these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. giant corporations rule today. the u.s. moves to warships near the area where ron is carrying out naval wargame status to iran threatens to block a key maritime supply route. after the outgoing year took its toll on a number of eurozone governments many doubt the so-called your gratz now in charge will bring relief as some of them were behind the euro's failings. it seems that any which we just know it's up to the schools while the syrian opposition is bursting with amateur food which showing violence this claim to be recent arab league observers have yet to report any atrocities after three days in a country. and business are two looks at the rollercoaster ride on the russian

market for the last twelve months and looks what to expect next year that's in twenty minutes. this is r t coming to you live from moscow one pm here on marina joshie tension between the u.s. and iran is mounting with tehran threatening to block a crucial oil supply route in the hormuz strait the u.s. has positioned two warships in the area were iran is carrying out a naval war games demonstration mainly to ensure passage remains free but as our teams going to check out explains the situation could ask going into an all out war . responding to iran's warning the u.s. said no such destruction would be tolerated and that the u.s. fifth fleet that's based in the gulf would ensure that doesn't happen the strait of hormuz links the golf and the oil producing states of bahrain kuwait qatar saudi

arabia the united arab emirates to the indian ocean about forty percent of the world's tankers shipped oil passes through that strait it's a major oil artery potential cut off might cause turmoil in the global oil market although a saudi official said that golf nations were ready to offset any loss of uranium crude from the statements here you get a sense that washington things iran is bluffing because there have been there had been such threats before but right now you are in finds itself in a situation where it's a livelihood its main source of livelihood is in danger the u.s. congress passed a bill that would dramatically complicate transactions through iran's central bank european and asian nations import iranian oil and use its central bank food for their transactions president obama has yet to sign that bill that's going to be a severe blow to the arraign an economy around eighty percent of its revenues

depend on sales e.u. ministers say they will make a decision on whether or not to boycott the iranian oil in coming weeks and those threats that are coming from iran indicate that it's ready to take action to protect its interests tensions rise the west says all the rana has to do is to give up their nuclear program iran says they're not doing anything wrong by pursuing a peaceful nuclear program for civilian purposes the rhetoric here in washington against iran is getting very harsh the u.s. spy drone shot down by the uranium before that a washington accusing iran of plotting to kill the saudi ambassador to the u.s. and blow up the israeli and saudi embassy in washington those were just some of the most recent episodes it all adds up and creates a lot of tension now if something happens over the strait of. this could have rubbed into an all out war that it should go on reporting there now for some the iranian threat is are warranted and robert naiman from the just foreign policy think tank believes to run a simply rady itself should the situation escalate. dinner's context for the

iranian government statements namely first of all. it's understood in international political discourse and international law that it is an act of war and if it is really the policy pursued by the united states and western europe to try to cut off iran's oil exports then that is an act of war. once you respond to that people you know every day you know states and in washington every day u.s. government officials and people of influence are talking about u.s. and israeli military strikes on iran so this is have been you know context of constant threats against iran unilateral threats which of course wily you know united nations charter which for bid any u.n. member steed from attacking you know the member state without dancers edition of

the u.n. security council and of course none of these voices are talking about getting u.n. security council approval for ducking iran because they know that they could never get it. while we are all zero to know you are taking our stories today we're asking what the deadlock in the strait of hormuz will lead to about over a third of our viewers think it will have no serious consequences being just another move in a long game while half of the viewers believe america will take advantage of the situation to strike iran and the rest are split between two options whether iran will teach the west a lesson of what it's like to be deprived of vital supplies or america will back off with its sanctions cast your vote at. the debt stricken euro zone is set to enter two thousand and twelve in a gloomy mood with italy's borrowing costs remaining near the seven percent danger zone italian premiers pledged more efforts to revive the ailing economy in his and

of years speech but. reports there are huge doubts that new man in charge of a number of the eurozone states will find a ram of the for the struggling bloc. the autumn in europe saw the fall of several european leaders spain greece italy all of these countries are changing leadership across a two week period but who are these new faces at helm of europe's most troubled nations and will they really make things better for the people. probably not greeks pride themselves on essentially inventing democracy back in however long ago that was too bad the man who is now being touted as the man with the plan is an economist who was appointed to the greek people know gordon elections there well the greek prime minister was the greek finance minister at the time the greeks joined the euro so he was responsible for cooking the books to get greece in for this ever expanding empire he was rewarded by going to work at the european central bank and as soon as i would mention the word referendum he was there and even if we

