twenty twelve continues with more eyewitnesses eyewitness testimony from our reporters as we remember the summer the british people said and nothing is enough. and the business not all is bad despite the crisis russia has told banks close to fifty two percent increase in net profit the first eleven months of the year more details coming up in twenty two. it's five pm in moscow this is r t coming to you live on news now with our top story this hour in israel israeli warplanes have launched two air strikes on what the army called terrorist sites in central and northern gaza killing at least one person and injuring ten others the israeli military earlier confirmed it's preparing for a new large scale offensive against the palestinian territory which hasn't yet recovered from the assault three years ago paul asli are reports now from jerusalem

. for several days now the israeli gaza border has been tense four palestinians were killed and several others were injured in a series of targeted strikes carried out by the israeli air force at the same time and number of rockets were fired by palestinian militants into southern israel now last night wednesday evening the israeli defense force did confirm that it is preparing a large scale military operation in gaza it says that operation will be varied and different to the last operation that was carried out there three years ago what we're hearing is that the purpose of this operation will be to in hans is ready to terence now we are receiving reports that khaled mashal who is hamas as political bureau chief has called for all attacks on israeli civilians to be halted this comes in light of the recently conciliation deal that was signed between wyvil palestinian faction groups amass and fattah in cairo and this would be because of fear of a massive israeli retaliation this tuesday marks three years since the last israeli

operation in gaza that israelis referred to as operation cast lead that operation lasted about three weeks nearly one and a half thousand palestinians were killed four out of five of them were civilians what we're hearing from the israeli army this time around is that this operation will be much shorter and that the israelis will employ much greater use of fire power but certainly it is still too soon to say what will happen. but gideon levy who is a columnist with one of brazil's biggest newspaper says his concert will face difficulties ever decides to wait another war on gaza. three years ago israel had the card blancher not only carte blanche the west had plowed. and didn't say a word against the setting but this time we are facing a new egypt and gaza ease in the backyard of egypt and i'm not sure that egypt will

remain indifferent visa via another thing but having said this i'm not sure that this is enough to prevent an attack because unfortunately israeli politicians in general not always react in a most racial and logical way the current government of israel has no serious intention about serious dialogue with the palestinians maybe some photo opportunities but nothing more than the send the p.a. the palestinian authority had just launched another proposal for israel to get back to the negotiation table they even gave up the precondition of freezing the settlements which is a minimum. condition and they had suggested just symbolic release of one hundred palestinian prisoners to get back to negotiation table and what it is will say no. we have more opinion reports and the timeline of the gaza

offensive three years ago on our web site there you can also find out how the israeli palestinian conflict is developing it's all there for you at r.t. dot com. arab league observers in syria have split into two groups and are now heading to three more uprising hotspots they've already been to the flashpoint city of homs where they found quote nothing frightening syria's fourth largest city of hamas is among the monitors next destination reports emerged that on wednesday six people were killed there in a fresh outplayed outbreak of violence mideast expert to recount the doubts the arab mission will yield any possible results. obviously the syrians let in the morning show that they're not going to i. think indeed find nothing but lead has been one of the most fair to call them a safe rooms in the arab world for a long long time doing nothing of the starry doing nothing to prevent the war in

iraq and now it's being used as a name here by the west so i don't take the arab league as such too seriously so we shall see what happens if it. argues spoke exclusively to russia's u.n. ambassador who says carrying out promised reforms may be too difficult for the also regime well it's caught up in a civil war with extremist. when there is a crisis all sorts of extremist terrorist elements show up for instance several days ago there was a horrible terrorist attack in damascus and the day before that now the minister of defense of lebanon said that they detected some al-qaeda groups are moving into syria from from lebanon so i wouldn't be surprised that you know some terrorist elements from libya or other places have found their way into syria some reforms were announced. some of them we are pretty far reaching to expect that those real

reforms can be implemented in a situation when the the crisis is sort of teetering on the brink of civil war even under normal circumstances in any country or reforms of such magnitude are not easy to implement but i mean the point i'm trying to make is that the sooner the crisis the military clashes stop the better position the international community will be to demand that the syrian authorities move along the reform track as quickly as possible. if you can get ambassador churkin since line on all the recent developments we'll bring you more of that interview next hour here on r.t. elsewhere in the arab world we'll see what stage libya's this hour as we head towards the new year post revolutionary fervor has faded but libya's armed militias still patrolled the report sorely on how the reluctance to downed weapons might spark another power struggle. but first we're revisiting the key moments which

