on our team tonight the observers arrived the arab league team reaches syria's most troubled city amid reports the government tanks are pulling out. three years since israel waged the deadly assault on gaza the palestinian still struggling with its legacy turn to the courts now to make amends. and in our series about twenty eleventh's most significant events our correspondent shares her personal experience of explaining who is bringing the changes of the top in russia. hello it's eight pm now here in moscow a very warm welcome she watching r.t.

with me kevin i want tonight and first of all we started this with a developing news story breaking news in fact coming through we're hearing that there's been a massive earthquake apparently reaching a magnitude of six point six on the richter scale that struck russia's siberian region near the russian mongolia border we've received no reports of casualties so far must be stressed it's known that communication systems don't know kristie supplies in the area have suffered severe interruptions cause this is a story will keep you fully posted on but just to let you have that breaking news one more time we're getting through in the last couple of minutes massive earthquake of we think a magnitude six point six on the richter scale hitting russia so berrien region near the russian mongolia border so as we get more on that we will bring you up to date of course. activists say tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of syria's third largest city of homs apparently emboldened by the arab league observers visit now out of the country the city which is seeing some of the fear.

since battles between state and opposition was the monitors first destination it's reported the government tanks were withdrawn from the area after around thirty people were killed in the latest violence there the fact finding team plans to assess the real situation and show president assad's compliance with a regional plan to end the bloodshed but there were doubts over the mission's impartiality. 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 this would only 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 man of belated report about the state of affairs in syria already. the

pressure from outside big soley on the assad regime even though there are those who are in. no doubt rather that insurgents are operating in syria the director of the para based center for middle east studies says the observers can't tell the difference he thinks between armed rebels and peaceful civilians is what i have to say. no one can deny the presence of the answer very in syria even hillary clinton did recognize this and said they are well equipped and well trained exerted like that there are many. observers they mixed between civilians and children because one day talk about thousand of people killed in syria they don't mention that this is civilians and also we cannot deny that. about two thousand soldier or a security man also were killed in syria wouldn't tell you those observers are going to syria to see on there and was going on and really the syrian authorities

and the syrian government will give them all the facilities to complete their mission they claim that the syrian opposition is being backed by extremist fighters and shared by foreign journalists working on the ground and in the next hour we hear from a french reporter who exposed the unrest through eyewitnesses. i think that the the action to destabilize the country are not working we see a lot of people killed but this is not the civil war quite well if they want to interweave throwing troops inside. libya or using proxies from girls can see. very big problem because based country is ready for. palestinians are besieged gaza marking three years now since israel sent tanks and

fighter jets to attack them the operation lasted for twenty two days and cost almost fifteen hundred lives and entire families were wiped out the some of the battle rages although only now in a courtroom as artie's paula slips. 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 all to five were civilians at the same time hundreds of rockets fell on southern israel killing three israeli civilians. couldn't get to my home for sixteen days because the israeli soldiers were firing all the time so as they left i went down 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 took so let's assume weeks to achieve the bodies of his mother and sister because of continue fighting in the area these women military said this made the case itself and they feel justified when they see some labor sieved 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 is not enough but what we're fighting for here is a financial compensation it 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. it was early morning there was showing in the apartment above was on fire i want out so i with my hands up in the ear the soldiers told me to pull off my shirt and trousers i did what they said but they formed a rocket 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 thought according to a flow. for. then the state will be exempt from. where the judges case will help other palestinians is not yet clear

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 followed policy or r t. but ima put in place as the government will do everything possible to ensure transparency of the that the upcoming presidential election the promises that it's actually it is best interest as a counter that tell you more about that announcement as well as other developments in the russian world top level politics with the week so i can see you this is i guess one of his last public sessions is maybe for the new year one of the prime minister have to say first. well prime minister putin said that the mean boy is for the upcoming elections and the country's top job should be transparent now in order to achieve that he believes that the talks should be held with the russians and pleading with members of the opposition and he believes that the best platform for negotiations to hear people out what they have to suggest how to

