let. me. day one of the late north korean leader's funeral ends but hopes of change under his successor could be overshadowed by concerns that foreign countries may actually want to keep the status quo. post mubarak in egypt seems to shape its international ties amid turmoil and uncertainty at home while it's ousted leaders trial finally. a russian court decides against banning a translation of a harry christian holy text which was suspected of being extremist.

six pm in moscow i matricide good to have you with us here on our team our top story thousands of north koreans were seen weeping in the streets of pyongyang as they won't watch the funeral procession carrying their late leader kim jong il's youngest son and successor led to a farewell ceremony which is expected to at last at least another day little is known of the heir kim jong il some are hoping his western education may see a more open country but asia specialist dr tim beale thinks external influence may decide north korea's future as much as the next camera. as far as we know he was educated on the edge in switzerland and have the same but listen gets grossly overestimating is freedom of action. to the north and system but also. use thanks to the outside world a new respect to be the americans so he is not north korea and since don't want to see americans and want to keep the. constraint some what's.

they want to contain china iran to do something differently but it's all part of the same the same package so what can do is in many respects fairly limited. we will again will have seen but i don't really depend so much on the americans. budget analyst and war correspondent eric margolis shares the view that there is little chance of change for north korea because of the excessive influence of its military there's good speculation that is his uncle is and some of the members of the family are kind of pulling his strings but i think more of course is the one point one million man north korean army for the father announced kim jong il and forgotten well over a year ago now it's the new poll see of militarizing north korea as it wasn't sufficiently militarized. 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 and the son military rule which to me says that it's unlikely there will be major western style reforms you because this means cutting spending on the military moves are 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. marty managed to gain some insight into the man who now hold the reins in north korea after catching up with one of his former swiss school classmates his impressions of kim jong il in a click away at our team dot com and while you're there tell us what you think will happen next in north korea here's how the opinion lines up this hour more than half think nothing will change all in the or the state more than a quarter think the new leader will hold little sway against an increasingly mighty military seventy per cent think there's going to be more openness and freedom in

the north if you are still think that the increase of likelihood of korean unification may be it may occur add your voice now by heading over to our t.v. dot com. a tough period of post revolution uncertainty inside egypt isn't stopping the huns you from strengthening its international policy the foreign minister has been meeting his counterpart in moscow where they discuss the arab world turmoil in the frozen israeli palestinian peace talks. as more. 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 and of course syria was discussed at the meeting in moscow russian foreign minister said a deal of it all praised the fact that observers were finally allowed into syria at the same time both russia and egypt once again strongly criticized 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 problem and she 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 vote so this is a good time for egypt to start regaining its international contacts. the trial of egypt's ousted president resume wednesday after three months break house to mubarak is accused of corruption abuse and the deaths of demonstrators during the january uprising and may face the death penalty if convicted and

shipshape journalist. joins us now with more thanks for being with us so the final verdict is expected in march what kind of trial you expect this to be do you think it could be fair when there is definitely a growing sense among especially among protests is that this is this trial is a mock trial basically designed to. cool down the public opinion. there is a growing. suspicion that the the supreme council of forces is just. trying to cool down the public opinion by putting. pressure to bring him to justice back in march protestors are still rallying in tahrir square but they are becoming quieter as of late are they losing popularity or do you think they're waiting to see how the elections will pan out well one of the reasons they are

losing popularity is that the islamists like the mainly the muslim brotherhood did leave. because they're now move busy with the elections and the muslim brotherhood strategy now is to bring change through the parliament rather than through the street. so definitely the. people who was on the street pushing using the street to push for change. most of the political parties became occupied with the election. so really remains in the square now is activists with the moves socialist tendencies. who did not do very well in the elections and they see they still perceive the street as the main lobbying. platform.

