very warm welcome to you i'm karen terror 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 scoff 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

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 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 the early to thousands now the meeting with wants to bring the vote back as part of the move to vertical eyes power in russia it took over a decade to build to the current vertical system of power but now russia's regions are told it's time to start gaining more independence from moscow the president's proposed reforms will you hit the state duma which will include two hundred twenty five deputies each independently elected within their own to eat oil constituency and when it comes to new parties in order to register political parties need to gather at least ten thousand apiece. signature and have representatives in over

a half of the eighty nine regions the new initiative is to reduce this figure to five hundred which should give the green light for more political forces the president's speech followed the recent parliamentary election which caused widespread discontent among the public the biggest brutus rally since the collapse of the you was a star had 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 right to express opinion more and any attempts to manipulate and provoke the people will not be accepted but with him when you know it's going to then that 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 that need to be the last 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 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 meeting needed if he's aiming for the prime minister's seat if he wins the upcoming presidential vote in mark. is going to have already 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 to 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 there is 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 as one says it's in the winds of change have begun simple over little stronger the arab league 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.

lending to. the beans for a living but he barely makes a hundred and fifty three and a day three dollars to support him and physically. now the fuel for his vending cart has become harder to get hold of with the economic sanctions i'm driving by i sat. there 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 which is don't eat economic situation in syria was one of the areas president that had been famous be making very well. for a population that it started seeing the results of economic opportunity say. financial transactions. blackouts become the moon. that they could be even the financial times ahead. because of the economic sanctions people rushed to stop

the gas just taste people are a little bit afraid of the fact of water and. this is why you see these queues this in place by the arab league it was take the sanctions with the government hand when it came to ending the violence in the country because inside syria at the moment many feel it every day people are looking for economic sanctions so it's just like taking. the one hit that. has become part of the daily life of 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 which opposition they remain skeptical about whether that to bring about any change. in the west of the conflict areas change can come and they meet tesing imperative to families like. finding life under the sanctions increasingly desperate search. 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 hear 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 this is basically a make up of a psychological warfare first of all the decision on syria was made months or years

ago even as the preparation began and this is a turkey on the border there there are nato air base there injured air base two thousand and eleven so they have the decision they have had that this edition 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. journalists. but we couldn't stop thinking. what if they make a mistake one of artes team of international correspondents mario notion of shares her own experience in 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 ruler's body is now lying in the state in the capital pyongyang as north koreans continue to pay their final respects with millions of people shelled weeping in the streets a 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 me 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 two leaders this 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 they do work for gadhafi. and the captives themselves seem doubts about what's coming next and it seems like these play now that possibly be as the rebels assisted by western powers so to liberate the country from gadhafi iran 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 at 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 because the. but while the prisons new guards have a very elaborate in their rating good actors for off cities fear and hatred still reside in this neighborhood. obviously is a poor area and saw the tripoli where more and more good offer had strong support base prior to he's fleeing the district also has his name in a tourist prison a scene of torture and arbitrary killings but while gadhafi is gone the human

rights abuses still remain manna from this area still disappearing without a trace their families are too scared to talk about that. this is probably the only place in all the beer with families of a logic get out his supporters can turn to for how mama to form peace and your earlier this year it investigate the fate of those who disappeared and get off its prisons he's 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 gadhafi forces they usually say he was a civilian courts in the crossfire but i tell them that i don't care which side he was on all i need is accurate information so that we can start searching. mohammad and his friends have been taking photos of unidentified bodies that have been popping up across lee beer in recent months this naturists are probably their

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. 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. it's still alive even if many people aren't going to boycott artsy tripoli but. 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 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 john 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 to dig. into the room because i was scared. an explosion could destroy literally. my western colleagues explaining that. rixos hotel at that time was the safest place in libya because nato 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 street for they have been woken up by a strike in the middle of the night and several 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. wish we couldn't see that but.

because they were just wrapped up a blanket. five live band. 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 the intended target during last night's fast track in tripoli was a military. however from our initial assessment of us it appears that one weapon 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 turn 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 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 nato 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. 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 two thousand and eleven it is now just a part of history for good. every day right up to the new year we'll 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 a platform mostly manned by a crew for more 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 in one thousand by an extremist sect 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 in gauged in a tit for tat blame game over the latest wave of violence fears have been growing of a return to the sectarian conflict of 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. unleashed a lot of diem. and soon 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 of its long desperate nine years and even though the united states troops have pulled out as of last week that doesn't change the equation those tensions 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 died 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 a room maybe an extremist islamic sect but he issue is very political corruption cronyism deprivation human the

last elections were the first in free in here to fill the yard of the way he represents the christians about half of next year a year is muslim there in the north they will mojo i use it year the year they are being totally shut out of the system and jonathan is that close west and all right. close washington is close to big oil and it used to. ease their me in turning the country to big oil and let them just so so well if. that's the anger that striving. and spending years since a stone here became the newest member of the single currency but with the recent euro zone debt troubles a stony and find themselves upper hands of about their financial future artie's alexei had a shot ski has more. on paper these people live in one of the most prosperous

economies of the baltic region and 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 but the mobile up recently euro commission check their pensions are thorough he's told them received an average pension of six hundred are around us this is far from reality pensions and research fifteen hundred year out we hear get around two hundred. stoli 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 some political advantage in terms of if you want locking in stone you're more firmly in the e.u. economic advantages as well in terms of investment the support for the euro is holding up very well people seem to be to see the advantages you may be politically

wrasslin economically but the euro would soon brought a painful hangover since september story has agreed to take part in the libyan prime minster stability facility the body created to combat financial crisis and bailout countries like greece this is now experts say this membership comes at a price you can not afford to buy the formula for us very bad because we need to pay yes. or or. from our g.d.p. then rich countries something more than nine percent from our budget poor. country and now we need to pay the debt off my trichet 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 far you would then see their pension money having their adopting the euro soon or later was a necessary condition for 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 tallinn in a stony. charly a former head of u.n. nuclear watchdog talks started about how ken 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 style sun. has moved on to the title.

markets why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with my stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into a report on our. thank you for joining us two thirty here in moscow this week's top stories from our teeth tens of thousands gathered for a peaceful rally in the russian capital demanding a rerun of the parliamentary elections and president also vows to uphold the reforms promising an overhaul of the country's political system. that head of the arab league's mission to syria ronson damascus fresh claims of violence international pressure mounts on the syrian regime to end its crackdown on protesters at.