skirt the whole issue of current governments being appointed by someone else from another country another question pops up will they be capable of doing anything different than before well the irony is of course that many of these technocrats from. the disastrous euro project in the first place so it really is pretty annoying to then out now in charge of all these countries and that doesn't go down well with the economists who saw the eurozone disaster develop from the beginning this project is doomed to failure it was always doomed to failure and moreover i would have the rain and i would have a fiscal crimes tribunals i would like to see some of these people sent to prison so far cutting the public sector firing tens of thousands of people and telling everyone to brace themselves for tough times ahead in the midst of raging protests unruly unemployment and mind blowing debt numbers these have been the only steps so far undertaken by european governments both old and new. people who think that

maria monti came to help italy out of the crisis or not going to help spain on the stake. those who keep positions in seats of power own represent the interests of goldman sachs and other major corporations. and there is always the chance that things could get even worse there is a real possibility. in the mediterranean countries that will see governments well but even legitimate governments but will see governments overthrown it was also a big worry that we might well see the kind of nationalist political movement springing out of this that we thought we said goodbye to back in ninety forty five if the technocrats fail to resume wreck the economy is in italy greece and spain the nations will end up not only with a bleak future between the very little reason to call themselves democratic it in the coast go r.t. . will stay with us here in our team and still examine the program the sour.

when these winds of police started moving out of me started moving forward towards a starting shooting towards our direction started tear gassing my cameramen with tear gassed i was injured that's when it really changed for me. i continued to count down the top ten stories that shaped twenty one whether you look back at the occupy movement across the u.s. . plus a taxi driver and leaves the hollywood limelight and heads back to his russian how as it prepares for the world the limbic stage and twenty fourteen. arab league monitors are heading to three more syrian cities to witness the government's peace plan implementation earlier the visit of the city of homs saying the situation there is reassuring although clashes are said to be continuing with twenty five people reportedly killed on thursday across the country the information coming from the country is hard to verify as it's mostly mobile food and claims by

activists clashes began in march was both government forces and protesters being our town see a journalist we used to work in the region. yes the difference between arab league reports and mainstream coverage shows the opposition is winning the media battle it's certainly the western media viewpoint that we must believe the most believe opposition groups it seems that any mobile footage is no excepted as a source certainly what the arab league said about holmes differed very different a great deal from other reports we've been getting on t.v. channels of massacres continually going on what is in no doubt is that thousands of syrian soldiers dying and they did and they haven't died because of peaceful protests but this isn't a libya syria is a linchpin of the middle east and the united states and other countries some of the more intelligent people realize that there will be turmoil right across the middle east if anything happens to destabilize the assad government from outside forces

but certainly syria the syrian government itself has to step up the pace because it's certainly losing the propaganda battle. egyptian forces have been the raiding the offices of human rights groups throughout the country reports say soldiers stopped employees leaving and interrogated now while searching their computers foreign policy analysts doctor i don't told us it's the military government making sure it stays in power. this is part of the military the scout the supreme council of armed forces way of making sure. the that who you shoot and basically is molded to that to the type of government they want because that's those are the same generals by the way who worked for mubarak bit if they are so that's really basically is part of the struggle is going to be using going to go forward or is that a who doesn't but of being molded and some dude into some missive role to the

minute but really the military has to step aside and lead the civilian government come to power once the election are held and the elections should be held as soon as possible they will not give up the power of that reasoning but i think the egyptian people and then and the arabs in general have lost their fear from corrupt government and they have restored of their dignity and they are not tolerate another military dictatorship in their country i think all the evidence indicate that despite the sacrifices they have given. there's also on the table of the year and in cross talk show where peter lloyd allen his gas discuss the transcending moments of twenty eleven it's coming your way later today on our t.v. but here's a sneak peek. we're going to see the fulfillment of a lot of the hopes that you saw occur when actually fell because like i said you can take this makes head off but what about the rest of the body will just rot at

the expense of everyone else it's a lot easier to decapitate the snake than to actually kill it you know the system is in fact more entrenched and more dangerous and more vicious now than it was even under mubarak in during the time when the protests actually started the system is very good it generated itself the regenerating itself and the core issues in egypt which ultimately are not just about democracy it is about bread it is about economics it is about a growing inequality in a country that already suffered from maybe thirty to forty percent of the people living on two dollars a day or less it's about how do you reallocate resources nationally and reorient an economy to provide wealth some level of wealth an opportunity for the mass of people in that sense what's happening needs of this just a more intense version of what's happened in the united states where you have the same question. fire crews have managed to put out a blaze on a nuclear submarine at

