hello live from moscow this is our table name is kevin owen with the weekly our round up of top news stories in the past seven days and first tens of thousands rallied in central moscow on saturday and another peaceful protest over the results of this month's parliamentary election thirty thousand turned out of the capital according to the russian interior ministry but rally organizers said the true number was over one hundred thousand protesters were calling for a rerun of the election which they played was rigged the rally echoed an earlier one held 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 reforms some of which are already underway in the newly elected state duma hugo piskun off reports.

the time for change has come. people are tired of not being able to promptly solve the most pressing issues people are tired of having their interests ignored speeding and 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 to actions 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 in two thousand snell 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 proposal. reforms will also hit the stay 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 way elations 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 but warned any attempts to manipulate and provoke the people will not be accepted when you know it 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 chaos but getting back to the reforms to the media to finance another proposal concerning his own paused as well you know order to run for president independent candidates have to gather at least two million approval signatures from voters three hundred thousand it has 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 needed

immediate if he's aiming for the prime minister's seat if putin wins the upcoming presidential vote in march he is going to have already moscow. well we've got you to go online with us for more coverage of the mass protests in russia's capital for video direct from the site of those rallies a choice you can shoot channel got the latest pictures there are cameras were shoot all the way through also online this is our twitter feed for the latest firsthand impressions from our correspondents out of course you can also catch up on the full by grown to the protests on our website r.t. dot com. more news today violence has once again flared up. these are the images the world seeing from the streets of canada. giant corporations rule the day.

activists in syria say the opposition held city of homeless is on the heavy fire from thousands of government troops and tanks they're calling on the arab league to dispatch observers to the area it wants an advance party of monitors flew into damascus this week to prepare for the arrival of primary are of observers mission is to oversee the peace plan that guarantees that the regime ends its crackdown activists claim hundreds of civilians have begun recent days twin suicide blasts in damascus targeting government buildings also killed forty four friday when the regime is under a set of heavy sanctions from the u.s. and the e.u. but it's not a first reports 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 here in the bustling sand say it seems like it's business as usual this one says sets in the winds of change have begun to

float a little stronger the arab league's imposed tough economic sanctions the effects the way it would be felt even had in a poor area in the suburbs of damascus interest in her family struggling to make ends meet her son here has learning difficulties for the beans for a living that he barely makes one hundred fifty syrian pounds a day three dollars to support him and his wife. and now the fuel for his vending cart has become harder to get hold of with the economic sanctions driving the. van on the beat and there are less products available and the prices are pushed higher there's been fights over gans 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. economic situation in syria was one of the areas president assad had been seen to be making some progress be it slowly the for

a population that it started seeing the results of economic opportunity out block financial transactions if you shortages and blackouts become the new. and is that they could be even the financial times ahead. because of the economic sanctions people rushed to stockpile fuel and gas just in case people are a little bit afraid of the fact that water or gas might run out and this is why you see these queues this in place by the arab league it is hate the sanctions would the government hand when it came to ending the violence in the country because inside syria the name and many feel is every day people who are being punished economic sanctions so these are like taking. that he's the one hit that must have become part of the daily life for many people here in syria and it goes 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 too will bring about

any change to these coups up in the west of the conflict areas change can come in they meant to seeing some parity of teeth families like. finding life under the sanctions increasingly desperate search. damascus their own security council faces mounting pressure to act on syria but its members are unable to agree on a resolution friday washington and its 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 co-operative. it's a straightforward text. of commendation and support and appreciation of the efforts of the how to be. a pretty straightforward. expression of attention to it will help to put an end to whelan's unfortunately i can tell you that a 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 one would try to do something positive will inevitably be met with all sorts of concerns about balance why didn't you do this why didn't you do that and it brings us to the door to square one in the entire conversation. just let you know a bit later this hour we bring you the inside track on the year's most momentous events. meeting you that's where journalist. but we couldn't stop thinking. what if they make and mistake later on our team or if a national one of our correspondent shares her firsthand reflections on reporting from the nato strikes in war torn libya. north korea is still mourning the death of its leader kim jong il who passed away

