the week's top stories on our team tens of thousands rallied peacefully in the russian capital calling for a rerun of the parliamentary elections by president dmitri medvedev thousand bold political reforms. here national 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.

seven pm in moscow. good to have you with us as we bring you today's top stories and a look back at the week's news tens of thousands of people rallied in central moscow saturday in another peaceful protest over the results of this month's parliamentary vote thirty thousand people turned out in the capital according to the interior ministry the organizer 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 an earlier one two weeks ago when thousands took to the streets to have their say president medvedev addressed the protesters in his annual state of the union speech promising widespread political reform some of which is already underway in the newly elected state duma or he said or piskun know as more. 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 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 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 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 stay 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 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 warrant any attempts to manipur. wait and provoke the people who will not be accepted but with

you when you do 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 media did if he's aiming for the prime minister's seat if he wins the upcoming presidential vote in morning he is going to moscow you remember you can go online to get more

coverage of the massive protest in the russian capital for video direct from the site of a rally you can always head over to our you tube channel online you can also check out our twitter page for the latest. from our correspondents had to remember to catch up on all the background for the protests on our web site r t v dot com. more news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images. from the street. operations are. activists in syria say the opposition held city of homs is under heavy fire from thousands of government troops and tanks are calling on the arab league to dispatch observers to the area at once and advair and advance party of. monitors who were to

damascus this week preparing 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 whether they are gunned down in the recent days twin suicide blasts in damascus targeting government buildings also killed forty four people on friday the regime is under a set of heavy sanctions from the u.s. and the e.u. but as arky sorrow reports from damascus it's the syrian people who seem to be feeling the squeeze. it's been nearly ten months since syria's uprising began the capital of damascus is a main said from the conflict the fight in the bustling sand say it seems like it's business as usual this one says sets in the winds of change have begun subliminal stronger the arab league sometimes tough economic sanctions the effects of which have been felt even head in a poor area of damascus and her family struggling to make ends meet

her son is learning to follow the beans for a living that he barely makes one hundred fifty syrian pounds a day three dollars to support him and he's gloomily. now the fuel for his vending cart has become harder to get hold of it's the economic sanctions. 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 had been seen to be making progress. for a population that it started seeing the results of economic opportunity. financial transactions. blackouts become the new. they could be even the financial times ahead. because of the economic sanctions people.

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 fake the sanctions which the government had and when it came to ending the violence in the country was inside syria the name and many feel it every day people took being punished economic sanctions still. taking. the one hit. the daily life that many people here in syria and in the arab league will be paving the way you can observe the mission to at the end of the month much opposition they remain skeptical about whether that too will bring about any change. in the west of the conflict areas change can come amazement tesing is imperative teeth families like. finding life under the sanctions increasingly desperate search for.

damascus. the u.n. security council faces mounting pressure to act on syria but its members are unable to agree on a resolution friday washington is european allies blocked a statement drafted by russia supporting the arab league observers mission to syria moscow's envoy to the u.n. said western states are not being cooperative. this is straightforward text god isn't a commendation and support and appreciation of the efforts of the to be. it is straightforward to. expression of attention that it will help to build them to well it's unfortunately i can tell you that to the number of members of the security council objected to old this is a little strange some of the difficulties we encounter working with the security council because i would try to do something positive will inevitably be met with all sorts of concerns about balance why didn't you do this why did you did that and

it brings us to square one in the conversation later this hour the inside track on the year's most momentous events. needs a new best way journalist one of which we couldn't stop thinking. what if they make and we stayed. plater on our team maria pinto in the shares her first hand or of buttons on reporting from the nato strike zone in war torn libya. but before we get to that north korea still mourning the death of its leader kim jong il who passed away last saturday from a heart attack at age sixty nine his death was announced on state television 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 the supreme leader who took the dynasty going president's body is lying in state in the capital pyongyang has people in the capital pyongyang as north koreans continue to pay their final respects with

a funeral planned for december twenty eighth the news of his death but the country's neighbors on high alert japan called a special security meeting hearing instability in the region south korea says its military stands ready independent journalist tim shahrukh thinks that the successor will need time to shore up 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 this zero 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 liberation from colonial powers for the first time in forty two years independence day 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 reports in 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 a prop to wrap us over to get off his hometown of sirte that was behind the camera

deliveries that very day did you look for gadhafi did you. and the captives didn't sound seeing. about what's coming next. scenes like these play no the cost levy 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 at 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 have a very elaborate in their rating gadhafi is ferocity is here and hatred still resides 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 and his name to the tour is 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 mom and form peace and your earlier this year it's investigate the fate of those who disappeared and get off his presence he is now primarily dealing with people who went missing under libya's

new leadership it's usually mothers who come here and. tell me that this son or husband was with the khadafi 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 lee bear 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 frontlines 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 hold dies last leave it's still alive even if many people aren't. artsy tripoli.

