the top stories from our team tens of thousands rallied peacefully in central moscow against the results of the recent parliamentary vote while president dmitry medvedev of valve's bold political reforms. the head of the arabs league mission to syria arrives in damascus amid fresh claims of violence. and a new era as north korea mourns the death of its ruler can john his youngest son steps into power. thank you for joining us seven o'clock here in moscow we go now to our 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 raked the russian interior ministry says thirty thousand people turned 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 go to school of 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 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 to dig up. honors in russia are up pointed directly by the president they used to be elected in the ninety's but this was cancelled in the early two thousand snell 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 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 stay duma which will include two hundred twenty five deputies each independently elected within their own tutorial 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 u.s.s.r. 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 the 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 getting back to the reforms to the media to finance 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 you got this kind of moscow. they had of the arab league's observer mission to syria arrives and damascus general mohammad al doll the same is to check the country's compliance with an arab peace plan aimed at

halting the nine months long and rust 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 artists are a further reports with western sanctions strangling the country it's the syrian people who are bearing the brunt. it's been nearly ten months syria's uprising began the capital of damascus has remained largely sheltered from the conflict. in the bustling sand so it seems like it's business as usual as one says the winds of change have begun to flow a little stronger the arab league's impose tough economic sanctions the effects of which have been felt even head in a poor area of damascus and her family struggling to make ends meet the news has learning difficulties beans for

a living but 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. the economic situation in syria was one of the areas president assad had been seen to be making some progress be it slowly for a population that it started seeing the results of economical pitchiness a block financial transactions. blackouts become the new. fifth they could be even the 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 this is why you see these queues this in place by the arab league it is hate the sanctions would the government hand when it came to ending the violence in the country because inside syria at the moment many feel is every day people who are being punished economic sanctions still. taking the lead that he she is the one hit that must have become part of the daily life that 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 changed from the moment to seeing is imperative to the families like finding life under the sanctions increasingly desperate sara.

damascus an arab league's observer mission to damascus follow syria's membership of the organization being suspended but jordan based professor and journalists ibrahim believes the league should not be lecturing another arab country. ah king 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 are that i to organize and political parties or organizations so this is this is just nonsense i mean when when someone who lacks the very basic tenets of democracy is preaching to syria or other arab states that are in the pendant or somewhat untie imperialist about democracy well that's what the syrian regime has said we are going along with all our reforms on our agenda and our time and we 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 out of world. and later this hour the inside track on the year's most momentous events. major news that's where drone is. which we couldn't stop thinking. what if they make and we stayed one of our t's team of international correspondents maria 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 and in emotionally charged public statement the former rulers bonnie is now lying in state in the capital killing young as north koreans continue to pay

their final respects with millions of people shown weeping 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 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 made 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 and the country stability peace and freedom from persecution are just a dream as tribal violence is on the rise oksana boyko 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 wrap both over around gadhafi hometown of sirte there was behind the camera delivers the verdict what did you want for gadhafi did you. and the captives themselves seem dat certain about what's coming next. scenes like these play now with a costly b. as the rebels assisted by western powers so 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 have very elaborate in their rating is ferocity is here and hatred still resides in this neighborhood. obviously is a poor area installed in tripoli where more margot duffy had strong support base prior to his fleeing the district also and his name to the tourists presents a scene of torture and arbitrary killings but while gadhafi is gone the human rights abuses still remain rather from this area still disappearing without a trace where 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 mohammed to form peace and your

earlier this year it investigated the fate of those who disappeared in good office 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're scared to tell me that this son or husband was with the khadafi 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 lead 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 hold dies last inly bit 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 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 artie's maria covered the situation 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 the 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 khadafi. could both blame each other if drawn that scope killed. when our first night in tripoli would go to a very warm welcome rixos hotel we stayed was just. away from. his residence. and that was bombed that night as it had never been before and would never be wards. it was literally shaking 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 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 were districts here in street for they have been woken up by a strike in the middle of the night and all summer long slender to hear this story as you can see behind me some world three story buildings. and there were no professional rescuers at the scene. only man who 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 the intended target during last night's best strike in tripoli was a military. from our initial assessment of it appears that one what did not strike intended target due to a weapons systems. of course i wanted to meet qaddafi or his son safe. 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 to call the car and 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 know taste 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. 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 if not the best interview safe was very sincere. very open 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 which 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 and in case you missed any you can see them all on our website r.t. dot com. still ahead for you this hour 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 and iraq and its leaders and 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 on its promise to pull out the troops it insisted a stable country had left behind but joseph kish or a writer for the world socialist thinks the latest flare ups in the region are a product of the u.s. occupation. it was not about you know securing iraq and giving it freedom it was about security in oil resources and in the process. so that period tensions 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 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 iraqi society i mean look at what what does i.q. patient has produced over one million people killed by some estimates thirty five percent of rocky children. living doll is orphans just nation of infrastructure the entire society has been scarred by this i keep ation by this war on christmas day nigeria was rocked by a series of blasts targeting christian worshipers and leaving at least forty dead mouse 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 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 a very political corruption cronyism deprivation human need in the last equals elections were reversed in freedom fear. felt jonathan was a way he represents the christian south about half of nigeria is a muslim here in the north they were much unwise again there they are being totally shut out of the system and jonathan is a close western time he's close to washington times close big oil guys and ease their mayor is their man to turn the country over to big oil and let them just suck

the wealth out of it at the expense of the people vets the anger the striving these is firearms. the u.s. commonly uses drugs to execute convicts but the local manufacturer cease production last year and now the european union has restricted supplies are the fatal compound with some activists saying that the chemical used is far from humane u.s. authorities may have difficulties finding in the of source but as artie's ivor bennett explains the shortage could actually be making the situation worse. they've tried hanging electrocution and most recently a drug used to euthanize animals but now american jails will find it much harder to kill prisoners on death row the main supply line for its lethal injections has been cut off after the e.u. slips new restrictions on drug exports i really think this will make a difference and we will see the effects of this this control order in the coming

months that the u.s. relies on european drugs for use in executions and without them they're going to be stuck and lives will be saved specific 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 interstates it was being used to put the condemned inmate to sleep as another drug paralyzed before the final heart stopper was administered without baton 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 this fairly unassuming driving

school buildings also shared by dream farmer a british firm exporting british drugs the u.s. prisons to kill people the u.k. government soon found out and banned its use so american prisons searched elsewhere r.t. reported in may how some states have begun using pen to bottle a drug normally used to put pets to sleep that's never been tested for human executions its primary use for humans is to treat epilepsy but it has no pain killing properties many feel its use on death 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 risk of not 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 barber tell us stockpiles will eventually run dry but many fear it's only

a matter of time before prisons try again with something else unfortunately the death merchants in the us can sometimes be creative in terms of what they put to use in order to put people to death and so i think what we need is a clause which said if other drugs should appear on the market and we discover the u.s. is misuse. those we can quickly have a quick procedure to add those to the list without in a way to know the year aside from lethal injection other methods like hanging in foreign squad still sanctioned in the us but in now rarely used these new restrictions may not choke off the drug supply completely but it will certainly tighten the noose on america's controversial death penalty. either bennett london those were the main news stories that have shaped the week.

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