the end of foreign backing for terrorism and the formation of a new government president. could. prevent the u.s. from plunging over the fiscal cliff. raising taxes on wealthy americans preventing a nationwide financial disaster. the f.b.i. is forced into revealing it knew about a plan to assassinate the leaders of occupy wall street but chose not to warn them their lives were in danger. david cameron is ready to fight a war to keep the that's the british response to argentina's president who's

accused him of colonial ambitions in the region. and also reporting the. russian passport. with the government in france over taxes on the super rich. with a look back at the past seven days top stories and the latest developments this is the weekly here on. the syrian leader has outlined his vision on how to end almost two years of continued civil conflict one of the key conditions for peace according to president bashar al assad is for regional and international powers to stop supporting armed groups. he was following what he said. certainly been rather

interesting quotes coming from the syrian president he in fact called to hold an international reconciliation conference. and the violence and the military conflict which is going on be going on for almost two years now in syria and this initiative according to assad will lead to a national wide referendum and fair election which is the only way according to the syrian president that the political landscape in this country can be changed but this initiative can only be possible according to assad if the western countries and some regional countries as he put it stop investing into terrorist groups which are fighting to overthrow his his regime has been again pretty much a defining tone saying that the only way that syria will listen to the outside world is through a device not through a dictating well this speech of the syrian president comes amid very serious concerns about the safety of journalists working in syria the year has only just

started but already we have a syrian a pro governmental journalist killed this week who was wounded and then taken to the hospital where he later died also my own colleagues from r.t. arabic station he got injured among a group of other journalists who were covering the movement of a governmental convoy through the country. says that they were shot at by the rebels despite wearing special jackets with the word press on them that also has been an ongoing story of ukrainian journalist on how to question about who's been missing and nobody knows where she is and whether she's actually alive but the reports that she was kidnapped by the rebels and there was a ransom demand that for her release outraged many organizations with the reports that syria has already been named as the most dangerous country in the world for journalists to work at certainly things are not looking any better at the moment.

president assad has said that his government is not willing to negotiate with those opposition groups which he considers to be the puppets of the west well earlier i spoke to political analyst marcus papadopoulos who believes that assad will have a hard job finding any they don't when president assad says he's not going to talk to the opposition into the armed opposition the so-called free syrian army and its political wing of the syrian national council which is a foreign based opposition movement and it's very important to make this clear in particular for western audiences who are unfortunately not read the full picture when it comes to syria the free syrian army is a lethal cocktail or various groups including many islamist groups and many groups linked to al qaida and the free syrian army or the f.s.a. it's more commonly referred to you has been responsible for heinous dry all terrorist acts in the last couple of years in syria so it's it's it's pretty clear

why president assad will not talk to the armed opposition and its political wing and the political wing being the syrian national coalition which of course is influenced by the e.u. and the u.s. so who is there left to talk to then much of the opposition is influenced by the west does it talk to next then this is another important point to clarify there is a domestic opposition. parties which want to see political change in syria but they do not extremist groups islamist groups for example which reside in the syrian national council and also in the free syrian army. almost two years of anti-government protest change little in bahrain fresh demonstrations shatter against the wall of a police crackdown some experts say it's the brutality that is fueling the uprising more on that for you coming up very shortly. and the christmas spirit is only now coming to town for orthodox believers the world over as they celebrate

the birth of christ we'll bring you more later in the program from russia's main cathedral. but first earlier this week barack obama signed a last minute deal it increases taxes on the wealthiest americans it prevented the country forming over the so-called fiscal cliff the nation was on the brink of a financial nosedive with billions of dollars in tax hikes automatically coming into effect if the law hadn't been passed on the graph from wide awake news thinks the fate of americans is never been a top priority for the u.s. government is an enemy when the cameras are off and it's time to pass a trillion dollar nearly trillion dollar defense bill they have no problem whatsoever coming to coming together and holding hands with that kind of a deal together since two thousand and one namely we've been covering this nation by proxy the world by crisis and it doesn't matter who gets hurt we get. by the wayside as long as

a special interest is served so long as it's always under the shadow of a crisis. but it's only when it has to do with acting in behalf of the people of this nation where it seems like the people always take a backseat. and artie's economics expert max kaiser thinks the deal might bring short term relief but the big problems didn't go anywhere. the fiscal cliff is just more theater. trying to distract people from the underlying root catastrophe that is a bunch of bankers who are manipulating the system. the strong the economy its fiscal cliff wrong. it doesn't really focus on the true underlying problems and we're going to see more of this going forward in two thousand and thirteen. the tension from the mob pitchforks and torches coming out of these people they want to just delay that day of reckoning for many months if they can but that day's reckoning twenty it's comic. is

