many joyful traditions commemorating the birth of christ our top stories this hour . international news and comment live from moscow this is he putting out of iraq washington express pride at what had been achieved and confidence in a democratic future but just weeks on violence is rampant and sectarian tension boiling point well 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 is yet to discover its freedom sebastian meyer reports. 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 cairo. but iraqi journalists trying to cover these protests

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 all 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 a 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 slap me in the head other one kicked me in the. drive 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 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 and 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 but i noticed that people been using there but this is again is not protected by the government the government today. and you could see that there are people in the ministry of interior for example they have misusing their their power against the citizen and they get in this year and that is they keep a 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 any credible

press freedom or freedom that is essential to any democratic country sebastian meyer or iraq. and if you'd like to see more of sebastian's reports you can find them on our web site r.t. dot com iraq also there were running a poll asking where you think a post u.s. iraq is heading but here at the screen right now we can see that the prevailing opinion is the country is slowly slipping into chaos while a third say rocky's will overthrow the current u.s. backed government and make their own way into the future just over a quarter of you believe that iraq's already hit rock bottom and things can't get any worse and we can see there on the screen that just four percent harbor hope that it will develop into a western style democracy log on to r.t. dot com and your voice you could hear. the u.s. and the u.k. have called for syria to be expelled from two unesco human rights committees a british foreign office representative says the country's presence in itself

sunday's the u.n. bodies reputation meanwhile a former high ranking military chief who defected to the opposition has claimed syria won't be capable of confronting any international military action against the country he says that the assessments be made on based on confirmed information from sources within the syrian army and his own experience it comes as tension in the country reaches boiling point after a suicide blast killed twenty six in central damascus the arab league observers that have been working in syria since the end of december will present their initial report on the situation in the country on sunday. from the kind of the base center for research on globalization told me earlier that she thinks caused 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. this is going to affect the credibility of the assad regime and it's quite absurd when you. i think that the u.k. and you have some 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 the absurd that they want takes on a serious from that if you have the syrian government that is being. thrown on them you're going to put someone in place that's going to further the western interest and then run with those and i wired russia as an ally and then of course the next there would be regime change in iraq. sudan's president omar al bashir who is wanted for genocide charges by the international criminal court has arrived on a state visit to libya bashir was a bitter opponent of gadhafi who civilians and belfour to defend themselves against bush years armies he won rights groups a voice outrage at the visit and question the n.t. sees priorities but patrick kane is a reporter for the online magazine spiked sees double standards. because i'm brown shaking hands with get our feet 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 did support the libyan rebels who are fighting against gadhafi and have good material reasons to do so for a long time sit down in libya get out these libya. heads and you can understand why bashir wanted gadhafi out and why now having supported speedy the rebel uprisings there would be some attempt to kind of welcome him. into libya no i must say that so many found of the national transitional council most of the time they weren't even in libya to 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 i find it very

striking that you have no question. criticizing the libyans for engaging with their neighbors and sorting out diplomatic relations always just i'm staggered by the fact that these human rights groups basically wield a human right as missionaries in the nineteenth century wilted the bible in the ten commandments to basically civilized countries seem to be inferior and incapable of governing their own countries and people. talk to me a little early here on r.t. well still ahead we continue to meet the trail places of business in our pathfinder series. 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 billionaires before they were thirty. made the american bringing stars and singers to russia who explains how his business is succeeding in developing moscow's movie magic plus. 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 think 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 president asked the question on the streets of new york a little later. today the orthodox world is celebrating christmas commemorating the birth of jesus christ thirteen days after western worshipers according to the julian calendar a total of about two hundred million people celebrate christmas today on the seventh of january one of the oldest christian countries georgian worshippers began the holy day with midnight mass in bosnia believe us cut branches from oak trees to burn them later in huge fires as part of an ancient tradition and orthodox guerin's plunged into icy waters to recover a crucifix is cast by priests in an all ritual marking the feast of the pit for me

