the latest news on the week's top stories here on our international journalists including our crew come under rebel fire covering the ongoing conflict in syria. the rich to the rescue president obama signs a stop to raise taxes for the wealthy as part of the deal to avoid it plunging off the fiscal cliff. plus a new documents show the f.b.i. knew about a plot to assassinate leaders of the occupy wall street movement but didn't warn u.s. citizens of a threat to their lives. and that icon of french cinema russian

citizen. comes to his adopted home after fleeing france of a plans for a super attack on the super bridge. with a story that made headlines this week this is the weekly on arts he with me will receive. as the syrian conflict so renewed violence in the first week of the new year it also led to more casualties among journalists covering the crisis and one syrian correspondent was reportedly killed and a reporter for the arabic channel was among a number of media workers injured when his crew came under rebel sniper fire that was just outside damascus correspondent in the region. has this report. but here has just started but syria's very poor record of handling international journalists

covering the conflict isn't looking to get any better so far because this week earlier reported the pro-government sole journalist a syrian journalist was killed in the country he was wounded on tuesday and later died in hospital and my colleague from r.c. arabic. was among a group of journalists who were injured who were targeted in the crossfire when they were covering movement of a governmental convoy through the country and. that we were moving from street to street and when we reached the dock my colleagues and i got caught in crossfire we tried to escape running one after another fearing that armed rebels would notice our syrian army soldier accompanied us the entire time the rebels were firing on us my colleagues and i were wearing bulletproof glass with the word price on the fire and was very intense and it was difficult to find shelter i ran and fell down the room any other correspondents there with me including iranians and syrians and one

of the syrian cameramen was also slightly wounded like me and i couldn't say whether his crew and these colleagues were targeted deliberately by the syrian rebels but some of the nation's some media organizations have been raising concerns as to how the syrian opposition have been handling international journalists working in the country the fate of the ukrainian journalist and how to question of us still remains unknown there have been reports that rebels kidnapped her and demanded ransom for her release and threatened to execute her but it's still unclear whether she is alive and what state she is in the reporters without borders issued a warning for the syrian opposition to treat press in according manner and the same pretty much goes for the pro-government of forces which have also been responsible for the deaths of many journalists since the start of the conflict in particular very well known sunday times reporter mary colvin was killed a year ago in syria sparking international outrage among the media organizations.

reporting in our series of attacks on petrol stations in damascus this week has claimed dozens of syrian lives a middle east expert believes a willingness to end the conflict most men also come from inside the country but certainly from beyond its borders very sad to see to everybody all over the world that the top geopolitical threat of two thousand and thirteen is going to be the political tragedy of two thousand and eleven there are three of syria the only possibility would be that the opposition. in a syrian way this sides not to listen to the saudis the turks the. americans the brits and the french. government and they will work out a transitional government or at least the transitional period leading to free and fair elections is this going to happen not likely. now the syrian

president bashar assad is making a speech in damascus so this will be his first public address in months we can cross live now to show you the live pictures here and there he is and as he continues to address the public he's well aware of the certainly the.

bankers who are manipulating this. economy this fiscal cliff. it doesn't really focus on the true underlying problems that we're going to see more of this going forward in two thousand and thirteen anything. from the mob what

they're pitchforks and torches they're coming after these people they want to just delay that day of reckoning for many months if they can but that day is reckoning in twenty thirteen it's coming. twenty third soon watch because reporter programs available for you are just a click away. i would neglect to tell activists that there was

a potential assassination plot surrounding them what we do know is that new documents obtained by the partnership for the civil justice fund a us human human and civil rights advocacy organization have revealed that the u.s. the f.b.i. the department of homeland security the u.s. military and private corporations all cooperated together to monitor and investigate optic occupy wall street protesters as quote. fall of twenty eleven now the names of the groups or individuals involved in the alleged plot are redacted from the f.b.i. documents but what critics say is clear is that the f.b.i. never alerted any one of the potential any of the potential victims that their

lives could possibly be in danger or that there's any threat surrounding them the partnership for civil justice fund received the f.b.i. documents on december twenty second so this is fairly new information and this was after they filed a request under the freedom of information after now many civil rights attorneys previously have accused the f.b.i. of functioning as a de facto intelligence arm for u.s. corporations during the occupy wall street movement especially as it grew bigger however some critics say they never ever suspected that the f.b.i. would neglect to tell occupy protesters u.s. citizens about an assassination plot surrounding them. it was a. special

