the observers arrive the arab league's team reaches syria's most troubled city amid reports that government tanks are pulling out. three years since israel waged a deadly assault on gaza palestinians still struggling with the legacy turns of the courts to make amends. and in our series on twenty eleven's most significant events are reporter shares her personal account of explaining who is ringing the changes at the top in russia. it's five pm in moscow i match reza good to have you with us here on r.t.

our top story arab league observers have arrived in syria's third largest city homes which has witnessed some of the fiercest battles between state an opposition forces since the uprising started in march before they got their government tanks were apparently pulling out of the city although activists say about thirty people were killed in the latest round of violence fact finding team is set to assess the real situation on the ground and verify president assad's compliance with a regional plan to end the bloodshed for more on this i'm joined live from beirut by dr jamal wakim a political analyst and professor at lebanese international university. so the arab league mission has started and given the organization's been keen to pile pressure exclusively on the assad regime what kind of findings do you expect from that. i think that this committee is not. objective its report will not be objective it will be subjective it will be pressured by the united nations and the united states

especially that its leader sudan the commander is already. accused by the international court of justice of genocide and what crimes so i think it will be his opportunity to present something to the united nations and to the united states which is a manipulated report about the state of affairs in syria already and. i think that we might be repeating the the. the precedence of. blix and but our data guiding the weapons of mass destruction in iraq prior to the american invasion of iraq of course this this will be. as part of a set up in case the americans have the will or they have the capacity to pressure the syrian regime further in an attempt to

reshape the whole geopolitical map of the region in order to block any a russian or chinese access to the mediterranean i think that this is the key point in the whole issue and i think that what we are witnessing now it's a new phase of pressure on the syrian regime of course the syrian regime is trying to hold its breath it's trying to gain time until things might change to its favor and especially that. i think that the russians and the chinese are backing the syrian regime in addition to iran because they know that they are the ones targeted by what's going on in syria and in iraq what's likely be next if observers aside the government is unwilling to call a halt to what many see is a brutal crackdown on the uprising. definitely this will be used as

a pretext to justify further sanctions on the regime and may be. a military intervention with i think that the military invention intervention is unlikely due to the incapacity of the americans or the europeans to direct such an action against syria with the russian backing i think that the russians have learned the libyan lesson very well i think that they. they. what happened in libya. is pressuring the russians to a more active role especially with the coming off to power to him and he's. most likely he will become president one more time and we know that the background of london at a few thousand is. comes from the secret services so he is very well aware of the elements of national security russian national security in case they

lose the russians lose syria is another they will be blocked from any access to the mediterranean on one hand to their last axis to the waters or to the world waters because we know very well once city falls down the regime in syria falls down this means that the russians will lose their last. access to the u.s. military any and after that the loss of libya and what comes next is an attempt by the americans to block the axis of the russians or the chinese to the mediterranean or to the indian ocean so this is part of the geopolitical. guidelines set by high for that where we had to buy speakman sorry i have been here with one final question the army is withdrawing its troops from harms do you think this could be a first step toward complying with the peace plan. actually the army is withdrawing

from homs because i think that they have already cleaned the region from all terrorists and that's why. it's open to the axis of the arab league or do the. these. i don't know what they call them now but. they would be able to report live from the region and i think that they will be shown the strongholds of the terrorists dr jamal wakim political analyst professor at lebanese international university thanks for your time thank you. the claim that the syrian opposition is being backed by extremist fighters is shared by foreign journalists working on the ground next hour our hears from a french reporter who works who expose the unrest through eyewitnesses. i think that would be the action to destabilize the country. we see

a lot of people killed but this is not the civil war. to interweave throwing troops inside and they'd be. using proxies from a good concept but. the problem because the scum to use would be for. palestinians in besieged gaza are marking three years in israel tanks and fighter jets to attack them the operation lasted twenty two days cost almost fifteen hundred lives and entire families were wiped out or some the battle is still going on only now in the courtroom as artie's policy or explains. is unusual not because he laid a claim against israelis but because he won victory though is bittersweet. i'm a broken man the israelis say their army has morals what morals are they talking about