showed how the world is ending twenty eleven very differently to how it began as seen through the eyes of our cities global correspondents august was a hot month for britain not least of all because it was shaken by the worst on rest in decades as thousands of rioters rampaged through key cities maurice smith witnessed the chaos that left an indelible mark on the country. we first realised what a big story this was going to be on the night of the seventh of august there had been localized just says on saturday the six but we were tracking the news and we literally couldn't believe what we were hearing we decided that this was a story that we had to go and. we went initially to

the retail park in enfield where we couldn't see anything it was already dark it was quite late. and then all of a sudden out of the darkness came a group of around two hundred youths running across the retail park dressed mainly in black colors with hooded top so and so you couldn't see their faces and gradually we realised they were smashing everything they could find. for me as a journalist it was an incredible story we were out on the streets every night wearing what i've come to call my riot. black white jackets with everything i need in the pocket so that i can get away quickly if necessary it's an uneasy relationship. these parts of the between the people on the police and the state's people say

a manifestation of. we really felt two of the nights the whole of london was on fire you words you would arrive assist us in area and you'd be able to see the flames on the smoke rising from two streets away and know that the writers had set fire to a car or broken into a shop and set fire to it or even on one occasion they set fire to an enormous coffin. house. arrest grads to different parts of loving to. around london following it as it happened. almost anywhere that you went in the more areas of london that was some form of new say we went round and also days areas to have a look at what was going on and there was streets that were just complete no go areas no certainly for ordinary people but it seemed for the police as well we were

talking to the police and it was clear from what they were saying that they had no idea what to do about the situation they just didn't know what to do they were look . they eventually settled on certainly for those of us tonight's was. just to show that presence and then running away again really purely running away and it wasn't until the third or fourth night that they really got into game and elements of control. on the second off to new we went to hackney west some of the worst unrest was taking place and it was literally shut down like . the police were not really less than anyone three they had surrounded the town center and when you got into the towns and we saw people and just smashing into shops and grabbing whatever they could. but not just young people adults as well.

as darkness just just. the other frightening thing was the effects that it had on society if you had talked to people two weeks before the riots about whether bringing in the mill millet tree to take control of the streets was a good idea everybody would have said no it's quite a liberal society when you get down to it but the people i spoke to during the riots. and immediately i genuinely felt that bringing in the army would have been a good idea that using water cannon on the streets of london and other cities which would have the proper about immediately so people became very draconian jaring those times very sort of repressive and they would have supported the government to bring in the army to. the studies it being done now into why the riots happened and a variety of reasons have been put forward maybe it's to bad relationship with the

police in these impoverished areas particularly amongst the black who say that they are stopped and searched by the police sometimes multiple times a day for having done nothing some people say that because young people in england particularly feel that they have no prospects there's no jobs for them unemployment amongst young people is running at twenty five percent now they've got. those two things remain true. for i see no reason why this kind of thing wouldn't happen again. well there's more testimony to come on the world's big advance of the year from our reporters who were there if you missed any of the series so far they're all available to watch right now at our c dot com. both threats are being you can i should say head to our two dark com for more insight and video reports of what's

happening in your world there some of what we've lined up for you today from a seventeen thousand dollars doormat to defense spending on carnival costumes we tell you the wasters who are winning russians brushoff say for blowing public money . and scoring big that these two teams of elephants have indeed mastered passing and shooting all part of a three day elvin that's a vote. check out who won the jumbo game at r.t.e. dot com. so the bugs sordo in visitors are returning to libya with tripoli air traffic on the rise but what greets you at the gate are heavily armed militia the first sign a rhyming passengers get of the country has

