by giving up. hope. and love to so many children. nikolai the miracle worker on tape. panics markets lead america's plunge off the fiscal cliff while the republicans and democrats angle over how to pull the safety cord. as the number of dead in the moscow plane crash rises to five investigators begin the painstaking probe into the accident we take you step by step through the sequence of events. plus from painful austerity in europe and people across the arab world to the rise of political awareness in russia as the world turns a new page to twenty thirty r.t. recaptures all the twists and turns of the ad going you.

and i welcome you watching r.t. live from moscow with me and. the united states has all but begun its plunge off the fiscal cliff at least on the markets and with last minute talks between republicans and democrats polling apart yet again america could be in for a hard landing wall street is in full retreat seeing five straight days of selloffs as panicky investors jump ship on new year's day six hundred billion dollars worth of tax hikes and federal cuts are slated to come into force in america and a deal to avert that and still no way in sight though is. reports the makings of this crisis were there for all to see if things the u.s. congress created this cliff situation when they failed to agree on a budget that would help the country reduce its deficit and its your mongers debt

and what they did was what they usually do they put off those important decisions and full circle deadline that deadline is now so we came up with this theory word cliff to create lots of drama around what should be the ordinary maybe somewhat boring were. working process of any congress or telamon that is to agree on a budget the need to deadlines so the cliff which actually describes the mode in which the congress is working their inability to make decisions until the very very last minute the cliff that u.s. lawmakers have artificially created could become very real for the american people the vast majority of them over one thousand government programs would be cut it would hit the unemployed very hard stop getting unemployment benefits there would be other automatic cuts and tax hikes that would mostly affect those who are financially insecure but everyone knows even if the lawmakers don't meet the january first headline they can pass measures retroactively and at the end of the

day they will decide something but congress seems to love the drama of the whole cliff situation they have all the attention in the world and literally the whole world the media of course help them hype it up with the countdown they started two months ago and while politicians here are enjoying all that attention turning last minute scoring political points the hype around the scary word cliff is already hurting the economy experts say it's affecting business and consumer confidence if wall street is any indicator stocks have been falling for a fifth straight day on friday they called it a fiscal cliff slide other markets are reaching signals of certainty coming from the u.s. oil prices have soared in the asian markets ahead of a last minute effort in washington to reach a deal on fiscal cliff that's what you read in the news so this whole charade in washington could have implications on many levels and the fiscal cliff which some

call a product of u.s. lawmakers imagination could become a self-fulfilling prophecy. trying to find your way through a complex tax system isn't bad enough in the u.k. you paying through the nose for telephone services to help them navigate it that's coming up later. another crew member has died after a passenger jet crash landed at one of moscow's busiest airports that brings the number of dead to five while three of those are still fighting for their lives in hospital the redwings plane skidded off the runway and plowed into the embankment of a major highway on saturday experts believe bad weather brake failure or simply pilot error could have led to the tragedy. now looks at how the events unfolded the twenty ninth of december the last working day of two thousand and twelve in russia . business is. the next. jump

into their cars and escape the busy capital. highway heads to the west where most of the luxury estates and country houses are located traffic jams are karma but this time of the day this time of the year with one of the road is almost there . passengers come out of the car to see what the sound was a big sack to see anything but not this. just minutes before that and similar to all for what number ninety six i think is when the little i've told you the first times it's unsuccessful the plane makes a wrong over the airport and begins to send in for a second time when they sign the plane touches down but can stall big fear is true

at that moment most likely knows already they will not make it the jets reaches the end of the runway runs into the fence but still continues moving it finally stops after overrunning the asteroid by four hundred meters the plane breaks into three parts and tail is lying over the whole year the road people can easily see its number or a fix for four seven the middle paul just bought misses the way the cockpit already partially damaged after the crash with a science falls right at the edge of the highway it's a miracle indeed the road is empty at that time this is a ten lane highway the wreckage is only on one of the lanes traffic continues on at least three here even after the tragedy does fashion by slowing down to see what happens they notice and measure and possibly slide on the front of the very road they usually drive every friday and everybody sings a sad moment was eve eyes had come minutes earlier or was eve i have been on that

