the week's top stories on our team tens of thousands rallied peacefully in the russian capital demanding a rerun of the parliamentary vote while president dmitri medvedev that was bold political reforms. international pressure mounting on the syrian regime to end its crackdown on protesters as violence intensifies across the country with the people struggling under a heavy set of western sanctions. the end of an arrow while north korea mourns the death of its ruler kim jong il his youngest son steps into power hailed as the new supreme commander. five pm in moscow why matras are bring you today's top stories and

a look back at the week's news here on r t tens of thousands rallied in central moscow saturday in another peaceful protest over the result of the over the results of this month's parliamentary election thirty thousand turned out in the capital according to the interior ministry rally organizers said the true number was more than one hundred thousand protesters were calling for a rerun of the election that they claim was rigged the rally echoed in an earlier one two weeks ago when thousands took to the streets voicing their opinions 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. as well. 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 and he's. 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 for him to directly by the president they used to be elected in the ninety's but this was canceled to 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 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 spirit of the educated people would like to play a part in that the president praised the legal right to express opinion would warrant any attempts to win. and provoke the people who will not be accepted up with you

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 but 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 that's 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 of his aiming for the prime minister's seat if he wins the upcoming presidential vote in march he is going to have already moscow member you can go online to get more coverage of the mass protest in russia's capital for video

direct from the site of the rally you can always check out our youtube channel while you're online you can also see our twitter page for the latest and first hand impressions from our correspondents and of course you can get the full background on the protests and more on our website our team dot com. more news today violence has once again flared up. in these are the images. from the streets and canada. giant corporations are ruled today. activists in syria say the opposition held city of homs is under 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 monitors flew to

damascus this week to prepare for the arrival of primary arab observers the mission is to oversee a peace plan that guarantees the regime and its crackdown activists claimed hundreds of civilians have been the undoubtedly recent days twin suicide blasts in damascus targeting government buildings also killed forty four people friday one of the reasons under a set of heavy sanctions from the u.s. and e.u. it was hard to use our first reports it's the syrian people who are feeling the pinch. it's been nearly ten months since syria's uprising began the capital of damascus has remained largely sheltered from the common saying in fact in the bustling sand say it seems like it's business as usual this one says so it's in the winds of change have picked on sept eleventh little stronger the arab league than pays tough economic sanctions the effects of which have been felt even heading in a poor area in the damascus wrath and his family is struggling to make ends meet his son is learning to follow the beans for a living but he barely makes

a hundred and fifty three in pounds a day seven three dollars to support him and is why. now the fuel for his vending cart has become harder to get hold of with the economic sanctions driving. their last 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 had been seen to be making progress be it. for a population that it started seeing the results of economic opportunity. financial transactions. blackouts become the. fifth they could be even the financial times ahead. because of the economic sanctions people rushed to

stockpile of fuel of gas just. people are a little bit afraid of the fact that water or gas might run 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 was inside syria at the moment many feel it every day people who are being punished economic sanctions still. taking. one hit. have become part of the daily life of many people here in syria and it's from 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 to bring about any change. in the west of the conflict areas change can come a moment tesing is imperative to the families like. finding life under the sanctions increasingly desperate search for. damascus.

stay with us here on our team later this hour over an inside track on the year's most momentous events. they to use best way to run this way but we couldn't stop thinking. what if they make and we stayed later on our team or if the notion of shares her firsthand reflections on reporting from the nato strike zone in war torn libya. but first north korea is still mourning the death of its leader kim jong il who passed away saturday from a heart attack at age sixty five and his death was announced on state t.v. 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 bodies lying in state in the capital pyongyang as north koreans continue paying their final respects with a funeral planned for december twenty eighth news of his death put the country's

neighbors on a high alert japan called a special security meeting fearing instability in the region south korea says its military stands ready to be a live asia specialist who's written extensively in the korean region says it's still hard to predict the impact his death will have on events in the blue and solar. the americans i think at the moment not moving climate because they want to keep tension on the korean been an artless way of contain china that so i would read the american response whether they will decide that it's they won't come back a negotiator we don't yet know if we have a smooth transfer of power in the in the north knows i think it's likely. it will. we will move forward perhaps not this year but to following you know when this new government in seoul and we may get a return to like two league asian top three of the previous five years ago.

if on the other hand those some sort of turn more and more if the. systems an opportunity. then we may get into don't shoot from the start and then. who knows what will happen libyans are celebrating their liberation from colonial powers for the first time in more than four decades independence day was banned under colonel gadhafi and 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 our side of boyko reports in tripoli. this is what it's like to look death in the face a group of man the young and old captured after the needier propped rebels overran get off his hometown of sirte there was behind a camera delivers a verdict would you work for gadhafi did you. and the captives themselves seem datz

about what's coming next. scenes like these play no the costly be as the rebels assisted by western powers so to liberate the country from gadhafi i've been lodgings about he said to stick 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 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 with no access to lawyers and no chance for a fair trial. but while the

prisons new guards had very elaborate in their rating is ferocity is fear and hatred still reside in this neighborhood. obviously is a poor area in southern tripoli where more margot duffy had strong support base prior to his fleeing the district also has its name to notorious prisons 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 libya or thumb least of illogic good to 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 on daily beast new leadership it's usually mothers who come here and. 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. muhammad and his friends have been taking photos of unidentified bodies that have been popping up across lee beer in recent months this snapshot it's probably the 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 see hope dies last only bit it's still alive even if many people aren't going to wake up artsy tripoli . the libyan uprising that began in february and ended tobar as one of the top ten

events that shaped almost a whole you're broadcasting here on our team in the civil war saw a nato led coalition intervene with thousands of deadly airstrikes which frequently cause civilian casualties artie's marie if an ocean to cover the revolution from inside the country that looks back on her experience in libya. we arrived in libya 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 nato and qaddafi. could both blame each other if the scope killed.

