on a sense street now in the palm of your. question on the dot com. dozens of new civilian deaths are reported in syria as the arab league gears up to monitor the implementation of a peace plan but hundreds of mercenaries from abroad are allegedly fighting for regime change there. shifting to the east pakistan with an eye on its future borders fresh ties with china after last month's deadly drone attack shattered its already tense relations with the u.s. . some celebrate a few commiserate it's the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the soviet empire and opinion is still split in the country on whether the breakup of the union was the best choice for its people.

its four pm in moscow i met treasurer good to have you with us here on r t our top story this hour activists in syria claim twenty three civilians have been killed by government troops over the last a day this is a primary team of arab league observers is due to arrive in the country their mission is to implement a peace plan intended to ensure the regime ends of crackdown on the opposition damascus denies committing atrocities saying it's fighting an armed insurgency funded from abroad and while that's yet to be independently confirmed revolutionaries from other arab countries say they are willing to fight for regime change in syria artie's oksana boyko reports from post khadafi libya. a butcher a dad the owner of the ski pop shop in tripoli still undecided what's the most fitting term for syria's bashar al assad the status of his second image that begins in the in the lot of that city. the syria. you can

make it a lot of people in syria. out of solidarity with their arab brothers the owners of the shop have even put on display the syrian rebels tricolor but they're very firm on where the revolutionary support should be and we don't want the syria and its soldiers we have. and our people subject to the result just like only if they subject we have only to have enough but i think yeah we want to leave . in less than three months libyan rebels have gone from being celebrated as liberators to being called occupiers shipley residents really almost every week calling on the armed militia to leave and for some of the young man who looked on adrenaline and willing to part with their rifles syria seems like the next logical destination. i don't know what we're all ready to join the syrian revolution and with the help of allah we will make sure that what happened in libya will repeat

itself in syria the libyan man or the portraits of shaky bar i now ubiquitous on the streets of tripoli some rebels even styling themselves to resemble the famous revolutionary. with the help of allah we can all belong to give aren't fighting for peace and freedom around the world. and it seems that che guevara's a dia of exporting revolutions have gotten a second birth in the middle east the arab spring has created a buoyant marketplace for soldiers of fortune they move from one revolution to another motivated by personal gain some by conviction others by venture if i put out all the vision of freedom and for now at least in the freedom to leave by the gun. as a romantic and spontaneous as it may appear aiding the syrian uprising with mercenaries may not be such a genuine move video women and children in syria gunned down by snipers are bound

on you tube while it's still unclear who is pulling the trigger there are terrorists who are shooting at civilians men women and children blind terrorism random killing simply for the purpose of destabilizing the country or from libya or from afghanistan or pakistan foreign fighters have been brought in here by the cia and the other western services. one man's terrorist could easily be in our man's freedom fighter but for the united states it's now one day. one of the leaders of triple a militia was once on the cia most wanted list today he's the face of the democratic leader who according to artists or says that a group of several hundred libyan rebels to syria just last month. we can't do anything to support the syrian people because we they are facing this situation

before. it comes to be would. be would have to give i think. the use of soldiers of fortune is hardly new in this troubled region middle eastern rulers hard them for centuries a save gars against their own populations and it now looks like the history of mercenary. and the middle east has got to it's new and no less bloody chapter one of our c chip. according to u.n. estimates more than five thousand civilians have been killed in syria since march the regime claims it's lost thousands of troops fighting against armed gangs investigative journalist terry mason thinks the foreign mercenaries are to blame for the deaths of many on both sides. they say to ease five thousand people killed. by security forces of course it's absolutely. there is a lot of people killed but very few by the security forces will still be in the.

groups they put inside the car and with the same groups they use the media you know you raise some different to the region but to have six and with people coming from . well known syria especially the military go down the aisle for people to be via is no in talking to organize or the fight and they're due to tripoli which was the people from my kid no responsible for security in tripoli tonight they know all of the inside syria and they spend those first in libya recognize them here inside of the top of the say so-called free. syrian army but. stay with us here on r.t. still to come a disastrous chain reaction. suddenly there was there was panic cause outside of the car about to film the sound. and the police and the emergency workers suddenly

just like the sounds it. was all inject. but i could understand there was the you could see the fear and they can also they were seen so you know they literally yelling really say to get back into the car argy correspondent ivor better looks back at the received word tape while reporting from japan who ravaged by the wall power of nature. but first pakistan facing our crisis in its relations with the u.s. appears to be seeking more support from another powerful ally china ties with america have all been have been all but severed following last month's deadly drone attack by the u.s. military and this year's raid to kill osama bin ladin without as a lot of bad knowledge the pakistani president is now firming up the country's partnership with beijing holding talks with chinese officials last week just checking a professor of political science at hong kong city university says both countries

