we stop stories from our t.v. tens of thousands rallied peacefully in the russian capital demanding a parliamentary election president dmitry medvedev political reform. international pressure mounts on the syrian regime to end its crackdown on protesters as violence intensifies across the country but the people struggling under the heavy burden of western sanctions. the end of an era while north korea mourns the death of a truly kim jong il youngest son steps into hailed as the new supreme commander.

live from moscow this is our t.v. very warm welcome to you my name is kevin owen you're watching the weekly roundup of the top stories from the past 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 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 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 this week promising widespread political reforms some of which are already underway in the newly elected state duma cannot put. 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 and 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 electoral system today governors in russia are up pointed directly by the president they used to be elected in the ninety's but this was canceled to thousands now the meeting with 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 hit the state duma to 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 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 pressure the educated people would like to play a part in that the president praised the legal. to express an opinion warrant any

attempts to manipulate and provoke the people will you not be accepted when you do 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 . but getting back to that we've seen that even media announced another proposal concerning his own 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 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 we needed immediate if he's aiming for the prime minister's shoot. coming presidential vote in more.

moscow. 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 into damascus to prepare for the arrival of primary observers their mission is to oversee a peace plan the guarantees that the regime and its. activists claim hundreds of civilians have been gunned down in the recent days twin suicide blasts in damascus targeting government buildings also killed forty four friday the regime is under a set of heavy sanctions from the u.s. and the e.u. but it's all to sarah first reports next is 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 back here in the bustling sensei's seems like it's business as usual this one says sits in the winds of change has begun to feel a little stronger the arab league. tough economic sanctions the effects of which

have been felt even head in a poor area in the suburbs of damascus. and her family struggling to make ends meet her son here has learning difficulties beans for a living but 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 price up. their last 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 we just don't eat. economic situation in syria was one of the areas president packing faints be making progress. for a population that it started seeing the results of economic opportunity say. financial

transactions. have blackouts that come with. it they could be even the financial times ahead. because of the economic sanctions people. people are a little bit afraid of the fact that. this is when you see these queues this in place by the arab league it was 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 being punished. thanks. to one hit. has become part of the daily life of many people here in. 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 to bring about any change

. in the west of the conflict areas change can come in they meant tesing imperative teeth families like finding life under the sanctions increasingly desperate search for. damascus. the arab league's observer mission to damascus follow syria's membership of the organization being suspended for jordan based professor and mr abraham i wish these the league should not be lecturing another arab country. talking about reforms in syria especially when this kind of talk is coming from out of gulf states where. even a constitution yet on top of. our freedom of the media or the are the right to organize and political parties or organizations so this is this is just nonsense i mean when when someone who lacks the very basic tenets of democracy is preaching to syria or other arab states that are in the pendant or somewhat untie imperialist

about democracy well that's what the syrian regime has said we are going along with all our reforms on our agenda and our time and we need to see what those states have in the way of reform before they start preaching to us about reform this is obviously. an sos and see that has been instigated by in one thousand and it's cronies and the arab world. so have you this half hour of news the inside track on the year's most momentous events. meeting you that's where journalist. but we couldn't stop thinking. what if the make and the state griffen are sure there are just one of our international correspondents sharing with us her first hand reflections on reporting from the nato strike zone in the. north koreas 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 news cast and thousands of people were shown crying on the streets is youngest son kim yong has already been named as supremely leader now to keep the delisting going the former rumors bodies now lying in state in the capital pyongyang as north koreans continue to pay their final respects for the funeral planned for december the twenty eight news of his death put the country's neighbors on high alert in the week japan called a special security meeting fearing instability in the region while south korea says its military is on standby independent journalist james corbett told us he believes that north korea is being 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 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 duke 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 it plays in in 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 armed state that's been a law 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 the stage and relations right now and their view of the still no place to celebrate more than two months after the killing of colonel

gadhafi trouble violence is on the rise and former loyalists live in fear of deadly retribution from the country's new authorities reports from libya. this is what it's like to look death in the face a group of man the young and old captured after the nadir propped rebels overran good office hometown of sirte there was behind the camera delivers a verdict would you work for gadhafi did you. and the captives themselves think that certain about what's coming next. and it seems like these where you know that possibly be as the rebels assisted by western powers so to liberate the country from gadhafi urban legends 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 for all cities here and hatred still reside in this neighborhood. obviously is a poor area in southern tripoli where more margo duffy had strong support base prior to. the district also to the tourists present a scene of torture an arbitrary killings but while gadhafi is gone the human rights abuses still remain rather from this area still disappearing without