a shipyard in northwest russia the military says there is no nuclear threat as there was shut down even before the fire started firefighters are continuing to pour water on the vessel to make sure it doesn't drink night some of the crew remain on board monitoring the systems of the submarine nine people were injured in the fire after scaffolding surrounding the vessel went up in flames. well don't forget our web sites also got more news comments and analysis let's take a look at what's in store for you today delhi delicacy police in st petersburg seize almost two hundred kilo of caviar stored in a morgue. plus an unlikely source from russia's wilderness is shoddy a lot on the less fortunate find out r.t. dot com.

as twenty seven draws to its and our team is looking back at the stories that shape the year witnessed by our correspondents this time a look at the occupy movement in the u.s. the story covered by lucic out of. i remember at the start of the so-called so-called arab spring we saw so many mass movements from europe to the middle east people rising up taking to the streets protesting and the question we kept asking ourselves over and over again is why not here why not in the united states i mean for years we've covered stories that touched upon social inequality economic inequality the overdue undue influence in fact that politics has been the money has in our financial system and i never

thought that this kind of opulent outrage would really come to the united states but it would really hit home. when the occupy wall street movement began my initial impression i have to admit it was utter skepticism you know it sounded like some american protesters saw what was going on in the middle east and thought it would be i meet sort of symbolic way to emulate what they've seen for example into where square. one of the biggest things that really sort of woke me up as an individual was that that night in times square in october this was right after the supposed to be announced raid by the mayor where about three thousand if not more protesters had gathered around the park to to defend their space and they succeeded they weren't raided and we saw

literally thousands of people marching into times square which you know the physical contrast of the sort of temple of consumerism which is times square in manhattan these flashing lights these logos these expressions of corporate power and consumer culture in stark contrast. literally thousands of people who have gotten together to speak to shout to feel the physical presence of of other americans who are just no longer content to sit back and watch society unfold in the direction that it's taken me. i was just feet away from the area where several police officers mountain of course back sort of out into the crowd hurting some of the protesters seeing with my own eyes for the first time the excessive level of force. old gentleman who looked like he was probably in his sixty's slammed down to the ground his arms and back women of all ages men of all ages

carried away for doing what for sitting down on the ground and not moving or making a point quietly. standing there with my camera man with this line of police officers several hundred of them armed to the teeth you know what. sticks out a line of protesters behind me you know i thought i was there this protected almost impartial observer there to tell the story but when these lines of police started moving at me started moving forward towards me starting shooting towards our direction started tear gassing my cameramen was tear gassed i was injured and that's when it really changed for me there are at least a hundred the not two hundred three hundred police officers in full riot gear as you can see advancing behind us right now on the occupy oakland movement now one of the other interesting experiences i think for me was sort of seeing the contrast between occupy wall street in new york and in oakland in oakland where there is

such a radical history of active as and where the people there the protesters there were so much more outraged so much more ready for a radical fundamental change of this in this country. but at the same time. one of the experiences that really stands out to be in my mind was the day of the port shutdown on the member second you know there are thousands thousands and tens of thousands of people who were gathered who were marching around seventy to eighty is not a lot of police presence that there really felt that perhaps we had turned a new chapter in this country perhaps this was going to be an opportunity for these kinds of expressions of political discontent with the sort of crackdown that we've that we've seen in the past and what happened that evening really really shook me to the core i have to say the contrast between these peaceful marches and.

seeing firsthand the streets of oakland turned into something i might have seen on the news and as you can see these are marching up behind me as sticks their hands baton for you and i don't know if you can get any closer on that shot i think that really galvanized this country and really woke us up to our reality the reality is that there is a lot wrong and there's a lot that needs to be changed but instead of sitting here and inviting experts to go and talk about it we're seeing people physically participating in what democracy really should be all about. i'm an american citizen i feel that i am here to tell the stories and i have a right to tell the stories and that is part of what this country is fundamentally founded on and sort of experiencing firsthand the the loss of the the inability to do anything the feeling of powerlessness and smallness. that's something that i think i'm not going to forget for quite

a long time. all that the final of our special reports on the personal reflections from our team of international correspondents on the events that dominated twenty and if you've missed any watch them right now at our t.v. . also don't forget to join us tomorrow for our special and of your coverage and we'll be bringing you our correspondents live from the locations where the pivotal events of two thousand and eleven took place around the globe.

