commemorating the birth of christ our top stories this hour. international news and comment live from moscow this is r.t. pulling out of iraq washington expressed pride at what had been achieved and confidence in a democratic future but just weeks on violence is rampant and sectarian tension near boiling point behind the prime minister pursues a seemingly personal vendetta against the vice president and caught in the middle of it all is journalism where the press has yet to discover its freedom sebastian meyer reports. i this spring iraqis inspired by neighboring arab countries began protesting against their government in a square in baghdad one which shares its name with the better known counterpart in current time. but a refugee is trying to cover these protests silenced by the government security

forces in today's arrest journalists who speak out to me in prison. just simply seems to be a high level of intolerance or dissent or for public criticism of either government policies or particular leaders. a freelance journalist showed some shocking you tube footage from the protest this february and it 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 head other one kicked me in the and they grabbed me fast 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 i myself i don't go there i stopped there a long time ago not because. that's scared to be arrested. you know and 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 and was imprisoned for four days and tortured. six men came to the room and started to shout at me and to 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. 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 that is not just that people been. using there but this is again is not protected by the government the government or the against and you could see that there are people in the ministry of interior for example they have misusing their power against the citizen and there is this building that is the comfortable and some of them has been fired almost nine years after the invasion u.s. troops are home but what 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 or freedom that is essential to any democratic country sebastian meyer r t iraq. well if you'd like to see more sebastian's reports you can find them on our website dot com under iraq and also there we're running a poll last thing where you think of us iraq is now heading and the prevailing opinion we can see on screen is the country is slowly slipping into chaos while a third say iraqis will overthrow the current u.s. backed government and make their own way forward into the future also see there that about a quarter of you believe that iraq's already hit rock bottom and things can't get any worse just a few percent harbor hope that it will develop into a western style democracy. common added your voice would be good to hear from you. the u.s. and the u.k. have called for syria to be expelled from unesco human rights committees the

british foreign office representative says the country's presence in itself sunny's the u.n. bodies reputation we mourn a former high ranking military chief and president assad's regime who defected to the opposition has claimed syria won't be capable of confronting any international military action against the country he says the assessment is based on confirmed information from sources within the syrian army and his own experience comes as tension in the country which is boiling point after a suicide blast targeting police killed twenty six in central damascus something the government to respond to with an iron fist. and a list from the kind of the best center for research on globalization thinks that calls by the u.s. and u.k. for the exclusion of syria from unesco committees are absurd as their leaders have blood on their hands and souls. it's just something to think the credibility of the assad regime and it's quite absurd when you think the u.k. and the u.s. have selves more criminals running free i mean george bush and tony blair there is

ample evidence that they have committed crimes of the sort of the run free. so. they want to have serious from that from there if you have the syrian government being in. the throne going to put someone in place to further the western interests and goals and i was russia was an ally and then of course the next step would be regime change in iraq. sudan's president omar al bashir who is wanted for genocide charges by the international criminal court as a right on the state visit to libya he was welcomed by the head of libya's nato backed government the shia was a bitter opponent a good afi who civilians and dar for to defend themselves against the bashir want to discuss the state visit and the message it sends i'm now joined live from london by patrick ase he's a reporter for the spider online magazine patrick

a government that came to power fighting for human rights the m.t.c. has now just welcomed a man wanted for starting a genocide that killed tens of thousands are sort of irony here don't you think. well i don't think it's actually any more ironic than say gordon brown shaking hands with muhammad get afi in two thousand and nine at the g eight summit in italy or for example tony blair shaking hands with gadhafi in two thousand and seven just outside of his hometown where he was killed in certain two thousand and seven so i mean i think yes there are double standards here but at the same time western leaders are very open to doing this and do this themselves as well not so i must say that so many found of the national transitional council you said that they were fighting for human rights in libya i see most of the time they weren't even in libya at all the people on the council themselves so off cozying up and getting the approval of western governments to lead libya rather than orienting themselves towards the libyan people and actually fighting for democracy there they are see

