and we look at how russia helps feed asia's hungry economies by heading to one of the country's polished export gateways. casting around the world and around the clock this is r.t. since the last american troops left iraq the country is learning to manage its own affairs but the consequences are proving fatal for some a decade of conflict was meant to herald a move to democracy but journalists say intimidation and brutality against them is rife and sebastian maya discovered. this spring iraqis inspired by neighboring arab countries began protesting against the government in a square in baghdad one which shares its name with the better known counterpart in cairo. but iraqi journalists trying to cover these protests

all but silenced by the government security forces in today's iraqi journalists who speak out are routinely imprisoned beaten or just simply killed it seems to be a high level of intolerance or dissent or for public criticism of either government policies or particular leaders use it felt to me a freelance journalist showed r.t. some shocking youtube footage from the protests this february that explicitly show iraqi security forces targeting him because he's a journalist. he shouts which is arabic for journalist over and over again but it makes the police more violent three or four maybe five right police were around me one of them slapped me in the had other one kicked me in the and they come they know grabbed me fast yousif managed to escape arrest thanks to two foreign journalists who intervened but since the arrest of one of his

colleagues he stopped covering protests altogether became hard for journalists for example to go to tahrir square i myself i don't go there i stopped there a long time ago not because. i'm not that scared to be arrested. you know i'm worried to be mistreated we tried to speak to journalists who've been arrested in baghdad but everyone was too afraid to appear on camera so we came up here to the more peaceful kurdish region to see if the situation was any different here i met a young photographer who was arrested while covering similar protests in the kurdish region but after the interview he called to tell me he was scared of reprisals from the government and asked to blur his face and change his name after his arrest in april he was imprisoned for four days and tortured. six men came to the room and started to shout at me and beat me with cables then they gave me electric shocks they wanted me to admit that i hadn't been at the protest. when he

was finally released after four days a friend took pictures of his wounds and published them in a local magazine immediately ahmed was rearrested as a punishment for publicizing his initial arrest. came and they held me for three days and made me sign a document declaring that i would not talk to the press again back in baghdad the government spokesman admitted to r.t. that individuals in the iraqi government were indeed using their powers to silence the press not just that people been. using there but this is again is not protected by the government the government is against that and i think and you could see that there are people in the midst of a t.v. ad for example they have misusing their their power against the citizen and there is this year and that is they keep accountable and some of them has been fired almost nine years after the invasion u.s. troops are home but one of the country they're leaving behind with politicians using the security forces to silence journalists it appears that iraq lacks any

credible press freedom a freedom that is essential to any democratic country sebastian meier r.t. iraq. on our website where our skin what do you think will happen to iraq now that u.s. forces have left this hour the bulk of opinions that the country is slipping into total chaos and most quote of yours and things can't get any worse with the same number i think iraq is will overthrow the u.s. backed government to determine their own future and less than ten percent say iraq will develop into a western style democracy where you can log onto dot com and out your views. a suicide bombing that killed up to twenty six people in the syrian capital has heightened tensions between the government and the opposition the attack apparently targeted a police bus for most of the casualties are said to have been civilians comes as our oblique monitors who are assessing violence in the country are due to give their first report this weekend and to government protesters rallied after the

blast rein in the syrian government violence and international intervention but jordan based political analyst. says the bombing is a sign that an armed opposition is actively trying to destabilize the country. right from the start the demonstrations were not truly peaceful and there were many incidents of. gangs perpetrating crimes against the army against the security forces against the civilians and of course there were denying it the so-called opposition denying it for a long time but now everything has become clear these terrorist acts these shameful terrorist acts are a clear indication that there are armed gangs and there are terrorists working in syria to disrupt life in syria they're not aiming their aggression only against their regime but against the whole syrian people and the whole syrian obviously

what we are where we are witnessing in syria is that their revolution but actually it is a very ugly conflict to dismantle not only the syrian regime but you change the whole area it has nothing to do with democracy and freedom and that there are certain forces international forces and local forces as well which are actually trying to change the situation in the area for geo political reasons. respective of the costs that will actually be imposed on the syrian people on the whole area. still ahead this hour the man who brings hollywood to moscow. the american bringing stars and studios to russia as today's pathfinder explains how he's succeeding in developing moscow's meeting that took us. to fix the economy what should they be doing. they should be pumping more money huge. pumping more money they've been pumping billions and billions and trillions good. the president