. it was december two thousand and eight for three weeks israeli soldiers bombed the gaza strip killing nearly one and a half thousand palestinians for five was civilians at the same time hundreds of rockets fell on southern israel killing three israeli civilians but the government couldn't get to my home for sixteen days because the israeli soldiers were firing all the time as soon as they left i went on the walls the soldiers had written you'll find the bodies fifty meters away i found the body of my brother buried in the body of my sister much to come with some bricks. so lay took his case to the palestinian center for human rights in a precedent setting move they secured an out of court settlement with the israeli military it took so let's see weeks to achieve the bodies of his mother and sister because of continue fighting in the area these women military says this made the case since you know they feel justified with the way so solid was saved just under

one hundred fifty thousand dollars compensation. if someone loses his leg or his hand up or is killed or injured all the money in the world in general now but what we're fighting for here is a financial compensation that will offer some relief the palestinian center for human rights has more than two hundred cases on its books but the heavy paperwork bureaucracy and expenses discourages many others from coming forward this man however is a rare exception he filed a claim three years ago and is still awaiting a response today. i thought. it was early morning there was showing an apartment above was on fire i want out side with my hands up in the year the soldiers told me to pull off my shirt and trousers i did what they said but they find iraq i would behind me my mother had been blown apart i recognized her by the ears of my two year old daughter my father my aunts my cousin my entire family was

killed at that moment but convincing israeli authorities that compensation is due can be a major obstacle and therefore. the military operation for according to the israeli case flow. for. the state will be exempt from. whether saddle up will have judges case will help other palestinians is not yet clear these radio army has also said it's opened an investigation into what happened but so far no indictment against any israeli soldier has been filed paula sphere r.t. . stay with us here on r.t. still ahead memories of kim's school days our correspondent looks into the secret of the new man at the helm of north korea by meeting a former classmate. we delve into why the u.s. is searching for loopholes to force pakistan into sharing the blame for nato drone strike that killed twenty four pakistani troops. but first of all out of here putin

pledges the government will do everything possible to provide transparency at the upcoming presidential election the prime minister said it's actually in his interest as a candidate. you could go to all you're going to misstate the species but i wouldn't i want to stress that we're the first who need the transparency because we need to be sure that people support us of course there are forces to which it's not the development that's important but the turmoil of course they have their rights but the problem is that they have neither a united programs no means of reaching their goals they just want to deal it just reminds the election that's the problem today in the us. ballot boxes will literally because there are polling stations are equipped with web cameras for constant monitoring me used to this in response to a parliamentary vote earlier this month a month that's a large protest over allegations of vote rigging and fraud. but. let's focus now on the most significant events in the build up to this year's during the election as

part of our series on twenty eleventh's key moments artie's any so now we cover the developments she shares her experiences of the outgoing year in russian politics. well i think that day it became clear that russian politics are changing lots of people say that russian modern politics are stagnant that they're predicting bold but nobody that day expected that announcement to be made yes people expected there was speculation that they deem or putin would run for president in twenty two but no one expected it as early as september. the first ten that this congress and united russia wasn't going to be as simple as just the platform for the duma lections being announced was lazy or putin and to me didn't mean to entering the hall on time exactly when it was supposed to start together and that's

when the atmosphere inside the hall kind of changed everyone thousands of people at the same time you could feel their energy going something's going to happen today. first to come. up on stage was laid and he made the big announcement which no one expected but he believes that top of the list for the dumas elections in december. after that everyone thought ok that's it this is the big news we felt something in the air that something was going to happen and now it's been announced to me through means of age of will be part of united russia he will be the list that was in it. and then of course you have to me saying that he believes. should run for president in twenty twelve and there was just this uproar explosion of applause at least certainly in united russia people there i think were genuinely surprised like i said no one expected this to come today they thought they were coming to hear what their plans for the dumas elections were. the

elections this year. were a big deal first of all because clearly united russia has lost popularity and the ironic thing is you have people who referred to the vote to demonstrate how much they popularity but then also refer to the same exact vote saying that it was falsified so how can you refer to a vote that you don't think was real to demonstrate this kind of popularity think this was an interesting to thing to me as a journalist covering the elections. so we have a lot of western publications and networks referring to this popularity fall for united russia which certainly you can feel it happened a lot of people i think went out to vote against united russia it's not a secret that the opposition in russia for twenty years hasn't really been able to get it together you have these figures like journal. who are very well known and

