sentences flashed in bahrain but human rights campaigners a still unhappy as we investigate why the gulf kingdom hasn't been able to stop the raging protests after almost two years of unrest. plus the syrian government suffers a further step back as another hard profile figure out the facts this is the regime and rebels trade accusations over the shelling of civilians. as the u.k. prepares for a recession for a year in the northeast of the country the financial gloom has taken its toll on people's health and their patients with the government.

and i welcome you watching r.t. live from moscow with me andrew. our top story bahrain has cut prison sentences for dozens of pro reform demonstrators that took part in mass rallies last year but the move has failed to satisfy human rights groups who are calling on the country to free all jailed activists the gulf states been cracking down on pro-reform demonstrators for nearly two years killing dozens and arresting thousands rights organizations are calling on the nation to stop prosecuting activists and improve its political institutions but campaigners say the nation's on a slippery slope to a sunni dictatorship artie's alexy our shares looked at the struggle between the government and the opposition and who could benefit from it. when it came to

supporting calls for democracy in middle eastern and north african states while denouncing government sponsored violence leaders of the west were vocally critical former gadhafi has lost legitimacy to lead and he must leave one. takes that will be a reckoning for this dreadful regime but when scenes of violent clashes between riot police and reform campaign risk game from bahrain the definition of democracy shifted and there was a suspiciously muted response. in the summer of the us state department came up with a statement expressing its concerns over the human rights situation and alleged torture in bahrain this was only several months after washington had restarted weapons sales to this gulf state it is claimed that the weaponry is defensive but hardly anyone in the opposition believes that dissenters in bahrain have been directing anger at their government for months now stop arming the killers is a message they are more often sending out to the west some of the brain blood is

worthless and the libyan blood is more important it's just book ridiculous than so he had youssif often travels to europe to direct attention to what he believes to be brutal repression in his country he and others like him have managed to alert human rights organization. but that's as far as it goes don't month ago. clinton made a statement about bahrain about the human rights situation in bahrain and this. one protester was killed you know and show you that there is no impact on the ground we are a victim and what happened because we live in a country they condemn the violence committed by the bahraini government against the peaceful protests that and beheading but that is still continuing for decades bahrain has been one of washington's closest allies in the gulf its naval base houses the u.s. fifth fleet and six thousand troops in a seemingly irreversible decision made decades ago despite

a growing anti-american mood among some of bahrain's neighbors anything happens the bush era plan or any of the other players that there are allegations of a nuclear weapon being built we are very close to all of those sites and we have to make the right decision in preventing any kind of catastrophe coming here we are not capable of doing that and that's why we turn to our friends and allies and officials firmly deny that washington plays a decisive role in preventing any revolution happening in bahrain even the bahraini government's information minister suggests the us main fact be playing a double game. i think the iranian opposition is a key ally of the us leader of the opposition and the terrorist members of the opposition have close ties with foreign embassies in bahrain we can leak some of the old many documents proving that if this is true then washington sitting comfortably it can quickly switch sides if for instance my mom refuses to

accommodate the american fleet any further but for now the opposition in bahrain is left to wonder as to why calls to support democracy from some are less worthy of attention than others. r.t. reporting from the kingdom of bahrain. the chief is. syria's military police has abandoned the regime and fled to turkey in the latest high profile defection of the conflict this comes as the syrian government blames terrorists to killing dozens of civilians in the country's north on wednesday the opposition earlier claimed the death resulted from shelling by a sad loyalist artie's paul a slayer has more. one of the main groups to come to the fore is a u.k. based activist group known as the syrian observateur for human rights the pictures are currently witnessing are pictures that they are distributing on you tube they cannot be verified of the point has been made by the russian foreign ministry that this was a group that relies on some two people and so these kind of reports need to be

taken with a pinch of salt and we constantly hear reports coming out of syria with each side accusing the other of perpetrating calamities indeed what we've witnessing happening in syria is a media war is a misinformation more that is increasingly difficult to verify been hearing now for several days the rebel fighters in syria claiming that assad's forces are using chemical weapons on them what they saying is that the injuries that civilians are coming forward with injuries that do point to some kind of exposure to a poisonous gas that they're consistent with those kind of injuries the fact is though that they need to be a lot of question marks around this now we all know that israel is no friend of syria but we are hearing from the israeli vice prime minister who was casting doubt over these claims by the group of fighters moshe ya'alon the israeli vice prime minister said that this is not the first time that there has been such claims made by rebel fighters and he has made the point that the opposition in syria has

a vested interest in making such claims as a way of getting foreign military intervention he also says that there is no proof or any kind of confirmation that indeed assad's forces are using chemical weapons now the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov has also made the point that the chemical weapon we within syria is been contained we have been receiving reports that it has moved to two locations what we're witnessing again here is the continuation of this misinformation war the fighting in syria continues to intensify we're likely to continue to fear such kind of reports in the. coming days and so we will do our best to try and verify the sources not just ahead in the program we continue with the end of year review today he's each team looks back at the launch of the exclusive talk show hosted by the world's most wanted to get a song. golden.

fleece. i am that speech. you feel each out of her. closely with lead outlook. sleeve good believe at least. was. out. there really are an.