is in new york to ask how people there would go about fixing the struggling global economy. orthodox christians worldwide celebrating christmas day for the julian calendar weapon even celebrate the birth of christ thirteen days after western worshipers it also marks the end of a forty day fast around two hundred million people from the eastern tradition one of the oldest christian countries georgian worshippers began the holy day with midnight mass meanwhile in bosnia carried branches to be burned as part of their christmas ritual the fire was believed to warm the community with enough time to move and that is intolerance parties was at midnight mass christ the savior cathedral in moscow. both christians celebrating christmas and here in russia that was ushered in with

a traditional service here at the christ the say because the jewel in the center of the russian capital now that service presided over by the patriarch of moscow and all russia kirill it's all of the russian orthodox church attended by well the great new good the dignitaries old russian society president dimitri made to get it in there as well as all the see me a pig is attending this church service around five thousand people in total crammed into the christ the savior cathedral more of them in fact actually taking places around the outskirts of the cathedral to just try and get a view of the church hopefully to hear something what was going on inside it of course to hear the bells. that had been ringing out to celebrate the birth of jesus christ now. question it always comes up is why is christmas being celebrated in january now this is due to the fact that the russian orthodox church as well as some other branches of all the docs christianity use the julian calendar as opposed

to the calendar used by western christianity which means that in russia as well as some other countries christmas falls on the seventh of january huge day in the old calendar and something that has become a real tradition here in russia opening in one thousand nine hundred seven the traditional christmas. christ the savior. by the festive feeling continues online as we bring you more orthodox christmas celebrations here in russia to dot com you can see the full christmas across. the russian church. also online the pentagon goes beyond bullets and bombs as details are linked to the new weapons that create the race to main bands to blindness.

more now on the foreigners who are successfully pioneering business in russia today is a pathfinder is a bob van runkle used to be a restaurateur in los angeles until deciding one day to leave it all behind he's now hollywood's man in russia has already brought scores of actors and bands to the country. i basically ended up moving to russia all by accident in one thousand and ninety eight i was asked by a russian friend in los angeles if i could bring a hollywood studio to moscow because mayor luzhkov was interested in building multiplex cinemas and wanted a hollywood studio partner i had friends that were running warner brothers they sent head of international theatres with me gosh my my first trip was very

impressionable i couldn't understand how so many young people i was meeting were making tens of millions of dollars a year and some of them millionaires before they were thirty and these were some of the things that made me realize there's a lot of opportunity here there's not a lot of people who are doing hollywood business there hasn't been a lot of contact and interaction with celebrities i love a challenge what could be more challenging than moving to russia and trying to develop and create a business here ross for them how real i didn't know any actors but i started meeting them just to bring them to russia or working on that project the russian comedy that's going to shoot in america steven seagal zola he told me they'll do it a couple days for two hundred fifty thousand dollars bail kilmer's interested in helping out. then wealthy russians started asking for other people and i just

started calling everybody i knew in l.a. who knew a producer a new a director and i called them from russia after eight years i brought over eighty actors and bands to russia i think it's very important for you to go to los angeles with me in the next few months and we should meet with you hopefully make your releasing a different actors you would like to do cameos in this film the biggest challenge to overcome is gaining people's trust and performing one example is recently i was asked to bring john claude van damme to chechnya for the president's birthday and day of the city and. yet evolution is going to the other one i told you only in my heart. it's a place most people are very afraid to go to of course john clyde you know his expenses need to be paid and others for him to go there and it's very frightening dealing and working with chechnyan friends knowing that if something went wrong didn't come and money is paid. who are people going to come calling and looking for

asking for the money back and it took a long time for me to win people's confidence that they would send money to an actor or a band in advance russia it costs more than a lot of other parts of the world because russians have been willing to pay more you know if russians weren't willing to pay more celebrities would be coming for less but when they have people making such big offers just to get them how can you refuse so russia's been great to help push up their prices jennifer lopez gets two million dollars to go and perform you know in russia and kazakhstan and some other places if you're american in the u.s. we understand our system how to set up a business so we can easily research any product or any idea we have to find out if it's been saturated or not in russia it's really different because it's so hard to get to the important people that make the decisions when i have to work with

