in moscow i mattress i could have you with us here on r t our top story thousands of north koreans were seen crying in the streets of pyongyang as they watched the funeral procession carrying their late leader kim jong il's youngest son and successor to lead the farewell ceremony expected to last for at least another day little is known about the heir kim jong un but some are hoping his western education may see a more open patrick but asia specialist dr to be all things external influence may decide or through his future as much as the next year. as far as we know he was educated above the educate in switzerland and i have the same don't you know but i think that's grossly overestimating is freedom of action. to the north and system but also mainly in respect to the outside world in immune respect to the the americans so it is not north korean since don't want to see americans and want to

keep it. constrained some what's unites they want to contain china and to do something differently but it is all part of the same the same package so what can join one can do is in many respects fairly limited. and we will again will have soon i don't really depend so much on the americans but journalist and war correspondent as a correspondent eric margolis marco shares the view that there is little chance of change in north korea due to the excessive influence of its military. that is good speculation that is his uncle is a man some of the members of the family are kind of pulling his strings but i think more is the one point one million man north korean army for the father announced kim jong il and forty done well over

a year ago now it's the new policy of militarized north korea as it wasn't sufficiently militarized and the whole country is it's really as the quote frederick the great it's an army disguised as a country. and that's what's happened to this great i am the son military rule which to me says that it's unlikely there will be major western style reforms you because this needs cutting spending on the military the military so powerful it's well fed it has all the prerequisites and good position so does the communist party so that they will be any force against change rather than for. party managed to gain some insight into the man who now holds the reins in north korea after we caught up with one of his former swiss school classmates his impressions of king's young chemist young hoon available a click away at our t.v. dot com. a tough period of post revolution uncertainty in egypt isn't stopping the country from gathering its international policy foreign minister has been meeting

his counterpart in moscow where they've discussed the arab world turmoil in the foreign and the frozen israeli palestinian peace talks artie's ever piskun of was following their meeting. first of all this is a great time for egypt to start we gaining some was positions on the international political stage since syria is in the spotlight the arab league has been able to send observers into the country the organization's headquarters are in cairo so egypt is directly involved in of course syria was discussed at the meeting a moscow russian foreign minister said you know a little phrase the fact that observers were finally allowed into syria at the same time both russia and egypt once again show me criticize the violence in the country but stood against any foreign military intervention egypt is also removed totally to a regional where when it comes to the middle east peace process that was discussed at the meeting here as well but all of this comes as the situation in egypt itself

is quite complicated i'm in the ongoing violent protests and the country being in the middle of the parliamentary election with several islamist oriented the political parties taking court including the muslim brotherhood and the first round of the election showed that all of these parties combined managed to gather around seventy percent of the votes the second round is expected shortly and it is planned that the new parliament will start working by the late by the end of january so this is a good time for egypt to start regaining its international contacts. the trial of egypt's former leader hosni mubarak resume wednesday after three months break he's accused of corruption abuse and the killing of demonstrators during the january uprising and may face the death penalty if convicted for more on the situation in egypt i'm joined by jeremy salter an associate professor of middle

eastern history and politics at bill kent university in long for turkey thanks for speaking with us so the verdict in the mubarak case was initially expected january twenty fifth now it might not come till now. next march which way egypt's lengthy parliamentary elections will finish what do you make of the timing do you think that's coincidence or any kind of connection there i think the here. we're barking . no.

no no. no. no i'm not. some of the barak supporters are outside the court chanting we remove mubarak we've got hussein referring to egypt's current military ruler but there's been a slow progress but elections are happening so do you think these accusations seem fair. this is the mom. who does not want to know the good and. the good.

of the. problem and now there's more. of a. problem. in . sort of. not. really. all right jeremy salt associate professor of middle eastern history and politics and i'm her attorney thanks for being with us. head of the arab league observer mission in syria has described the situation in the rest of city of homs as it reassuring so far the flashpoint city was the modest first stop to investigate the government's response to the anti-racism out arrest the rival was met by a massive demonstration tens of thousands demanding air national protection but

