it is a pleasure to have you with us on this the first day of two thousand and twelve i'm a real researcher and this is our see live from moscow and violence in syria continues unabated despite the arab league observers mission that started that this week security forces have reportedly opened fire on thousands of protesters with monitors giving conflicting accounts of government snipers involved activists claiming dozens were killed in recent clashes in flashpoint cities all of which are also being visited by the monitors the u.n. says more than five thousand people have died in the ten month long rest with damascus and playing gangs of the violence journalist afshin rattansi believes that a lot of the videos in recent media coverage. and verifiable. certainly the western media is viewpoint that we must believe the we must believe

opposition groups it seems that any mobile footage is no except as a source certainly what the arab league said about holmes different very different a great deal from the reports we've been getting on t.v. channels of massacres continually going on what is no doubt is that thousands of syrian soldiers are dying and they haven't died because of peaceful protest but this isn't a libya syria is a linchpin of the middle east and the united states and other countries are 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 battle. now libya has stepped into the new year as a new state with new leaders and new hopes with visitors slowly returning to the

conflict torn country what agrees them at the gate is heavily armed militias artie's oksana boyko reports there's still a long way to go before public trust is restored with extremely diverse former rebel groups having to 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 of putting tripoli back on their flight schedules the tripoli airport is once again buzzing with visitors a fellow lives have already been 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 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 brigades from the western cd of his entire 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 savior guards of libya's future. 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 animals will be upon us. 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 is regime . the militias now represent 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 always 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 of dylan makers 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 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 and their province has visibly decreased the city's covered with posters calling on the rebels to turn them in the design and of militia has so far failed to translate into national reconciliation the competition among various brigades may have become less visible but not less in towns and they need to 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 town rebels a screening passengers bags under the posters left from the old regime to get out his golden framed portrait that madness at the airport a year ago is gone he should have he may have glued the libyan society for several months if he's killing the former unit appears to have died as well the work of art see tripoli he watching r.t. live from moscow this is the weekly and u.s. president barack obama has signed a bill imposing new sanctions against iran the measures that target the country's central bank and more particularly hit the oil revenues of relations between washington and tehran which to a dangerous point this week there's not a country threaten to block off

a vital oil supply route in the persian gulf where it's currently holding navy drills to run promise to not let one drop of oil go through the strait of hormuz so if the west goes on with sanctions the u.s. stepping up pressure over iran's nuclear program to iran has since said it's ready for fresh talks political analyst chris bambery believes the west is putting world peace at stake with its stubbornness over sanctions. that americans could probably force use in a military way when it's in the gulf 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 both from british sources that there are plans to attack iran and israel is egging on america to attack iran over the question of its nuclear program but i

think again in a comparison with iraq in two thousand and three iran is in a much stronger position iranian nationalism should not be should not be underestimated even opponents armitage about would rally to support iran's given britain and america's history in iran there's a long history of unfortunate british and american intervention in iraq so i think we're witnessing quite a dangerous escalation and it's the sanctions which the west of talk are important to 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 and they're still ahead for you on this hour here on r t o that of a dark horse will be uncovered the mystery of the surrounds the new leader of north korea its people to defend him and what to look down. the new year prediction is there a chance the european currency will survive and find out just a few minutes. the u.s.

says egypt has agreed to stop raids on pro-democracy rights groups it was earlier this week that soldiers and police stormed offices of nongovernmental organizations including some of those funded by washington and other groups accused of the ruling military of are using the same tactics of repression as a previous mubarak regime documents and computers have been seized of investigations into foreign funding of organizations the military took power in the country after an uprising in february which did topple then president hosni mubarak author william engdahl believes washington's an initial flare up of violence in the region. i think the military has made a deal with the islamic brotherhood and washington doesn't want stabilization they want to be permanent on knees so that they can you know use that as a lever in the entire region there's anger because there's been a little change but also because. it's quite the case that foreign n.g.o.s

financed by the u.s. congress and others the national endowment for democracy various other so-called human rights politicized organizations are fanning the protests claiming it in the military against against these human rights n.g.o.s so. the idea is to create as much chaos through the region as possible in order to justify i believe a stronger nato role permanently in the region and it's running attention on to israel that says it's killed a senior militant in an airstrike against gaza on friday and the army claimed the move prevented an attempt to fire rockets at israel as 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 that israeli called mr gideon levy says his country will be isolated even further if it decides to wage another bloody offensive. three years

ago israel had the card larger not only a carte blanche of the west had plowed. and didn't say a word against the city 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 but the current government of israel has no serious intention about serious dialogue with the palestinians maybe some photo opportunities but nothing 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 just just symbolic release

of one hundred palestinian prisoners to get back to negotiation table it would say no. you're watching the weekly on r.t. new year's message north koreans have been urged to make every effort to bring their country to prosperity and to defend its new leader kim jong un quote to the death it comes after a two day state funeral was held for his father kim jong il in the streets of the capital pyongyang artie's where if a nationalist been looking into what we know about the new head of state. you can see the death of the north korean dictator has raised questions and hopes over whether the dictatorship one of the last in the world will follow or will this extremely close society remain isolated found its new leader too so little is known about the late leader's great successor his third and youngest son kim turning is