achieve that transparency. it is to do it all on the internet of course this comes as the saudis reaction to the current opposition protests to the recent opposition protests rather has been gathering tens of thousands of people on the streets of moscow. you could be on your question mr president i want to stress that we're the first to lead 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 nor means of reaching their goals they just want to deal legitimize the election that's the problem today. well speaking of opposition protest both for prime minister putin and president didn't have set out that's all they're happy to see the faces of the country's opposition yet so good they're not

doing much but protesting again against the the newly formed government not suggesting any. programs or setting the vivid hooves for themselves and what their democracy is for the results of the parliamentary elections to be announced produce wouldn't set that says that can only happen through a court decision however political architecture in countries already changing today who just loves to cook was appointed to be the country's deputy prime minister so the man is now out of the kremlin and say he is the one who was. the chief creator of today's political structure of russia and that's just one of a number of reforms that so political reforms that president evaded suggested for the country fooling the opposition protests that gathered tens of thousands of people in moscow ok thanks for bringing us up. now to few minutes time

a look back or now to the most significant events in russia's politics and twenty eleven you can see in this and now is first hand impressions as part of a pre-teen you year's series of reports. with this is. just history in the making. testimony. ten stories that shapes two thousand eleven artesian. or are we started this hour telling you about the developing news the breaking news a good bit more on it now the massive earthquake that we're hearing about no detail starting to come through that has apparently reached a magnitude of six point six on the richter scale that's it rushes siberian region near the russian mongolia border mistrusts there are no reports of casualties so far but it is known that communication systems noticed the supplies in the air have suffered severe interruptions because of it it's largely a sparsely populated area the epicenter anyway where it took place but the shocks

were felt hundreds of kilometers away in some of the region's major cities so just to bring that again six point six quake tonight something very recently in russia's siberian region near the russian mongolia border no reports of casualties so far his early days are over so the good news i suppose if there is any the is that it is a sparsely populated area we'll keep you updated as we get more on this channel r.t. from moscow. north koreans will finally lay their late leader to rest on wednesday but the world still wants to know what lies ahead no in the country after kim jong il is anointed successor and youngest sons now in charge with very little is really known about him for national went back to school don't cover more about the man who has big shoes to step into. 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 late leader's great successor his third and youngest son kim jong named is a bit of a dark horse even his age remains a 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 led tracked it's a lot more interest and entrepreneur in moscow with russian origins alys on a hug and she believes he could have been one of kim's classmates when news spread that kim channing may have gone to an elite school in this week's mountains in late ninety's the businessman brought out his all the book to refresh his memory there were quite a few koreans. quieter than others. with the last name

came. as kim is the most common name in korea alexander remembers that koreans always different from other students they were very disciplined very disciplined. group of students. very serious for their interaction. and they wouldn't always take part in. fun and games of the other students were very hard 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 head xander 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 for his country and make a change in terms of. past experience his his knowledge of foreign languages

and 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 or for 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 war old and maybe their war old to north korea . r.t. more. well if you mess any of our stories head toward t. dog com best place for you to get updated any time plus there's some heart warming holiday treats to take a look at this lovely pictures we got here no need to kill cubs already captured millions of hearts city to see why i quite my size now what it will only grow as

a different matter i suppose we'll tell you why it's being hard reared in denmark instead of getting an arctic starts wore him on by. the space there are festivities aboard the international space station as well as lots of work as the crew propose to see it not one new year of course but sixteen we say a load of them as well online. it is a released report about the fukushima nuclear crisis says it was down to the plant's operators being ill prepared and not responding properly to the earthquake and tsunami disaster followed a major government inquiry said that some engineers abandoned the plant as the trouble started and other stuff delayed reporting significant radiation leaks professor christopher busby talked to us

a lot during this we caught up with him again the scientific secretary to the european committee on radiation risks when he told us he believes the report left many questions unanswered i don't think. that this inquiry has gone far enough because there are lots of questions that they haven't asked and there lots of questions that still haven't been answered the most important one is has to do with the health effects of the contamination. it's kind of assumed that everybody knows that these health effects are not going to be serious but i just like i said before the health effects would be very much more serious than anyone is saying now and i can tell you that they will probably be in some years time another employee which will show also that i'm right and this is really sad because actually if they did concede that there was a big problem then people could be could be moved out and other other activities that take place which would ensure that fewer people got sick than are going to so really this is quite a criminal affair and i would hope that eventually somebody would be brought to