last saturday from a heart attack at the age of sixty nine his death was announced on state t.v. on monday by a weeping news cast and thousands of people were shown crying in the streets now as youngest son kim young has already been named as supreme leader to keep it in a state going form a group whose body is now lying in state in the capital pyongyang is north koreans continue to pay their final respects with a funeral planned for december the twenty eighth news of his desperate the country's neighbors is on high alert japan called a special security meeting fearing instability in the region while south korea says its military is standing ready independent journalist james corbett believes that north korea is used by china and the u.s. as a poor one in their own political games in the region. the north has always been the sort of madwoman in the attic when it comes to east asian politics and it serves as i think a useful function for a number of parties in the region not only as a sort of proxy for china which has been really propping up the regime

internationally by giving it its support on the international skip stage which can then use the menace of north korea and to be seen to be keeping north korea in line but it also serves as a sort of strange function on stage for for example the united states which one would think would be interested in disarming north korea but in fact in every single stage of north korea's nuclear armament even united states has been deeply involved with that the arming of the north korean regime with two light water reactors back in the one nine hundred ninety s. under clinton and it plays and very interesting counterpoint to the hysteria that we see going on over the possibility that iran among one day develop a nuclear weapon well here we have a nuclear arms state that's been a lobbying missiles over our head here in japan for years now and threatening the entire region and yet they've just walked away from those talks for the last two years so it plays a very strange role in east asian relations right now. the bin five blasts close to

christian churches across nigeria today killing at least twenty seven people the radical muslim sect boko haram has claimed responsibility for the attacks the group was involved in days of violent clashes with military forces that killed at least sixty in the past few days let's get more on this now cross live stephen leatherman brady house the law for joining us on the line this christmas day from chicago stephen hi there very good to see you thank you for taking the time out from the celebrations now to chat to us. was made its name in the past several years and it is one of the most notorious sex in the region does it have any connections with other extremist groups what we know about this group. well i think the real issue with nigeria carol is very similar to what's going on throughout have throughout the middle east boko haram maybe in extremist islamic sects but he issue is the political corruption crow years of deprivation

human the west equals the way actions were reversed in freedom here. i'm sure all of the english the way he represents the christian sterols about half an hour each year a year is a muslim here in the north they will my actual who are his year in the year they are being totally shut out of the system and jonathan is a close western clothes washing. clothes big all of it is there we hear it's the enemy and to turn the country over to big oil and we're going to sort out the welfare of the east into the people there is the anger that is for beneath us how is this group supported how is it financed as a coordinated. well i honestly don't know they may have you support as well the country maybe others throughout the region but it's not how carolyn to

put together their explosives you certainly don't need the funding to be able to make. big ones the small ones i think anybody would submit pretties can do it the fact is that they are committed they want something other than one beginning right now eradicating it and they were reacting violently and the same thing can happen in any other country it happened probably it can happen nonviolently but they were very very angry people including in the west including in america what does it say about the determination of this group on christmas day that churches were of course the target. well i think there's some symbolism here is fair is doing it on christmas being active on christmas in america occupy wall street is very accurate is very active on christmas day the iraq taking

a day off they have a mission and it's a mission because on every day the same is true in nigeria and i think the same is true throughout the region human get probation human need this and take a vacation all of the scale of analyst people keep up the pressure don't nitpick it will do syrup i don't support violence i think it only gives more of it to protests that took place in what's going to be a city in one nonviolent that's the way to protest it's happening now in america it's happening there when you cross western europe i think this gets better results than violence but the people sometimes resort to the word statics and very soon we're going to continue. i take it everything you say you hear me hear an awful lot about this group but what is your prognosis you saying there's a lot of need. a lot of people hungry is a lot of anger about the political saying there where you think this is going to go