i welcome back now after stepping on to the road of recovery the u.k. is preparing to begin the new year recession free but in the northeast britain's poorest region the financial downturn and widespread unemployment has had a potentially devastating effect on people's mental health according to a recent report the region has almost three times the rate of self harm and attempted suicide as london refer expects. as the old saying impressing gays it's grim up north it's a perception of life in some of the nation's other major cities recessions hit the u.k. hard it's been in the northeast where it's been felt particularly acutely. recession and that is right. here i mean you know the very people who are living on the poverty line trade union leader about scott's furious with the government's

decision to close sunderland's rentboy factory it's a government venture that began back in the nine hundred forty s. to provide employment the people with disabilities two weeks before christmas the government announced that they were going to close the package in factories and leaves a very bleak uncertain future for disabled workers killa stops was laid off from another rempel a factory back in april and accuses the government of forcing people out of paid jobs and on to a life of welfare we were told in the week before we left the factory. jobs. yeah in fact just four people from his old factory found a job it's not the first time that northern workers have felt the first hand of a conservative government back in the one nine hundred eighty s. and the miners' strike under margaret thatcher became a symbol of a divided nation this mining village in the living museum in the north east gives

us a snapshot of the past three decades since margaret thatcher and her conservative government crushed the miners unions the impact that policies had on the north east was extreme and long felt and even today there are many people who still have a deep mistrust of the conservative government the conservatives reputation up here is one that's hard to shake and it makes it hard for them to get a fair hearing on any plans to regenerate to find out more we decided it was time to pay a visit to number ten i was shocked at the level of understanding on the conservative benches of how people who live in. the north east. very often and i think they have a completely different view of how people's lives of the government are accused of not understanding the north but isn't that your job to represent the things to be

a fair bit of bickering that goes on among northern and. well i mean having an accent in the house of commons you know i've got quite happy ducks and but that sort of you get sneers when you have an accent when you speak in the commons from the government benches so that in itself is just an example of how the mismatch between the two sides of the government insists it's treating grace in the area seriously and his earmarks money thing infrastructure projects targeting the northeast in particular but a legacy of letdowns has left many northerners less than an seized. the government this is going up and this is a way. of it is our. it's a complete shambles so all in it together all the nation divided one thing seems certain that with many predicting an increase in unemployment and

a triple dip recession for the way the challenge of the year ahead looks set to be testing times for everyone so r.t. sunderland. the french embassy in the central african republic has been attacked by protesters surging paris to intervene to stop a rebel advance insurgent reportedly control vast parts of the country and are only seventy five kilometers away from the capital the u.n. has ordered its staff out of the country due to the unrest lawrence freeman of the executive intelligence review magazine believes france though will only worsen matters if it intervenes these developments do not occur overnight this is big group three years the french are playing a very bad role and if they give become military again in the central african republic that's not going to help for african countries are going to have to move in and some of these brown i think the french have a right to your embassy but beyond that if they become. it's not going to be

helpful to the central african republic or any of the neighboring countries of the c.l.r. what's going on there is what's been going on in most of the countries in the region which is that you have very unstable governments these countries have never become sovereign only your power is france and to be regrown of power grid and have kept their finger on the resources of these countries and they basically have never allowed these countries to develop for government and they would develop the country for the people by canonically. look at other news now from around the world egypt's president has acclaimed the new constitution as a new dawn for his country in his address to the nation after signing the fiercely disputed charter into law mohamed morsi also claimed it guarantees social freedom and paves the way for democracy critics of the constitution say it imposes elements of the law while ignoring the rights of women and minorities the islamist backdraft was approved by some sixty three percent of egyptians in

a referendum which the opposition claim so massive fraud. thousands of sea blocked the country's main trade routes in neighboring syria and jordan on wednesday the demonstrators were demanding equal rights accusing the shiite led government of leading the country into sectarian conflict the mass protests erupted last week following the arrest of ten bodyguards of a senior sunni official. the afghan foreign ministry says the country has lost more than seventy million dollars in taxes is foreign companies linked to nato are avoiding paying their dues last week president karzai stan the firm's accusing them of widespread corruption in the country but political analyst and former afghan m.p. the sort enjoy says the government is equally to blame. what was going on in two thousand and one two thousand and two when the interim authority came to existence in this country they signed deals exempting some of these companies we were dealing

with need to and i say. many other companies came and started. carpetbagging in backpacking. illegitimate gains in never paid taxes this is not new and this government will never have the guts to collect taxes from those rogue companies just an aviation alone. there are dozens and dozens of companies who are bringing passengers and cargo to this country and who are bringing other goods and they have never paid any taxes they've never paid even landing fees in some cases they haven't paid or flayed fees this is just aviation you can imagine in other fields of commerce in. fuel and transportation and logistics and security in other arenas in all arenas there are hundreds of millions of dollars every year there are scaping and this government also sometimes gives them some