a report has more financial analysis and forecast for the new year available right now. the british prime minister david cameron says he's willing to fight to keep control of the it comes off to the argentinian president once again called for negotiations over the disputed territory which the two nations for the war in one hundred eighty two. has the details. here with our says question in an interview whether britain would fight to keep the falkland islands and prime minister david cameron saying of course he would say he made his position there extremely clear if an attempt was made by argentina to retake the falkland islands that military treats would be the fly by birth and so absolutely very clear on that very strong rhetoric coming from the prime minister over that issue this comes on the back of argentina is president

we making these accusations. the falkland islands were stolen from argentina by britain and i think she called it a nineteenth century colonialism and i think some concern for people here today that you know this is something that is very much focused on in the course of the interview this is some of the strongest statements over the course that say this shattering a little bit some of the other very important issues that are happening on a national level at the moment here in the country we've got the cuts to trial benefits coming in this week a very it's cheese day that i'll go to the house of commons so as a very important issues here at home at the moment of course a lot of people say we're talking about fighting a war again somewhere else where when actually was fighting our own battles here in the country. nearly thirty years as we saw the end of the focus war it definitely has a very strong resonance with people here in britain but we've seen this result may kick off again as i said we've had very strong comments from the president in

argentina is also of course come in much more recent argument again because it's been discovered that there are large oil reserves of course i think that's really going to play a big part in seeing this contest over the islands between britain and argentina really heating up again it doesn't look like it's going away. recently leaked documents shows the bureau knew of a plan to assassinate occupy wall street leaders but gave the warning instead it chose to keep spying on the movement which it branded a domestic terrorist group report not reports. well it's not clear yet why the f.b.i. would neglect to tell activists there was a potential assassination plot surrounding them what we do know is that new documents obtained by the partnership for 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 occupy wall street protesters as quote domestic terrorists and quote criminals now the more shocking revelation the headline of this story is that reportedly buried deep within the government. mentions of a plan to use snipers to assassinate occupy protesters and the movement's leaders in various cities throughout the country these alleged plans were supposed to be taking place in the fall of two thousand and 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 and 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. protests calls for reform and police involvement lee lashing out of anti government run is it's a picture that's been holding bahrain for almost two years now with demonstrators still urging a transition to a democratically elected government which from the european bahraini organization for human rights claims even the most innocent people are falling victim to the police crackdown security forces who are working for the ministry of interior and the hague are practicing and ought to by an end and ought to by nations to human rights when confronting when pro-democracy protests and behaving across history is here and by having although they are those radical protestors they are the minority

and not the majority but they are using such methods to prevent their violent security forces from entering their their and their religious and attacking on our 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. the u.s. military is now out to hold terrorist suspects. it wants this applies to both americans and thanks to the new national defense authorization act or not for you shortly plus. union flag protests and all the. people arrested for allegedly shooting at police full details all the rest of this brief break.

mission and free credit take three days for charges free. free. free. free. download free broadcast quality video for your media projects a free media. science technology innovation called in news developments from around russia we. covered. more news today. these are the images from world has been seeing from the streets of canada. the giant corporations are all day.

he continues here on r.t. orthodox believers all around the world are preparing themselves for one of the holiest nights of the year as they are now celebrating the birth of christ is right outside russia's thank you peter a crisis savior in moscow and it's christmas day so happy christmas there. thank you very much bill yes with a light dusting of snow here on the christ the savior cathedral the main cathedral of moscow across much of the christian world now people are back to work after the christmas and new year holidays but for believers here in russia and russian orthodox churches across the country it is now christmas eve according to the

julian calendar which the russian orthodox church uses falls on the sixth or seventh of january not on the twenty fifth of december in the in the crisis saying it could be two behind me worshippers have packed in to take part in to listen to the liturgy chanted in a very long and wind it can be considered a very beautiful service here for the russian orthodox christmas eve for many russians it's now over twenty years since the end of the soviet union which was of course of course which was of course atheist many russians actually don't observe this very religious christmas eve very much anymore it is marked only and isn't really a cause for celebration most of the celebrations that many christians would associate with christmas eve actually take place on new year's eve him in russia

with a big big family dinners the giving of presents christmas trees and things like that but. significant number of russian orthodox believers in in russia and those worshippers do celebrate this this night with this very long. tomorrow on the seventh. considered to be one of the pinnacle of the russian orthodox calendar and they hold feasts on that day as well they also go to the very long services to these long liturgies so for many russians this is an occasion just to be marked to the calendar and it's an extra day for. russian or. we just lost him. the same cathedral in central moscow where the midnight service is now on the way