airplane people come out of their cars and try to help out those in the cockpit already that. weather conditions technical failure and pilot error are among investigators main causes of the incident was most likely a combination of reasons behind a fatal crash however a plane hitting a busy highway in one of europe's biggest cities could have less and much more of a satan trail of destruction there wasn't enough luck for everyone on that saturday evening. moscow region. and if you want but opinion on what may have caused the crash or mourn the plane itself had to r.t. dot com or that are much more is lined up for you there. fighting between syrian government troops and opposition forces has intensified with new clashes in the

north of the country the rebels have also reportedly captured an oil pumping station that is the international envoy for peace in syria reiterated that dialogue is the only way out of the crisis this was fully supported by russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov it's easy to discuss the matter in moscow. the editor in chief is syria try been relieved the rebels are preparing the ground for foreign intervention. almost. never of the winner of the syrian army they were established to create chaos and to become true for what it is the reaction now for intervention is not have. the militia come up with him for the i think really what difficult for the syrian army and for the syrian government what should be mixed is what we all through the work receive some of the superpowers in the world of the luxury of the truth to pressure the opposition for dialogue just lean more. or this can lead to violence the need to see for for

real where there is no pressure or prevent as i have. to leave their work to really do this if we will be able to control the situation and after that they have to understand that there is no solution with dialogue and with the who are the best of the good. a us ambassador with a price on his head al qaeda in yemen promised three kilograms of gold for the life of america's a mystery to the country that's online for you plus overweight medics in the u.k. should set a good example by having surgery and stop using junk food that is what a new official report is expected to suggest read more about it but i. and don't go . there are lots of things you might want to spend your hard earned cash on this holiday season but filing your tax return probably isn't among them however millions of people in britain are doing just that and having to pay a premium rate for official telephone helplines polly boyd has more. your annual

tax return a process that many adults find utterly daunting and perplexing luckily for the british public the tax man has a whole of way of telephone helplines to help and advise people on how to fill in the piles of forms needed for it getting through to someone might be a bit of a problem though britain is spending watchdog says that last year some twenty million phone calls went on the answered by the government tax office and of those lucky enough to get through between the months of april and september over six million people had to wait for over ten minutes just to get an answer from someone and i've decided to give him revenue and customs premium priced phone line a call to find out how long it would take me to get through to them. i've spent over three and a half minutes waiting for someone to pick up the phone. last year customers spent

an estimated thirty three million pounds in call charges just waiting to get through to somebody at the tax department exposing what critics call a shameful level of service him revenue and customs have released a statement saying that they've lowered the cost of calls to one of their premium phone lines the most popular one they also say that they're aware that they weren't able to deliver the standard of service that they're committed to in the past however they're now answering over ninety percent of the calls that are made to them but ultimately critics say that it's the complicated u.k. tax code that spans over seventeen thousand pages that british citizens find it so hard to get their head around and it's the telephone providers that are responsible for the helplines that of cashing in on all the tax confusion. coming up a look back at the events that shaped the year two thousand and twelve that's coming your way here after

a short break. so how much does it take to get into russian politics how many hours of hard work how many patriotic deeds does it take to become one of the people who make the decisions in the world's largest country well i'll tell you how much it takes exactly seven point five million euros russia's federal investigative committee has a stablish that allegedly hey of constantine should show from fair russia and the commies prospectively promised for a fee to get a businessman on to their party's electoral lists giving him a spot in the lower house of the duma the investigators have forwarded the state duma an official request to strip the two m.p.'s of their parliamentary immunity and you're darn right they better street have their parliamentary immunity stripped i mean what's worse than government corruption some people in the government being

so corrupt they can actually sell the government itself to someone for a fee so positions in parliament corruption on this high of a level needs to be punished severely breaking rocks in siberia or worse sounds pretty good to me tolerating flagrant corruption does not a great civilisation make but that's just my opinion. something. lies beneath. thousands of metres of the ice. that is a full name. but dangerous even to those who keep it at a distance. it

would be so much brighter if you move the song from funds to impression in so. many screens totty dot com. wealthy british style. that's not on the tires on. the market why not come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger for

a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines two kinds of reports. hello welcome back the beautiful light from the arab spring together with the desperate street battles and that hit europe plus hated presidential races by russia and the u.s. as the new year is knocking at the door we now look back at the uneasy legacy of twenty twelve. that's. fine now what critics have to point it wow has reached its and along with the nine calendar. but it looked more like this year a decade of war is a. good

