the global economy was much stronger there are no holds barred look at the global financial headlines. thank you for joining us two thirty here in moscow this week's top stories from our team 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. the 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 as violence intensifies across the country with the people struggling under the heavy weight of western sanctions. and the end of an era for north korea

the country mourns the death of its ruler kim jong il as his youngest son steps into power hailed as the new supreme commander news of the leader's passing puts the state's neighbors on high alert calls and fears for the region's mounting uncertainty. up next r.t. interviews a former head of the un's nuclear watchdog on how kim jong il's death may impact the region stay with us. well i'm joined by mr hans blix from stockholm mr blix charity international atomic agency for energy agency for sixteen years and was the had of the u.n. inspections team in iraq prior to the second iraqi war mr blix it's great to have you with us sir now i'd like to start with i say latest news came young male who

during who seventeen year old rule north korea has emerged as a nuclear state has died of a heart failure now his son is the next national leader what do we know about him are things going to stay pretty much the same morris where general security under threat how vigorously will his push for nuclear weapons. will we are generally rather dinner and about the. architecture of the power building in north korea. but the change has been underway for some time but of course with kim your new. group didn't figure is. there's always a risk to in such a structure that can be changes i think it is important to the outside world. does not make them nervous because they will feel themselves in

a situation of weakness and then the threats from the outside my eyes that make them provocative for the last few years iran was number one nuclear energy for the united states do you expect maybe a shift of interest from iran to north korea or does a country need to have oil as well to justify that much attention from the west. no i think both cases are of great importance in the north korean situation first of all we know that within artillery range for north korea so even without nuclear weapons the situation there would be a risk. and if north korea were provoked at here there could be a risk also of encouraging their. forces in japan. i don't see that now. but that would be a risk in the case of iran. on the other hand we see that already in. their

work in iran to develop a capacity we enrich uranium has increased threat. and we hear. the states saying that they should bomb iran others say that they are all the nuclear installations are and that it is meaningless. to the presidential candidates that he thinks for a regime change but i don't think he explained whether he would like to see a regime change to be the half. or the iraq. but also the. it's very similar similar to what happened in iraq. could we be seeing the new iraqi scenario unfolding here as far as iran goes well

there are some similarities in the. escalation of the language and the threats. that we had in the case of iraq and now having case of iran on the other hand we must remember that in the case of iraq they talked about. weapons that in fact did not exists today they are talking about iranian intentions that may or may not exist. but the difference is that iran certainly has a lot of nuclear installations iraq did not have that but in your own opinion is iran of any imminent threat to any nation at this point. i don't think so really and. it is true that jobson in a doubt has come out in that area very bad language about israel and wiping

israel off the map of the world but i think most people would think that he is really talking to the arab street he has one to one to the destabilize arab states that have supported the united states. iraq iran does not have a track record of aggression in fact it was iraq that attacked iran so i don't see an immediate threat from iran but i can understand that israelis are nervous but the u.s. and israel maintain the latest i ate a report provides very strong evidence that iran is seeking any nuclear weapon. here's the question do you think iran has a nuclear weapon no i think a nobody really thinks they have a nuclear weapon and i think one must read that report rather carefully. what they say is that they see some evidence that could be explained if they were

dealing with a weapon or a mere weapon and that there seems on the other evidence that it's very hard to explain unless they were working towards a weapon but they have not said that they established that iraq or actually intends to do it they might stop short of their weapons well judging from your experience how shit this intelligence be treated and how far can actually i.a.e.a. go in checking the credibility of such intelligence. well they do it or not the average sit here in the iran and the it's a big country and many places can be hidden so i think there are limits to what they can find out but that doesn't really affect what the outside world should do in my view they must continue to talk to iran and to persuade iran that they will not need any nuclear weapon nor do they need any enrichment capability i'm

here some european says the u.k. and france and germany started such talks and they have been expanded to also russia and china and the united states are participants in it and i think that is the wise road to go they have offered iran some good things and i think they could offer more things there is also on the way a big conference about a nuclear weapon free zone in the middle east which will take place in helsinki next year. and all originally the idea was to get the israel to do away with this nuclear weapons but i think if this conference were to try those to do away with the israeli nuclear weapons and the uranium enrichment capability and get the other states in the middle east to come along then there might be a more hopeful future you know many believe that iran actually may be willing to

get to a point when it's able to produce a nuclear weapon but doesn't actually do it unless its security establishment is that a likely strategy it is possible we know from the case of israel that they do not admit that they have nuclear weapons they say that they will not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons in the middle east maybe one day the iranians will say that we also will not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons in the middle east and maintain the situation ambiguity but i think it would be better if all the parties came to the conclusion that they should have neither nuclear weapons nor a richmond capability and israelis would be more secure. there would be a warning now that syria saudi arabia and egypt might also go for richmond's and

iran certainly should be nervous that israel list might bomb them just as israel did iraq in the 1980's syria in two thousand and seven what is the likelihood actually that israel may be at this point now that it has isolated itself from turkey also from egypt it has disappointed sarkozy it has disappointed obama very strong rhetoric going on back and forth between iran and israel what is the likelihood that it has become more dangerous and maybe it will actually show for the first time that it us has it does have nuclear arsenal and use it probably to bomb iran. well it's hard to judge i mean some people think that this kind of language and threats by the various individuals in israel and also by a hoax in the night that it was the iranians from their present course however i am doubtful that one. way from.

