twenty thirteen spreads across the world we will show you the most spectacular celebrations and look ahead to the potential challenges that faces in the new year . we'll also look back on a year filled with conflict and cuts protests and unrest and hear from our correspondents about how it could have been different. plus it is a fiscal cliff hanger a last minute deal looks set to fend off the new year tax hike in america for the time being at least. and ireland takes over as the head of the european union but its massive debt leaves it in a weak position just as the blob calls out for strong leadership.

hello and happy new year you are watching live from moscow with make. now it's a new year continues to roll out across the world let's take a quick look at some of the most spectacular celebrations that have happened so far new zealand was among the first to usher in twenty thirty crowds packed the harbor in oakland to enjoy the display at the city's sky tower while almost two million people turned out at the celebration in a strange city skyline erupting with the now standard jaw dropping fireworks at midnight from harbor bridge there midnight later moved on to asia and this is hong kong which really built up the tension with a countdown then later the sky from both than land sea. europe has also welcomed in the new year with

a major fireworks display at the brandenburg gate in berlin becoming one of the world's largest open air parties dazzling display also splashed guys above the london eye in the u.k. capital and across the atlantic over a million spectators descended on it and square to celebrate event would be the big draw. the new year in russia officially kicked off when the clock on the specific tower in moscow rang out twelve times red square was filled with crowds as fireworks lit the skies above the kremlin russians it has been a year of major political challenges and the rise of vocal public opinion artie's peace in the veil has taken a fine tooth comb to russian politics over the years my colleagues have an eye on the nation now we are asked him how he sees things panning out. what is the future of russia's political opposition as you see the new year compared to two thousand and twelve i would say it's kind of bleak but not hopeless ok we didn't come up

with any new ideas new organization new faces a new pussy riot is that we are of the opposition or it's pretty dreadful situation for the russian people and political development in general here in this political change in this country in a positive change who does make up the opposition as we head into music. it's a very interesting question because i have gone to most of the major demonstrations and there were people there of goodwill in my opinion but then there were fascists there ok who were communists there and they were these are people ok and if you are right to demonstrate i was all for it actually and liked the idea but they didn't accomplish anything but i could see they have no organization no unifying ideas except for i don't like but a mere putin is not a very it's not a political agenda there were a few protests which i was at as well where it did seem like that was the method if you wanted to gain traction on this opposition movement do you see people coming out and take the train lost a lot of its novelty effect right now ok because political change takes years in

years in years that have to be local this is what happens in political changes with countries that were what they were carrying at one time it takes a long time to get people involved in the process and that is happening very very strongly there are some people who want to really fast and they don't want to do through elections they want power because they want power because they believe they deserve it and what about the fact that we're not going to see any presidential elections of course that all led up to being elected a third term this protest and now they're kind of down now oh i would say to people i mean if you want to continue to protest form in you know join a political party there are forty four of them now you have a choice ok get involved see one of the things i saw with a lot of the protesters is that they want someone else to do all the hard work ok they want to go out and wave a flag and say give out a slogan we don't want to do the hard nitty gritty work of political change and that's what we need to do i would be looking at the next parliamentary election for

change will know we certainly will be going to you come up as one of the great programs in store we wish you all the very person you cross talk to all of the new year on out thank you. well twenty thirteen will be a year of change for rand as the current president steps down with no clear successor in sight later process in the. graham we look if the upcoming election will take foreign eyes off the rands you can be a prize also on the way the last two years in a fair struggle and death of many in syria and some feel twenty thirteen will fail to bring long awaited change to the war torn state. america phrase a sigh of relief going into the new year as he will make his in washington strike a temporary deal on the edge of the fiscal cliff the senate has already approved the measure which will hold for the moment taxes from skyrocketing for the actually every u.s. worker but it's not all good news the deal still has to go before the house of representatives later in the day and be thrashed out fully in

a few months time nobody is talking about the true issue to the fact that the country in the western world is bankrupt basically this is a classic case of kicking the can down the road they didn't want to address it before the election so they said we'll explain we'll just wait till next year and they thought it would go up quite a bit further but the deficit ran up so much faster than anticipated will take care of it tomorrow and that's all the politicians in the u.s. or anywhere to they're not proactive they're not problem solvers they don't care about you and all they care about is their own little power and you know let the rest of the world be damped merican doesn't understand why his country by the world economy is going down the drain all they know is class warfare which is what. the administration wants that the banks are getting rich and they're getting poorer they don't understand why any of this is happening so for the average american

