sweeping the globe we remember what made twenty eleven it was a year of revolt rallies as millions around the world went out on to the streets to demand justice freedom and economic equality arches and he said now it looks back at the protests that shaped the past twelve months. two thousand and eleven could easily go down as the most eventful year in years the killing of bin laden after a decade long manhunt libya's gadhafi after months of nato bombing and the death of north korea's kim jong il don't even begin to illustrate twenty eleven. times shows the protester as person of the year and although there were different slogans signs and demands of solutions twenty eleven will ultimately be remembered as the year people came out onto the streets the arab spring bloomed into a european summer which harvested an american autumn from cairo to california

moscow to madrid to her ear to occupy global rallies shared common themes but if one thing stood out in the middle east and north africa alone it was protests that lead down one road regime change. tunisia and egypt got rid of their dictators without war but libya was not so lucky nato allies began a humanitarian mission with a fierce bombing campaign the critics called it a mislabeled invasion to take down gadhafi for benefits the only reason they're interested in with libya is about the oil you hear anybody screaming and yelling about all those people last week they were killed in the ivory coast or who sudan gadhafi was brutally killed in october as the world watched the graphic video go viral thousands of civilians were killed over months of bombing and twenty twelve

neared syria found itself in a similar set up for intervention russia and china fearing a repeat of the situation in libya a civil war intensifies this is a wreck it's the fact that there are. clash between the u.s. and nato on one side and russia and china on the war and on the other side much more david was in libya protests continue in egypt libya syria and many more arab countries as the year ends. the battle to save the drowning single currency left to board rooms and banks in twenty eleven and flooded the streets of europe most commonly and violently in athens greek debt became the centerpiece of the euro crisis protests raged against desperate austerity cuts to qualify for i.m.f. bailout germany and france vying for influence in the debt ridden zone i think we will see an exit of greece given the situation in which the greek economy find

itself has become really unavoidable draining the economy a vague euro brother germany can't go on forever greece and italy are now led by on a lark to brussels back technocrat leaders who are trying to curb the crisis coming into a new year critics say twenty eleven bell outs or bust was the beginning of the end for the single european currency there's every chance the euro is going to crash. london burned for days in the summer of twenty eleven what began as a peaceful protests demanding justice over the death of a twenty nine year old man who was shot by police turned into days of riots and left authorities helpless talks of possibly bringing out the military bars to shops were looted car set on fire and windows smashed across the u.k. the police the job center all the banks everything that's happening the recession

you know there's a lot of anger about that social experts also through a fountain multicultural program and racism into the mix. out of place institutional. racist as well the riots faded but the problems are still passing some say only a spark is needed to set the public off again. occupy wall street became a household name in the u.s. and around the world but when the protests began in september if you were talking about it the mainstream media stayed silent until seven hundred people were arrested on the brooklyn bridge and that truly based in the end of his roots of american politics but. there are a disorganized a look but there's one of the protests that nobody seems to know but negative

coverage didn't stop us from spreading from small towns to huge ports occupied was not going anywhere raids on camps heavy handed police and burning pepper spray only helped occupy grow read their message of the need for economic equality and an end to corporate greed their slogan became we are the ninety nine percent and they are the rich the one percent from oakland to boston the more people occupy the more. brutality became more evident by. what you do if you're. right our police forces have been militarized they are working more in cooperation with the pentagon there. and being given military surplus to quit meant that has been kind of designed for use in war and this is

something that. needs to treating the public as you would treat an enemy a public that has promised to come out in full force in twenty twelve. parliamentary elections were the push behind tens of thousands of people coming out onto the streets of moscow after allegations the december duma wrote was raped. by . the protest at least fifty thousand strong the largest in recent history call for free and fair elections and remains peaceful ruling party united russia lost popularity in the vote with official results putting their numbers at almost fifty percent but experts say a sixteen percent drop from two thousand and seven should be taken as a warning i think a lot of people wanted to punish. united russia for having power for so long and maybe not doing everything they could protest organized by vast groups of

opposition members are set to continue in twenty twelve next year russia along with the u.s. and france holds presidential elections which makes it a safe bet people will be out on the streets in twenty twelve in europe america and around the world and you see now a r.t. moscow. and there's much more on our web site twenty four hours a day including our special new year coverage so watch records and analysis expert . because on some of the most significant events of the past year. plus major stories have seen through the eyes of our correspondents who work in the hot spots of events their testimonies are at our t.v. dot com. witnesses. to history in the making of. testimony. ten stories that shapes two thousand

