top stories from r t tens of thousands rally peacefully in central moscow against the results of the recent parliamentary vote by president dmitry medvedev val's bold political reforms. that of the arabs the league mission to syria rounds in damascus made fresh claims of violence. and a new era as north korea mourns the death of its ruler came jahleel this youngest son steps into power. a very warm welcome to you on karen tara broadcasting from the heart of moscow tens of thousands gathered in the russian capital on saturday in

a second peaceful rally protesting over the results of this month's parliamentary election protestors were calling for a rerun of the election which they claim was rigged the russian interior ministry says thirty thousand people showed up but organizers say the true number was over one hundred thousand meanwhile president medvedev gave his annual address to the nation promising widespread political reforms some of which are already underway in the newly elected state duma you're going to school of reports. the time for change has come. people are tired of not being able to promptly solve the most pressing me people are tired of having their interests ignored speaking 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 but 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 system today governors in russia are all pointed directly by the president used to. elected in the ninety's but this was cancelled and thousands now they need to remove it if it 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 vertical system of power but now russia's regions are told it's time to start gaining more independence from moscow the president's proposed reforms will also hit the state duma which will include two hundred twenty five deputies each independently elected within their own 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 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 a 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 warned any attempts to manipulate and provoke the people will you not be accepted up with him 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 meeting with another proposal concerning his own post 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 is vast 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 media did if he's aiming for the prime minister's speech if he wins the upcoming presidential vote in more than. moscow. the head of the arab league's observer mission to syria arrives in damascus general mohamed all these aim is to check the country's compliance with an arab peace plan aimed at home to the nine month long and rest a further group of fifty arab league monitors should reach syria on monday

according to estimates more than five thousand have been killed since march the monitors visit coincides with fresh claims of violence in the city of homes and suicide bombings on friday that killed forty four but as r.t. sara firth reports with western sanctions strangling the country it's the syrian people who are bearing the brunt. 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 sand say it seems like it's business as usual this one says the winds of change have begun to flow a little stronger the arab league's imposed tough economic sanctions the effects of which would be felt even head in a poor area of damascus. and her family struggling to make ends meet her son is learning this fall 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

has become harder to get hold of. 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. 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. blackouts become the new and. 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. 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 is inside syria at that moment many feel it every day people being hunted economic sanctions so it's just taking. it one hit. has become part of the day life for many people here in syria. from the arab league will be paving the way you can observe the mission to at the end of the month. position they remain skeptical about whether that to bring about any change. in the west of the conflict areas changed from the name it t.c. is imperative to the families like finding life under the sanctions increasingly desperate search for. damascus. the u.s. and its allies claim their foreign policy is aimed at stopping president assad's

regime cracking down on protesters but despite mounting evidence the west remains reluctant to recognize that the opposition is also armed some analysts believe it's because the anti damascus coalition wants to see regime change in syria. what we see here about these atrocities five howser. deaths here and the so-called massacres none of these numbers are confirmed they are actually given and if you look at the media they are actually telling you that they're getting their information from the. rebel army but they're not getting it from inside the country but of course when you look at the mainstream media at least here in the united states they are just repeating those numbers but this is basically a make up of a psychological warfare first of all the decision on syria was made a years ago even as the preparations began and this is a turkey on the border there nato's air base there injured airbase may

two thousand and eleven so they have the decision they have had that this station they have been preparing for an actual war and then they begin the propaganda and the psychological warfare by trying to get the public support for an unwarranted war and that's the pocket sea off the u.s. foreign policy you're looking at live playing right in front of you. and later this hour the inside track on the year's most momentous events. in asia news. journalist. but we couldn't stop thinking. what if they make a mistake one of artes team of international correspondents mario the notion that shares her own experience and the nato strike zone and war torn tripoli. north korea is mourning the death of its leader kim jong il who passed away from

a heart attack at the age of sixty nine his death was announced on state t.v. on monday in an emotionally charged public statement the former rulers body is now lying in the state in the capital pyongyang as north koreans continue to pay their final respects with millions of people being in the streets the funeral is planned for december twenty eighth news of the leader's death put neighboring states on high alert japan called a special security meeting fearing instability in the region while south korea says its military is on stand by kim jong il's youngest son kim jong un has been proclaimed the new supreme commander but independent journalist tim shara believes that the successor will need time to shore up his position 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 you know this zero next

to zero military experience but i think what these leaders closely held leadership in north korea once is a 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. you know on this decision and they're getting ready to move forward on whatever was going on before in terms of the kinds of discussions with the united states south korea with other countries it 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 after the fall of the gadhafi regime and libya revenge killings have become

a common occurrence in the country stability peace and freedom from persecution are just a dream as tribal violence is on the rise has more. this is what it's like to look down in the face a group of men the young and old captured after the nadir propped rebels overran good office hometown of sirte there was behind a camera delivers a verdict did you work for gadhafi did you. and the captives themselves seem doubts about what's coming next and seems like these play now that possibly be as the rebels assisted by western powers so to liberate the country from gadhafi are going longines about he said to stick tendencies grow more and more outlandish by the day and that seems to justify any sort of treatment for his perceived loyalists in some places the violence is quite bad the town we looked out in was called. 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 in hatred still reside in this neighborhood. obviously is a poor area and saw the tripoli where more margot had strong support base prior to his fleeing the district also lends its name to the tourists present a scene of torture and arbitrary killings but while gadhafi is gone the human rights abuses still remain valid from this area are still disappearing without a trace of their families are too scared to talk about that. this is probably the