swapping tinsel town for a russian city with an olympic crown an american at mania and taxi driver has turned his back on the bright lights of hollywood to share in the limelight of sochi the fania for the next winter olympics parties as well as cape cod a ride like. this life los angeles is very good one of them speaks russian english and there me me i'm a man of the world he came back to sochi after a decade in los angeles where he learned that his hometown was being propelled into the world stage still. when the boys said vote in the be a winter games in sochi i didn't believe them i said. it's in the very south on the black sea coast but then i found out that it's true and hopefully it's going to happen as planned. the

massive olympic construction effort here track to pulte two thousand skilled workers from all over the world poor times the construction staff of the two thousand and twelve london games as well as those there are also people like one of them taking support jobs working restaurants taxi firm some stores he says being you cabdriver in sochi is nothing like his home improvement job back in los angeles it's. like the traffic here is too much for a city of this size too many cars there's traffic in downtown los angeles but it dissolves much quicker. even so what i've done hopes the new routes and bridges being built for the olympics will help solve the problem although much of his family are with him and so she would have done misses the relative still left behind in a way as well as the tinseltown magic where he occasionally brushed shoulders with the stars. and herself for the. fun.

thank you. thank so much for your job. thank you so she may have no hollywood. walk of fame but our guide says there are some will be related landmarks than it appears that people call that building the titanic and officially of course it does look a lot like that big ship and since it's built on top of the hill it has to be really tough and pretty to greasy views from them already bringing countries together is what the olympics are about and what a dance homecoming shows how family spread from the hollywood hills to the mountain slopes of the southern russia can be clues despite being a world apart. our team sochi. and a reminder of our top stories coming your way shortly before that we'll take a look what's happening in business with us.

thanks martin that's right time for a business update twenty eleven has been a testing here for investors as the world economy struggles for growth stock markets here in russia also suffered yet some sector particularly bucked the trend general bushell except the roller coaster ride of the last twelve months and what to expect in the new here. gold has been an exceptional investment it reached all time highs of over two hundred dollars per ounce in september or pulmo six hundred percent in their cage but since then the price has slid back and brokers no more buying to put to fall further in twenty twelve fearing the bubble will burst. the juror remain risks switching your roubles into the greenback would have brought a small return but changing into the euro would have meant losses. both in the states the european union i mean those currencies continue to be unstable.

going to become much more reliable the credit crunch what riskier lenders what the states brought in guarantees insuring all deposits up to seven hundred thousand rubles some banks now offer healthy rich. overfeed to third year. last week's merger of russia's stock exchanges has cut twenty eleven the more six slipped eighteen percent as political uncertainty worried investors but i'm the symbol expect a strong rebuild in twenty twelve as the new government settles predicting a return to previous years with markets with the world's best performing. that's a look at the markets now oil is pushing low are rising sharply recently falling around threat to disrupt shipments through the vital strait of hormuz brant is not trading at one hundred seven dollars a barrel while the w t i is that wrong in mind dollars per barrel. and european stocks are climbing and traders german finance minister rule down to your area

breakup. and finally in russia the markets are extending early against traders are unlikely to make any big moves ahead of the year holidays let's not have a look at some of the individual share moves in the market six energy majors higher at this hour supported by a stronger courage caus monopoly gazprom is giving hope cent while all company look is a quarter percent in the black and financials are also high with point four percent in the plot. while russia has enjoyed a persistently strong oil price this year has been good for the budget but has done little to propel domestic equities home this means that some catching up to do us to monday explains. for russian equities which have traded lower by twenty percent in two thousand and eleven from two thousand and ten they have a lot of way to go to catch up with where the oil price adjusts they should be given the fact that because of prices a relatively high russian sovereign risks are very low yields on russian government

debt of contracts it actually in two thousand and eleven so again there's more catch up to do the risk is that the government doesn't do anything and doesn't listen to the issues that have been raised because of these protests in parliament to election if they don't do anything materially soon after the presidential election i think for investors are going to lose faith that there is a reform agenda they want to see very material changes being made. i was told monday from a creature that so we have time for knowledge joined in about fifteen minutes for another update.

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