very warm welcome to you five o'clock here in moscow we go now to it your top story 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 protesters were calling for a rerun of the election which they claim was raped the russian interior ministry says thirty thousand people turned up but organizers say the true number was over one hundred thousand meanwhile president made his annual address to the nation promising widespread political reforms some of which are already underway in the mill elected state duma is going to offer ports. 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 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 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 two thousand snow 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 also hit the state duma which will include two hundred twenty five deputies each independently elected within their own tutorial constituency and when it comes to newport 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 would 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 u.s.s.r. had been taking place across the country with tens of thousands of russians shouting out accusations of fraud and other way elations 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 numbers 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 but warned any attempts to manipulate and provoke the people will not be accepted 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 need to be 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 as asked 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 need to mediate if he's aiming for the prime minister's seat if putin wins the upcoming presidential vote in march. is going to have already moscow. he had of the arab league's observer mission to syria arrives in damascus general mohammad al darby's

aim is to check the country's compliance with an arab peace plan aimed at halting the nine month long run 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 twin suicide bombings on friday that killed forty four but as artie's 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 the third is uprising began the capital of damascus has remained largely sheltered from the conflict. in the bustling sun so it seems like it's business as usual as one says the winds of change have begun to blow a little stronger the arab league to impose tough economic sanctions the effects of which have been felt even head in a poor area of damascus and her family is struggling to make ends meet.

you have learning difficulties for the beans for a living he barely makes one hundred fifty three in pounds a day three dollars to support him and his wife. now the fuel for his vending has become harder to get hold of with the economic sanctions driving the. last products available and the prices are pushed higher there's been fights over again we've been trying to manage by cutting back as much as we can sometimes when we can't afford it we just don't eat. economic situation in syria was one of the areas president assad had been seen to be making some progress be it slowly the for a population that it started seeing the results of economic opportunity blocked financial transactions. blackouts become the new. fit they could be even down to financial times ahead. because of the economic sanctions

people rushed to stockpile of fuel and gas just in case people are a little bit afraid of the fact that water or gas might run out and this is why you see these queues this in place by the arab league it is take the sanctions with the government hand when it came to ending the violence in the country is inside syria at the moment many feel it every day people being punished economic sanctions so it's just like taking the lead that he just threw on his head that must have become part of the daily life of many people here in syria. from the arab league will be paving the way for an observer mission to at the end of the month. position they remain skeptical about whether that too will bring about any change. in the west of the conflict areas change can come a moment to seeing some parents of two three 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 suspend it but jordan based professor and journalist ibrahim believes 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. even a constitution yet on top of. our freedom of the media or the or 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 end appendant or somewhat untie imperialist about democracy but that's what the senators room has said we are going along with all our reforms on our agenda and our time and we 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 night so and it's cronies and the arab world. and later this hour the inside track on the year's most monumental seventh's. news. dramas. but we couldn't stop thinking. what if they make a mistake one of our t.'s team of international correspondents maria in the ocean the chair of her own experience in the nato strike zone in a 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 bonnie is

now lying in state in the capital pyongyang as north koreans continue to pay their final respects with millions of people shown weeping in the streets the funerals 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 chirac believes that the successor will need time to shore up on 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 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 person you know funeral committee means that they have the people lined up behind them have been you know on this decision and they're getting ready to move forward on whatever was going on before in terms of any 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 in 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 on

a boycott has more. this is what it's like to look down in the face a group of men the young and old captured after didn't need a prop to repost over iran get off his hometown of sirte there was behind the camera delivers a very big did you work for gadhafi did you. and the captives themselves seem doubts about what's coming next. scenes like these play now with a costly being as the rebels assisted by western powers to liberate the country from gadhafi arbonne lodgings 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 a very elaborate in their rating get back his ferocity his fear and hatred still reside in this neighborhood. obviously is a poor area in southern tripoli where more margot duffy had strong support base prior to his flame the district also had his name in the tourist prisons a scene of torture and arbitrary killings but while gadhafi is gone the human rights abuses still remain rather from this area are 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 legit good office supporters can turn to for how mom and form peace and your earlier this year it's 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 that this son or husband was with the gadhafi forces they usually say he was a civilian court 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 snapshot it's 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. 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 hold dies last and leave it it's still alive even if many people aren't. artsy tripoli. it is believed that up to thirty thousand people were killed in the libyan civil war it's a story that's dominated headlines and stay won and has become one of the top turn world events that shaped the year here on r t r t is maria in the russian are covered the situation from inside libya and that 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 journalists 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 and curtains in our rooms were moved even with the doors firmly closed my bed was just beside a glass wall i moved a dick. into the room because i was scared that 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 really have been woken up by a strike in the middle of the night and some old 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 who 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 all. in the mall we heard that they were free little babies among the dead. they will line