a lot of them just flew in after gadhafi was gotten rid of. and went into hiding so i mean i'm no supporter of the n t c but it's lots of other western governments to do this kind of things as well so it's important not to hold them up necessarily for double standards when a lot of other western leaders will also do the same things will be wondering why bashir has now gone to libya of course gadhafi was a strong opponent of bashir of sudan civilians there to defend themselves against the onslaught of bashir is government troops so he really had a reason to see gadhafi go didn't he and of course provide valuable valuable support for the rebels insurgents. yes he did. support the libyan rebels. who were fighting against gadhafi and had good material reasons to do so for a long time sit down in libya get their fees libya had. a heads had been kind of

you know interfering in each other's kind of local policies in that region of the world and you can understand why bashir wanted gadhafi out and why now having supported the rebel uprisings there would be some attempt to kind of welcome him. into libya i think i mean it's important again to when you when you're thinking about relations who appreciates recognize this is a very local relations between the two i mean in terms of local relations is a massive player in the region it's just you know it shares a border with libya it's just self it makes sense that leaders solve local countries to meet and to enter into discourse i find it's very striking that you have now western organizations criticizing the libyans for engaging with their neighbors and sorting out diplomatic relations it strikes me to be quite a natural thing to do in this circumstance but don't human rights groups really have a point here questioning the m.d.c. is very commitment to the rule of law surely what they're doing is actually going

a little bit too far isn't it inviting and accepting the state visit. well i always just i'm staggered by the fact that these human rights groups usually like human rights watch and amnesty which the two big ones of come out and criticize the libyan transitional council in this instance so basically feel that they have a role in basically telling libya how it should govern its affairs the arrogance the elite is full of these kind of organizations he thinks it can affect only come in in the same way i would say kind of missionaries in the nineteenth century went on civilising missions to africa and other countries how to govern their affairs i find it extraordinary that they have the gall to do this and basically wield human rights as missionaries in the nineteenth century wilted the bible in the ten commandments to basically civilized countries sixty three inferior and incapable of governing their own countries and people will leave it there thanks so much of the

patrick hayes reporter for the spies a moment saying thank you joining us live there in london. well still to have you here or not he will continue to meet the trailblazers of business in our poll find a series. for 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 billionaires before they were thirty. meet the american bringing stars and studios to russia who explains how his business is succeeding in developing moscow's movie magic plus still to come. we don't just keep printing money we don't keep inflating government so that's why most of the european countries are having trouble it's because the government is sixty percent larger than it should be so why do you and i see this and government leaders can't because we don't get paid by the people that are behind the scenes what's wrong with the global economy and how would you fix it the resident question on the streets of new

york. today the orthodox world is celebrating christmas commemorating the birth of jesus christ thirteen days after western washington according to the julian calendar a total of about two hundred million people celebrate christmas day on the set of the general one of the oldest christian countries georgian worshipers began the holy day with midnight mass in bosnia believers cut branches from trees to burn and later in huge fires as part of an ancient tradition an orthodox plunge into icy waters to recover a crucifix is cast by priests in an old ritual marking the feast of the pit. was at a vigil at the 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 savior in the center of the russian capital now that service presided over by the patriarch of moscow. the heads of the

russian orthodox church attended by the great and the good the dignitaries old russian society president to meet in there as. 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 a ringing out. 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 of the branches of all the docs christianity and the julian calendar as opposed to the calendar used by western christianity which means that in russia as well as out some other countries christmas falls on the seventh of january huge day in the old calendar and

something that's has become a real tradition here in russia opening in one thousand nine hundred seven the traditional christmas. christ the savior. of a reporting from central moscow and that we've been covering this on our website you can see the vigil again and provided by. the editor in chief of the magazine. there you can find the address by the head of the russian church to find peace and love for the whole of mankind also on the web site of the moments. amateur astronomy film the russian just days before it's due to fall back down to.

and next here on r t we continue our pathfinder series bringing you these stories of foreigners who are successfully pioneering business here in russia today we meet the man who brings scores of world renowned actors and burns to the country bob van roekel used to be a restaurateur in los angeles until decided one day to try his luck in russia something he's never regretted. i basically ended up moving to russia all by accident in nineteen 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 in the us with them. 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 is already told me they'll do it a couple days for two hundred fifty thousand dollars bail kilmer's interested in helping out. then the 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. please recently i was asked to bring john claude van damme to chechnya for the president's birthday and day of the city and. yet oblivious to that to the other one i go through only in my heart. it's a place most people are very afraid to go to of course john claude 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 the 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 it 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. much more individual life you really need to know some important people here to have success you know i was thinking near from here 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 us i'll go back i'll start doing movies but it is 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.

