eight pm here in moscow this new year's day while welcome to my name is kevin know in our top story at r.t. this u.s. president barack obama welcome to the new year by signing into law a tough new set of sanctions for iran and they were doing business with the central bank will now face punishment thanks to the new measures directly targeting the financial sector now this move comes at a time of heightened tension over iran's nuclear program and the threat of sanctions is already seeing to run threatening to block off that key oil export route in response adding to the situation as the rounds planned to test long range missiles during naval drills in the gulf that led to u.s. warships being sent to the area reza marashi of the independent lobby group the national rate american council told us a lack of diplomatic ties between the two countries is increasing the danger of a hostile outcome calling the strait of hormuz for the iranian government would be the equivalent of cutting off its nose to spite its face its 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 it doesn't necessarily mean that it's something that it's want to have pressure increases to the point where iran is backed into a corner or two 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 in 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. to syria now where violence that began in march spilled over into the new year out of league observers on a mission to the country of warm damascus against cracking down on protesters at least thirteen people will be killed in the past day despite efforts to oversee the

implementation of a peace plan and arab advisory group linked to the arab league has called for observers to pull out in protest of the continued violence it's estimated that more than five thousand civilians were killed in syria last year but that figure can't be verified because damascus has restricted access to foreign media journalist option returns he says the syrian conflict is a powder keg he thinks that could ignite the entire region. 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 what is in no doubt is that thousands of syrian soldiers are 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 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. the syrian regime claims it's finding an armed insurgency funded from abroad that's yet to be independently confirmed but what is fact is that rebel fighters who helped overthrow colonel gadhafi in libya and i we get to take the revolution to president assad's door to hundreds of libyan mercenaries reportedly already gunning for regime change in syria to exam the boy to reports from tripoli. a butcher my dad me the owner of this keep up shop in tripoli still undecided what the most fitting term for syria's bashar al assad. is economically the biggest enemy not in the world not the syria. other syria. you can make it a lot of the people in syria. out of so it directly with their arab brothers the

owners of the shop perhaps 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 are subject to the result just like only this soldier we have on we have enough but i think yeah we want we've. in less than three months libyan rebels have gone from being celebrated as liberators to being called occupiers tripoli residents really almost every week calling on the armed militia to leave and for some of the young man who lived on adrenaline and willing to market their rifles syria seems like the next logical destination. 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 repeat itself in syria. over the portraits of shaky bar i now ubiquitous on the streets of tripoli some rebels

even styling themselves to resemble the famous revolutionary. with the help of 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 with sporting revolutions have gotten a second birth in the middle east the arab spring has created a buoyant marketplace for soldiers of fortune the most from one revolution to another some motivated by personal gain some by conviction on others by venture if i put that all in the vision of freedom and for now at least is the freedom to live by the gun. as a romantic and spontaneous as it may appear aiding the syrian uprising with mercenaries may not be such a genuine. video women and children in syria gunned down by snipers are inbound 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 they are from libya or from afghanistan or pakistan foreign fighters have been brought in here by the cia and the other western services. one man's terrorist could easily be anonymous freedom fighter but for the united states it's now one of the high combat hides 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 r.t. sources not a group of several hundred leaving rebels to syria just last month. we can't do anything to support the syrian people because we are they are facing the same situation as before and do but it comes to be when and if we could see why the syrian people to get their freedom i think we should do it the use of soldiers of

fortune is hardly new in this troubled region middle eastern rulers hard them for centuries a save gars against their own populations and it now looks like the history of mercenaries in the middle east has got to it's new and no less bloody chapter and that's one of the artsy tripoli. still ahead here this hour the year in brief we take a look back it's just a few of the momentous stories that made headlines in twenty eleven around the world. egypt pro-democracy protesters held a candlelight vigil in cairo's tahrir square on new year's eve in memory of those killed during the uprising that ousted hosni mubarak meantime the u.s. says egypt's current rulers have agreed to hold raids on pro-democracy rights groups earlier this week soldiers and police stormed offices of non-governmental organizations including some funded by washington documents and computers were seized as part of investigations into the foreign funding of organizations the