thing here. well we're still here and when it comes down to it the world not only didn't end but very little changed in twenty twelve we have the same challenges facing the globe the same conflicts preventing peace the same policies hampering solutions and many of the same people in power as we come into twenty thirteen so what will twenty twelve be remembered for let's take a look back. at some in gaza their world did and with israel launched a short but deadly campaign in response to rockets fired by hamas after one of your leaders was the front leading us solidly backed israel but critics claim the use of disproportionate force has become too common a practice for really defense force colonel list also being targeted and children

becoming casualties it has the same policy if you like as the united states with regard to collateral damage that it's happy to injure dozens of palestinian men women and children as long as they can kill one person who might have helped fire a rocket into israel shortly after a cease fire palestine celebrated gaining u.n. nonmember status it's still a long way from stake for the region from a state solution israel and palestine this is called the conflict continues to rage in neighboring syria you know that trouble possibly stay running is country. he has to go assad must go but charlotte said the demands and predictions that syria's president would fall in twenty trials went on for fulfill his sat down for an exclusive interview with r t well into the year insisting he would not give up as the push for regime change continued and terror reigned in his

country of i'm not popular wasn't made by bill with the with for twenty other countries i'm sick and i mean. i may be in syria and i have to even see him but it's going to everything from civil war to sectarian fighting to terrorism to genocide syria stay the center of a media war through out twenty twelve with unconfirmed atrocities on both sides haunting the web and only one side tricking the brunt of the blame for assad is crazy he's a brutal dictator reese killing his own people this is the same narrative that we've heard about gadhafi. but we didn't hear much about libya in two thousand and twelve on most networks or from western officials not until the aftermath of regime change there and the terror that ensued went too far u.s. ambassador and embassy staff were killed in benghazi in september the most significant event two thousand and twelve is the failure of nato to follow up on its on its libya momentum to create

a forced regime change through proxy. mercenaries in syria and the fact that russia and china and iran stood firm on. the entire time table that nato at that in mind to run this you stabilization. and now the entire arab spring scenario is it's not disintegrating it's becoming a nightmare one that spread to western allies in the region like bahrain for mass protest arrest and even death haven't provoked much global media coverage or any push for democracy. and there are instead provocations like the sound the innocence of a muslim made headlines and incited outrage across the arab world funded in the u.s. and considered. the movie didn't go over well in states now run by islamist after post revolution polls in egypt and tunisia. u.s.

embassies were left in shambles as plax burned and freedom of speech was back on the debate tonight the film was banned in some countries like russia and defended by others like the states as a protected life of expression a right not awarded to whistleblowers like julian assange and who had a busy year and here he was granted political asylum by ecuador after being released on bail while the awaiting a british court's decision on his extradition to sweden for most of twenty twelve assan to remain under house arrest but still managed to find a way to leave the can change the world tomorrow his groundbreaking exclusive interview show premiered on our teens and don sat down with guests shunned by the mainstream media like has the last house on the prologue and internet freedom on his visit to the cyber box the future of the internet i think if no journalist worth his salt in the world working today has not used

a wiki leaks cable whether it be at the lowest level of covering their local health center to the idea of schools education let alone geopolitics still many journalists slammed the songes work on r.t. and he continues to be a man the west and mainstream media love to hate while he remains holed up at the ecuadorian embassy in london fearing u.k. officials will grab him the moment he steps outside. protests ripped across europe in two thousand and twelve as the euro crisis worsened leaving many no choice but to go out onto the streets so many people are becoming desperate people of god getting angrier and angrier spain had millions on the street at a time demanding the government stop cuts and demos continued in greece who got a forty four billion euro bailout. masses were met with heavy handed policing in most countries across the e.u. which was awarded a nobel peace prize in twenty trials. they ultimately if

there are too many protests won't be to be able to afford the policemen on the streets and therefore we could actually end up not so much with a violent reaction from government but there's actually a danger of anarchy because government itself may break down the crowd is. not the case in the u.s. where the occupy movement lost momentum this year corporate backed media and authorities managed to dull demonstrations demanding economic equality and responsibility just one of a party that there was you know you wait for occupy to expand from its needs and from that. you know usually you write it by the elites as a bunch of anarchist story or students who know how to seem better to do it is to organize themselves politically something the group is promising and twenty thirteen with some predicting the old ws movement might have better luck in europe . russia saw

