as militant sect that have killed at least sixty people in the last few days. in yemen's capital security forces opened fire on protesters killing nineteen this as tens of thousands marched to the president's palace to bedding he tried for months of violent crackdowns anti-government activists and estimated seven hundred people were killed in clashes since the uprisings against sali began in february he has signed a transfer of power agreement ending is thirty three year old the way to his deputy to take over. a suicide bomber in northern afghanistan blew himself up during a funeral in the northern in northern afghanistan killing ten people including a member of the national parliament it happened at the end of the ceremony is mourners were preparing to leave there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack but local officials suspect the taliban suicide attacks are rare in the province which is considered one of the nation's calmer regions. with christmas

trees lighting up let's take a look at how some people are celebrating the holiday in different parts of the world in bethlehem the. west bank's christian minority gathered with tourists to commemorate the birth of jesus thousands of palestinians from inside the west bank also converged on the town during midnight mass at the vatican the pope rounded on the commercialism of christmas urging followers to look past the superficial glitter and concentrate instead on the holidays true meaning and in the capital of taiwan people flocked to see a christmas eve parade in a colorful display including acrobats and marching. as santa is once again following his annual trek across the globe you can now track every step party reports on law in north america's big brother is watching over santa claus a special website has launched monitoring his progress around the globe.

and a snippet of history in our rosso pedia section in this day twenty years ago the first and only president of the soviet union what caliber of a child announced his resignation at a live t.v. address. the newest euro zone member estonia adopted the single currency just under a year ago and while the country's businesses have been reaping the benefits of the euro but the stoning people it's a little bit different their financial future is sixty eight is at stake as part of a bid to rescue debt ridden countries like greece and portugal it's no wonder the public mood is far from merry artie's alexei irish esky reports. on paper these people live in one of the most prosperous economies of the baltic region the

reality of their homeland still many is the poorest country in office spending a year being part of the euro zone these people say the positive changes they were promised are nowhere to be seen and the most beloved recently zero commission check their pensions are authorities told them received an average pension of six hundred this is far from reality pensions in greece which fifteen hundred we hear get around two hundred. a stone he adopted the euro last january but despite a general positive attitude towards the move until now it is mostly big business and pull the decisions that are really enjoying the transition there are clearly some political advantages in terms of people looking to study a more firmly in. the economic advantage which is well in terms of investment the support for the euro was holding up very well. people seem to be to see the advantages you may be politically rotten economically but the euro what gumption party soon brought painful hand over since september of stone has agreed to take

part in the european financial stability facility the body created to combat financial crisis and countries like greece and now experts say this membership comes at a price and can not afford to buy the formula for us very bad because we need to. or. from our g.d.p. rich countries something more than nine percent from. the poorest country we need to pay off my trichet countries the country central bank has even warned of a possible recession recent polls suggest up to sixty percent of historians are against the country's membership of the. government however doesn't seem to pay attention and refuses to drop out of this relief fund meanwhile members of this community say they would rather help greece with potatoes and far it would then see

their pension money heading their adopting the euro soon or later was a necessary condition for a stone you to join the european union but being part of the european financial stability facility was not in the agreement and while economists are speculating whether stonier should continue its membership in this organization ordinary people are left to wonder why they have to pay someone else's debts. reporting from. there is news here on r.t. i'll be back with the headlines in a few moments stay with us. welcome

to the future new year's wishes upon technology updates next generation places made from super strong cultural lightweight building materials good health with a host of nuclear isotopes cleaner planet thanks to the revolutionary ways to get rid of our growing man fields and a long list of the russian innovators. he's going to ensure.