screen that's going to be heaven. see up close and below the ice on our t.v. . to stop stories from r t tens of thousands rallied peacefully in the russian capital demanding a rerun of the parliamentary election president dmitry medvedev that was bold political reform. is national pressure mounts on the syrian regime to end its crackdown on protesters and violence intensifies across the country and the people struggling under the heavy burden of western sanctions. and the end of an era while north korea mourns the death of a truly kim jong il his younger son the steps in the power hailed as the new supreme command.

live from moscow this is our two warm welcome to if you just joined us you're watching the weekly with me kevin owen it's the round of the top stories in the last seven days and tens of thousands rallied in central moscow on 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 but rally organizers said the true number was over one hundred thousand protesters were calling for a rerun of the election which they claim 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 a correspondent. for ports. the time for change has come. people are tired of not being able to promptly solve the most pressing issue 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 elections in fact a total ground up rebuild of the tool 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 the me wants to bring the vote back as part of the move to vertical ice power in russia it took over a decade to build to the current political 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 stage which will include two hundred twenty five deputies each independently elected within their own territory or 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 would have been taking place across the country with tens of thousands of russians shouting out accusations of fraud and other violations were 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 especially the educated people would like to play a part in that the president praised the legal right to express opinion warned any

attempts to manipulate and provoke the people will not be accepted. 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 to. be getting back to the before the meeting with 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 mediated his aiming for the prime minister's seat if. upcoming presidential vote in morning he is going to moscow invite you to go online to get more coverage of the

mass protest in russia's capital for video direct from the site of the rally. while you're there as well you can visit our a twitter feed as well support for this kind of pressure but that story from all our correspondents but the stories are covering more ground on our website r.t. dot com. more news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images. from the streets in canada. operations to rule the day. activists in syria say the opposition held city of homs 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 at once and advance party of monitors flew into

damascus to prepare for the arrival of. us their mission is to oversee a peace plan that guarantees that the regime ends its crackdown activists claim hundred. civilian supreme. twin suicide blasts in damascus targeting government buildings also killed forty four on friday the regime is on every sanctions from the u.s. and the e.u. right now but as artists are a first reports of 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 the bustling sun so it seems like it's business as usual as one says it's in the winds of change has begun supply a little stronger the arab league's impose tough economic sanctions the effects of which would be felt even had in a poor area in the damascus grass and her family struggling to make ends meet her son here has learning difficulties the beans for a living that he barely makes

a hundred and fifty three and a day three dollars to support him and there's really no the fuel for his vending cart has become harder to get hold of with the economic sanctions. 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 but sometimes when we can't afford it which is don't eat the economic situation in syria was one of the areas president happy to make. for a population that it started seeing the results to be economical to t.d.c. . financial transactions. back out economy. they could be the financial times ahead. because of the economic sanctions which people. people are

a little bit afraid of part of. this is what you see these. this in place by the arab. get the state to sanction for the government hand when it came to ending the violence in the country is inside syria at the moment many everyday people looking for an economics thanks for. taking. one hit. has become part of the day life for many people here is an advance team from the arab league will be paving the way to the mission to you at the end of the month which a position they've been made about whether that to bring about any real change these clues that the west of the conflict areas change coming from the name it t. seeing imperative teeth families like. finding life and the sanctions increasingly desperate search. damascus. now coming up this hour the inside track for

you on the year's most momentous events. meeting you that's where journalist. but we couldn't stop thinking. what if they make and we stayed one of our international correspondents showing her first hand reflections of our reporting from the nato strike zone in the form libya. north korea still mourning the death of its leader kim jong il who passed away on saturday from a heart attack at the age of sixty nine his death was announced on state t.v. on monday by a weeping newscaster and thousands of people were shown crying on the streets his youngest son kim jung un has already been named as supreme leader to keep the dynasty going before rulers body is no longer in state in the capital pyongyang as north koreans continue to pay their final respects with a funeral planned for december the twenty eighth news of his death put the country's neighbors on high alert japan called

a special security meeting fearing instability in the region while south korea says its military is on standby independent journalist james corbett believes that north korea is used by china and the u.s. as a pawn 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 be seen to be keeping north korea in line but it also serves a sort of strange function on the 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 a month one day develop a nuclear weapon well here we have a nuclear arms state that's been a lot being 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 in libya there's still no piece to celebrate more than two months after the killing of colonel gadhafi tribal violence is on the rise and forming loyalists live in fear of deadly retribution from the country's new authorities examine boy reports from libya. this is what it's like to look at death in the face a group of man the young and old captured after the nato propped rebels overran good office hometown of sirte there was behind the camera delivers a verdict they do work for gadhafi. and the captives themselves seem that certain

about what's coming next. it seems like these where you know that possibly be as the rebels assisted by western powers so to liberate the country from gadhafi i've been longines 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 go back is ferocity is fear and hatred still reside in this neighborhood. obviously is a poor area in southern tripoli where more margot had strong support. for the district also has its name to the tourists present a scene of torture and arbitrary killings but while gadhafi is gone the human rights abuses still remain 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 mohammed formed and your earlier this year to investigate the fate of those who disappeared in good office prisons he is now primarily dealing with people who went missing under libya's new leadership it's usually mothers who come here and at first they are scared to 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. mohammad and his friends had been taking photos of unidentified bodies that have been popping up across lee bear in recent months this naturists are probably the relatives most realistic hope of finding closure but even after sifting through them many managed to retain hope like this man his brother disappeared on the front lines of banter. i hope he's in tunisia maybe his in hospital maybe he's lost his memory or has no way of contacting us. they see whole dies last. it's still alive even if many people aren't going to wake up artsy tripoli. the libyan uprising began in february and ended in october is indeed one of the top

ten events that shaped almost a whole year of broadcasting from us here on r.t. the civil war saw a nato led coalition intervene with thousands of deadly airstrikes which frequently cause civilian casualties is rare for national one of our team of correspondents covered the revolution from inside libya now looks back on her experience. 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.