there are doubts the mission can bring positive results. the final report will be a pretty much preordained conclusion that there will be findings that the assad government is not doing enough to to listen to the concerns of its citizens but personally i'm not sure what is more ridiculous about this story be the idea that the the autocratic focus of the arab league states are going to presume to pronounce on the democratic leanings of that the syrian government to work with the international community is supposed to take what they say with any sort of moral authority but clearly these are not people in a position to be lecturing on this but but i think as i say i think the media report has been pretty much preordained and i would be very surprised to see that that it concludes anything other than the fact that so that the assad government is to blame for what's going on in syria right now. well stay with us here on our team is that still lots to come in the program. and we're trying to reports and eventually to take us they sort of a they came they thought that simon sort of mid-sentence just thinking oh my god i

just can't be any more. if you moments we bring you our correspondents personal reflections from greece as our team takes a look back at one eleven main headline plots. and debate this another barrier has been lifted for the thousand three talk is given the great lights across this part of the black sea on things how's that mean twenty minutes on the basis that it's at. but first of all out of here putin says he's open to talks with the opposition that organize the parliamentary and protest rallies but says there is no one to talk to the premier reaffirm the need for dialogue insisting there's always been an open channel between him and rivals our teams are in english go has more. russian prime minister meeting with journalists earlier today when responding to their questions about the possible dialogue with the opposition he said that he's actually ready for that except for a few at this point according to hundred puts in the opposition forces do not have any concrete programs or any leaders and their motivation is not quite clear so

it's really hard for him to understand in what form of the dialogue should take place but he also mentioned that seeing his own close close people close to him and his relatives sometimes interacting with certain authorities that he sometimes wants to go out and participate in a rally on his own he also finished up with a sort of a joke when asked about what would be the best present for he will what present he would give to the russian people for new years he said that the present the best present for the russian people would be fair and free presidential elections in twenty twelve of course all of this comes just days after a monumental rally which was held in the below in a square in the aftermath all the parliamentary elections is russia's state duma tens of thousands of people came out on the streets protesting what they believed were on fair elections. we've been following the most significant events in russia's big politics log on to our tea dot com for that and we have got plenty

more there right now here's a taste. ali with blockbuster about an important accountant but this is no ordinary money man it's about the women power and scandal about some of the former i.m.f. chief into the tabloid gutter. and how the cia taps into you tapping out a tweet and why it's snoopers plot a few millions of messages a day on social networks. the people of greece will be glad to see the back of two thousand and eleven a year of cuts riots and vilification by other european nations for bringing them to the brink of collapse our first reported from the thick of it from the start and she shares her firsthand account in our series looking back on the years events

that changed the world. ok i think in two thousand and eleven we really sort of felt the world shift on its axis slightly we saw people's protests nathan sort of spread around the world and greece is certainly for me very much on the front line if the fight and it became really this sort of produced a child the financial crisis it turned into a political crisis to became a social crisis and you know this there's a saying that if you're a hammer everything looks like if you push people into a corner then they're going to come out fighting and i think increased that was exactly what happened. the first time in. reporting and they had

a protest planned i remember in the morning our hotel was just off the corner syntagma very very close to central square as the year i think crisis rumbles on grief is once again found itself the focus of international attention and it seems like everyone had an opinion about it that you might honor him and going off and finishing to us and coming back and getting a phone call to say that we need to do another one and at that exact moment we could hit the noises that we just you hear like popping sounds it's a take us going off on the other corner sometimes. almost immediately you just get a huge surge of people coming policy i mean you can barely me. this is a really intense experience and you sort of when you're right in the center of it i can't tell you what it's like to be around people. that angry that angry that they feel to a point where they're having to turn out and these sort of clashes abrupt i mean it's really scary because it's not just. a small hall cool. these people

you know old people young people completely normal families that are turning up that have just reached the point where they don't know what to do anymore. we literally found ourselves in the center sometimes just. one of the streets as all the riot police started pushing back late at the anarchists these guys are backing down you know the people sort of running at them and throwing rocks and metal and it was just it was absolute chaos five is going off in different parts in time and everyone was just sort of running around thinking very very lowest and we were just stunned to be honest i mean it just going from north to one hundred in the space of sort of twenty minutes and you know we found ourselves right in the sense of and i remember just saying try me just keep filming this just keep filming it and the main street right now was very hard. even to

pretend it was either a difficult to find out about it but it. was we. the people. who were trying to reports and eventually to take us to a sort of a became both the time and sort of mid sentence just thinking oh my god i just can't breathe anymore. and i remember seeing the fishes in the car and getting caught in the middle of the to you guys and just thinking oh that's just. thing coughing and