. trip to his adopted home. president. citizenship.

french activists are deployed here has mass where the russian president vladimir putin and has received his brand new russian passport so now it's official is that separate you has become a russian citizen now they're meeting to place and so much you wear different you is on a personal trip before that he remembers his french citizenship and move to belgium where we pointedly he has some real estate this news comes as french president francois juan is trying to push forward a law that will see french citizens who earn more than one million euro piece seventy five percent of their earnings to taxes meanwhile in another french legendary movie i can brigitte bardot is also think of following the footsteps of gerard depardieu but the reason behind her is completely different now she's also

a veteran anymore rice complainer and she has threatened to apply for russian citizenship if french authorities you for not a peer office a callous bunch at a zoo in your home. still ahead from the program. human rights groups all over america. which allow suspects to be detained indefinitely and keep the guantanamo bay prison. maybe to. the opposition. more on this and many other stories after the short. term.

but. the way the system.

welcome to the weekly here on r t with me rory sushi the world update in just a sec but for now police in bahrain have again violently suppressed an anti-government demonstration with the unrest in the kingdom approaching the two year mark the protesters are calling for a transition to a democratically elected government and better rights for the country's shia majority asma darwish from the european bahraini organization for human rights claims that security forces from abroad are trying to stoke the violence by firing tear gas into the homes of unarmed civilians. security forces who are of working for the ministry of interior and my brain are practicing a lot of buy in ends and a lot of violations to human rights when confronting when pro-democracy protests

and behave in and out of practice took place in many different video does and areas around behaving and all of them all of them got a. crack they were a crackdown by that by the security forces and behaving who are mostly and not by me and they are working and an end of any super interior and the they were brought from different countries foreign countries like pakistan and jordan and syria and the village where i live and sit on it was tear gas excessively by security forces and i could see security forces running down the streets by my white house and shooting grand in the inside the houses in the movement was completely peace said but after witnessing that west that was during and position to or this this it to asian and behaving or there have been emotion in bahrain it is unlike to what is what they are it claiming like they are in kargil human rights

in different countries arab countries but when it comes to bahrain they use double standards so the protesters here inviting old though they are those radical protestors they are the minority and not the majority but they are using such methods to prevent them violent security forces from entering their there and their religious and attacking on armed civilians and children like we witnessed and the big you have off of the four year old child being attacked by security forces with here gas canisters. this week a little with a rubber stamp allowing the u.s. military to detain terrorist suspects indefinitely including americans without charge or trial the national defense authorization act also extends the restrictions on transferring detainees out of guantanamo for another year veteran congressman dennis kucinich thinks the move is part of a pattern that ultimately undermines democracy right now we're much more of

a garrison and a garrison plus. a powerful military which keeps asserting itself globally and it doesn't make america a safer and frankly doesn't make the world safer we're spending upwards of six hundred billion dollars for an expanded pentagon presence for more war in afghanistan and for proliferation of war in in yemen and somalia and other places we have a lot of problems here at home that we're not taking care of we have massive unemployment people are losing their homes people are losing their retirement security and i continue to say that we have to start emphasizing taking care of things here at home instead of developing a bigger footprint around the world as far as our military presence and in another recent move viewed by critics as a democratic obama extended an act that allows for the wiretapping of americans without a warrant a u.s. national security agency whistleblower says nobody's safe from being spied on the

most the full interview with william binney just a bit later today here on c phenolic a quick preview. f.b.i. hence access to the data collected which is basically the e-mails of virtually everybody in the country. and they have the f.b.i. has access to it all the congressional members are on on the surveillance too it's not no one's excluded they're all included so yes this can happen to to anyone if they become a target for whatever reason. if they are targeted by the government the government can go in with the f.b.i. or other agencies the government can go into their database pull all that they've collected over them on them over the years and reanalyze it also retroactively analyze everything they've done over the last ten years at least. one part and i'm sure i i i believe i've been on it for quite a few years yeah so i keep telling them everything i think of them in my e-mail so