not a muslim and they don't have. the muslim brotherhood being the front runner in the elections do you think they're the best ones to build the free and democratic society that the uprising was calling for a year ago. well the misson brotherhood recently have reassured people that they believe in political purity and this is has this has been their narrative for almost a decade now that they have been they have denounced violence they believe in political plurality they believe in representative democracy and they have recently special after the victory they have been reassuring people. that this is going to be the case do you think there is are genuine. they are not genuine they might not be genuine look we have to wait because the muslim brotherhood has always been in a position we have never seen the muslim brotherhood actually in power so we will

have to wait and see this is why people into the square thing that the pressure from the street should remain should remain there islam as groups have taken root elsewhere in tunisia and also libya's rulers say they'll build an islamic state how do you think it will change the face of the region well i mean in many arab countries especially tunisia libya and egypt many north african countries. secularism has been imposed by through tarion rulers so definitely an islamic awakening but i don't think i don't personally think that it when this is a conflict with democracy egypt's foreign think i think continue. yeah i think i i think more than. in north africa in tunisia libya and egypt could very well. be the democratic transition. all right i'm

very have been there have there have been statements by now the party in tunisia the muslim brotherhood in egypt that they are committed to the most receive committed to present of the most kristie and personal freedoms so i think i think. like i miss them it's driven democracy it's not really a snowboard in it. it's something that could very much work all right we have to leave it there egyptian journalist are some of the thanks for your insights. the head of the arab league observers mission in syria has described the situation in the rest of city of homs as being a reassuring so far the flashpoint city was a monetarist first stop to investigate the government's response to the anti regime on arrest the arrival was met by a massive demonstration with tens of thousands demanding international protection but there are some doubts that 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 these 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 the syrian government to work with the international community is supposed to take what they see 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 report has been pretty much preordained and i would be very surprised to see that that it concludes anything other than the fact that the assad government is to blame for what's going on in syria right now. stay with us here on our team still ahead in the program. trying to poison eventually to take us safe. instead of me. just thinking oh my god i just can't breathe anymore. in just a few moments we'll bring you our correspondents personal reflections from green

takes a look back at the main headlines of twenty go up. in business and i have. given the. policy of the black sea about fifteen minutes time. but first glad i'm here putin says he's open for talks with the opposition that organize the parliamentary protest rallies but he says there's no one to talk to the premier reaffirm that there is a need for dialogue insisting there's always been a channel between him and his rivals are going to lose go explains. the russian prime minister meeting with journalists earlier today when responding to their questions about the possible dialogue with the opposition he said that he is actually ready for that except at this point according to logic which 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. we've never been against dialogue with the opposition because we're in

a constant. thing and i am personally against it and that's any kind of extremism and there are a lot of different leaders in the opposition but they have to formulate a unified plan for a single into position so that we can actually understand these people want. 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 president the best present for the russian people would be fair and free presidential elections in two and twelve of course all of this comes just days after a monumental rally which was held in the below me a square in the aftermath of the parliamentary elections is russia's state duma tens of thousands of people came out on the streets protesting what they believe

were on fair elections. parties on top of the changes in russia's political world and so can you by following our online coverage of r.t. dot com and we've got other things on the movers and shakers there as well including a hollywood blockbuster about i don't porton accountant but this is no ordinary money man it's about women in power and scandal that's what the former head of the i.m.f. into the tabloid gutter plus. how the cia taps into tweets we'll look at why it's snoopers plowed through millions of messages a day on social networks. the people of greece will be glad to see how two thousand and eleven a year of cuts riots and vilification by other european nations for bringing them

to the brink of collapse or key sarah for a reported from the thick of it from the start and now she's sharing her firsthand impressions on our series reflecting the years events that changed the world. i think in two thousand and eleven we really sort of felt the world shift and. we saw people's protests nathan sort of spread around the world and greases me very much on the front line. and it became really the sort of the child the financial crisis it turned into a political crisis to became a social crisis and this does this saying that if you're a hammer everything looks like a nail 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. it was just still cool in a 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 were. going off and finishing to. getting a phone call to say that we need to do another one. exactly we keep it the noises that we just like. to take us going off on the other corner sometimes. almost immediately you just get a huge surge of people coming. 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 they feel to

a point where they're having to turn outs 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 tunning up that have just reached the point where they don't know what to do anymore. we literally found ourselves on the. side of one of the streets as all the riot police. people sort of running at them and throwing. it was absolutely. going off in different parts in time everyone was just sort of running around very very lowest and we were just stunned to be honest i mean it just goes to one hundred in the space of sort of twenty minutes and we found ourselves right and i

remember just saying just keep filming this just keep filming it and i made it very hard to even to pretend it may even be just as. bad. as the. people. they're. trying to reports and eventually to take a sort of a became sort of mid sentence just thinking oh my god i just can't breathe anymore . and i remember seeing this in the car my getting caught in the middle of the take us and just