. it was a ritual a big crisis save a cathedral. both christians celebrate christmas and here in russia ushered in with a traditional service here at the christ the savior cathedral in the center of the russian capital that service presided over by the patriarch of moscow and all russia kirill the heads of the russian all the ducks. church attended by well the great and the good the dignitaries of russian society president jimmy t. made to get it in there as well as other senior figures attending missed church service around five thousand people in total crammed into the christ the savior could see 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 and of course to hear the bells that had been a 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 used 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 has become a real tradition here in russia it's opening in one nine hundred ninety seven the traditional christmas. christ the savior. that is peter of a reporting from moscow and we've been covering the service on our website r.t. dot com throughout the night and you can head there to see the vigil and listen to full commentary once again and also there you can find the address for the head of the russian church should portal nation to find peace and love for the whole of

mankind also online at the moment. heading towards doman amateur astronomer to film failed russian laws probe just days before it's due to fall back down to work. r.t. live here in moscow thirteen minutes past the hour now in the russian capital and next we continue our pathfinder series bringing you the stories of foreigners who successfully pioneering business in russia today we meet the man who brings scores of world renowned actors and bands to the country bob van roekel used to be a restaurateur in los angeles until deciding one day to try his luck here in russia something he's never regretted.

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 with 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 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 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 or. the city and. yell of live music at the other one zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero 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 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 where 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 you're from here which is 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 back but it's just so exciting here every day so many new things and new deals and new opportunities and that i haven't been able to leave. well individual chris maybe flourishing whole countries are drowning in debt next we head to new york with a resident 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 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 were out. i don't know how did that. because i know i say no no no maybe that's why it's going all around a good word to fix is 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 we can also see just do nothing and let people sort it out themselves. people

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 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 but we don't just keep printing money and we don't keep inflating government so that's when 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 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 he might help american politicians are just. really so what should they be doing better. other probably trying to change its economy from an oil economy to something else

we've got heaps of people with lots of brains and we need to be doing something about the environment. 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 a solution to come from someplace else. no time to give you some international stories this world updater wave of attacks by radical muslim sects is continuing to claim multiple lives in north eastern nigeria a people gunned down during a service at a church while twenty were killed during a town hall meeting is the most group which has claimed responsibility for the attacks issued a three day ultimatum for christians to leave the mostly muslim north of the country. three freight trains collided in

a rural part of the us state of indiana starting a fire and injuring two of the six crew members involved one of the trains carrying mostly ethanol tanks was stationary when it was hit in the back by another run into carriages on the track local officials said there was no spill of any hazardous material from the wreck nevertheless say one of the evacuation of several dozen houses near the crash site as a precaution. now time for a russia close up series as we continue to delve deeper into the country's far east . good. news. the hub ask region is russia's main gateway to the pacific and one of its most rapidly developing industrial centers tom barton is discovered feeding the feel hungry asian economies does not have to be at the expense of traditional. the

baro street in 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 tonnes of the 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 along with four 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. we're close enough to the nearest town look at it other 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 seen bears moose and tigers visit his white house and say's 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 you know i used to go down to the bay at four 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 in the summer this whole field would be bright orange and blue if you could pick to retire next year he says he's come to love the spotlight 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 this region 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. what would you say to them and i mean it's worth a try how did during your russian with this important and very few restaurants ok so 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

ok so in france is extortionate but. yeah you can go. even adventure well there you go that's an insight from someone who has made the leap out to the far east so bar off so 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. reporting that live here moscow coming up very shortly spotlight host all going to interviews world famous actor and director vincent perez who also turns out to be a great photographer that's after the headlines in just a couple of minutes with me here on.

this is our time. to reclaim the american dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth that out of many we all want that war we breathe the we hope. to me the american dream is to live in peace and prosperity and freedom and a government under socialism is not a government of free. me i might. have very motivated out cross the country who are activists who are willing to fight for

what they think is right for themselves but the fact is forty four bridge then. we are counting. property drowning and i think it's spread by it's cutting off our. it's making real democracy. all but impossible. mission free couldn't take three. three. three. three. three.

old free broadcast quality video. free media. protests and against the backdrop of an increasingly perilous security situation in the country. the u.s. and. human rights committees in the country. twenty six and. president. wanted international.