they're going to pay some more taxes but the average americans in fear of losing his job and losing everything that he's worked this whole life for and he doesn't have a clue why. but our own economic expert max kaiser has also given us his forecast on how the financial winds will blow in twenty thirty the fiscal cliff is just more of fear from bankers and politicians trying to distract people from the underlying root of that is a bunch of bankers who are manipulating the system. destroying the economy the first book was just more grow more theater. on the line we're going to see more of this story about things like the marc rich war and their torches are coming out for these people they want to just delay that reckoning for a month but they regulate this morning it's. nice squeeze

tight i'm not too happy about it the e.u. is also celebrating new year at r.t. dot com we'll look back at a right twenty twelve for the union and hear what the coming year may have in store for your. two americas main political event of the year the presidential election the thrilling race with the run is neck and neck all the way to the finish that's what it looked like with a snatching victory from mitt romney at the very last moment but their competition overshadowed some third party candidates who were left struggling to get their voice heard again now reflects on the race to the top. there were cheers of relief here when he won i would say because the alternative was thought to be so much worse many voted out of fear that romney could win for them he was another george w. bush so whether americans have fallen out of love with obama the two thousand and

eight euphoria was gone that's for sure back then there were these crowds you know in the streets all across the country shedding tears of joy so bad in their view where the eight years of bush presidency obama was viewed as the savior and then he went to save the banks save the auto industry something he took a special pride in during the election campaign but across the country millions of people remained out of work and are still out of work so this time president obama ran under the banner it could have been so much worse as you imagine it was not a banner for national euphoria it was more like you have no choice but to choose me kind of better something that shocked me while i was covering the election here it was it was the second debate between obama and romney i'm sure you remember you remember that as a presidential nominee from the green party jule styne was arrested right outside the venue where the debate was taking place he was protesting for exclusion from

the debate and nobody like no news channel cured mentioned her arrest none and i was switching channels for hours to see if anything was said about that and it was nothing i can imagine what the reaction would be here in the states if a presidential candidate is the mother of the country was arrested in the media there wouldn't even mention it but apparently it happens in the u.s. no big deal presidential candidates get arrested all the time right well there was some irony and yes anyway during the election campaign the mainstream media had been focused on nothing else and no one else but these two candidates and we are t.v. as you remember of course saw the saw an opportunity there to show what others don't and we posted the debate. well there was one of them that shook the u.s. badly that night president obama put the country's treasury second amendment under some heavy fire the sandy hook primary school shooting that left twenty children and six stuff that saw the president for a ban on some firearms tom hartman looks at whether the new year might bring some

changes in america's weapons policy my guess is what we're going to see is cosmetic change we're going to see probably the or the assault weapons ban come back to be a fair number of loopholes in it but you know the u.s. is not going to end up going the way that switzerland or israel have done or many most european countries have done australia when john howard was president one thousand nine hundred eight when there was a mass slaughter and then they said ok that's it we're going to buy back all the guns and it's not going to happen here there's just too much money being made with guns insane supreme court or at least five right wing crazies out of nine on the supreme court decided that even though the second amendment says in order to maintain a well regulated militia necessary for the for the security of a free state the right to you know you people have the right to own guns that's half of it the other half of it is that the supreme court also said that corporations interest groups lobbying groups billionaires can throw unlimited

amounts of money in politicians. not freedom of speech but not the speaker we report on the world's most wanted with the song he managed to achieve while staying under house arrest and in hiding and it's coming up in a few minutes. election . mission. critical you should free storage. arrangement three. three. three. three broadcast live video for your media project free media dog r t dot com.

he. believes. that i welcome back or uprisings crises and worldwide protests may twenty twelve a turbulent year with not all that much positive news but what if it had differently. now exposed to headlines that could have begun.

twenty twelve was certainly full of disappointing headlines hope fueled by the arab spring turned into the turmoil of the arab autumn the war in syria claimed countless lives and the fiscal crisis all the european union torn apart at its very seams now the problems facing our world today certainly don't offer themselves up to an easy fix what if things had turned out differently what if opportunities were actually sees the pawn instead of missed well here's our look at the twenty twelve headlines that could have been. diplomacy succeeds in syria ending bloody conflict. instead this was the image of syria the world saw increasingly violent clashes between government forces and the opposition had claimed more than forty thousand lives efforts to negotiate a diplomatic solution fell flat because divisions ripped apart both the country and the international community hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled to