spluttering in. do you remember being quite in virus the bout. then we realized that it obviously that clip caught a lot of people's attention and each and i think it certainly felt good that it was striking a chord with a lot of people because at that time still there was very much a sense in europe in the way it was being reported in is a problem that greece is having is a great problem and we were all sort of witnessing what was going on and i think when we were increased we realized very very quickly that it wasn't just a greek problem and this is something that was going to fade everyone. right from the very beginning we wanted to get a good story from a different angle we were much more interested in getting the social side of what was going on right now there's a chance you might lose everything that we know in this country you don't know what . you can you can plan your life i hope for everybody to become

and. try to get out of the crisis if that was what was always important to us it is getting. the people increase getting their opinion across to the kids i think a lot of their voices really have got lost in the whole political economic talk kind of forget what it's all about which is about you know the people who were there and you're talking to. the lucky in that's amazing people i mean every single time i've gone back there just a welcoming. more continued bring you the personal reflections from our correspondents worldwide on the headlines of two thousand and eleven. at r.t. dot com. russian court has decided against banning a translation of the harry christian as most holy text a group connected with a christian orthodox church had claimed it was extremist parties and tell you no because of its following the reaction to the case. i want to tell you is so what

was the group's complaint exactly. oh well it all started because of one of the translations oath about god's good such as it is into russian good to have been barking or a ho ho and a religious hatred now the case was one of the prosecutors in. the area. where all the money question wants members they're suspicious now if you think you'll be back at the relationship between washer and the movements it was never an easy one during the ninety's with russia was going through one of its most difficult times the movement was simply considered to be really just sat you can imagine glue images of russia in the ninety's and serve all those serve people dressed in bright and colorful clothes dancing around listening to music spreading to what russians thought was suspicious literature convincing teenagers to join you in stay with them and maybe simply thought they were drug addicts and were posing

a threat to the society if. so as you can see the russians are have been suspicious about the movements for quite a while however it all was g.-tube lack of understanding of the movement as was this particular case a misunderstanding over the one particular translation all over the book as the court has proved today and jury will decide to our minister of foreign affairs of russia has been saying that this is not about their original book that is always his sacred to hinder people but rather about that particular translation and whether that was extremist or not. and tell you what is the court said about its decision. and so you can repeat the question what is the court said about that about its decision as i made any statement about it. well the statement was made that the insulation over the book was not recognized to be extremist at all as they

said. the confusion that's in it has been spreading among prosecutors say b. and representatives of every national situation all right are you going to tell you no because a live in central moscow thanks for that update. finally in this news blog oil prices have surged after a wrong threaten to block shipments through one of the world's biggest busiest waterways if new western sanctions cripple its own exports the country's navy commander says the cut off will be easy to inflict let's get some analysis on this from political analyst chris bambery live for us in london. thanks for joining us so just over a sixth of all the world's oil trade passes through the strait of hormuz between the gulf of oman in the persian gulf what happens to the global oil trade if this gets blocked. well we've seen today the surge of the price of oil and potentially that could happen throwing another spanner into the whole workings international

economy which is not looking too good at the moment as we go into two thousand and twelve i think the irony is is that you know in two thousand and three america invaded iraq with the of controlling the reach in the middle east and controlling the oil supplies we know you see there probably are american control of the middle east is its weakest in decades is lost. in egypt but it's not in control of iraq iran has considerable influence in iraq it is extending its influence into afghanistan we see that the acid regime has not been overthrown in syria it is with this control over security forces and the conflict in syria which is no developing is very becoming course are intertwined with what's happening with iran and of course we have has war in lebanon a massive power strain and the unrest in eastern saudi arabia and back here in this is a potential trouble for america and the danger is this is not just simply a military conflict or a conflict with iran it can be easily spill over into regional conflicts it which

him as a see america is a much weaker hand that it did over a decade of gold. and oil trade oil embargo on iran which is one of the world's top exporters will inevitably impact the markets even if there is no gulf blockade which side do you think would suffer most in this case iran or the clients who get its oil. well iran says because you can beat that blockade it could rely on its existing trading partners it's what has to be seen whether china and russia would join in with these sanctions that's an open question that americans could probably force using the military which in the gulf could probably force or put the straits of hormuz but that would mean war with iran and that as i see it would be a huge huge escalation and would threaten world peace and therefore i think the iranians are really challenging the americans sensing the american american american weakness we know that both from british sources that there are plans to