one our first night in tripoli would go to 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 in our rooms were moved even with doors firmly closed my bed was just beside a glass wall i did. 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 president so secrecy with this search here in st for they 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. 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. 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. every journalist did but that was kind of impossible. as you remember one day after a news conference my friend and a ton photographer came to me and pointing at the man. in his suit told me he wants to meet you the next night i got to call the car 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 the enter the room and no one paid any attention to. what he was

different when he entered we all know taste we all knew that 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 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 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 interview safe was very sincere. very open and he thought always before answering that was really literally electricity and that truth. will last 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 which is now just a part of history for good. roof notion of a one of our international correspondents who are not just let you know every day

right up to the new year will bring you more personal reflections from our team of correspondents who saw the biggest stories of two of the eleven first brought you the most trouble in case you missed it what they had to say you can cut your website altie dot com as well. ok going up. having regrets. the citizens of strapped for cash a study of savings of paying the price for joining the euro is they're forced to fork out for the nation's mistakes or report on bad just ahead. first though there's been five plus close to christian churches across nigeria on sunday killing at least thirty five people the radical muslim sect pocket claimed responsibility for the attacks the group was involved in days of violent clashes with military forces that's killed at least sixty in the past few days seven land when a radio host and author from chicago says april's elections have contributed to the unstable situation in the country. boko haram may be an

extremist islamic sect but he issue is very political corruption crow years. of age in human even last crossover actions were reversed and for even here i could tell you honestly it was the way he represents the christian south about half of next year is a muslim here in the north a woman actually who i am hearing they are being totally shut out of the system and jonathan is a close western clothes the washington times clothes big oil in the east and here if the m.e.m. in turn the country over to big oil and let them just so the wealth out of it it eats into the people then it's the anger that striving these. steven lemon talking

a bit earlier where the news headlines around the globe right now a suicide bomber in northern afghanistan blew himself up during a funeral it killed nineteen people including a member of the national parliament there that attack took place at the end of the ceremonies mormons were preparing to leave there was no media claim of responsibility for the attack but a local official suspect it was the taliban security and suicide attacks are rare in the province which is considered one of the calmest regions in the country. and yemen's capital security forces opened fire on protesters leaving nine dead that says tens of thousands marched to the ex president's palace demanding that he should be tried for months of violent crackdowns on anti-government demonstrations and isolated seventeen hundred people have been killed in clashes since the uprising began in february and the power transfer agreement ending is thirty three year rule giving way to his deputy now take over. away from the violence of war first of course the festive season then with christmas trees lighting up let's take

a look at how some people have been celebrating the holiday in different parts of the world this is the scene in bethlehem the west bank's christian minority earlier gathering there with tourists to commemorate the birth of jesus thousands of palestinians from inside the west bank also converged on the. land during midnight mass at the vatican the pope grounded only commercialism over christmas. followers to look past the superficial glitter and concentrate instead on the true meaning so they different in taiwan they're the capital people flocking to see a christmas eve parade with a colorful display including acrobats that. the newest member of the eurozone stonier adopted the single currency only just under a year ago and while the country's businesses have been reaping the benefits of the euro for the people of stone here it's a different picture their financial future is now at stake as part of the bid to rescue debt ridden countries like greece and portugal so it's no wonder the public

mood is far from merry. reports. on paper these people live in one of the most prosperous economies of the baltic region reality their homeland. is the e.u.'s poorest country and 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 euro commission check their attention i thought is told they received an average pension of six hundred. part from reality pensions in greece which fifteen hundred we hear get around two hundred. a stone he adopted the usual last january but despite a general positive attitude towards the move until now it is mostly big businesses and politicians that are really enjoying the transition there are clearly some political advantage in terms of if you want looking a stony a more firmly in the you economic advantages as well in terms of investment the support for the euro is holding up very well you know people seem to be to see the

advantages you may be politically rosslyn economically but these. are too soon brought a painful hangover since september a story has agreed to take part in the group in financial stability facility the body created to combat financial crisis and by a lot of countries like greece 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 pay. much higher. or percentage from our g.d.p. than rich countries something more than nine percent from our budget the poorest the arrows no country no we need to pay the debt off march richer countries the country central bank has even warned of a possible recession recent polls suggest up to sixty percent of historians are against their country's membership of the. 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 foreign 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. see reporting from in a. more informed comment in just a couple of minutes surely is not a former head of the un's nuclear watchdog talks to r.t. about how kim jong il's death might disturb the region's already shaky stability that's coming up. top stories in a couple of minutes. wealthy

british style. that's not on the president's prime time. news. markets financed scandals find out what's really happening to the global economy

for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines join in to cause a report on our. culture is that so much a lot of people at my area will stand a little more it's tough to for twenty years ago an old historic event town from the soviet union came to an end and with it the conclusion of a cold war what is the soviet union's. mission free cretaceous free in-store charges free. range minsk free. three stooges free. free blog. free media. tom.