eleven on our t.v. . violence in syria continues unabated despite the arab league observers mission that started this week security forces have reportedly opened fire on thousands of protesters with monitors giving conflicting accounts of government snipers involved activists claim dozens were killed in recent clashes flashpoint cities all of which are also being visited by the monitors the u.n. says more than five thousand people died in that ten month long unrest with damascus blaming armed gangs for the violence journalist afshin rattansi believes a lot of the videos in recent media coverage are very fine. it's certainly the western media's viewpoint that we must believe the we must believe opposition groups it seems that any mobile footage is no except as a source so only what they are being said about homes are different very different a great deal from the reports we've been getting on t.v.

channels of massacres continually going on what is in no doubt because of the thousands of syrian soldiers dying and having died because of peaceful protests this isn't a libya syria is the 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 government from outside forces but certainly syria the syrian government itself has to step up the pace because it's certainly losing the propaganda about. former libyan rebels are now chanting for syrians to follow their revolutionary past hundreds of mercenaries some of whom are former terrorists are ready to pick up arms again to help overthrow president artists on a boy who reports from tripoli. a butcher our dad made the owner of this keep up shop in tripoli still undecided what's the most fitting term for syria's

bashar al assad. jealous of his economics if we give him enough in the world that syria. other syria. you can make it a lot of the people in syria. out of solidarity with their arab brothers the owners of the shop have even put on display the syrian rebels tricolor but they're very firm on where the revolutionary support should be and we don't want syria and its soldiers we have. and our people subject syria these are just only this subject we have we have enough but i think yeah we want to leave. in less than three months libyan rebels have gone from being celebrated as liberators to being called occupiers tripoli residents rally almost every week calling on the armed militia to leave and for some of the young man who looked on adrenaline and willing to part with their rifles syria seems like the next logical

destination. your sort of we're all ready to join the syrian revolution and with the help of all along we will make sure that what happened in libya will repeat itself in syria. over the portraits of shaky bar i now ubiquitous on the streets of tripoli be some rebels even styling themselves to resemble the famous revolutionary . with the help of allah we can all belong to give aren't fighting for peace and freedom around the world. and it seems that che guevara's a deal of exporting revolutions have gotten a second birth in the middle east the arab spring has created a boy and market place for soldiers of fortune they move from one revolution to another motivated by personal gain some by conviction others by venture if i put that all in the vision of freedom and for now at least it's the freedom to lead by the gun. as

a romantic and spontaneous as it may appear aiding the syrian uprising with mercenaries may not be such a genuine move video women and children in syria gunned down by snipers are bound on you tube while it's still unclear who is pulling the trigger there are terrorists who are shooting at civilians men women and children blind terrorism random killing simply for the purpose of destabilizing the country or from libya or from. pakistan's foreign fighters have been brought in here by the cia and the other western services. one man's terrorist could easily be an alum answer freedom fighter but for the united states it's now one of the high combat hige one of the leaders of triple a militia was once on the cia most wanted list today he's the face of the democratic leader who according to artists or says not a group of several hundred li been rebels to syria just last month. we can do it.

because we know they are facing this situation before they do but if she comes to be would. be with. the use of soldiers of fortune is hardly new in this troubled region middle eastern rulers hard then for centuries the save gars against their own populations and it now looks like the history of mercenaries in the middle east has got to this new and no less bloody chapter in the art sea tripoli. still to come in the program life after death we'll look at the future of north korea after its longtime leader kim jong il was finally laid to rest and. asked me who is the president of you becky becky becky becky stands today and i'm going to say you know i don't know you know. we find out that it's not only u.s.