groups accuse the ruling military of using the same tactics of repression is the mubarak regime foreign policy has talked out of all shall we are told me thinks the generals want to make sure they hold on to power but people won't stop until they oust them. this is part of the military the supreme council or forces way of making sure the revolution basically is small due to the the type of government they want because that's those are the same generals by the way who work for mubarak. so that's really basically is part of that struggle is going to good use in going to go forward or is that a good use in going to be molded and some dude into some visible role to the military but really the military has to step aside and let the civilian government come to power once the election are well and the election should be held as soon as

possible they will not give up the power that easily but i think the egyptian people and in the arabs in general mosque fear from corrupt government and they have a store of their dignity and they were not following another military dictatorship in the country i think all the evidence indicate that despite the sacrifices they have. brother world a brief first nigeria where the country's leaders declared a state of emergency in areas hit by a wave of islamist attacks president goodluck jonathan shuttles of neighboring countries after a string of christmas day blast which killed over forty is valid across militants who claimed responsibility violence is continued since churches throughout the country were first attacked a week ago now tens of thousands of fled their homes feeling for the conflict. south sudan's government is sending army and police to an area in the center of a violent tribal conflict the town of people was attacked by thousands of fighters

from a rival tribe who torched buildings stole livestock and forced schools to flee un troops deployed in the region were unable to reinforce security in recent months ethnic infighting caused by cattle rustling left about a thousand people though. a former member of the japanese coal behind attack of the tokyo subway in one thousand nine hundred five turned himself into police just before midnight on new year's eve he been in hiding for seventeen years since the group released sarin gas on the underground system killing thirteen at the time on should regular started as a spiritual movement mixing hindu and buddhist beliefs but then developed into a doomsday cult obsessed with armageddon. u.s. president barack obama cited a factor more which means any person can be detained indefinitely now without charge or a major defense bill is a good dealing with terror suspects comes with a massive six hundred sixty two billion dollars price tag too but critics say the military will now have more authority to interrogate people denying what their

basic constitutional rights. coming up here on r.t. for moscow and insight into an enigma we meet one of the few people able to shed some light on the new leader of the world's most secretive country the man north koreans have being urged to defend to the death. before that though there's not much new year cheer from economists predicting a return to recession for europe in twenty twelve the fact leaders use new year messages to warn of hard times ahead of their country german chancellor angela merkel said europe is facing its most severe test decades while french president sarkozy's warn that the debt crisis is blanketing the continent was far from over many governments have been forced to slash their spending to meet debt obligations as economic growth in europe has been in the standstill some analysts believe that the e.u. is leaders attempts at keeping the eurozone together is actually only deepening the crisis. paean leaders are trying to shore up the eurozone by having great

agrees of centralization and more having countries like france and germany have the final say in a sense over the budgets of those e.u. member states that have excessive body deficits but that really isn't the answer to the problems wilts really needs either a massive injection of cash into countries like greece and italy to shore up their economies cause another option would of course to recognize that the single currency has hurt competitiveness in many women nations of the eurozone so really there's a number of options either to transfer funds from the north to the struggling south or of course have an orderly break up of the eurozone. the israeli military has confirmed it carried out an airstrike on guards or on friday one palestinian was killed in the attack which television claims was aimed at preventing militants from firing rockets into israel the country's been stepping up its airstrikes in recent months leaving dozens dead three years after the jewish state briefly invaded gaza military officials are saying they may have to stop what they're calling

a quote war of necessity now the terms of brokering a peace deal are so far from fruitless but israeli columnist gideon levy thinks television isn't really trying to avoid conflict. three years ago israel had the card larger not only carte blanche the west had plowed this. 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 visibly 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 the 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 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 just just symbolic release of one hundred palestinian prisoners to get back to the gauche asian table it would say no. north korea has vowed to improve economic life of its impoverished people and rallied international support for kim jong un in the new year statement the country's entering a new era now with a new leader firmly installed a supreme commander of the military and head of the ruling party following his father's death however the great successor remains in a network so artie's. looks at what we do know. can 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 and its new leader to so little is known about the lately to his 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 years his new ascension to power increases the media hunger for information about him so his expensive education in switzerland said lead tracked it's a lot more interest an entrepreneur in moscow with russian origins alys on a hug and she believes he could have been one of kim's classmates when news spread 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 some quieter than others. with the last name