a trace of their families are too scared to talk about. this is probably the only place and only bear with families of the logic get out his supporters can turn to for how mom of one piece and your earlier this year to investigate the fate of those who disappeared and get off his reasons he is now primarily dealing with people who went missing under libya's new leadership it's usually mothers who come here and at first they're scared to tell me this husband was with because. they usually say he was a civilian courts in the crossfire and i tell them that i don't care which side he was on my need is accurate information so that we can start. to. come in and his friends have been taking orders on the other side of bodies that have been popping up across lee beer 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 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 see guys last believe it's still alive even if many people are going to boycott artsy. we all witnessed the libyan uprising unfolding starting from february ending october and it is 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. one of our international correspondents covered the revolution from inside libya she now looks back on her experience.

we arrived in libya in the evening this is how you'd expect this kind of story to start but actually we crossed 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 scope killed. one our first night in tripoli we got a very warm welcome rixos hotel we stayed was just. away from. his residence. and that was bombed that night as it had never been before and would never be wards. it was literally shaking curtains in our rooms were moved even with doors firmly closed my bed was just beside

a glass wall i did 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 for they have been woken up by a strike in the middle of the night and all summer long slender to hear this story as you can see behind me some world three story buildings. and there were no professional rescuers at the scene. who 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. 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 is it appears that one what 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 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 hold the enter the room and no one paid any attention to. what he was different when he entered we all noticed we only knew that he is right now in the room. there was an injury common knowledge from a. very powerful man. he invited me to follow him in a separate. group. with questions many questions like what do you think about what do you think about the uprising hey 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 him 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 he thought always before answering that was really literally electricity and that

trend. 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 which is now just a part of history for good. false from the maria for national of our international correspondents and scene reports and every day right up to the new year we're bringing you more personal reflections from our team of correspondents who saw the biggest stories of twenty eleven firsthand and brought them to you on this channel in case you missed as he what i'm going to say we're also showing on a website as well dot com. the p five plus close to christian churches across nigeria on sunday is killed at least thirty five people the radical muslim

sect bako heart of claimed responsibility for the attacks the group was involved in prolonged violent clashes with the train forces that killed at least sixty in the past few days civil lemmons radio host north from chicago he told me april's elections are contributing things to the instability right now in the country. boko haram may be an extremist islamic sects but the issue is very political corruption crow years. of age in human even last equals elections were reversed and for even here. to tell ya it was the way he represents the christian sterols about half an eight year a year is a muslim here in the north a woman actually who are his eight year here they are being totally shut out of the system and jonathan is a close west and he's close to the washington times close big oil and ease the

emir if the m.e.m. in turn the country over to big oil and let them do so so well out of it it eats into the vets the anger that strategy needs it's. the u.s. company uses drugs to execute convicts but the local one your folks your assessed production last year and now the european union's restricted supplies of the fatal compound more than forty death row prisoners have been executed by lethal injection in america this year alone and some activists say that in many cases the chemical used is far from humane and now authorities are being difficulty finding a new source result is overblown and explains the shortage could actually be making the situation 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 u.s. relies on european drugs for use in executions and without them they're going to be stuck and lives will be saved specifically 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 they use in a three part lethal cocktail the end of it was being used to put the condemned inmate to sleep as another drug paralyzed before the final heart stopper was administered without batton 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. manufacturers 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 the u.s. 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 now some states have begun using pentobarbital 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 rows tantamount to torture this can cause excruciating pain if something goes wrong and because we have no tests we cannot guarantee that nothing will get around to people at risk of not just being killed being tortured to death following our report danish manufacturers imposed

their own restrictions to prevent. misuse the new e.u. embargo covers eight barbiturates in total including painted by. 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. misusing those we can quickly have a quick procedure to at 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 u.s. but in 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 bennetts artsy london. coming up very shortly a special report. special report.

that was responsible for. the most recent study that was done shows that this water pollution and spreading. unpunished.

see. some. six.