only place in the lead beer with families of a logic get out his supporters can turn to for how mohammad form peace and your earlier this year it investigated the fate of those who disappeared in good office prisons he is now primarily dealing with people who went missing 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. mohamed and his friends have been taking photos of unidentified 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 front lines of banjo god. 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 hope dies last only bit it's still alive even if many people aren't going to boycott artsy ship. it is believed that up to thirty thousand people were killed in the libyan civil war that's a story that dominated headlines since day one and has become one of the top ten world events that shaped the year here on our team our team is maria covered the revolution from inside libya and now looks back on her time there. we arrived 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 on the scope killed. when our first night in tripoli we got a very warm welcome rixos hotel we stayed was just a kilometer 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 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 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 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 intended target during last night's fast track in tripoli was a military. from our initial assessment of us it appears that one what it did not strike intended you 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 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 they 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 the 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 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 among the first questions there was did you or your father. give the order to kill civilians. but i didn't tell him that and i was like smiling just ordinary questions. and he said ok let's go. and that interview was one of the past interviews in my life it's not the best interview safe was very sincere. very open and he thought always before answering that was really literally electricity and that truth. 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. every day right up to the new year will bring you more personal reflections from our correspondents who saw the biggest stories of two thousand and eleven first hand in case you missed any you can see them all on our website r t v dot com. it's been a week of mourning in russia as more monster region for the victims of last sunday's oil rig disaster they call sky a platform mostly manned by. crew from one of months was sunk in a storm while being towed to port in the country's far east sixty seven people were on board fourteen of them were immediately saved after the platform went down but thirty six are still 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 been recovered investigators suspect a breach of safety procedures is to blame for the tragedy while there was no fuel spill it's the deadliest oil rig disaster in russian history. still ahead for you this hour christmas tragedy five separate terror attacks and nine by extremists act have killed at least forty. the citizens of cash strapped to stoney are paying the price for joining the euro as they're forced to fork out for other nations mistakes. iraq has been having deeper into political crisis since the final u.s. troop withdrawal earlier this week the country has been rocked by a massive bombing in baghdad which claimed at least seventy two lives on thursday it was the worst attack in months in iraq and its leaders engaged in a tit for tat blame game over the latest wave of violence fears have been growing

of a return to the sectarian conflict at two thousand and seven that left thousands dead as the u.s. made good its promise to pull out the troops it insisted it had left behind a stable country but former american diplomat peter mark van buren thinks that the current situation in the country is a direct result of the occupation. you know it states unleashed a lot of demons in iraq when we invaded in two thousand and three the most significant of which was the ethnic and religious tensions between the sunni the shias and the kurds that was an issue that plagued the american occupation for all the. years and even though the united states troops have pulled out last week that doesn't change the equation. still exist in iraq and will have to resolve themselves one way. or the other i'm afraid that the resolution will likely involve violence hopefully not at the levels that we saw in two thousand and five and two thousand and six but politics in iraq is very much a full context sport it's a dangerous game to play there and people often do die in the course of political

resolutions on christmas day nigeria was rocked by a series of blasts targeting christian worshipers leaving at least forty that most times on church doorsteps after attending christmas mass authorities acknowledged a lack of ambulances in the area and warns that casualty numbers may rise the radical muslim sect boko haram has claimed responsibility for the attacks the group was involved in poem long to violent clashes with military forces that have killed at least sixty in the past few days stephen leatherman a radio host and author from chicago says april's election results contributed to the unstable situation in the country. both will have no room maybe an extremist islamic sect but the issue is very political corruption cronyism deprivation human need in the last equals elections were reversed then for even here to fill jonathan was away

he represents the christian south about half of next year isn't muslim here in the north they want my house you know i used it yeah there they are being totally shut out of the system and in jonathan is that close western territories close washington ties close big oil and ease their ease there me in turn the country over to big oil and let them just so the wells out of it if it's the people vest the anger that striving these arabs. it's been a year since a stone here became the newest member of the single currency but with the recent euro zone debt troubles us johnny and find themselves apprehensive about their financial future aleksei at a shop ski has more. on paper these people live in one of the most prosperous economies of the baltic region reality their homeland. is the poorest country and

after spending a year being part of the euro zone these people say the positive changes they were promised are nowhere to be seen at the moment but a lot recently euro commission check their pensions are authorities told they received an average pension of six hundred this is far from reality pensions in greece which fifteen hundred we hear get around two hundred. a stone he adopted the euro 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 truly political advantages in terms of if you want locking your stone you have more firmly into the 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 the euro would soon brought a painful hangover since september a story has agreed to take part in the group in financial stability facility the

board he created to combat financial crisis and countries like greece are now experts say this membership comes at a price. for the formula for us very bad because we need to. march. or percentage from our g.d.p. that rich countries something more than nine percent from our budget poor arrows no country no we need to pay the debt of march richer countries. the country central bank has even warned of a possible recession recent polls suggest up to sixty percent of us are against the country's membership of the. government however doesn't seem to pay attention and refuses to drop out of the relief fund meanwhile members of this community say they would rather help greece with potatoes and far you 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. reporting from. charly a former head of the u.n. nuclear watchdog talks about how kim jong il's death might further upset the already unstable region that's after a recap of our main stories and just under two minutes time.

wealthy british soil. is no time to try to find. markets why not. find out what's really happening.