the finally oh it's going to continue because the human isn't being dressed the same interests are running these countries serving their corporate interests tiger washington washington has ties so all of these countries egypt is a great example of people worry about is lemmas coming to power well you're watching in the game there's this tale of islamists coming to power which is long is the power elite control of the country so egypt is a wonderful example washington's would be very happy to see the muslim brotherhood nominally in power if he has longstanding ties to the u.s. and u.k. and show it. but oh it will grow egypt is the military power that will run these other countries see how corporate interests they don't run the war it doesn't matter whether it's

a lot of space it is the one that people see but something else the same people running it were in these countries the same human need. this so-called arab spring never bloomed it certainly hasn't blown you never go and don't yuri is a classic example of a deeply deprived country terribly and rich people they want justice it never got in conditions today and now a worse it will know each year a year ago and seem to end the nine hundred sixty. seven m. of things ever so much for your thoughts joining us on the line there from chicago appreciative. for first time in forty two years libyans are celebrating their liberation in the twentieth century from former colonial powers independence day have been banned the colonel gadhafi was out of the course with nato assistance and killed in october but the revolution the so far failed to bring

peace with tribal violence on the rise are going to point to reports from libya. this is what it's like to look down in the face a group of man the younger knowledge captured after the needier propped rebels overran get off his hometown of sirte there was behind the camera delivers the verdict did you work for gadhafi did you. and the captives themselves seem doubts about what's coming next. scenes like these play now 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 for all cities here in hatred still reside in this neighborhood. obviously is a poor area installed in tripoli where more margot duffy had strong support base prior to his fleeing the district also and his name to the tourists presents 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 that families are too scared to talk about that. this is probably the

only place in libya with families of a logic get after supporters can turn to for how mohammed formed and your earlier this year it investigated the fate of those who disappeared in good office prisons he is now primarily dealing with people who went missing under libya's new leadership it's usually mothers who come here and at first they are scared to tell me 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 lead beer in recent months this snapshot it's probably the relatives the 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 he's in hospital maybe he's lost his memory or has no way of contacting us. they say hope dies last only but 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 in the the chamber almost a whole year of broadcasting one artery for us the civil war saw the nato led coalition intervene with thousands of deadly strikes which frequently cause civilian casualties artie's maria for national correspondent covered the revolution from inside libya and looks back on her experience there.

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 drone this 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 curtains in our rooms were moved even with doors firmly closed my bed was just beside a glass wall i moved

a deeper 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 were districts here in st for they have been woken up by a strike in the middle of the night and also 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 with bare hands. and one after another they pulled out five dead bodies. wishing i couldn't see that but is. because they were just wrapped up

a blanket five live band all. in the mall we heard that they were free little babies among the dead. they will line there. the cold metal 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 missile site. from our initial assessment of it appears that one what 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 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 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 a. very powerful man. he invited me to follow him in a separate room and grill me 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. charlie and i looked at my notes and 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 if not the best and to you safe was very sincere. very open and he thought always before answering that was really literally electricity in 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 of two thousand and eleven it is now just a part of history for good. reporting the way the world worked throughout the last twelve months here on our team every day right up to the new year we're bringing you more personal reflections to from many of our correspondents who saw the biggest stories of twenty eleven first time in case you want to see more of them as well there on our website our t. dot com it's twenty eight minutes past not at night moscow time in a moment a special end of year edition of technology update revealing the new super strong all from lightweight material that's apparently making its way into everyday life along with a tour of one of russia's high tech marvels to boot that's out of the headlines next on r.t. . all along. with

or you die from high or to the depths. catch the power of the wind or drift in the beauty of the currents.

being well prepared is a must and if you're lucky. you'll never forget your experience with a screen that's going to be heading. into flight see a fool because below the ice on our t.v. . bringing you the week's top stories from us tens of thousands rally peacefully in the russian capital demanding a rerun of the parliamentary elections while president. of the country's political system. international pressure mounts on the syrian regime to end its crackdown on protesters as violence intensifies across the country with people struggling under a set of western sanctions soaring price.