a long way to go to restore trust that's next on a boycott reports the extremely diverse formal rebel groups must urgently consolidate and transform into a civilian political force. flying high but still running low almost two months after the lifting of a no fly zone over tripoli the city's airport operates far below its capacity to the passenger traffic keeps increasing every month as more and more airlines uprooting tripoli back on their flight schedules the tripoli airport is once again buzzing with visitors a fellow lives have already within service and more expected to follow in the coming months but while the flight controllers and customs officials are back of their desks it's still the militia who call the shots here and the rebels themselves admit that the situation is still way to trouble and to cede control to civilian authorities they're no longer flashing their guns to get make it very clear who is in control here the rebel brigade from the western cd of the captured

the airport in late august as the rebels over on the capital the control of this key facility how the town with the population of some fifty thousand rise to national prominence since then does in time militia has successfully styled itself as the save guards of libya's future the sword for forty two years our country had nothing no state institutions just one insane person. now we have a historic mission to overcome the difficulties of the transitional period and build a new country and that. is one of the top guns in tripoli these days primarily a colonel in the good after his army he still keeps the good office army cap in his office his subordinates are now holding the deposed libyan leader's son safe will islam. we are against any dictator but if history repeats itself we will wage

a war but we will let the rule of law decide his fate. didn't ghazi zintan misrata these libyan c.d.'s one after another rose against gadhafi as regime . the militias now represent and the real axis of power in the country as their various and their legacy and agendas as this tribes on the only base new tricolor the prospect of civil war in libya is always there and it has been there but it has been effectively mastered by the very strong centralized rule of the gadhafi regime but of course now that that has been the stabilized we see this all of the tensions there in the fabric of libyan society coming to the fore another militia commander in charge of tripoli rebels is preparing for an interview it's been a month since he changed his military fatigues for a business suit abdullah maker is now trying to transform rebels under his command into a political force

a laptop has replaced their rifle as his main tool internet is his new front line of the armed assistant at his door is a sign that the political process is still in its very early stages but. we've seen many examples in the past when people's revolutions were stolen and we are very clear that our struggle is far from over gadhafi may still come back in some other shape or form and in that case who have to take up our weapons and defend our revolution. guns are still a common side on the streets of tripoli have their problems has visibly decreased the city's covered with posters calling on the rebels to turn them in the design element of militia has so far failed to translate into national reconciliation the competition and monk various brigades may have become less visible but not less in towns the nato alliance would like to build upon any division within the groups or the parties that they have revolutionised against the qaddafi regime and according

to my own understanding they would like to see certain provinces being divided inside the state of libya back in the arrival hall is in turn rebels are screening passengers bags on to the posters laughed from the old regime to get out his golden framed portrait that maddest at the airport a year ago is gone hatred of him and have glued the libyan society for several months if he's killing the former unit appears to have died as well actually the work of art see tripoli. it's never too late and that's been proven by a hundred and ten year old woman from russia's north caucasus despite her age as well as in her sights she now has a three thousand kilometer journey of a lifetime to join the sacred islamic fast of all of harsh artie's medina caution of a tractor odyssey. this is the largest annual pilgrimage in the world and also considered a religious duty that must be carried out at least once in every muslims life time

the haunch. as the only kello of islam that happens tricky at a certain time and place from the age to the twelfth day of the last month of this lamb a calendar. my demand taking part has been a lifelong dream and what a long life it's been. i've done a lot in my life this house where i live now i built myself i've never asked for anything special only to help me with. her relatives say she was born in nineteen zero one through the repressions of the nine hundred forty s. when she was almost starving in kazakstan and working in the cotton fields to a hard life back in russia laboring on construction sites in north she always dreamt of the harsh to america even when in later life she lost her sight she never lost hope. for years she was telling me every day how much she wanted to

go i was afraid the trip would be too much for her but i knew how important it was so one day i thought we should just do it. among her relatives and she has four children and thirty grandchildren no one really took it seriously but without even letting on to anyone else her grandson mogami it and his wife started preparing the trip a whole life time in her home village average about her dream but few believe that she would ask for make it to mecca when her neighbors found out that she had actually been on the ash the news spread across the area so far and wide. first the future georgian before taking a seti six hour bus journey to medina there they joined hundreds of thousands of pilgrims all similar tenuously converging on mecca for the week to perform a serious of rigorous rituals a testing time for people in their prime let alone someone who has entered their