a person who works for someone here i get nowhere i can't do a deal because they need to see so much because their jobs on the line their names on the line they're so afraid that just drags on and drags on whatever i'm talking to them about when you can pick up the phone and call the head of the company or someone on the board of directors i know in a week if i can do this deal or not with them rush is just a much more individual life you really need to know some important people here to have success you know i was thinking your from your which is a part of the reason i never learned russian is i just thought ok one year from now i'm sure something will come up back in the l.a. in the u.s. i'll go back i'll start doing movies but it's just so exciting here every day and so many new things and new deals and new opportunities and that i haven't been able to leave. six pts. well from making money to losing it now as we ask whether it's time to let

the public take over tackling the world's debt troubles aunties or heartless to meet people in new york to get their tips for the politicians in charge. today everyone's upset with how the world leaders are handling the economy so how would you fix that this week let's talk about that whole country do you think is doing a good job. let me say. you know now. what would you do to fix the problem in greece. injuries wow. i don't know yet because i know i say no no no but then maybe that's why it's going all around a good word fixes each of our problems personally so for all out there working hard and spending money to local communities then that's you know

a way of part of building up each local small community eventually the whole country gets stronger right yeah isn't it time maybe for the government to stop trying to fix it and let people and companies fix their own wallets i think that's a good answer yes to fix the economy what should they be doing. they should be pumping more money into it pumping more money they've been pumping millions and billions and trillions and done a good so why is that the solution that we keep going back to the only thing we can do so they can also see just do nothing and let people sort it out themselves. people can sort of themselves not a matter of not throwing money into the economy it's a matter of living within means if you don't have enough revenue then you have to cut spending yes so governments are trillions of dollars in debt so it sounds like they have no money right well they have to pay obviously you can't stop everything all at once but you do have to you do have to pull back and you have to come up with

a reasonable plan to at least stop the hemorrhaging but we don't just keep printing money and we don't keep inflating government so that's why most of the european countries are having trouble because the government is sixty percent larger than it should be so why why do you and i see business and government leaders. can't because we don't get paid by the people that are behind the scenes and since i'm not ready for a campaign ad campaign contributions by people that need my help to american politicians are just. really so what should they be doing better. other probably trying to change the economy from an oil economy to something else we've got heaps of people with lots of brains and. doing something about the environment just people with brains are in positions of power. so it seems like with the system that's currently in place for how world leaders get elected it might be time for solutions to come from someplace else.

as the taliban prepares to open up a political office in qatar the u.s. has indicated it's ready to back the initiative it's seen as a crucial step towards peace talks between nato and its longtime enemy taliban also wants high ranking taliban prisoners to be freed from guantanamo bay parties and many to contribute to any who show things that moves could signal a major american defeat decade long conflict. uncle sam has just recently authorized the opening up the official office for the taliban in doha qatar for. the opening of the taliban office doesn't bode well because he effectively has been cut from this wheeling and dealing between americans and tell about on the other side americans it looks like a real deal it looks like they have accepted demands by the taliban that is to

keep cut as government out of the loop and as for taliban themselves they look like one and only winners in these shadowy negotiation the. taliban open out their office. they might as well door in it with the two nameplates with the calls from the counterinsurgency doctrine the first if we are not winning we are losing at dressed for the us armed forces and second if we are not losing we are winning for the taliban themselves. but at some of the mains from around the world now and first a tragedy new zealand where one hundred ten balloon burst into flames after hitting power lines killing eleven people on board two of those who died had jumped out of the basket desperation before the plummeted to the ground zero as deadliest and exhausted almost fifty. last crowds have gathered in gammon's characterise

suspicions grow their presence sunday with again when a guy has agreement to quit the protesters also want to release of all political prisoners held since until government protests began. a position leaders for sunday would use the country's own rest to stay in power despite signing a regionally backed deal to hand control to his vice president in exchange for legal immunity. for outspoken human rights activist in the rain has been hospitalized after what his lawyer said was a brutal police beating of an anti-government protest bill was allegedly hit on the head and face with sticks and keep by officers the government says police found him injured while participating in an unauthorized march brains a shiite majority began campaigning for more rights from the sunni yet a year ago. trying to bring you more of russia close up as we continue to explore the country's far east.