neighboring states where many have found conditions to be dismal meanwhile syria's war is threatening to spill over its borders as tensions escalate within and in the region. but told me to try and sanction slashed. except. joining to end gun fire the u.s. remains to restrict foreign. mideast peace to israel league two state whose promised on. yet this was their reality israel's assault on palestinian militants in gaza israel's anti-missile shield repelled most attacks on its territory but a strike claimed the lives of more than one hundred sixty palestinians many of them civilians despite harsh condemnation from many in the international community the war and israel's subsequent decision to construct three thousand new settlements effectively slammed the door shut to any prospects of peace go through people power moment came. step aside and let democracy in. get lost get my notorious kuantan of

my prison permanently shot to euro zone cuts the cuts and lifts austerity. but the news of austerity only tightened as deep public sector cuts brought thousands of angry demonstrators to the streets of greece spain italy and portugal. the worst economic crisis of a generation has battered the european union's very foundations exacerbating tensions between member states with some regions now desperately wanting out i grew up in a europe that was divided from east to west living in europe that is divided from old to self never at any point in the history of this union has there been more discord of rank that we currently got corporate cash banned from the campaign coffers as part of the us political play not. nearly here for u.k. british quit the european union. we can expound a judean the solyndra pointed un free speech and. instead a song remains

a political refugee at ecuador's london embassy where he's been granted asylum he continues to fight extradition to sweden over alleged sex crimes charges that he says are politically motivated and tied to his work in leaking international government secrets. the power of people speaking up and resisting together terrifies corrupt democratic power so much. here in the west and the enemy of governments an enemy to be watched and enemy to be controlled and to be impoverished true democracy is not the white house true democracy is not a true democracy is the resistance of people with the truth against flies from top to right here in london. every day ordinary people teach us that democracy is free speech and just sent. from heretics to hero american

whistleblower bradley manning finally free. drooling almost nations agree to end iraq of remote controlled war. egypt's arab spring sees democracy defeat hardline islam is. the reality on the ground was anything but egyptian president mohamed morsi is fouled like power grab unleashed fury and frenzied street battles and a fast track to constitutional overhaul referendum left a bitter opposition eager for change for them two thousand and twelve saw the arab spring transformed into an egyptian nightmare had the revolution to get rid of a tyrant dictator. in the order to that we made elections the revolution and elections to choose someone to the present us turned out that this guy is also a tyrant himself and he has had lines may have been the stuff of imagination but

that's the of twenty thirteen can bring any of them to life we think our fellow r.t. moscow well syria has reportedly opened the new year with a horrifying discovery of dozens of corpses in the capital damascus some of the bodies with the capitated traces of torture they have not yet been identified and this comes amid widespread doubt there will be that there will be any major breakthrough in syria's bloody civil standoff any time soon. very sad to see to everybody all over the world that the top geopolitical tragedy of two thousand and thirteen is going to be the top geopolitical tragedy of two thousand and eleven the rape of syria the only possibility would be that the opposition. in a syrian way this sides not to listen to the saudis the turks their qataris the americans the brits and the french and they sit down with the assad government and

they will work out a transitional government or at least a transitional period leading to free and fair elections is this going to happen not likely and there's been no love lost between palestinians and israelis in the aftermath of yet another war between the two today tel aviv plans new settlements in occupied palestinian land while hamas and fattah vowed to rearm and promise no quarter. reports and what it bodes for the future. to look at what's happening on the ground israel continues to announce a settlement construction and the palestinians continue to say that for as long as these announcements continue they will be no resumption of peace talks it wasn't so long ago that the palestinians were upgraded status to united nations but you cannot detect the fact that we still have palestinian faction groups hamas and fatah who always seem to be at each other's throats in less than a month the israelis will go to the polls and by all predictions they will reelect the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu for another term of office and it

doesn't seem as if he has an olive branch so certainly the prognosis for any kind of peace moves is far back in two thousand and eight two thousand and nine we had a conflict that was twenty two days long by comparison this hung around with eight days four years ago the casualty count was more than a thousand people who were killed most of the palestinians this time around the casualty count was was a lot lower and again four years ago there was a ground offensive this time around there wasn't a ground operation in june twenty thirty in iran will be holding a presidential election mahmoud ahmadinejad won't be running having served the maximum two terms in the side from that there's no certainty as to who will take over at a tense time when iran's nuclear program continues to be a thorn in some western nations side journalist afshin rattansi who is often shared his thoughts with us doesn't think the new leader will bend to foreign will. i think whoever we people of iran elects policy foreign policy terms things are going

