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 invited some are hoping his western education may see a more open country but asia specialist dr tim bill thinks external influence may decide north korea's future as much as the next camera. as far as we know he was educated above the edge in switzerland in having the same but i think it's grossly overestimate is freedom of action. to the north and system but also mainly use faith to the outside world in in respect to be the americans so it is

not north korea and since don't want to see americans and want to keep the. constraint some what's unites they want to contain china iran to do something differently but it is all part of the same the same package so what one can do is in many respects fairly limited. we will again will have c. but i don't really depends very 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. it 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 filipino father announced kim jong il 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 and the son looked through which to me says that it's unlikely there will be major western style reforms the business needs cutting spending on the military 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. a party 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 a click away at r.t. 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 dollar or piece of 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 fewer still think that he increase of likelihood of korean unification may i.v. it may occur add your voice now by heading over to our team top. a tough period of post revolution uncertainty inside egypt isn't stopping the hunter from strengthening its international policy the foreign minister has been meeting his counterpart in moscow where they discussed the arab world turmoil in the frozen israeli palestinian peace talks or he proposed going off 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 sergei lavrov off praise 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

hosni 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 from cairo 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. there is definitely a growing sense among especially among protesters 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 the square because they 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 tendency. who did not do very well in the elections and

they see they still perceive the street as the main lobbying. platform. they don't have. the muslim brotherhood in 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 muslim brotherhood recently have reassured people that they believe in political pluralism 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 especially after the victory they have been reassuring people. that this is going to be the case do you think those are genuine. they're 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 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 to many north african countries. secularism has been imposed by through tarion rulers so there's definitely an islamic awakening but i don't think i don't personally think . it will necessarily conflict with democracy egypt's foreign think i think continue. yeah i think i think modern islamists in north africa in tunisia libya and in egypt could very well.

lead the transition. and there have been there have there have been statements by another party in tunisia and the muslim brotherhood in egypt that they are committed to democracy committed to present of democracy and personal freedoms. so i think think i. like i miss them it's driven democracy it's not really a snowboard and could have been had 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 so that the assad government is to blame for what's going on in syria right now. stay with us here on r.t.c. still ahead in the program. trying to of course and eventually to take us a sort of a weekend they thought i meant sort of mid sentence just thinking oh my god i just

called wait anymore. just a few moments we'll bring you our correspondents personal reflections from greece as our team takes a look back at the main headlines over twenty yo up. a basis another barrier has been lifted for the south stream after given a great night this policy of the blacks a multi task made about fifteen minutes time. but first of lattimer 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's a need for dialogue insisting there's always been a channel between him and his rivals artie's arena delusional 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 for him at this point according to madrid which in their position forces do not have any concrete programs or any leaders and their motivation is not quite clear so it's really hard for them to understand in what

form of the dialogue should take place. we've never been against dialogue with the opposition because we're in constant touch with them because we're against one 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 platform singled out a position so that we can actually understand these people. 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 the twenty's well 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 believed 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 we've got other things on the movers and shakers there as well including a hollywood blockbuster about an important accountant but this is no ordinary money man it's about women power and scandal that's at the former head of the i.m.f. into the tabloid gutter plus. how the cia taps into tweeds 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 in 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 first ten impressions in our series reflecting 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 protest movement sort of spread around the world and greece is certainly for me very much on the front line if that fight and it became really the sort of place to 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 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 think syntagma very very close to central square at the year anything quite as rumbles all grief as once again found itself the focus of international attention and it seems like everyone had an opinion about it that you honor him and going off and finishing to . coming back and getting a phone call to say that we needed to do another one 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 syntagma. 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 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 turning up that have just reached the point where they don't know what to do anymore. we literally found ourselves in the center. just side of one of the streets as all the riot police started pushing back late at the anarchists and these guys just backing down you know the people sort of running at them and throwing rocks and metal and it's just it was absolutely i was going off in different parts in time 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 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 in the mainstream right now it's very hard. even to prepare him it may not even be a difficult to find out about it but it would be. the to. be. as we. keep. trying to reports and eventually to take us to a sort of a became both of us 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 embarrassed about that then we realized that it obviously that clip caught a lot of people's attention and you 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 it was a greek 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 it get our 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't blame your lights i hope for everybody to be calm 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 because 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 are there and you're talking to a. really 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 then you can find them again at r.t. dot com. oil prices have surged in

a row after iran threatened 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 evil presence there are mainly to ensure the passage remains free political analyst chris bambery things 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 gove 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 quietens 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. we 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 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. finally in this news block a russian courts decided against the banning a translation of the 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 translations over. as it is into russian which though to have been sparking reshow and religious hatred

now the case was filed after prosecutors thought that the behavior of the hari krishna movements in the tomb screeches in siberia was suspicious and of course with those people the book is sacred but he take 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 a 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 as in convincing the 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 to you they didn't do people but rather whether this particular translation over into russian was extremist or knowledge. 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 in our tape turkey has been given the green light to sell strange across its part of the black sea the pipeline is intended to carry gas from southern russia to europe by party of the transit countries of the crane and bella rose is found to have a capacity of sixty building cubic metres

a year and will cost around twenty billion dollars to build gas prom and fifty percent of the project while twenty percent belongs to islam in it 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 ago she has over from russia has been formally invited to join dimitri medvedev that 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. 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 produce 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 through 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 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 how slightly rich rated from the gains it saw in the previous session that was still fairly high on concerns tension and of course supply disruptions another driver is improving u.s. consumer confidence in your at the foot sea and the dots now on the rise as a training resume following an extended holiday break after an attorney and bond

auction showed a show drop in yields we talk i'm place as a single use as the retail sector has been boosted by post christmas shopping and in russia 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 the l.c.s. is losing ground even as all such another record high. so for me for now you can check out the website is plenty of business news going on on that dot com forward slash business good bye now.

tragically in those towns. squandered money. abandoned mine. what is now. more than sixty square kilometers and in one move in the midst nation and those who are still surprisingly alive i'm fighting for just. that's getting bad out here. but not saying hardly any birds squirrels you know. ducks you know i don't know what's going on here. concrete monarchy wealthy british style sun it's time. for the.

markets. campbell find out what's really happening to the global economy for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into gaza report on our. six thirty pm in moscow he's here are to have a life day one of the late north korean leaders funeral ends but hopes of change under his successor overshadowed by concerns that foreign nations may actually want to keep the status quo. post mubarak egypt seeks to shape its international ties amid turmoil uncertainty at home while its ousted leaders trial resumes. a russian court decides against banning a translation of a harry christian holy.