and they are part of that whole stagnation because they've been around for years but you don't have any real opposition and i think that's what this young generation these so-called hipsters that. that are part of social networking and on twitter and facebook and trying to be part of politics that's what they came out to vote they really came out to vote to send a message to united russia and that became very clear they lost some. two thousand and seven it was some sixty four percent and it's just under fifty percent this time around so clearly united russia has a lot of work to do in this became very visible in these elections also of course in the protests that we're seeing straight after the elections on monday we saw people come out to choose to prove it which is not very far from the from the kremlin thousands of people opposition members were arrested the interesting part about being in moscow at this time is to see how many different networks cover it differently you have. russian state television only covering it when it gets really

big you have western media covering any little meeting that happens in the center of moscow many times exaggerating the situation. and then the saturday after the election you really had it's fair to say. you had tens of thousands of people who came out to my square just around the corner from the kremlin it was the same protest some fifteen thousand people is the most common number we have all the figures do vary depending on who you ask peacefully protesting for fair elections and you had the riot police and officials just letting them do their thing and their symbol really i think a really strong example of this these white flowers or these white ribbons and there's pictures of actual riot police holding these flowers and it was certainly a feeling that day for me that it's such an interesting time to be in russia and i'm glad to be someone they can they can work on all these stories and cover

elections and cover protests and and kind of be really in the thick of it here in moscow not a far telling the story about russia from outside of russia but being in the center of it all. every day road to the new year will bring you the personal view from our team of correspondents who brought us the news throughout two thousand and eleven and if you missed any of their testimonials and catch them all again at r.t. dot com. north koreans finally lay their late leader to rest wednesday but the world still wants to know what lies ahead in a post your country has ordered successor and youngest son is now in charge but little is known about him or his way of emotion i went back to school to uncover more about the man who has an intense actor follow. the death of the north korean dictator has raised questions and hopes over whether the dictatorship one of the last in the world will follow or will this extremely close to society remain

isolated condit's new leader too so little is known about the late leader who's great successor his third and youngest son name is a bit of a dark horse even his age remains is subject of speculation he thought to be twenty seven all twenty eight years of his new ascension to power increases the media hunger for information about him so his expensive education in switzerland said lead tracked it's a lot more interest and entrepreneur in moscow with russian origins alys on how good she believes he could have been one of keams classmates when news spread that kim chauny may have gone to an elite school in this week's margins in late ninety's the businessman brought out his all the book to refresh his memory there were quite a few koreans some quieter than others. with the last name

kim. as kim is the most common name in the koreas alexander remembers that koreans always differed from all the students and they were very disciplined they were very disciplined as a group of students. very serious for their action. they wouldn't always take part in. fun and games that the other students were very hard studying to be top class they didn't like to do although some think the deceased leaders son may be a figurehead overshadowed by his recently promoted uncle who is thought to wield the real power alexander says the three years china has apparently spent in europe may change the country's future forever i think that. it will make him realize that he has to do something good for his people for his country. and make a change in terms of. past experience is his knowledge of foreign languages.

the skills that he managed to to attain being a world the outside world used to get most of the news from behind north korea's iron curtain through the country's strictly censored state run media covering the live of the secrets of society from the inside has been an almost impossible task for international journalists but the details now emerging about the new leader is exposure to the liberal west all for a glimmer of hope that he may ease back the region's control over the two terran regime and begin to open north korea to the world and maybe the war old to north korea. remember if you miss any of our stories here you can always click on r.t. dot com the best place to get updated anytime there is some heartwarming holiday treats for you to just take a look at this. no need to be where there's a little bear of the cute cubs already captured millions of hearts and it's easy to

see why we'll tell you why he's being handed reared in denmark instead of getting an arctic star. toast in space they are festivities aboard the international space station as the crew prepare prepares to see in the new year not one but sixteen times. the u.s. wants pakistan to share a map of its facilities on the border without ghana with afghanistan to avoid incident like the nato airstrike that killed twenty four pakistani soldiers last month this follows a u.s. report that includes both that concludes both sides should shoulder the blame for the deadly attack our military contributor says washington may be trying to offload responsibility for its mistakes. their results of the