when our first night in tripoli would go to 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 wards . it was literally shaking in our rooms were moved even with doors firmly closed my bed was just beside a glass wall i moved to dig. 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 a mistake the residents of secrecy with this search here in street really have been

woken up by a strike in the middle of the night and all summer old bombs landed here this story as you can see behind me some rolled 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 that. they were lying there. the cold tables still in pampers. and next morning nato confirmed. it had made

a mistake intended target during last night's best strike in tripoli was a military. 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 this every journalist did but that was kind of impossible. as you remember 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 here in the bay of 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 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 troops. were 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 it is now just a part of history for good. european union has restricted the sale of drugs used in the u.s.

to execute convicts more than forty death row inmates have been killed by lethal injection in america this year alone and some activists say that in many cases the chemical used is far from humane it actually could be torturing the condemned to death but i bet it explains the restrictions could actually cause a situation to take a turn for the worse. they've tried hanging electrocution and most recently a drug used to euthanize animals but now american jails will find it much harder to kill prisoners on death row the main supply line for its lethal injections has been cut off after the e.u. slaps new restrictions on drug exports i really think this will make a difference and we will see the effects of this this control order in the coming months that the the u.s. allies on european drugs for use in executions and without them they're going to be stuck and lives will be saved specific execution drugs aren't made in the e.u.

but several american states have been importing sedatives instead drugs designed to help being used to hurt. exports of drugs like sodium thiopental will now be controlled to stop their use in a three part lethal cocktail the in a static was being used to put the condemned inmate to sleep as another drug paralyzed before the final heart stopper was administered without that initial numbing stage lethal injections are unconstitutional under u.s. law the usual supply for these drugs has been dwindling since the only u.s. manufacturer ceased production last year american prisons though found an alternative source right here in west london at this fairly unassuming driving school the buildings also shared by dream farmer a british firm exporting british drugs to us prisons to kill people the u.k. government soon found out and banned its use so american prisons searched elsewhere

r.t. reported in may how some states have begun using pen to baba told a drug normally used to put pets to sleep that's never been tested for human executions its primary use for humans is to treat epilepsy but it has no pain killing properties many feel its use on death throes tantamount to torture this can cause excruciating pain if something goes wrong and because we have no tests we can't guarantee that nothing will get around to people at risk of not being killed being tortured to death following our report danish manufacturer imposed their own restrictions to prevent misuse the new e.u. embargo covers eight barbiturates in total including. us stockpiles will eventually run dry but many fear it's only a matter of time before prisons try again with something else unfortunately the death merchants in the us can sometimes be creative in terms of what they put to

use in order to put people to death and so i think what we need is a clause which said if other drugs should appear on the market and we discover the u.s. is misuse. those we can quickly have a quick procedure to add those to the list without you know wait another year aside from lethal injection other methods like hanging and firing squad a still sanctioned in the us but are now rarely used these new restrictions may not choke off the drug supply completely but it will certainly tighten the noose on america's controversial death penalty. by the bennett artsy london. turning now to some other stories making headlines across the globe beginning in nigeria where two blasts were heard in the northern city of democracy rule making five blasts in total since the morning a radical muslim sect has claimed responsibility for a bomb attack that rocked a catholic church in the capital killing at least twenty five officials say there's a shortage of every alliances in the region and more the number of casualties could rise the blast follow

a wave of violent clashes between military forces and members of the boko haram sect which have killed at least sixty people in the last few days. yemen's capital security forces opened fire on protesters killing nine people this is tens of thousands marched to president sali is palace demanding he be tried for months of violent crackdowns on anti-government activists an estimated seven hundred people were killed in clashes since the uprising against sali started in february has signed a power transfer agreement ending his thirty three year rule and giving away to his deputy to take charge. a suicide bomber in northern afghanistan blew himself up during a funeral killing ten including a member of the national parliament the attack happened at the end of the ceremony as the mourners were preparing to leave there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack a local official suspect the taliban suicide attacks are rare in the province which is considered one of the calmest regions of the country. with christmas trees

lighting up let's take a look now 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 vasant mass at the vatican pope benedict rounded on the commercialism of christmas urging followers to look past the superficial glitter and concentrate instead on the holidays tree meaning and in taipei the capitol of taiwan people flocked to see a christmas parade in the. full display including acrobats and a marching back. and saddle once again following his annual trek around the globe you can track every step at r. t. online north america's a big brother norad watching over santa claus a special website is launched monitoring progress around the world. and you also

find a snippet of history in our rosso p.d.f. section this day twenty years ago the soviet union's first and only president gorbachev announced his resignation in a live t.v. address. stay with us here on r t headlines coming your way in a few moments. with

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in remote woods. one finds them up to survive in the freezing cold. beginning in russia's mills discover the arctic circle on r t. m m. m's.