there. the cold mats hold tables still in pampers. and next morning nato confirmed. it had made a mistake intended target during last night's best strike in tripoli was a military missile. from our initial assessment of 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 will 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 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 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 groom 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 if not the best and to you 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 refract reflections from our correspondents who saw the biggest stories of twenty eleven first hand in case you missed any you can see them all on our website r.t. dot com. so hard for us our christmas tragedy. five separate terror attacks in nigeria by extremists have killed at least forty. and with the e.u. slamming restrictions on the sale of drugs used in the u.s. to execute convicts american officials are running out of options. iraq has been heading 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 and gauge an attempt 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 on its promise to pull out the troops and insisted a stable country has been left behind by joseph cash or a writer for the world socialist thanks of the latest flare ups in the region are a product of the u.s. occupation this was not about you know securing iraq and giving it freedom it was about security in oil resources and in the process. so very intensions devastated the entire society and this is really the product of that you have different factions of the iraqi elite who are battling over power over control over resources including particular oil contracts. and it threatens to unravel into a civil war that conflict the violence in iraq is very much

a product of the occupation itself and you know that's really the source of the crisis facing yorkey politics in iraq he says light i mean look at what what this occupation has produced over one million people killed by some estimates thirty five percent of iraqi children. living doll is orphans just nation of infrastructure the entire society has been scarred by this occupation by this war on christmas day nigeria was rocked by a series of blasts targeting christian worshipers and leaving at least forty dead most died on church doorsteps after attending christmas mass authorities acknowledged a lack of ambulances in the area and warned that the casualty numbers may rise the radical muslim sect boko haram has claimed responsibility for the attacks the group was involved in problem 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. boko haram may be an extremist islamic sect but he issue is very political corruption cronyism deprivation human need and last prosser lections were worse than free and fair here who fell of jonathan was away he represents the christian south about half of nigeria is a muslim there in the north they were marginalized again there they are being totally shut out of the system and jonathan is a close western tyreese close washington ties close big oil guys and ease their mayor if their man to turn the country over to big oil and let them just suck the

wealth out of it expensively people vets the anger the striving these fires. the u.s. commonly uses drugs to execute convicts but the local manufacturer cease production last year and now the european union has restricted suppliers of the fatal compound but some activists saying that the chemical used is far from humane u.s. authorities may have difficulties finding a new source but as art is over bennett explains the shortage could actually be making the situation far 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. slipped new restrictions on drug exports i really think this more 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 of executions and without them they're going to be stuck and lives will be saved specifically execution drugs are 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 the use in a three part lethal cocktail the in a static was being used to put the condemned inmate to sleep as another drug paralyzed before the final heart stopper was administered without that 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. manufacturer ceased production last year american prisons though found an alternative source right here in west london but it's fairly unassuming driving school buildings also shared by dream farmer

a british firm exporting british drugs to 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 how some states have begun using penta barbato a drug normally used to put pets to sleep it'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 throes 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 a report danish manufacturer impose their own restrictions to prevent printed barber tools misuse the new e.u. embargo covers eight barbiturates in total including painted bottle u.s. 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 the u.s. is missing. we can quickly have a quick procedure to add those to the list without in away to another year aside from lethal injection other methods like hanging in foreign scored a still sanctioned in the us but a 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 london those were the main news stories that have shaped the week i'll be back with the headlines after this short break.

wealthy british style run. by the.

markets why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max cons are the no holds barred look at the global financial headlines. kaiser report. thank you for joining us now for this week's top stories from r.t.e. tens of thousands gather for a peaceful rally end of the russian capital demanding a rerun of the parliamentary elections president dmitri medvedev vallas bold reforms promising an overhaul of the country's political system. the head 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.