observers arrive the arab league's team reaches syria's most troubled city amid reports that government tanks are pulling out. three years israel waits a deadly assault on gaza palestinians still struggling with its legacy turn to the war to make amends. and in our series of twenty eleventh's most significant events our correspondent shares her personal account of explaining who is running the changes at the top in russia. it's six pm in moscow and matt trezise 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 is witnessed some of the fiercest battles between state and opposition forces since the uprising started back in march before they arrived government tanks were apparently pulling out of the city the activists say around thirty people were killed in the latest violence there a fact finding team is said to assess the real situation on the ground and verify president assad's compliance with a regional plan aimed at ending the bloodshed but there are some doubts over the mission's impartiality. i think the disco mickey is not. objective it will not be objective it will be subjective it will be pressured by the united nations the united states and especially the dude who done the command is going to be. accused by the international justice over genocide on would crimes so i think it would be his opportunity to present something to united nations and

to the united states which is and manipulated. the state of affairs in syria already. every pressure from the outside is being piled solely on the assad regime even though there are those who are in no doubt that armed insurgents are operating in the country director of the center for middle east studies says the observers can't tell the difference in his opinion between arm rebels and peaceful civilians no one can deny that presence of the end serves them in syria even hillary clinton did recognize this and said they are what. i am think that that act that many. of those they mix between civilians and children because when they talk about thousand of people killed they don't mention that they see civilians and also with cannot deny. about two thousand. or so would get this you

know that those observers are going to see it to see all of that and was going on and the city and the and the scene and government was given facilities to accomplish their mission. the claim that the syrian opposition is backed by extremist fighters a share by foreign journalists working on the ground later this hour r.t. hears from a french reporter who exposed the unrest through eyewitnesses. we live in. and i think that to be the action to destabilize to become twee. we see a lot of people killed the piece is not to see good will play told us. until we throwing troops inside and they'd be. using proceeds from the good concede you know the problem because peace come to use way before the.

palestinians in besieged gaza are marking three years since israel sent tanks and fighter jets to attack them the operation lasted twenty two days cost almost fifteen hundred lives and entire families were wiped out for some the battle still lingers but only now it's in the courtroom as artie's paullus leader explains. a judge is unusual not because he laid a claim against the 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 out of five more civilians at the same time hundreds of rockets fell on southern israel killing three israeli civilians the government couldn't get to my home for sixteen days because the israeli soldiers

were firing all the time so as i left i went there and inside 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 sand and the body of my sister much to cover with some bricks. sell it 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's absolute seaweeds to the to the bodies of his mother and sister because of continue fighting in the area these women military said this made the face sit still and they feel justified in what they said. just under one hundred fifty thousand dollars compensation. if someone loses his leg or his hand up or is killed or injured and all the money in the world in are 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 like sundays on its books but the

heavy paperwork. 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. it was early morning there was showing the apartment above was on fire i want out side with my hands up in the the soldiers told me to pull of my shirt and trousers i did with a suit but they found a rock 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 for. a flow. for. then the state will be exempt from. where the judges case will help other palestinians is not yet.

these really army is also said it's opened an investigation into what happened but so far no indictment against any israeli soldier has been filed. stay with us here in the program still ahead memories of him the school days our correspondent wasn't of a sense of the past of the new man at the helm of north korea by meeting a former classmate plus. we delve into why the u.s. is searching for a loopholes to force pakistan's interest sharing the blame for nato drone strike that killed twenty four pakistani troops. but before we get to that vladimir putin is pledging the government will do everything possible to provide transparency during the upcoming presidential election the prime minister said it's actually in his interest as a cabinet. it could be a good you and you're going to misstate be species but as it is who 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 with 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 for them they just want to deal with the election that's the problem today then you listen listen to the ballot boxes and cells will literally ability as a parent in polling stations equipped with web cameras for constant monitoring this center a sponsor of the parliamentary elections earlier this month that sparked protests over allegations of vote rigging and fraud. turning our focus now to the most significant events in the build up to this year's do move vote as part of our series on two thousand and eleven the key moments artie's any say now way cover the developments and shares her experience of the outgoing year in russian politics.

well i think that day it became clear that russian politics are changing and 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 and there was speculation that putin would run for president in twenty two but no one expected it as early as september. the first ten that this congress of united russia wasn't going to be as simple as just the platform for the duma lections being announced with glazier putin and. 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 the energy going something's going to happen today. first to come up on stage was putin and he made the big announcement which no one expected that 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 that means of age of will be part of united russia if you believe the list that was in it. and then of course you have to meet three men to do saying that he believes that. 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. 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 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're 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 are 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 that. you know 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 course in the protests that we're seeing straight after the elections on monday we saw people come out to choose to prove 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 historic

day in russia 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 fifty 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 are 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 that they can they can work on all of these stories and cover elections and cover protests and that 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. and every day we're up to the new year will bring you a personal view from our team of correspondents reporting the top stories

throughout two thousand and eleven and if you missed any of them you can always catch them again at r.t.e. dot com. wealthy british style. time to. market. is going to find out what's really happening to the global economy with max concert for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to kaiser report on. whether you die from high or to the depths. catch the power of the wind or drift in the beauty of the currents.