twelfth decade. of she had a difficult life but was always strong both physically and emotionally that's why maybe she killed with the trip she's an example for me in our family you. know almost everyone here in north caucasus knows about her her strong drive and lack of fan not only made her dream come true but also proved if there is a will there's always a way mind in the question will r.t. reporting from the north caucasus. threats are being ramped up over a vital oil seeping route which iran's threatening to block the country says it's ready to confront any military ships crossing the security perimeter of a smart scale war games being held in neutral waters near the hormuz strait iran has already spotted a u.s. aircraft and other battleships in the region earlier the islamic republic threatened to stop oil shipments through the channel if the new western backed

sanctions hit its fuel exports america's vowing to use its navy stationed in the persian gulf to stop your brain ians from hindering passage political analyst chris bam bam very believes the west is putting world peace on the line with its stubbornness over sanctions. that americans could probably force using the military which in the govt would 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 weakness we know that from british sources that there are plans 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 you know even opponents armitage about to support iran 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 still talk or 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. well coming up a russian basketball star shares his experience of what he had to overcome to become a foreign sports celebrity in the last first though let's get the latest from the business desk with timmy three. burn welcome to the program now twenty eleven comes to an end business our team looks back at the highlights of the year today we're focusing on the oil deal between exxon mobile and rosneft to work on the russian arctic shelf the joint venture not only dashed any hopes b.p. had of reviving its own deal with rosneft but also caused friction within t. and k.

b.p. but in the course of explains how the drama unfold. it was a love and hate relationship from the get go which adventurously became an affair both parties would like to forget the two hobs of seeing a v.p. we're going after each other for years the russians represented by a r. and the brits in b.p. what have gotten a divorce if this were a marriage there irreconcilable differences involved disputes over the company's corporate governance and strategy but in business just like a marriage if there is money at stake it sometimes keeps parties together but when rosneft came into the picture and seduced b.p. they are wanted revenge b.p. wants or to partner up with russia's oil major and the share swap and explore the russian arctic they are said any deals made in russia should go through b.p.

they took them to court and froze the deal there was a way out b.p. could include seeing k.p. in the project but rosneft refused and the deal went belly up while each side was blaming the other over the failed deal ross never found someone new and that was x. in mobile this new couple is now seen as a powerhouse that will not only develop oil and gas reserves but also open up one of the last on concorde drilling frontiers the arctic shelf has an abundance of mineral resources so the potential is huge both companies have already invested hundreds of billions of dollars and the money is expected to come back to fold now when it comes to the jilt of partner b.p. it's currently embroiled in lawsuits regard than the deal that never was so as the two halves of think a v.p. are going after each other ross naf has obviously moved on securing the deal of the year. two stories now despite the crisis russia's top banks managed to boost their

profits central bank says the country's thirty largest lenders person a fifty two percent. increasing profits for the first eleven months of the year that's compared to single digit growth for large banks in developed countries regulator says aggressive lending brought here most of the growth. of the markets now while first now it's gaining for the seventh session on supply concerns light sweet is that more than ninety nine dollars and a half per barrel well actually what we're seeing right now is a slight correction it's down thirty seven cents brant is also down by nine cents but prices remain really quite high. now into equities in europe and they're quite upbeat today southbank center had a call because of the main gate as in london and in frankfort ky italian the bond sale as had mixed results the option was oversubscribed but interest rates remained uncomfortably high at just under seven percent level most honest sustainable.

here in russia quite an opposite picture. losing as investors try to dump stocks ahead of the along the new year holidays security was moving the my six most of the blue chips are down to burbank is one of the liquid stocks is down one point two percent this hour nor is nickel is the stronger than the market up two point six percent he plans to invest three billion dollars in production next year as part of its effort to become one of the world's five largest miners and gazprom the after one of the biggest gainers of the company is planning to increase production by more than four percent next year. headlines are next on r.t. with an isa do stay with us if you can.

their words are to live from moscow where it's five thirty pm these are the headlines palestinians face a new year nightmare israel warns of another deadly. it's one against war battered gulf but having returned with renewed air strikes. iran says it's ready to strike ships sailing too close to its maneuvers near a vital oil group following its grads to block passage if the west insists on tough sanctions.