thinking oh. this thing coughing and spluttering in. remember being quite embarrassed about that then we realized that it obviously that clip caught a lot of people's attention. and i think it actually 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 that you know this 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 notice is something that was going to fade everyone. right from the very beginning we wanted the. 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 lights i hope for everybody to be calm and. try to get out of the crises if that was what was always important to us is getting. the people increase getting their opinion across because i think a lot of their voices really have got lost in the whole political economic took it 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. we'll continue bringing you personal reflections from our correspondents worldwide on the headlines of two thousand and eleven and if you missed any them you can find them again at r.t. dot com. oil prices have surged in after iran threaten to block shipments through one of the world's biggest busiest waterways if new western

sanctions cripple its own exports the country's naval commander says that the cut off will be easy to inflict iran is currently conducting a huge war game near the crucial strait of hormuz the u.s. maintains also where the naval presence there are mainly to ensure the passage remains free political analyst chris bambery thinks the west could be putting world peace on the line with its stubbornness on sanctions that americans could probably force using the military which in the govt could probably force open the straits of hormuz but that would mean war with iran and that 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 weakness we know that from british sources that there are quine's to attack iran and israel is egging all in america to attack iran over the question of its 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 who rallied to support iran's given britain and america's history in iran there's a long history of unfortunate british and american intervention in iraq so i think we're witnessing quite a dangerous escalation and it's the sanctions which the west of talk of the importance of iran which is responsible for that situation developing and i think we should be clear about that is the west who've racked up this situation every step. finally in this news block a russian courts decided against the banning a translation of a harry christian as most holy text a group connected with a christian orthodox church claimed it was extremist parties that tell you no overcover has more pull started because of one of the translation so called god gets out as it is into russian which though to have been sparking reshow and religious hatred now the case was filed after prosecutors look at the behavior of

the hari krishna movements in the tomb screeches in sabeer was suspicious and of course with those people the book is sacred but he takes a look back at the relationship between russia and the hari krishna movement it was never an easy one to look in the ninety's there when russia was going through one of its most difficult and periods over history so far the movement was simply seen as the religious cults you can imagine the grim images of russia in the ninety's and all those people just in bright and colorful clothes listening to rock musing spreading to its russians still it was suspicious literature and some convincing young people to join in and stay with them many saw them as drug addicts many believe that they were posing as threats to the society and so there was definitely a lack of understanding of the movement in the first place as this case was a lack of understanding of translation of the book even through russian as the court has proved today in all this time russian ministry of foreign affairs has

been a saying that this trial has nothing to do with their original book that is obviously sacred see even to people but rather whether this particular translation over into russian was extremist or not. and about twenty minutes kate will be up with the sports and news of a bad news of a bad or one liverpool striker who's been grabbing the headlines for all the wrong reasons i really don't know enough about soccer to really get that one out well but trust me it's interesting but first the business news with katie. hello welcome to business here and all tape turkey has been given the green light to sell string to cross its part of the black sea the pipeline is intended to carry gas from southern russia to europe bypassing the transit countries of the crane and bella rose is found to have a capacity of sixty building cubic meters again and will cost around twenty billion

dollars to build and fifty percent of the projects while twenty percent belongs to it in a the rest is evenly distributed between france's e.d.f. and germany is when does all. and you areas beginning for the russian economy the country first apply for membership of the world trade organization back in one thousand nine hundred three finally that long negotiations over russia has been formally invited to join dimitri medvedev the changes 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 t o 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 import duties are expected to come straight after the ratification basically those which will not do any harm medicine for 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 for subsidies although the funds will drop significantly over time and perhaps the definite winner in this whole situation is the consumer has 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 of the us 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 yet 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. let's have a look at the markets now all has slightly retreated from the gains it saw in the previous session there was still fairly high concerns tension and pools supply disruptions another drive that is improving u.s. consumer confidence in your app the footsie on the dot it's not on the rise as a training resume following an extended holiday break and it's. a show drop in yields we talk on their shelves a sink i use as

a resale such has been boosted by post christmas shopping and the markets will be closing the shortly the markets right now all mixed trading is stand by your read holidays makes economic news out of the u.s. and europe feels this is losing ground even as all set another record high. so for me for now you can check out the website it's plenty of business news going on on that forward slash business by.

more than sixty square kilometers of the station and those are still suprising. i'm finding. it's getting bad out here. but not saying hardly any birds squirrels you know. what's going on here. concrete. wealthy british.