that they when they read it they'll understand what i think of them. venezuela's president hugo chavez who is currently battling cancer could be too ill to attend his own swearing in ceremony on thursday his political rivals of dividing a new election if indeed he doesn't show up to be inaugurated for his fourth term of office a geo political analyst eric draitser believes the opposition is a ultimately taking advantage of the situation to try and undermine the cuff. what is important is the fact that the opposition is using this as a political mechanism by which they can try to deal a jew demise the government in venezuela remember that in two thousand and two when the united states and spain and other powers around the world collaborated in conspired to oust chavez in an illegal coup and we saw what the significance of

chavez was that he had a base of support on the streets in that country that could not be shaken by an international force and so what they're attempting to do is to use his health situation to break apart that base of support and to convince people that chavez is unable to serve the the constitution in venezuela allows for wiggle room here it does not say that just because he can't be at the inauguration at that given moment that there has to be new elections that is what the opposition is trying to create something that not explicit they're trying to make it explicit the constitution it says that it can be delayed there are alternative arrangements that can be made the swearing in can take place in a different location and also it says that the new elections can only be called if and only if the elected president even out permanently unable to serve is no indication the child there don't cover from where he is now so to say that he's permanently incapacitated is not one hundred percent true are listed here in time

to get into the office he will it update us some other global headlines for your brief will start with a standoff between police gunman in the u.s. state colorado has claimed the lives of three people who are being held hostage it's believed the three were killed by the armed man before the barricaded house was stormed and the gunman was also killed while one captive managed to escape it happened in aurora which last year saw twelve people killed and dozens injured in a cinema shooting during a movie premiere. a pakistani soldier has been killed and another injured during a raid by india's military into the part of kashmir administered by pakistan india says his troops were acting in retaliation to a shelling that had destroyed a home reports say exchanges of fire continuing in the disputed region of kashmir has been a source of dispute between pakistan and india for decades but a cease fire has actually been in place since two thousand and three. around one

hundred british a loyalist in the northern irish capital belfast have attacked police officers retaliated with water cannons authorities are also investigating reports of shots fired during the clash of the previous night saw nine officers injured in several riots that broke out across the city loyalist anger was sparked by a move to end a century old tradition of flying the british union flag of a city hall permanently throughout the year. well it's been a week of new year celebrations around the globe with fireworks and cheering crowds greeting twenty thirteen indeed there were mixed emotions regarding the year this past summer sad to see it end but many more hopeful or better times ahead. takes a look at the world that could have been. 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 a fiscal crisis all the european union torn apart at its very seams and 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 seized upon 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. have told me to try and sanction slashed as iran's nuclear to accept. gunning to end gun fire the u.s. rules to restrict fire on. mideast peace with israel links to state has promised on . yet this was their reality israel's assault on palestinian militants in gaza israel's anti-missile shield repelled a 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 prospect of peace go through people power moment you step aside and let a democracy in. get lost get most notorious kuantan the most prison permanently shot. euro zone cuts the cuts and lifts austerity. but the news of austerity

only tightened as deep public sector cuts from thousands of angry demonstrators to . italy and portugal. the worst economic crisis of a generation has battered the european listens 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 but i'm now living in a europe that is divided from old to self and never at any point in the history of this union has there been more discord of rank that we cover to go corporate cash band for the campaign coffers as part of the us political please. know we here for u.k. british quit european union. we can leaks founder julian the solyndra point to 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 so that only people 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 camera true democracy is the resistance of people with the truth against flies from top to right here in london everyday ordinary people teach us that democracy is free speech and dissent. from heretics to hero american whistleblower bradley manning finally free. droning

on memo nations agree to end era of remote controlled war. egypt's arab spring sees democracy defeat hardline islamist. 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 transform into an egyptian nightmare had the revolution to get rid of a tyrant dictator. in the order to that we made elections that evolution and elections to choose someone to the present us turned out that this guy is also a tyrant himself but 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 with the confidence of

our team moscow well it is a pleasure to have you with us here today on rory sushi and just ahead for you a wonderful scientists on for anyone who can actually borrow in we take you now to discuss russia's amazing. world the. science technology innovation all the least of elements from around russia we've got the future covered. wealthy british style. like.

markets why not canada. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max cause or for a no holds barred global financial headlines tune into kaiser report on. the news a secret laboratory to mccurry was able to build the world's most sophisticated robot which all unfortunately doesn't give a darn about anything tim's mission to teach the creation why it should care about humans and world events this is why you should care only. a small and ancient russian merchant city sits at the confluence of three rivers. it's not quite europe but it's not a nation either. constantine's a native of congo he heads off to work each day at the same time. constant.