presidential candidates struggling with their knowledge of the world. meantime u.s. president barack obama has signed a bill imposing new sanctions against iran the measures targets the country's central bank and well particularly hit oil revenues relations between washington and tehran reached a dangerous point this week islamic countries threaten to block a vital oil supply route in the persian gulf where it's currently holding navy drills to iran promised to not let one drop of oil go through the strait of hormuz if the west goes on the sanctions the u.s. and the e.u. were stepping up pressure over iran's nuclear program to rada since sad it's ready for fresh talks resume of the independent lobby group the national rainin american council says a lack of diplomatic relations between iran and the united states increases the risk of a dangerous outcome. holding the strait of hormuz for the iranian government would

be the equivalent. cutting off its nose to spite its face it's heavily heavily reliant on its on its income from oil exports the vast majority of which go through the strait that being said just because it's something that the iranian government doesn't want to do doesn't necessarily mean that it's something that it's won't do if pressure increases to the point where iran is backed into a corner to governments that haven't been communicating for over three decades and when you don't have direct channels of communication that increases the likelihood of miscalculations and misperceptions and it reinforces a cycle of escalation and conflict and it increases the likelihood that you can you can take actions that might not be in accordance even with your own interests and rather than governments controlling the conflict the conflict begins to control the governments and we end up with an outcome that i think both parties independently would seek to avoid. israel says it's killed a senior militant in an airstrike against gaza on friday the army claimed the move prevented an attempt to fire rockets at israel this comes after israel said it's

looking into the possibilities of a wider campaign against the blockaded strip just three years after a devastating war there israeli columnist gideon levy says his country will be isolated if it decides to wage another bloody offense of. three years ago israel had the car bludgeon not only the west to pull out of this. and didn't see it would against the city but this 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 say this i'm not sure that this is enough to prevent an attack because unfortunately israeli politicians in general not always react in the most racial and logical way the current government of israel has no serious intention about this serious dialogue with the palestinians maybe some photo opportunities but that's saying more than these the

palestinian authority has 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 suggest the just symbolic release of one hundred palestinian prisoners to get back to the goshi table it would be easier to say no. in any way here is the message north koreans have been urged to make every effort to bring their country to prosperity and to to fan it's a new leader. to the death that's going against hopes in the west that the death of kim john l. ward herald a more open country but asia specialist dr ten below things foreign nations have an interest in keeping things as they are far as we know he was educated in

switzerland wants to that's going to have an effect but letting go it's grossly overestimate is freedom of action. part of the system but also mainly. to the outside world respect to the americans so it is not north korea and since don't want to zoom in want to keep it. constrained somewhat like they want to contain china to do something differently but it's all part of the same. so what can do is the menus fix fairly limited. we will again will have. really depends very much on the americans. prospects for the struggling european currency remain low in the new year as the euro fell sharply out of twenty eleven debt ridden countries are racing to employ more staring matches for spain announcing almost nine billion euros in

cuts investment advisor patrick young says he doubts the single currency still has a viable chance of survival. unfortunately the prognosis for the new year must be one of a terrible hangover it is absolutely to my mind clear that we are going to have a crushing recession it's a tragedy but the european union has alternately made no effort to resolve its problems we've had one shower after another sham after another sham and they've been spelt summit and unfortunately there's just nothing at this juncture that gives us any reason to be remotely optimistic apart from the fact that we're going into a new calendar year the euro is living on borrowed time it has been on life support for the last six months it could survive on life support for the next twelve months that is possible but realistically i cannot see how the euro can survive certainly not in its current shape or form i think you will find there will be defaults in

other words countries are going to turn round and say you know what we can't afford to pay these debts we're walking away and i think that will happen it will happen in greece and it may happen in other countries in the euro zone as well one morning we're going to wake up and the euro will change shifa normally another day we may wake up and there will be no euro whatsoever right now that probability is fifty fifty at best that the euro survives the next twelve months. a russian court has ruled it will not ban a religious book central to the christian movement it rejected claims that the book was extremist in nature the case has angered hindus around the world and the court's decision was welcome by india's foreign ministry the trial was opened in this iberian cd of tums jew prosecutors claim that the russian translation of the religious book inside of hatred towards nonbelievers and social discord indeed officials had made high level appeals not to ban the text before final hearings took place. else take a look at some other stories from around the world u.s.