the well prepared is a must and if you're lucky. you'll never forget your experience we only need them a screen that's going to be heaven. in the flight see up close and below the ice on our t.v. . more news today violence is once again flared up the film these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. china operations are today.

as for staying with us here on r t sixteen minutes past the hour and last hour north koreans finally lay their leader to rest wednesday but the world still wants to know what lies ahead in a post kim jong il north korea has annoyed its successor and youngest son is now in charge but little is known about him or his worry if the notion of went back to school to uncover more about the man who has an intense act to 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 society remain isolated condit's new leader too so little is known about the lately to his great successor his third and youngest son name is a bit of

a dark course even his age remains is subject of speculation his thought to be twenty seven or twenty eight 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 charney may have gone to an elite school in this week's margins in late ninety's the business men brought out his all the book to refresh his memory there were quite a few koreans. quieter than others. a lot with with the last name kim. as kim is the most common name in korea alexander remembers the koreans always different from all the students they were very disciplined they were very disciplined as

a group of students. very serious for their interaction. they wouldn't always take part in. fun and games of the other students were very hard studying to be top class they didn't like to do that 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. it will make him realize that he has to do something good for his people first country and make a change in terms of. past experience his knowledge of foreign languages and the skills that he managed to retain being able 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 life 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 offer a glimmer of hope that he may ease bag the rigid control over the two terran regime and begin to open north korea to the world and maybe their war old to north korea written off r.t. moscow. remember if you miss any of our stories you can always get more at our t.v. best place to get updated at any time there's plenty of heartwarming holiday treats there too just take a look at this no need to beware of this bear the cute little cub is already captured millions of hearts and it's easy to see why i just want to rub that little tummy will tell you why he's being a handler reared in denmark instead of getting his start in the arctic.

and toast in the space there are festivities aboard the international space station as the crew prepares to c.n.n. not one new year but sixteen as the earth target. us once pakistan to share a map of its facilities along the border with afghanistan to avoid incidents like nato air strike that killed twenty four pakistani soldiers last month this follows a u.s. report back includes 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 fact 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 them military leadership were in reach by the conclusions of the pentagon investigation turned out of some other stories making headlines across the globe japan says the fukushima nuclear crisis was down to the plaza operators being ill prepared and not responding properly to the earthquake and

tsunami disaster major government inquiry said some engineers abandoned the plant is the trouble started and other staff delayed reporting significant radiation leaks explosions in four reactors severely compromised the facility after the cooling systems failed in march it's been largely stabilized sense. in northern australia freight trains been swept off a bridge destroyed in a torrent of water caused by a cyclonic environmental experts are looking into whether the cargo of iron ore from the train is a stooping 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. kiddies up next with all the latest from the world of business stay with us. hello welcome to the business program here and i'll say while

a number of western economies are drowning in debt russia is on the course to post a one percent budget surplus this year at a pretty new year holiday may saying of the government prime minister putin emphasize the improvements that have been made away from the energy sector. and gas deficit narrowed which is a very positive factor in improving our economy it shows that the effort to diversify is bearing fruit but it will be around nine point eight percent of g.d.p. which is almost two percentage points lower than the initial phone calls made at the beginning of the year. and in other news russia's economy expanded more than five percent in november compared to the same period last year ministry says mining electricity sectors maybe quanta beaches of growth but there was a slowdown in construction and investment. as two thousand and

eleven comes to an end business r.t. looks 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 is started taking gas from russia to germany and to me dimitri meant that anchor reports on what it took to launch the longest part but 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 levon with 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 winter's hole in the yuan rule goes to fifteen and a half percent each and dutch and french g.d.s. whereas hold nine 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 unsure diversity and therefore security. let's have a look at the markets now oil fast food prices up. lots of positive light is shedding value now that almost one hundred dollars brant is trading at more than just slightly less now one hundred eight dollars a barrel and now also the equity markets european stocks. most traders return from the christmas holidays. close. point two percent the russian markets are losing value the r.t.s. is shedding one and a half a cent on the my stakes. is down as well that point eight is. all eyes on the u.s. markets. today will tell let's see what's happening in the near future. since

most of the blue chips in the red is losing everything. is over one percent down the company says profits. retreating it's created a joint venture with another all company to develop promising traps oil fields. gives to his. position. this year i think everyone already kind of. year but i wouldn't exclude speculative trading maybe someone be trashing before the end of the year usually the last week of the year week so i would expect fifteen percent growth but i wouldn't be surprised to see both five or six percent growth. so for now in the meantime you can check out

all you know you tube dot com. businesses small bag.

looks. witnesses. to history in the making of. testimony. ten stories that shapes two thousand and eleven on our t.v. . he. seems.