have an important cooperative partnership pakistan to counterbalance its relationship with the us. pakistan has been beating spece throughout the history of the people's republic of china increasingly pakistan has has a certain strategic value to china certainly is feel normal pakistan's relations with the united states in difficulties because of the nato attack on is a military outpost last month and to washington d.c. the fields to deliver the kind of policy the mon defied the pakistani government and the same time it is very significant that the top chinese diplomat but he was in pakistan he met the president the prime minister the army chief of staff arguably the most powerful soldier. in pakistan as well as the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and the head of the intel intelligence into services

intelligence so it seems that china would be would have been asked to give more military aid to pakistan to balance against the weakening ties between pakistan and the united states and it's also possible that time number play a certain mediating role between the military and government and certainly tensions between the tool have been high in the recent year also turning on a turning to a less serious note christmas has come and gone in the west but in russia the big holiday season still to come its core business desk now to see how spending has been affected in the world's biggest country. well spending is not only been affected negatively it has actually increased by twenty eight percent since the previous year and russians will spend sixteen billion dollars on presence alone so it's all of the related spending will amount to around eighty one billion dollars and another particular thing about russians is that they still do not trust online

shopping so they actually go to the malls of wait hours in traffic. a day to celebrate first and for a while and one to commiserate for others twenty years since the world's biggest country was dissolved the end of the soviet union created more than a dozen new nations but sparked economic hardship and civil wars are he's a cattery road show that hasn't. even today many generate their own explanations for the full of a global goliath but some putting it down to the rule of just a few. i'll give you two reasons go because of you. the nineteen ninety one august coup was a turning point in the country's history with images of yeltsin standing on a tank creating a new hero yet for most here even that wasn't seen as causing a fetal crack in the soviet union it was all very sudden and shocking

i mean there were people here even months before who were showing us that this was going to go on forever so all the billions and billions and billions that the u.s. and put into intelligence and forecasting all proved to be completely useless the collapse of the soviet union was not so much a revolution rather it was a peaceful divorce of former republics longing for independence but the breakup led to long lasting and painful consequences pushing your savior to go so use a lot of the soviet union the biggest youth a little bit of the twentieth century i seized on that road and in that assessment led him or putin is not alone older many russians began enjoying freedoms never imagined in the u.s.s.r. sixty percent still believe the collapse did more harm than good twenty years on russians still seem undecided over how to treat of the legacy of the u.s.s.r. in moscow most soviet names have long been

a race from the streets and people's memories but some symbols of the past stand out so very badly it can feel like those two decades never happened this morning amanda worker and who wasn't so took six years some thirty million dollars to restore not even the government would consider taking down what is among the most famous unofficial symbols of the u.s.s.r. . and strong worker and a portly collective farmer where a symbol of crisp air a chance to billeted in a country with a planned economy everyone knew they would be provided with their metaphorical hammer and sickle and knew exactly how much to produce with them. nineteen ninety one changed all that the post saw it economies were shattered their deficits skyrocketed production plunged and it took them years to get back on their feet in the last years of soviet union there was a possibility before to solve your you know to continue with i don't for terror and

political regime but to liberalize the economy in the market in the same way as the tardies. but among the political elite many didn't want to support the drive to modernize and in turn save the union instead they wanted to destroy it and during that descent many republics were plunged into ethnic violence after gaining independence or before when it was clear the union was falling apart it seems for you and the national minorities started dragging the blanket to their side but there was at that time the georgia votes really included self-assertive and apprise your interests territories similar ethnic clashes between armenia and azerbaijan claimed the lives of over thirty thousand people one thousand people were killed in the transnistria conflict russia remains on a peacekeeping mission there at least a thousand people were killed in a post breakup clashes between georgia and south the search here and over one hundred thousand word displaced into g q stan the consequences were the worst sixty

eight thousand killed and over a million people displaced even mosco itself didn't feel secure after the fall of the burden wall the world breathed a sigh of relief but it didn't last long when nato set about creating a new wall made of me sells the allies steadily moved towards russia incorporating former soviet republics but leaving most out of europe's new security framework the west broke a number of promises to russia off in russia could have expected that there wouldn't be a nato expansion that. russia itself. joined will become. a new system of european. collective security the feel of the u.s. is sark put an end to the cold war era a fundamental shift in global geopolitics with just a few now calling the shots and without to paul full counterweight today's world