so while individual careers may be flourishing the whole country's a drowning in debt next we head to new york where the president asks people in the streets for tips on what should be done to rescue the global economy. today everyone's upset with how the world leaders are handling the economy so how would you fix it 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. in greece wow. i do you know how did. they get so no no no no maybe that's why it's going all around a good word fixes each of our problems personally so if we're 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 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 say just do nothing and let people sort it out themselves. people can sort of theirselves 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 they 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 we don't just keep printing money and that we don't keep inflating government so that's and most of the european countries are having trouble because the government is sixty percent larger than it should be so why why can you and i see this and government leaders can't because we don't get paid by the people that are behind the scenes and since i'm not running for. campaign i don't get current 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 with we've got heaps of people with lots of brains and we need to be doing something about the environment being those people with brains are in positions of power. and 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.

for all russia close up series as we continue to delve deeper into the country's far east. screeching is russia's main gateway to the pacific and one of its most rapidly developing industrial centers and as artie's told bottlers discovered feeding a fuel hungry asian economies does not have to be at the expense of tradition. the have our us krege and 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 stuff almost exclusively south asian markets but we've noticed there's a cool boom of coal consumption worldwide has increased so these ports covers almost all of asia. become comes from some of russia's largest deposits five hundred monitors in them and he joins the oil and timber 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 helped along by a much older technology oh and this vast new ship internals are springing up to supply overseas markets the old see very foundations presented by this light house which

long before help makes a russia's gateway to the pacific hundreds of lighthouses dot the coast all the way from the border with north korea up to the arctic. victor has been manning his lighthouse for over thirty years but he's glad he's not too far out into the wilderness. weekly. it's enough to the nearest town look at it another lighthouse keepers are stuck out in the tiger without even roads sometimes a ship or helicopter deliver supplies but 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 ses 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. i used to go down to the bay for i am catching crabs and start

a fire then my wife and kids would join me and we'd have breakfast on the shore and watch the sunrise but in the summer this whole field would be bright orange and blue if you could quick to retires next year he says he's come to love the spot robinson crusoe xylem and 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 bar often the experience of moving here from abroad is the main aholic that came here from britain a basket self is trying to upgrade itself trying to move into the out of the soviet times and into the modern modern age with industry with the also working on a new cosmodrome what do you know about the new developments here i know that is very very important to the local area and you know that it's improving transport links all the time people are finally investing in the far east which is obviously going to be very good for the economy i mean i'm here because my fiance is working

for an oil refinery and in a more investment there and this cousin jane is going to i think any improve putin said it was one of the biggest and most important projects that's happening in russia at the moment so yes i think it's up and coming this. as someone who's come from a different culture from outside what would you say to what the people who are thinking . there is possibly business which changes but should i come here. what would you say to them. i mean it's worth a try how did during your russian with this important and very few restaurants or cafes where they have an english menu and things like that i think when i don't speak russian people find it frustrating rather than bear that in mind prices ok so if prices are extortionate. you can go. even adventure well there we go that's an insight from someone who has made the leap out to the far east so bar ask it's not going to get any warmer here but it seems that with future with the

development of the region it is going to get more connected to the outside world tom button there coming up to twenty nine minutes past the hour here in the russian capital still ahead for you the kaiser report here to expose the scandal behind the global financial headlines but first i'll be back with a recap of our main stories very shortly stay with us live here in moscow. now it's not about spilling blood. it's the war of the barricades from one side and fears blockade from the other. invisible border has cut people from the land for twelve years. the conflict that divided serbia into two hostile parts is still not over.

the twenty four hours a day top stories now here in our t.v. frontline of journalism descend when there's a when iraq has the government intensifies its crackdown on protests and the press all against the backdrop of an increasingly perilous security situation in the country. the u.s. and u.k. call for syria to be expelled from unesco human rights committee small tension in the country reaches a peak after a suicide blast kills twenty six in the capital. and we offer you a glimpse at how millions of orthodox christians are celebrating christmas and the many joyful traditions commemorating the us. so more on those stories were innocent .