i think that carrots are better. that they can gain by staying away from. saying there will be a point where i will be convincing israel not to use its new nuclear arsenal i think these are very well aware of the. weapons and even when they talk about bombing iran there is nothing to suggest that they will use nuclear weapons for it and i very much that if anything came to a war that no nuclear weapons would be used and it would also be a very bad if they attacked the civilian nuclear reactors that iran has. but any kind of attack i think is. in the middle east be. sitting in. their sons they will have

a counter attack of course. in the united states in the war so it's a terrible fire that they are playing with. and one last question why do you think iran is so reluctant to accept all the incentives offered to them by the international community is it just not simply enough. well it may be a question of pride also i think that the western states that have talked to them some sometimes sounded rather high handed they have said that if you will suspend your to richmond we may be willing to sit down with you. told. our people many others are and i think that the. they will have to talk to them say important partner for important states state that they are. discussed with them what they gain by abandoning in

richmond they can gain a lot and i do not see that they have much advantage on the rich front because they can import the fuel they need from russia or from other places they have owned it to nuclear power reactors this conscious we've been where i'm standing now we have ten and we imported richer a new message. it is cheaper so i don't see iran would loose very much by doing away with it there may be a lot of pride in this mr blix thank you very much for this interview.

this week's top stories from r t tens of thousands gather for a peaceful rally in the russian capital demanding a rerun of the parliamentary elections president and to me that means video battles bold reforms promising an overhaul of the country's political system. that of the arab league's mission to syria arrives in damascus amid fresh claims of violence international pressure mounts on the syrian regime to end its crackdown on protesters as violence intensifies across the country with the people struggling under the heavy weight of western sanctions. and the end of an era for north korea the country mourns the death of its ruler kim jong il as his youngest son steps into power hailed as the new supreme commander news of the leader's passing put the state's neighbors on high alert causing fears for the region's mounting uncertainty

. as is our team now on to the sports news. hello and welcome to sport on r.t. coming to you from the russian capital with me room on calls for a first as always the headlines. the rink dreams russia's junior ice hockey team goes to canada to defend the world side's old one in buffalo. reaching for the stars long jump the norm and on zaria to leach aims to make a huge debut at the london olympics. gangs of new york the giants run out confident winners over local rivals jets to get the big apple bragging rights and a chance for in the n.f.c. east crown but we'll start with the ice hockey where there were eight games on offer in the kontinental hockey league on sunday three early matches to tell you

about first where often police conceded in their ninth consecutive matchups are losing to deny moscow on the home ice over in almost with a score all fourth suit defending the guardian cup champion still about to live one whole match against more with the same four two scoreline rochefort should have been scored to second for you it goes against visiting sorbet and usually not push for enough to win the match now let's follow up with the suits and the garden cup winners are good bores who was defeated visiting side c.b.e. by three blocks two one while kate shells that boys d.t. has lost to or drives of on guard in the moscow region by the narrowest of margins to one nifty he make beats mental clinic was next to the match between severstal and you gras and it scoreless new regulation and oversight and but the home side got the upper hand in that penalty shoot outs while sports up the most called a loss to the visiting it makes a little bit of worse in the russian capital so one gets a little to have now extended their winning streak to seven matches and staying

with ice hockey where the russian national junior team are preparing to defend the world crown they captured a year ago it's one it's well championships get underway in calgary canada on monday and robert barr the neon has the preview. the young victorious lending at home in blaze of glory to live the world youth champion scalp in front of their adoring fans the russian youth hockey team claw the trophy out of the hands of their canadian peers in buffalo us in a dramatic finn know last year. now the reigning champions are ready to take on the even tougher challenge in their homeland to hockey canada they hope to hold on to the crown they cantered a year ago. but of course we're now facing an even tougher task we won the title and now we need to defend it and our opponents are going to see us in

a different way with much more respect and with the aspiration to beat us we'll see how we can handle that coloration. this man probably more than anyone else in the team holds the outcome in his hands one of the most gifted russian players of the new generation of guinea because newt's off the nineteen year old forward played an essential role in his team's brilliant performance last year and. that you have been slated just kept on shining taking part in the kids all star game in twenty eleven and also making his debut with the national senior team but he's back for his third world year jump and ships which gets norway on monday and he's looking forward to settling some old scores. i enjoy playing against canadians it gives me a kind of a special drive recalling last year's finals in buffalo even when they took