remains far from secure sixty immigrant children are teens. or is interested in your opinion today we're asking what you think the collapse of the u.s.s.r. meant to the world dot com have your say in our latest web poll right now thirty nine percent say it would have been good if nato had collapsed all along with it. if it left the u.s. unchecked comes in second the fifth is convinced communism offered hope for a better future and the minorities so far say the opposite that the world is better off without the evil empire those are the numbers for now you can change them though go online and cast your vote at r.t. dot com. y. our website you can check out many other stories we have for you there first how flashing dollars could give you a bad rap the latest security advice in the u.s. says paying with cash could brand you a terrorist suspect plus. see

a performance of russian carroll's classical favorites and folk songs at the kennedy center in washington played by russia's renowned year old philharmonic orchestra. take a look back now with the major events of two thousand and eleven through the eyes of the correspondents covering them today we focus on japan's devastating tsunami and earthquake that killed more than ten thousand people and caused explosions of the fukushima nuclear plant raising worldwide fears of an atomic disaster better reflect on his experience reporting from japan in the hours after the tragedy.

covering the earthquake and tsunami in japan was very difficult because i was actually on my own the cameraman and producing the visas so they had to wait and i went with a flip camera a laptop when i was there and got a satellite phone and so on the road i was trying to to do lines whenever i could set up a satellite phone trying get a link. and only when i actually got there that was when i fully understood the full force of the tsunami i didn't and didn't appreciate that until i actually saw the sea of debris lengths. and i remember actually at one point setting up the lab to want on for a boat being perched on a on a on a road that just been dumped by the tsunami. and i was quite a surreal experience definitely. to begin with very strange if you were in a building suddenly you. could feel yourself shaking slightly and it's difficult to

walk in a straight line for about thirty seconds and gradually these three days i actually got used to the tremors as strange as that sounds suddenly there was there was panic i was outside of the car about to film the stand up. and the police and the emergency workers suddenly just like the sound seeing. it was all in jack things but i could understand there was the you can see the fear and panic and also they were shouting and tsunami literally yelling in my face to get back into the car there's no news crew there chancing of them to get back into the car and go in and as fast as possible because there was this. as the threat of another another tsunami there'd been a tremor the tide it receded and they thought another tsunami was coming so and then in those moments when. racing inland as fast as we could weaving our way in between all the day every. member looking around and thinking hang on

a minute there's no shelter here. what it was he was destroyed in the previous tsunami and there's no high ground and the only way we're going to be safe is to actually. beat the water. i had to take a taxi to sendai from tokyo to about ten hours because all the transport links were down and arrived in the middle of the nights no hotels were open the only place to stay was actually a relief center and this was inside the local government offices and no people there who just lost everything all they had were the clothes on their bank whatever positions they had with them at the time the earthquake struck and clearly the house had been destroyed and they all they had been in the relief center was was a cardboard a sheet of cardboard to lie on and i spend one not one night there i was pretty unbearable because it was very cold and there's very little food around and one

thing they were rations for would all they had was just a cucumber and a slice of bread so that was that was one meal actually. on top of this was also the fear of radiation because the situation to be seen was just going from bad to worse and i was always in my mind it was a very real fear you could see. amongst everyone else also. there was in any visible panic it seemed like it wasn't in japanese culture to panic and such but more there was certainly fear this is a town of our war i around halfway between tokyo and fukushima i'm still one hundred fifty kilometers south of the nuclear power plant but already the radiation levels here over double that of those in tokyo are going to make meeting one young fan. one young couple with a newborn baby actually just. i think a week old also been born to cover the before the before the earthquake and. the

mother wasn't particularly well some of the she was very weak and obviously she wanted to stay put they were from sendai that they had left they just didn't trust what the government was saying that this is true situation in fukushima was under control and they just wanted to get out they were heading heading to a kid by whatever means possible. and then suddenly the tempo changed when there was a third explosion and then the fourth explosion and the different reactors in in fukushima one morning the happening very quick succession and suddenly. everyone was very scared. so all the news crews were. just on the packed up and left and that really difficult for me was i was on my own i didn't have anyone else to consult. and i just realized at that point ok i'm going to get out this is the start of japan's ravaged east coast and the rain like by that they're very just lie strewn all over the place here so walls collapsed over here elss of fallen down