president barack obama has signed a defense bill with a price tag of six hundred sixty two billion dollars despite serious reservations by critics over how terror suspects will be handled under its provisions the new law means any person can be detained without charge opponents also say the legislation gives more authority to the military to detain and interrogate people denying them constitutional rights. nigerian president goodluck jonathan has declared a state of emergency in response to the wave of violent attacks by islamist sect. in a state address on saturday he vowed to crush the terrorist group and condemn the christmas bomb blast that killed more than forty people with aids the closure of sections of nigeria's borders until further notice tens of thousands have fled their homes across the country because of the violence. in south sudan thousands of fighters from the louer tribe have laid siege to the town of one of their rivals

members of the tribe storm pay board torching buildings stealing livestock and forcing scores from their homes and troops deployed in the town were unable to prevent the attack this latest spate of violence comes as the governor of the sudanese state and the vice president attempt to mediate talks between the tribes. chinese bus driver has died in the first rip. a case of bird flu in the country in over eighteen months the man was hospitalized with pneumonia but later tested positive for the deadly virus according to health authorities had had no contact with poultry a positive test in a dead chicken at market just outside of hong kong last week prompted an immediate import ban on poultry to control the epidemic. and the new year americans will choose who leaves their country for the next four years but given the influential role of the role the u.s. has in the world faiers some candidates seem to lack

a basic knowledge of world events and their key players what's more they don't seem to bother any there are going to has been to new york and discovered they're not the only ones. it's three agencies of government when i get there that are gone commerce education and the what's the third one there let's see if he's looking to to actually fire tens of thousands of federal workers and eliminate cabinet level position he can even remember its name asked me who is the president of you becky becky becky becky stan stan i'm going to say you know i don't know do you know it's not the fact that he doesn't know it's the fact that he doesn't think he should look it up you agree with president obama but if you. view. the basic knowledge of those attempting to spearhead a country can leave much to be desired where did this leave americans choosing their politicians and their country's potential future let's find out.

for some reason i don't know anything about libya do you know what is the pakistanis know i do not know what the big you stand back and. do you know the us is an airbase there. or do we know about libya and i want you to spell libya. yes. do you know the united states was involved in a war with libya. ok. you know why. i know absolutely nothing about that or that new mexico is that a state or a country what is that iraqis i mean i think. it was my first or now. it's the old man under bush. well actually. come on it was not that long ago you vote cheney who is the vice president of the

u.s. . you know i have no idea you know it's. my time to. cheney so when secretary of state police arise stella now we would be fools and nice to ignore their purpose and their plan some countries are at the top of politicians list to attack her belief am literally but how much do people really know about those faraway places. yeah it was a president. you know the president of iran is no capital capital of iran do you know the capital city of iran. negative do you guys know what iran is oh yes yes yes what's the capital of iraq ok so was the president. president he just died but the capital of the capital yes i do but if you're

asking me i can't tell you that either top secret i don't want is calling me. now live here it's. anything yes it. is the president of iraq iran iraq all right you know his name but a jet a giraffe or so when it comes to picking a future for the us choosing what. comes next maybe tough without the knowledge of what has gone on in the past and even the very present tense intrude into thirteen we are. all friends have today here on r t i'll be back with a mind of our top story shortly stayed with us.

whether you dive from high or to the depths. catch the power of the wind or drift in the beauty of the currents. the well prepared is a must and if you're lucky. you'll never forget your experience we only need some a screen that's going to be heading. into flight see a movie and below the ice on our t.v. .

welcome back here with r.t. here's a look at our top stories the world welcomes twenty twelve with fireworks celebrations and tell us as the holiday sweeps the globe north america is next in line hundred. thousands have packed new york's times square or synagogue ball dropping at midnight. and in other news this week fresh clashes flare up in syria with dozens reported killed despite the arab league observers mission there while levy is victorious rebels are taking their revolution to president asif doorstep. and president obama slaps new sanctions on iran over its atomic ambitions despite iran saying it's ready for fresh stocks relations between the u.s. and iran reached a dangerous point this week after iran threatened to close off

a key well supply route in the persian gulf. now russia is a veto holding member in the un security council and its opinion affects many major developments in the international arena my colleague kevin allen spoke to russia's ambassador to the u.n. . the u.n. security council rejected russia's proposal to investigate civilian deaths from nato strikes in libya what are members avoiding in order to simply case the ongoing conflict so that more important. well you know first of all it was not rejected the fact of the matter is that a number of security council delegations intuiting the russian delegation there is the need to have some clarity about civilian casualties as a result of nato bombings because for months we're heard from made from nato that they are adopting all those measures in order to make sure that there can not both .