a protest this year leading up to and after vladimir putin was elected for a third time as president but not nearly as big as what we saw at the end of twenty young lavin i think the demonstrations in russia what motivated by frustration the demonstrators had the care political goal which was to discredit the reputation of the christian community or even to question knowing that those statements could be continued russian going to win the election they had no choice they had no possibility of beating them in an election so they tried to their strategy was instead to discredit the east in the eyes of the west just before putin's inauguration protests in central moscow turned violent for the first time since a recent opposition movement began rally against arrests were made in both protesters and police reported injuries several demonstrators face court hearings on charges of inciting mass probably. disorder and a dozen more trials will carry on in the new year with the opposition claiming this is all part of

a kremlin clamp down on their movement but putin's reelection and protests didn't get nearly as much attention as this. was the riots rocked riot on the altar of christ the savior and the scandal that followed made world headlines took over the blog a sphere and had celebrities like madonna just sending them to the russian orthodox church she was outraged. there is no defense in this case it's simple p.r. lawyers uncorking out on ali see they're working towards the brand in order to capitalize on it in the future and it's worked some of the groups girls got two years in jail for the stunt which was criticized by the west as too harsh the story made in the headlines for weeks on end leaving little room for stories like this. thank you very much the way the u.s. presidential candidate jill stein and her running mate arrested for protesting outside a debate for top party only candidates obama and romney the american system is

designed to eliminate political opposition like some of the you know dictatorships that we criticize the debate makes a mockery of our democracy despite being on the ballot in a not states to technically win stine and other candidates were not allowed to debate and got almost no coverage in the lead up to elections i'm due west networks instead third party candidates only chance to debate live on television here was from marty's washington studio i think our founding fathers would be spinning it in their graves if they could see this. in line with homes and projections obama won the election but his work is cut out for him along with other world leaders to be here to come a rough economy growing discontent and conflicts i. they're standing still raging wild and he's in our way r.t. . so if anything. has anything gripped your attention this year you can tell us via

twitter if you like just make sure you wash your messages with r.t. recall to share your thoughts on twenty twelve we've got more of the year's highlights coming up now in cross talk best just after a quick break. in japan the average height for men is one hundred eighty two centimeters i'm ten centimeters shorter because of that some employers refuse to hire me one of them even told me directly that i was too short to deal with the clients computers already spent three months in this hospital and plans to stay for another four to add the coveted seven santa majors to his stature invented by the famed soviet orthopedic of really reserve in the nineteen fifties these frames for initially used to treat fractures in deformities by cutting bones and slowly pulling them up for their for stimulating tissue regeneration it was out of was able to receive

arms and legs and people who thought they were crippled for life be sent to the other patients shattered bones and in many cases their shattered lives was the main goal when professing result of design his first frame using bicycle parts sixty years later season vulture is increasingly being used to help people who are eager to fracture their legs to become a few centimeters taller than the ultimate goal is still the same fixing somebodies lives both literally and figuratively about a third of patients admitted she was out of center now days seeking surgery focus magic reasons most of them a man and most are not what you would call vertically challenged professor novick of who operated on many of them says it usually comes down to a man's pride some of the first. patient returned to us with a leg lengthening a quest to meet his fifteen centimeters to want to surgery because his partner was

tool than him we like to say that we need to break their legs in order to fix their head maybe nothing wrong with them from an orthopedic point of view but there is something psychological that prevents them from living their lives fully being happy and we fix it like lengthening surgeries are banned in many countries and even when allowed their press daily expensive in russia the entire course costs eleven thousand dollars about one tenth of the similar package in the united states . financial considerations for one of the reasons that brought this washington state native to western siberia if he's main motive for the surgery had to do with how he fared in the auditors in america advertises one seventy five i was one sixty seven or one sixty eight and so one eight centimeters would have brought me right to average if i just wanted to be average for women height isn't so important you know i think girl can be short and it's not a big deal like your guy is like expected to be taller just before the operation

most this matter russian girl who found he's a regional hype quite endearing yet he still want to have had the surgery adding seven more centimeters to the self-confidence she took told me the whole time you're crazy you're normal you're perfect. so now or should i call you so what a compliment for somebody who's used to falling short of his own expectations. you leave me. alone welcome to cross talk i'm peter lavelle two thousand and twelve is about to end and what a year it was the goal.