reprieve by reducing their taxes and exchange for bribes on top of international sanctions and continuous cyber attacks iran can now be facing another hurdle the u.s. and canada have removed the notorious iranian militant group from their official terror list washington claims the group hasn't committed a terrorist act in over a decade and wants a peaceful regime change in the country artesian riff and explains why some iranians are wary of the me mohammed shows me his box of handmade treasures earrings pendants all made from stone the only material he could find in the prison yard. this is how we killed time and the pain from torture and hunger i still get headaches when i remember this time. iranian soldier mohammad spent eighteen years in an iraqi jail during the one thousand nine hundred eighty s. iran iraq war he says he would have been freed earlier if he joined the ek the

magick he didn't realize the militant revolutionary group was fighting iran in authority on the side of saddam hussein and recruiting new members among prisoners but mohamed refused them they were terrorists killing innocent people i couldn't have anything to do with them i betray my country then the group indeed had a very gory history in the one nine hundred sixty s. it started a bombing campaign against iran's shar and his allies they were linked to the killing of american citizens and welcomed the us embassy siege in tehran openly calling for the execution of the hostages the terror continued after the islamic revolution with the assassination of the country's president prime minister along with many politicians and clerics generous support from hussein it fought hard in iran as well as saddam's enemies inside iraq in one thousand nine hundred seventy m. a k. joined america's list of terrorist organizations along with al qaeda and hamas and

was cited in arguments for the invasion of iraq today iran iraq still view ek as terrorist group but america's position has now flipped me k. as a ranch democratic on this is just part of the large scale and successful lobby to get off the terror least among backers former white house officials army generals and cia chiefs. extremely disturbing this is a this is this at the time was a terrorist group they were supposed to be paying officials and moving money around and yet somebody was turning a blind eye to that campaign i think potentially is going to have an influence on the u.s. policy towards iran and could get us into a very dangerous position as far as potentially going to war with iraq iranian officials second that saying we came a place similar road that america back to position forces played in regime change in libya and in the current conflict in syria. may support.

groups. because they use for a truce to. political. new york or reporter in his article called our men in iran reveals how members of b.k. were trained by america's joint special operations command in a camp in nevada. this is part of an anteroom policy sanctions on iran a strong but they don't seem to work very well america started using inside agents to destabilize the country and they're using terrorism as a tool and out of those questionable ties between israel and iran according to america's n.b.c. network unnamed u.s. officials confirmed and make a was involved in the assassination of a number of iranian nuclear scientists backed by israeli intelligence service my son by israel secret service this quaint a run is named after interrogate him an iranian nuclear scientist killed in his own car this area known as midden job is a very popular and vibrant place many people pass through here while heading to the

mountains resort how to fight terror on an ideal location to remind people about something that shouldn't be forgotten or forgiven. mohamed says he recognized as a democratic alternative to run in his forties feel so real to him. nothing's changed they are terrorist tactics may be changed but still the west uses it to get information to get what they want. and the terrorists he says is likely to keep his brutal ways to. r.t. from iran. now we have plenty more on our website including when prestige doesn't necessarily mean safe for russian family files a two million dollar lawsuit against bentley playing a luxury car maker for the death of a relative due to a faulty air bag plus washington plans to hold the whip hand over each asian skies by deploying squadrons of stealth warplanes to the region get all the details at

r.t. dot com. with the end of the year approaching we continue to look back now at the most significant events of twenty twelve today r.t. recaps the launch of a groundbreaking exclusive show hosted by the world's top with. the program was recorded while the wiki leaks founder was under house arrest in britain and gave voice to some of the most prominent public figures shunned by the mainstream media . it was right on the new year's eve when i went to london to see june to discuss the new show. time drew in the sun. it's where she wakes where we expose the world secrets destocking is from the very

beginning the in high profile shows strong with a lot of it as a. so we created this web page with the big video player and video feeds containing trailers sneak peeks most shows tend to have a spike and then go down to both mars it's online and you with your keeps climbing it's quite a quite a study about i think it will be viewed in the story so this was quite important to the series the julian assange show gains over a one million visits and views online and believe me for an intriguing use show it's kind of an achievement never before we had anything like that on t.v. when one person sitting around the house or rapture would give voice to quiet why the few people around the world whose position of the world doesn't fit in the mainstream media picture.

you know watching say hey life from moscow and coming up in the next few minutes will bring you the story of some of the most violent gangs in u.s. history. deadly rivals for decades. if you had fifteen thousand people killing each other in any other country there would be diplomats there would be mediators

a lot of. self imposed out costs from society i will cut myself am i going to tax my brother understand my contact immediately i am going to leave basically attack the cops of my anger and my frustration. that they got that upgrade well into the ten dollars. to the most violent gangs in u.s. history. as a stall model kill or be killed with colors matching the national flag.

but this country uses violence whenever it chooses and then it legitimizes the violence they are made in america on the ati. led mission free accreditation three per cent store charges three the arrangement three risk free spirit types prefer the old free broadcast quality video for your media projects a free media. dot com. true

. true true.

true. love. doesn't walk in south central. on scripts and books will be more than thirty odd years one of the longest one in more than a few people. can always be someone else is ready to kill me because i'm aware of. the gulf be it until one of them make a movie kill one of us and i'll be born until you came down in a way get out of it what a lucky break over the past twenty.