investigation regarding the u.s. unfortunate raid across the evident pakistani border were neither conclusive for the u.s. military on the ground nor for the pakistani army in fact that pakistani military flatly denied their results in effect that pakistan a reaction to that pentagon investigation was totally predictable the pentagon announcement states that the u.s. forces involved in these baleful accident acted in self defense and to be the appropriate use of force after being fired upon these particular awardee is a noteworthy attempt to exonerate the u.s. chain of command for taking such an they were in is an baleful decision and tacitly shift the blame to the pakistanis small wonder that pakistani leadership at large and especially their military leadership within reach by the conclusions

of the pentagon investigation take a look now at some other stories making headlines across the globe japan says the fukushima nuclear crisis was down to the plant's operators being ill prepared and not responding properly to the earthquake and tsunami disaster and major government inquiry said some engineers abandon the plant as the trouble started another staff delayed reporting significant radiation leaks explosions in four reactors severely damaged the facility after the cooling systems failed in march and since been largely stabilized. in northern australia a freight train went off a bridge destroyed in a torrent of water caused by a cycle of our metal experts are looking into whether the cargo of iron ore from the train escaped into the river drenching rains have been ravaging parts of australia for more than a month now causing several regions of the country to suffer severe flooding. katie's up next with all the latest business news stay with us here on are today.

hello welcome to business here on r.k. as two thousand and eleven comes to an end this is articulates back at the highlights of the year this tuesday we focus on the north stream pipeline one of the most important international projects in the energy sector starting taking gas from russia to germany in november to meet men are going to report on what it took to launch the longest subsidy pipeline in the world. they said it wouldn't be possible too expensive too long too complicated nevertheless not stream came to life it took four years of planning and eighteen months of construction and the pipeline was launched on the eighth of november twentieth levenwick the valve like a wheel of fortune turned in europe's favor let's now take a look at this map over here the whole goal of building this immense one thousand

two hundred twenty two kilometer undersea pipeline is to deliver gas to europe and of void having to go through countries like ukraine which at times prove themselves as not safe partners to russia the first completed line is transporting twenty seven and a half billion cubic meters of gas a year and will double once the second one is completed and that's expected in the fourth quarter of twenty twelve this will be enough for twenty six million european households and around a half of what is currently going for ukraine north stream goes through the territorial waters of five countries so it took a lot of time to conduct all necessary ecological research to make sure it's safe there for the four years in the making and of course a lot of money to seven point four billion euros to be exact this meant many experienced partners gazprom understandably took fifty one percent a majority controlling stake in the project germany's went as whole and your own rule goes to fifteen and a half percent each and. fred. g.d.s.

was hold one percent each this excess of the project made gazprom confident and in september the shareholder agreement for south stream assisted to north stream was signed but now europe is worried is becoming too dependent on russian gas which already accounts for twenty five percent of its demand but with ongoing instability in the north african region projects like nordstrom ensure diversity and therefore security. that's a look at the mall all five of the prices flocked to positive light sweet is shutting value now it's almost one hundred dollars per barrel barbara is trading at more than one hundred eight dollars per barrel and now on to the xmas european stocks. as most trying to return from their christmas holidays but most of them didn't fit so you still closed today. is dining around point two percent the russian markets are losing value the l.t.s. is shedding. one percent and the my sense is almost three quarters of

a percent down all eyes on the u.s. market sale reopening on tuesday after that holiday we can take a look at those individual news on the my sex most of the blue chips are trading in the raspberry bank is down one and a half percent. from its losing point four percent bucking the trend is probably rest gold is gaining a half a percent this is all pro high at the troika dialog gives his out. big positions won't be opened or closed till the end of this year i think everyone already kind of done what they wanted to do in this year but i wouldn't exclude some speculative trading maybe someone to trashing before the end of the year usually the last week of the year it's growing week so i would expect say ten or fifteen percent growth but i would be surprised to see both five maybe six percent growth till the end of the year. russia's economy expanded more than five percent

in november compared to the same period last year the economic ministry says mining electricity sector has mainly contributed to the growth but there was a slowdown in construction investments and also the business just for now we do have a road you tube channel now it's youtube dot com for businesses check that out in the meantime good buy. six six. six six six coming. from. the east.

the limits susan. subsists see a. swimming. six am a. measly. six.