justice or at least there should be some court case about it it's extremely unlikely that the that these reactors are in what they call cold shutdown i mean i think this is discourse manipulation the very recently xenon isotopes are being released from those those plants and the xenon isotopes have sufficiently short lives for us to know that fissioning is still taking place in those reactors. thoughts there of a professor christopher busby scientific secretary to the european committee on radiation risks. so focused on the most significant events in the build up to this year's do or election as part of our series about twenty leavens key moments in this now we cover the developments and she shares next 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 there was speculation that they would run for president in twenty twelve 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 glazier putin and to meet the demands of 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 lead singer putin 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 that means major will be part of united russia he will be the list that was in it. and then of course you have 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 lose 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 thing 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. 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 hipster is 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 they lost. 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 buy a lot in

a 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 with 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 can work on all of 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. because they give us an hour there are but you hope you're enjoying it hearing what it's like from the correspondents side in this whole series as they continue right up until new year will bring your personal view for more of our team of international correspondents

on this channel reporting on the big news stories that we brought you throw twenty eleven course if you've missed any news well they're also available to watch and it's a must see streaming on a web site. let me just bring up to date now on that story that we started this half hour with the breaking news talking about that massive earthquake that reached a magnitude of six point six on the richter scale it's happened folks are on the map take a look at where exactly it is sunday in russia so bear region near the russian mongolia border according to russia's emergencies ministry no human casualties quite what we mean by that i don't know but no casualties at the moment that is a bit of good news that's coming through it's been reported though that communication systems now kristie supplies in the area have suffered a lot of interruption because of this the epicenter we believe where this has all kicked off is again a bit of good news a sparsely populated area but the shocks were for hundreds of kilometers away in the regions major cities including the city across new yass

a small worry there because that is where the country's second largest hydroelectric power plant is sited so obviously officials checking out that everything's ok with that but there's no reason to think that it isn't at the moment so that's certainly a main use we've got for you this earthquake six point six on the richter scale tonight hitting russia's siberian region near the russian mongolia border. so we talked to one person who i witnessed the unfolding events in syria and who shares his impressions with us at r.t. that's to come we've also got roman with all of these specials in the sports bullets into but next catch up on the day's business katie pilgrims here. hello welcome to the business program while a number of western economies are drowning in debt rushers on course to post a one percent budget surplus this year the premier year holiday meeting of the government by mr putin emphasized the improvements that have been made away from

the energy sector. narrowed which is a very positive factor in improving your economy it shows that the effort to diversify is bearing fruit 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 another economic news russia's economy expanded more than five percent in november compared to the same period last year the economic ministry says mining electricity sector is mainly quanta be due to the bright but there was a slowdown in construction and investment. ok so let's have a look at the markets now all first crude prices are on the rise swedish adding value now one hundred dollars per barrel brant is ten had almost one hundred nine dollars per about and now on to that but is it us stocks are up consumer confidence

index surged to the highest level in eight months the dow jones and the nasdaq all both so positive right now. and over in a year the indices mixed as traders return from the christmas holidays much of london was closed again today but germany's the dax is again in point two percent. the russian markets closed just lost over percent twelve m i six finished a quarter of a percent in the red. let's have a look caps how some of those individual sharma's got on land bank lost almost two percent monopoly gazprom also finished in the red the company says profits this. a local. joint venture with another company to develop. traps and filled. his outback.

this year i think everyone already kind of done what the. year but i wouldn't exclude some speculative trading maybe some before the end of the year usually the last. week so i would expect. growth but i wouldn't be surprised if maybe six percent growth till the end of the year. the business for now i'll be back in about fifty five minutes with another.

whether you dive from high or to the depths. catch the power of the wind or drift in the puti of the currents. being well prepared is a must and if you're lucky enough. you'll never forget your experience we only need them on a screen that's going to be having. in the flight see up close and below the ice on our t.v. .