a three no lead and the whole arena started singing our team got a spark to them even more so always scored the winner and the home crowd walked out a whole minute earlier it was unbelievable. it's a safe bet violated dragons' men will give their all to get the feeling once again . and it really does take much more than one great turns to cheer that business of says that russian fans have every reason to expect some new up and comers to show off in the big showdown abortive each one of our squad can be a leader among them all for one and one for all that's the way we play it doesn't matter if it's me was always a lot of goals or any of my teammates. well the golden boy is a russian ice hockey will place their first test in the group stage begins switzerland robert berlin known r.t. in a storage room. one of the world's brightest up and coming long jump stars is hoping

to make the upcoming london it's once it's all them takes her shining moment zaria collision has been training right here in the russian capital after a string a world class performances in swain c. eleven that collation out won gold at the under twenty three european championships and the european championships this year that's when iraq also owns the second best mark among juniors ever after she broke the seventy meter barrier aged nineteen collation not becoming a popular figure securing plenty of endorsement deals thanks to her looks and achievements and the upstart long jumper is already focused in the next step to have a chance at standing at the podium in london this summer. because it was over this new we say it's a dream is something that is unrealistic and a long way from reality so for me the limbic sinatra dream the time get something that i'm aiming full and focusing on in just over a year's time hoping to be at an advantage in big games and it will be targets and

success i'm just going to things go well and that i can perform to the best of my billets and become a champion of it moving on to the national football league now where talk turned out to be cheap for the jets coach rex ryan the new york giants coming out confidence once in nine fourteen winners over a gang green answer plenty of media barbs from both sides leading up to the clash giants quarterback eli manning finding beats or cruz despise being pinned inside his own end zone and the twenty five year old showed his blazing speed by making a huge ninety nine yards down run the giants going up seven late in the second quarter after that amazing effort by their breakout star ahmad bradshaw also a big contributor for the g. men as he gashed the jets defense for two touchdowns the giants thus setting up an n.f.c. east side all showdown with the dallas cowboys. in the final week. the denver

broncos quarterback team t. ball has been known for his late comeback to royce but he was the exact opposite against buffalo denver was up seven three before the audi sma calvin turned that side during the offseason overlook special teams plays and eighty yard ponds return putting buffalo via three for their first lead of the game meanwhile couldn't bring his team back late this interception return score by jerry is byrd was followed by another one from spencer johnson forty fourteen the final the broncos fall back into for the a.f.c. west. meanwhile has begun that c.d.'s process of recovery from a broken leg he sustained earlier this month during the club world cup the barcelona star hoping to see his once heal so he can help spain defend their consentual side all of the year olds who went to twelve the thirty year old checked out of a barcelona hospital after undergoing surgery on monday but doctors say villa will

likely be out for around four or five months that means that he can technically aim to make the euro what is twelve thirteen months which starts in june while villa himself is focused on recovery rather than any club or international competition. is not to be able to play in any final competition yet there is still many months ahead to do with it happens and to think the forehead is not. a drill concentrate on a day to day basis and i can tell you i will do everything to the back not necessarily for the champions league and year route twenty two will equal. and with the year twenty eleven almost over it is high time to reflect on the teams and athletes which made an impact in the sporting world and while some were bases setting the world records and helping their teams with trophies others were winning in less conventional ways save monza gorski takes a look at some of the more offbeat sporting events of the year. running up flights

of stairs and riding a bike are both good exercise but going up the stairs on a bike is a completely different ballgame well known footballer zombie is often putting on a show in barcelona but this time it was a slightly less famous zob weakside stealing the spotlight from a soccer namesake with a flawless take me cue was able to ascend one hundred fifty floors and setting a new record this hotel building seems like a mountain to climb but that feat six times over. while australia's most athletic cockroaches are given an opportunity to showcase their unique physical gifts the thirtieth annual cockroach race in queensland drew plenty of interest with competitors really itching to get out of the gates fourteen events and all to be contested between more than five hundred participants the cost of owning your very own thoroughbred insect athlete is just ten dollars and proceeds from the tournaments are given to local charities. crashes are always something to be

avoided especially in motor sport but sending your vehicle tumbling down this long straight is the only way to win here the ramp rollover championship sees the participants trying their best to crash in style and earn points but for some just getting out of the car in one piece is a reward enough twenty nine year old wayne drury emerging as the winner from all this carnage. staying with the racing theme and using the lawn more has never been this much fun or competitive the motor is divided into three groups from the simple engine all the way to cutting edge of grass trimming my criswell a cut above the rest in group two in a ten lap race sub par playing conditions on the essence of this footballing competition rather than a nuisance mud sweat and tears on the pitches at the swans soccer world cup in scotland with participants really having no choice but to play dirty brazil holland

and even russia i'm on the countries where the sport is growing increasingly popular yvonne's are gorski r.t. that's all for now but more sport will be coming your way in less than a couple of hours meanwhile our you tube channel at r.t. sports news is always available for your comments so head there when you get a chance thanks for watching. witnesses. to history in the making. testimony. ten stories that shapes two thousand and eleven on our t.v. .

be able to. eat food the. elite. says.