to be much the same terminology of western corporate media on this or a bizarre image of the islamic extremists in all sorts of different morning because the point is iran is there to stay in terms of forging a very different type of developing nation economy because it has all that oil it has all those resources and it's not going to suddenly start changing things the way the i.m.f. or the way washington wants it to be. now in europe people are making their new year wishes and plenty of them have their fingers crossed that things will be a little less tight in twenty thirteen but investment advisor patrick young says greece still doesn't have a functioning government system that will be able to pull the country from the deep recession it now faces. what's happened so far has been so when engine cuts on the masses and we really haven't managed to make the wrong move to state impact upon

the whole nation itself greece is still fundamentally in a huge problematic situation daws not remotely have a functioning government system that fiscally is going to manage to organize itself in any which way possible to manage to get through the continuing when cuts that need to take list out of course then we're looking at the whole issue of the demonstrators are the governments listening while the truth is the governments can't afford to listen because what we're seeing within the european union even if the euro has survived miraculously for twelve months government has run out of money the european union's western socialist model of spending huge amounts of money borrowing even greater amounts of money and hoping to pay everything manyara or indeed thirty years from mine yana simply does not work well only three years

ago island was bankrupt and receiving a bailout to rescue its failed economy but despite this the very same country has just taken the six month presidency of the european council and as r.t.c. or smith reports the celtic tiger has some hard graft. it's all changed by the e.u. presidency as takes over the six month rotating challenge on the first of january not the ovi is choice islands one of the guys in paid the countries that have the least stable economies in europe and sure enough the first country to take on the presidency of the twenty seven nation bloc while being propped up by e.u. and i.m.f. money so for the next six months the e.u. and its systemic problems will be presided over by one of its weakest and most problematic members so what specific challenges does arlen face in europe over the six months of its presidency first ots the european economy is slowing and the

crisis is nowhere near over secondly it must preside over leaders actually agreeing to an e.u. budget for the year two thousand and fourteen to two thousand and twenty something they've spectacularly failed to do so far and thirdly there is a problem coming from right here in london increasing british opposition to brussels and the threat to european cohesion that uses the irish government expects the e.u. presidency to coast in excess of seventy million euros money the country can ill afford and what will it be spent on twenty four million on catering accommodation and transport for example and another twenty million extra government. during the song spend half the year in twenty twelve under house arrest and the other half holed up in the ecuadorian embassy in london but he still managed to produce a t.v.

series talking t.v. keith america's shunned by the mainstream media correspondent in london has been following his ups and downs through the. a lot of you say wiki leaks in jail is like that more in a year or to be the most media organizations have done in decades we've really had a front seat view of everything that's been going on we've had him at the beginning of the year of fighting that extradition to sweden we saw his the pill rejected we then saw that dramatic twist in the trial when he went into the i could do it embassy seeking asylum we've been learning julian assange certainly the british media we've seen a lot of the cole who quite viciously especially during the course of this year with movies huge events happening surrounding julian assange a lot of people who would put that down plain and simply to jealousy. after the break we head to our washington studio for capital account.

it's perched atop a john truck and the view from the both kremlin stretches as far as the eye can see up for a city there or siberia for centuries. it lost its economic importance even before it was bypassed by the chance i bear in railway but the a spiritual center. scenes like these are a yearly occurrence thousands of all the docs worshippers of them selves and blessid will to commemorate the baptism of jesus. in the fifteen eighties the russians had only just conquered siberia taking it from the muslims. surrounded by enemies the balls to be their stronghold constructed on

top of the city but soon enough it became an economic hub siberian fire was the oil of its time bringing in a third of all russia's state revenue put the location head of the fees for the russians the russian crowds who led a revolt against the czar and eight hundred twenty five known as the decembrists will stand here in droves there they created a replica high society adopting the latest fashions as soon as they came out or at least once they made it from paris to siberia. but the city also served up some bit of irony for the russian royal family after the bolshevik revolution. this is the office was nicholas the second spend most of the last year of his life his whole family had been exiled here they were the fairly comfortable existence this was a big house but they weren't allowed to see businesses or go outside themselves leaving the ordinary normal countryside life style they even have. but within the

result of his family would be dead. good afternoon welcome to capital account i'm lauren lyster here in washington d.c. these are your headlines for once december nineteenth two thousand and twelve u.b.s. has settled over accusations of libel rigging as expected from reports we received earlier this week but we now know colorful details about the traders call each other nicknames like superman and captain chaos which was spelled wrong by the way that's according to the wall street journal now we get no such color from the federal reserve and its manipulation of rates but that is no points against we'll talk to a former v.p. .