we have our oscar regionalize on the chinese border and is russia's a main gateway to the pacific also a center of coal and wood exports to the heavily populated in fuel hungry asian economies but as our teams tom barton discovered keeping industry alive there doesn't have to be at the expense of tradition. the bar ask region russia's far east is becoming a growing center for export to the hungry economies in the south china south korea and japan increasing material exports of ward and coal are going out to the pacific and south and is that they were looking at in my report. this monster called coal stacker is the new face of russia's far east coast it can load over four thousand tons of coal an hour into ships at this rapidly expanding sea terminal this year

they exported ten million tons of the stuff almost exclusively south to asian markets but we've noticed there's a cool boom of coal consumption worldwide has increased so this port covers almost all of asia from the con comes from some of russia's largest deposits five hundred kilometers in and he joins the oil and flowing out of the region in ever greater quantities tugboats maneuver the ships into place through storms and the winter cold and even the most modern tankers once on their way to helped along by a much older technology followed this vast new ship internals are springing up to supply overseas markets and the old see very foundations presented by this like caps which moment for help makes a russia's gateway to the pacific hundreds. lighthouses dot the coast all the way

from the border with north korea up to the arctic. victor has been marrying his lighthouse for over thirty years but he's glad he's not too far out into the wilderness. we're close enough to the nearest town other lighthouse keepers are stuck out in the tiger without even roads sometimes a ship or helicopter deliver supplies there's no other way to come or go big has not had a ship run aground since the early one nine hundred ninety s. he's seen bears moose and tigers visit his lighthouse and say as he never grows bored of the ever changing seascape far from feeling lonely he talks of the remand to system of being such a secluded spot on the coastline there. i used to go down to the bay for i am catching crabs and start a fire then my wife and kids will join me and we'll have breakfast on the shore and watch the sunrise local split in the summer this whole field will be bright orange and blue if you ask about victor retires next year he says he's come to love the

sport like robinson crusoe and sign on and while he can remember the pristine beauty of his coastline others are seeing it sail on into the future. with his talk a little bit more about the boston the experience of moving here from abroad is the main a holiday that came here from britain so i've asked itself is trying to great itself trying to move into the wealth of the city in time and the modern and modern age with industry they're also working on a new cosmodrome what do you know about the new developments here i know that it's very very important to them for their. pretty tense what they want to try to find me investing by which is obviously going to be very good if any i'm here because my fiancé's working for an oil refinery in a more investment there and this was a general sense that i think any group. it says that it was one of the biggest and

most important projects is happening in russia and then said yes i think it's up and coming this it's a region but as someone who's come from a different culture side what would you say to people who are thinking. there is possibly business gigi's but should i come what would you say. to the judge how did during your russian with this important very restaurants or cafes where they have an english menu and and things like that i think when i don't speak russian people find it frustrating rather than think so i'd bet that in mind prices because their prices extortionate question. go get a go. of intervention although you go that's an insight from someone who has made believe outs to the far east to her bar off so it's not going to get any warmer here but it seems that with huge with the development of the region it is going to get more connected to the outside world. to bottom in a few minutes the story of

a man who embarked on a self-appointed mission to protect the us from illegal migrants before that's the headlines in a few moments. wealthy british style. has been time to write my book.

markets why not come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike's cause or for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cars a report. on. it if.

not oh it's not about spilling blood. in just the war of the barricades from one side and fears blockade from the other. it's. invisible border it has cut people from the land for twelve years. the conflict that divided serbia into two hostile parts is still not over.

in motion would be soon which brightened if you knew moon about sun move from phones to pressure. from stunts on t.v. dot com. welcome back a recap of our top stories now with american troops out of iraq concerns are mounting of what's being left behind is proving deadly for journalists who say they're being tortured by police for speaking out against the government. a suicide blast that killed twenty six people in syria's capital problems i think stations from both leaders and authorization supporters of the who was behind the attack. and christmas has come for millions of orthodox christians around the globe for the jew into.