a bit of a dark horse even his age remains a subject of speculation his thought to be twenty seven or twenty eight his new ascension to power increases the media hunger for information about him so his expensive education in switzerland said lead tracked it a lot more interest an entrepreneur in moscow with russian origins alleys and a hug and she believes he could have been one of kim's classmates when news prior that kim charney may have gone to an elite school in this week's margins in late ninety's the businessman brought out his all the book to refresh his memory there were quite a few koreans. quieter than others. with the last name came. as kim is the most common name in korea alexander remembers that koreans always different from other students they were very disciplined they were

very disciplined as a group of students. very serious for their. they wouldn't always take part in. fun and games at the other students were very hard studying to be top class they didn't like to although some think the deceased leader's son may be a figurehead overshadowed by his recently promoted uncle who is thought to wield the real power when xander says the three years china has apparently spent in europe may change the country's future forever i think. it will make him realize that he has to do something good for his people for his country and make a change in terms of. past experience his knowledge of foreign languages and the skills that he managed to do it in being a world the outside world used to get most of the news from behind north korea's iron curtain through the country's strictly censored state run media covering the

live of the secrets of society from the inside has been an almost impossible task for international journalists but the details now emerging about the new leader is exposure to the liberal west or for a glimmer of hope that he may ease bag the rigid control over the two terran regime and begin to open north korea to the world and maybe their war old to north korea. r.t. more sco as we look back at the last week of two thousand and eleven prospects for the struggling european currency remain low in the new year as the euro fell sharply in the recent months debt ridden countries are racing to implement yet more austerity measures with spain announcing now almost nine billion euros in cuts professor of a huge competition dr markets says whether the single currency lives or dies will be determined this year two thousand and twelve is going to be the decisive year

for the euro are the we have some breaking decisions. which means that we could even take into consideration whether or not to split up the us or the euro will not survive anyway the rescue directors as we have see this form one of the hard hispano will not be able to continue because it is only curing the syndromes treating the symptoms without trying to put an end to the fundamental mismatch within the eurozone that there is a lack of competitiveness having tighter fiscal controls mean that the nation states give up a fundamental part of the democratic policy there is a fiscal policy taxes but they no longer decide about the major param it is of their national sovereignty i think that would be great for systems apart from that but it will not solve the competitive cost competitive just problem of least forty

old. perhaps italy the markets are expecting tough decisions for structural reform of the eurozone in order to melt this down to something which is homogeneous to survive all of those things will not bring as a cure of the problems. it is a good to have you with us as we ring in the first day of the new year as the world is welcoming two thousand and twelve with mass celebrations of fireworks all over the globe has now become the latest to ring in the fresh. thousands times square ceremonial ball dropping. and then it was a turn sin city to ring in two thousand and twelve with a large scale extravaganza lighting up the las vegas skyline also australia was among the first countries to open its doors to the new year with a. ride over the sydney harbor seven tons of fireworks. picked up the spectacular show across the region and in dubai hundreds gathered at the world's

tallest building to watch an illuminated display of course our next russia meeting two thousand and twelve with a big bang thousands gathering in moscow's red square to toast the. millions of revelers also packing cities all over europe for the big countdown. with celebrations sweeping the globe we do remember what made it two thousand and eleven it was a year and rallies as millions around the world went out onto the streets demanding justice freedom and economic equality and he said now we now expect the protests to shape 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 here anybody screaming and yelling about all those people last week they were killed in the ivory coast or whose 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 as twenty twelve neared syria found itself in a similar set up for intervention russia and china fearing a repeat of the situation in libya as civil war intensifies this is a direct effect of that wrecked 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

a drowning single currency left 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. bailouts germany and france fined 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 of big 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 or bust was the beginning of the end for the single european currency because 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 the 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 felt multicultural program and racism into the mix you know stop and so. on a sense of place a certain institutional. and appropriate institutionally 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 then truly based in the end of his fruits of american politics it is said. they are disorganized they look on a one of a protest nobody seems to know but negative coverage didn't stop o. ws 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 and spread their message of the need for economic equality and an end to corporate greed their slogan became we are the ninety nine percent and then the rich the one percent from oakland to boston the more people occupied the more brutality became

more evident by was. what you're doing. right now our police forces have been militarized they are working more in cooperation with the pentagon they're buying 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 vote was rigged. the protest at least fifty thousand strong the largest in recent history call for

free and fair elections and remained peaceful ruling party united russia lost popularity in the vote with official results putting their numbers i don't most fifty percent but experts say a sixteen percent drop from two thousand and seven should be taken as a warning and i think a lot of people want to punish. a 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 two thousand and 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 he's now a party moscow. made.

the. most significant. of the major story. this is. history. briefly let's get to some other news headlines for you from around the world u.s. president barack obama has signed the bill with a six hundred sixty two billion dollars serious reservations by critics of terror suspects will be handled under its provisions of the new law. without charge . also the legislation that gives more authority to the military. people.

nigerian president goodluck jonathan has declared a state of emergency in response to the wave of. the terrorist group the christmas that killed. tens of thousands of homes across the country in the wake of recent. thousands of. the tribal people. forcing school. from their homes u.n. troops deployed in the town were unable to prevent the attack this latest spate of violence coming to us the governor of the state and the vice president attempt to mediate talks between the tribes. for i told him just a few moments here in r.t.

to join us to explore the remotest parts of siberia before though i'm back with the headlines.

you're just joining us a very warm welcome to you this is the week. fresh off in syria with dozens reported killed despite the arab league observers mission ongoing the u.n. says more than five thousand people have died in the ten months of. president obama slaps new sanctions on iran over its atomic ambitions despite tehran threatening earlier this week to close off a key oil supply.