such as the force of the tsunami this is also the point where we're going to turn back because the dog account is reading the highest it has done all day one point zero four microsleep it's plain how obviously when i left japan. i feel great relief because covering the story been very stressful. eating on the nice legs but the story for me was an over the until when i was back in moscow. the next day i had to get to the hospital rooms checked for radiation and thankfully i was clear. every day up to the new year will be bringing the personal reflections from our reporters on the events that molded the news in two thousand and eleven if you missed any very you can always catch we're going to click away on our website our t. dot com. turn now to some other stories making headlines across the globe. a suicide attacker has killed at least seven people in iraq injured thirty two others by

detonating a car bomb in the middle of morning rush hour the bomber drove his vehicle through a security checkpoint outside the interior ministry five police were among the dead is follows a series of bombings that killed at least seventy two people last week and just a few days after the u.s. troop pullout no one's claimed responsibility yet but suicide attacks are the hallmarks of al qaida in iraq. the international community has condemned bomb attacks in nigeria that claimed at least thirty nine lives including children saturday and sunday this series of blasts happened outside churches and targeted worshipers during christmas day prayers the militant islamism group boko haram said it carried out the attacks the group wants to impose islamic sharia law across the country which is split almost equally between christians and muslims. south korea's former first lady leave home was heading a morning delegation to north korea to pay respects to the late leader kim jong il delegation arrived in town yang monday as part of a two day visit but are not representing the government lou he host said

a state in a statement she hoped to visit the visit would improve relations between the two countries that remain technically at war the north korean leader died from a heart attack almost ten days ago his youngest son has been named his successor. be back with the headlines after the latest business news with dimitri stay with us . thanks matt christmas is over in most parts of the world here in russia the festive season has only just begun despite that concerns in europe and the u.s. shop was still on slowing down and as many in the closer found out russian men at the forefront of the seasonal spending extra against. year's eve as when the russians give gifts and this year they're going all out at least eighty one billion dollars will be spend this the stamper and a fifth of that will go towards presents consumer spending is expected to increase

by twenty eight percent and muscovites will withdraw twenty percent more cash than any of the month of the year that's about five hundred sixty dollars each if you are a russian woman then you can look forward to a particularly lavish gift as man both spent twice as much as their partners so what kind of gifts are we're looking at what the most popular items are expected to be alcohol then we have a toys and finally household appliances so not all that romantic on the the christmas tree and the russians are not the only ones refusing to tighten their belts many experts had predicted americans and europeans would trim their spending but it's turned out to be a different story most surveys now suggest we will see an increase actually the average american is expected to spend up to twenty two percent more while in the u.k. some shops already seen an increase in sales more than last year but this may be

because it's been such a tough year for ordinary working people now about the holiday season this year so feel that they have an excuse to finally spend some money on themselves and their loved ones. so apparently that's why we're having so much traffic in moscow well let's take a look at what's happening in the markets while european trade is enjoying boxing day the russian the c's are gaining the most in four trading sessions that's on optimism u.s. economy will continue to recover helping boost global output yes on the mice it's up around one percent each investors are moving back into stocks therefore safe haven assets like people who scold. on the decline are blue chips are higher banks are in the lead was burbank and bt be up around two percent and gazprom another enthusiasm so. also in brief now despite the lingering global financial uncertainty russia is still able to attract a further five percent more foreign investment into a. residential area that got

a lot of call bitch said he expects investors to start bringing their cash in the second quarter of next year best went into russia grew around twelve percent this year for most of the money was short term credit which doesn't provide fundamental supports of legal. and rogers caucuses is a step closer to welcoming more guests as russia and france register doing joint venture to develop tourism in the region plans to build five world class ski resorts in creative of three hundred thousand jobs by twenty first though the money's a needed bankers hope to bring in between fifteen and twenty billion euros to make the project a reality. financially stricken cyprus will get the first tranche of a credit package from russia before the year's group country agreed at the weekend to make take two and a half billion euros from moscow to support its economy what is the price

waterhouse coopers calculates that around fifteen percent of cyprus g.d.p. is from foreign companies using the island as an offshore finance center majority of the firms are affiliated with russia. and the country's new suhoor super jet aircraft is said to take up to a twenty percent market share in some developing countries including those in asia and south america. its makers believe their plane is a global player which will boost both the firm's reputation and sales. we had to sell and in russia for the trunk not that may be able. for that that's why we have all the people in from out west my father charles all that great he has got to sell and. gives it to settle in there angel one thousand and one thousand mark us all that will bring us to a twenty per cent market share in twenty years' time. so for now the headlines are next with matthew stay with us.

you're. wealthy british style think it's time to write things. like that. market.