attack iran and israel is egging on america to attack iran over the question of its new nuclear program but i think again in a comparison with iraq in two thousand and three iran is in a much stronger position iranian nationalism should not be should not be underestimated even opponents armitage about it would rally to support iran's given britain and america's history in iran there's a long history of unfortunate british and american intervention in here so i think we're witnessing quite a dangerous escalation and it's the sanctions which the west the talk of the importance of iran which is responsible for that situation developing i think we should be clear about that is the west who've racked up this situation every step you know just to wrap up here when iran made a similar threat in two thousand and eight the u.s. said it would consider such a block here an act of war u.s. warships are positioning near the strait do you see this escalating. yes i do see

it escalating i think be very easy to escalate though clearly hawks in washington and certainly in tel aviv who want a military strike against their own and america we know all its economic uncertainties develop it's always been inclined to use its military strength to reinforce and butters a position around the world and as the economic situation worsens in two thousand and twelve i think you could see more a possibility of war military adventures as the western powers britain france and america sense that economically they might be weak the militarily they can use their weight to buttress their position i think they're making a big mistake with iran as well because relatively iranian economy is doing well and iran is in a position to exert more influence a regional basis as we saw this week with the sunni agreements in afghanistan and that must hurt the americans to see there really is growing influence in iraq and in afghan afghanistan i think it was the sense of desperation in washington and among its allies in london after about chris brown bear bambery in london thanks

for a perspective sports coming up in twenty minutes including the preparations for the first ever youth winter olympics but first layers but the world of business with katie. welcome to the business program turkey has given the green light to sell streamed across its part of the black sea the pipeline is intended to carry gas from southern russia to europe by part of the transit counters of ukraine and belarus is planned to have a capacity of sixty billion cubic meters again and will cost around twenty billion dollars to build gas prominence fifty percent of the projects while twenty percent belongs to any the rest is evenly distributed between france's e.d.f. and germany's winter still. a new era is beginning for the russian economy the countryside to apply for membership of the world trade organization back in one thousand nine hundred three finally that long negotiations over america has been formally invited to join dimitri medvedev changes this will bring.

becoming a member of the world trade organization is both a political and economic milestone the fact that for such a long time russia now a top ten global economy was outside the trading club that unites ninety eight percent of the world's population sounds pretty ridiculous under w. zero rules the average duty on imports of goods will be reduced to seven point eight percent for agriculture it will be lowered to ten point eight from thirteen point two percent and as for manufactured goods the decline will be to seven point three percent from the current nine and a half. the parliament in russia still needs to ratify russia's exception to the w t o but obviously these changes will not happen in one day only a third of newly set in producers are expected to come straight after the ratification basically those which will not do any harm medicine very example will

become cheaper gradually over three years to give local producers time to adapt to new market conditions and when it comes to the weakest or sensitive sectors like cars imports will be cut inch by inch over the next seven years for years the government protected farmers and car makers and will continue to do so through subsidies although the funds will drop significantly over time and perhaps the definite winner in this whole situation is the consumer as regulations become more transparent and tariffs are slashed more companies will be coming to russia's market and competition will force producers to reduce prices the economic development ministry therefore expects to see an average reduction of around ten percent versus the world bank believes that that the total effect will amount to an extra four point three percent of the gross domestic product as spending will grow seven percent but yes again this whole process may take quite a while and in the end russia is expected to finally improve the disproportional

two percent of global trade volumes that it accounts for at the moment and that's all we've got time for now but i'll be writing about fifty five minutes. 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 heavily. into flight see up close and below the ice on our t.v. wealthy british style. that's not on the free. market

find scandal find out what's really happening to the global economy for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines to name two kinds of reports on r t. four thirty pm in moscow here r.t. headlines one day one of the late north korean leader's funeral ends but hopes of change under his successor overshadowed by concerns that foreign countries actually want to keep the status quo. post mubarak egypt seeks to shape its international ties amid turmoil and uncertainty at home was ousted leader's trial finally resumes . a russian court decides against a bad.