the libyan uprising that began in february and ended in october is one of the top ten events that shaped almost a whole year of broadcasting here on our t.v. the civil war saw a nato led coalition intervene with thousands of deadly airstrikes that frequently cause civilian casualties artie's where if an ocean a covered the revolution from inside the country and now looks back on her experience in libya. 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 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 curtains in our rooms were moved even with doors firmly closed my bed was just beside a glass wall i did dick her 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 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 for me have been woken up by a strike in the middle of the night and all several bombs landed here this story as you can see behind me several 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 them 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 will lie in their. cold mats all tables still in pampers. and next

morning nato confirmed. it had made a mistake the intended target during last night's airstrike in tripoli was a military. from our initial assessment of us it appears from one weapon and did not strike intended target due to a weapons systems. of course i wanted to meet khadafi or his son safe. 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 me with questions many questions like what do you think about what do you think about the prize in hand 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. hi hales. 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 in that train that. we're 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 it is now just a part of history for good. and every

day right up to the new year will bring you more personal reflections from our correspondents who saw the biggest stories firsthand of this past year in case you missed it you can also catch them on our web site r.t.e. dot com will stay with us here on r t still ahead the ups and downs of space exploration the failed launch of our military the creation satellite closely followed by a successful man trip to the i.s.o.'s aboard a soyuz rocket we'll tell you about both. but before we get to that iraq has been heading deeper into political crisis since the final u.s. troop withdrawal earlier this week the country's been iraq by a massive bombing in baghdad that claimed at least seventy two. thursday was the worst attack in months in iraq and its leaders and gauging the took her a tad blame game over the latest wave of violence here's have been growing up for a turn to the sectarian conflict of two thousand and seven that left thousands dead as the u.s. made good on its promise to pull out troops and insisted

a stable country had been left behind but joseph is sure a writer for the world socialist web site thinks the latest flare ups in the region are a product of the us occupation. you know securing iraq and giving it freedom it was about securing resources and in the process. so sectarian tensions devastated the entire society and this is really the product of that you have different factions of the iraqi elite who are battling over power over control over resources including particular oil contracts and it threatens to unravel into a civil war that conflict the violence in iraq is very much a product of the occupation itself and you know that's really the source of the crisis facing iraqi politics and iraqi society i mean look at what what does occupation has produced over one million people killed by some estimates thirty

five percent of iraqi children. living now is orphans just nation of infrastructure the entire society has been scarred by this occupation by this war. it's been a week of mourning in russia's merman screeching for the victims of last sunday's oil rig disaster the platform mostly manned by a crew from a man suppose sunk in a storm while being towed to a port in the country's far east sixty seven people were aboard fourteen of them were immediately saved after the platform went down thirty six remain unaccounted for and listed as missing with the search and rescue operation over there's little hope of finding any more survivors the bodies of seventeen victims have so far been recovered investigators suspect a breach of safety procedures to blame for the tragedy there was no fuel spill though it's the late it's the deadliest oil rig disaster in russian history. turning now to some other stories making headlines across the globe first in

nigeria where a radical muslim sect has claimed responsibility for a bomb attack that rocked a catholic church in the capital and killed at least twenty five people further explosions were reported in other cities but no information yet about injuries officials say there's a shortage of ambulances in the region and warned that the number of casualties could rise blast follow a wave of violent clashes between military forces and members of the islamized boko haram sect which is killed at least sixty people in the last few days. a suicide bomber in northern afghanistan blew himself up during a funeral killing one thousand people including a member of the national parliament the attack happened at the end of the ceremony as 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 considered one of the calmest regions in the country. and shifting gears now to lighter news with christmas trees lighting up let's 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 pope benedict this is rounded on the commercialism of christmas urging followers to look past the superficial glitter and concentrate instead on the holidays true meaning in the capital of taiwan people flock to see a christmas eve parade in a colorful display with acrobats and marching bands. as it is once again following his annual trek around the globe you can track his progress every step. father christmas is on the radar of the north american aerospace defense command also known as norad again mounting its annual watch over santa claus and set up with a special website monitoring st nick's progress around the world on his delivery room. and a snippet of russian history and our reso p.b.s.

section on this day twenty years ago the first and only president of the soviet union mccalla gorbachev announced his resignation in a live t.v. address. finally in this news block a russian military communication satellite dubbed the meridian came crashing back to earth in siberia friday without ever breaking out of the atmosphere experts say a technical malfunction in the rockets third stage caused the failure a fragment of the satellite crashed into a house as it fell back to earth punching a hole in the roof though there were no injuries reported however though another soyuz russian another russian soyuz craft did launch successfully. delivered a crew of three to the international space station which will spend five months in orbit before being replaced by a new team of astronauts and cosmonauts made headlines coming your way next stay

with us. here in bygone days sleds were the final to get around.

but today they're more leisure than life line. one drives people to quit their modern lives and settle in remote woods. one finds them up to survive in the freezing cold. beginning in russia's nose discover the arctic circle on r.t. . to the lives.