him. as kim is the most common name in korea alexander remembers the 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 of the class they didn't like to do although some think the deceased leaders son may be a figurehead overshadowed by his recently promoted uncle who is thought to wield the real power alexander 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 first 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 offer a glimmer of hope that he may ease bag the rigid control over the taren regime and begin to open north korea to the world and maybe their war old to north korea. r.t. moscow. russia of course welcome twenty twelve in with the buying being the world's biggest country the celebrated new year's times there we go it is all about figs two it's nine time zones with the country's far east kicking kicking off the

festivities in the russia's western most point the baltics into kaliningrad finishing them off while hundreds also gathered in moscow's red square of course to toast those pictures from their world was treated to a mass celebrations of fireworks all over the globe let's take a look at the pictures from new york. times square for the ceremonial ball dropping at midnight the festivities two iconic saying from australia the bridge lighting up among the first countries to open its doors to the new littering fall over sydney harbor asia to thinking about with spectacular shows across the region pretty scene from dubai as well hundreds gathered in the world's tallest building to watch the mazing illumination display there it is revelers also packed cities all over europe for the countdown to midnight spectacular display there so long that as well went on for a long time must be a lot of money on the soup and there were celebrations sweeping the globe ati's and this is now it looks back at what made the past twelve months. two thousand and

eleven could easily go down as the most eventful year in years the killing of bin landen 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. time 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 audience from cairo to calif. 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 that 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 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 that direct clash between the u.s.

and nato on one side and russia and china on the war you know 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. bailout germany and france fined for influence in the debt ridden so 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 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 of felt multicultural program and racism into the mix you know stop and so. on a sense of place

a certain institution. and probably 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 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 was truly based in the end of his roots of american politics that crowd is easy since. they are disorganized they look funny what a protest nobody seems to know but negative coverage didn't stop us from spreading from small towns to huge ports occupied was not going anywhere great on campus 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 greet their slogan became we are the ninety nine percent and they are the rich the one percent from oakland to boston the more people occupied the more brutality became more evident by. what you do with your own. right our police forces have been militarized they're 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 leads 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 raked 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 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. and we've got more on the events that shaped twenty eleven waiting for a web site as well r.t. dot com also their fears of the world celebrated the arrival of twenty twelve you'll find we show you some just now some of the spectacular pictures of new york celebrations and the fireworks around the globe as well also online and artsy dot com. the end of the year so u.s. troops way farewell to a rag a web site explores the implications and consequences of nine years of conflict. and a look at the uprisings the demo's the disasters of twenty eleven the seen through the eyes of our correspondents interesting series we brought you last week we didn't catch it but streaming right now for you whenever you want to see it at r.t. dot com. this is. the history in the making. testimony. ten stories that shaped two

thousand and eleven on our t.v. . coming up to twenty eight minutes past eight o'clock here in moscow this sunday night sports are live from the capital a little bit later this hour eunice got news of why english football team manchester city's new year's celebrations are extra special today about the headlines before the next in fact toughness quick break.

whether you dive from high or to the depths. touch the power of the wind or drift in the beauty of the currents. the well prepared is a must and if you're lucky enough. you'll never forget your experience we only need a screen that's going to be heaven. in the white see up close and below the ice on our t.v. . watching

the weekly on our top stories in the last seven days with me kevin and first president obama signed a bill which imposes sanctions on iran over its nuclear program is despite surrounds threats to shut off a key oil supply route in the gulf is tension between the two countries continues to build. the syrian regime's crackdown on demonstrators continues unabated forcing out of league observers to warn damascus to rein in the violence to monitor the implementation of a peace plan the president. of the world rings in twenty twelve with a bang with fireworks and celebration.