and here in the studio with me is set to get chaplain he's the editor in chief of the journal of the moscow patriarchate to tell us more about the details of this orthodox christmas. we've seen some live pictures already of the ceremony inside the cathedral certainly a spectacular event very moving fantastic music he's a bit more about the splendor behind this ceremony while the nativities of christ is one of the main feasts for the christians all over the world and also from the russian orthodox church so we have a rather long and complicated service which consists of. three main parts the great complement the bartons and the divine liturgy now. we see that in christ the savior. the divine liturgy is going on and the first part of the liturgy the liturgy of the word is coming to its culmination with the

reading of the the gospel. main thing in the church is the theological reflection what does that mean for a man that. incarnation of god took place now more than two thousand years and is steel the main event in the history of the human current this is this is what the the this service is about and i see in the congregation people a standing can anybody go to the service and then walked in and out through the night as it were. well yes people are standing. but and that will continue for three four five hours those who can't stand usually stand if you can't then you can sort of take with us small chair or there are places in

some churches where the old people who are disabled or those who don't feel good seat. but basically yes we stand in the church and clearly music a major part of this is won't absolutely beautiful yes this is where you have asian hymns from the fourth and seventh century is of course translated into church slavonic and traditional russian melodies and this is sort of. well we all feel we feel that the heaven is on today and this is something that no reporter touched on the difference between christmas and the break in the twenty fifth of december in this one tonight as some see that the orthodox christian christmas is really really about religion unless a celebration of giving each other presents and. that's right that's right partly because of the tradition that we have partly because the

church. didn't. have charitable projects in the twentieth century under the bolsheviks so we do have some charitable programs now connected with a t.v. period. and the celebration and the period after the one nine hundred eighty but here at the main emphasis is on service and prayer so you thank you very much indeed for joining us on that get back to our commentary which you're giving live at the moment not a dot com on our website so thank you very much good to see you here in the studio when i say you can find a live transmission right now from the sermon in russia's crisis a cathedral here mosco with commentary by we've just seen here in the studio along with our own sean thomas and you can head to r.t. dot com right now for that for more spectacular pictures and images of what's happening in crisis a because he. around a thousand lawless protest has been wreaking havoc over the weekend in the northern

irish capital belfast with reports of shots fired at police lines the city's been witnessing unrest since a decision by the local authorities in december to fly the british union flag only on designated occasions rather than year round jason walsh from the christian science monitor thinks there are deeper reasons for the unrest than the flag being taken down but most of us traditionally throughout its history been a predominantly protestant and unionist city and their latest census results show that's not really the case any longer and it's not likely it's like a republican nationalist a majority or we could go for the decision itself to fly the flag only on seventeen designated days a year taken on december third. reflects this change and that seems to be what's troubling loyalists rather than the flag itself because in fact flying the flag on this day simply brings it into line with other british government and civic buildings and natural catalysts for discord it's no easy thing getting immigration

right but russia is among the four nations that have according to the un a little later report on what it is that makes a country alluring to new hopeful. also still to come the origins of the brotherhood's billions egypt's ruling is them as stand accused of taking vul sums from the u.s. government and using the money to provoke violence or protests. first this week president obama signed a law allowing the indefinite detention of u.s. terror suspects without charge or trial a national defense authorization act also delays the closure of the guantanamo prison for another year veteran congressman dennis kucinich thinks the move is part of a pattern under money democracy. right now we're much more of a garrison and garrison plus. a powerful military which keeps asserting itself globally and it doesn't make america any 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 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 the high price of x. rated diplomacy had online for that to home during ambassador to colombia loses his job while the christmas would you with prostitutes is held in the embassy even though it's reported he wasn't even there for the phone. many statue of hitler erected in the formal little soul ghetto spawns outrage from locals who say it's an insult to all nazi victims that full story for you right now at l.t.

dot com. big screen superstar. is celebrating in his new home and off to being handed his very own russian passport photo and dinner with vladimir putin the movie i call lefties nation fronts over what he called punishing tax rates pushed on the rich by the new president a radio station in paris has claimed five thousand french citizens a fled the country since and took office in part thanks to his tax policies and just like to put one of the countries they've been moving to is. a specialty show and tell us about what the country on earth has to offer you michael. let's look at the taxes and that's the question at hand right now if you look at russia at the current laws we have a flat tax rate here of thirteen percent in fact france and germany they both have complicated tax codes if you look at france forty one percent right now up to forty

one percent in germany up to forty five percent as opposed to russia's thirteen percent so you can see it's a very attractive to come to russia but if this new law comes into effect in france that. mark for france goes up to seventy five percent making russia even more trying to do so you know why the super rich would be wanting to move over here and stay certainly there when it comes to the global meltdown that we've been seeing for years particularly twenty twelve was not a good year for the eurozone or for much of the world indeed but somehow russia managed to avoid the global economic crisis didn't it that is certainly the case in fact it is one of the brics countries which means it is one of the emerging markets in the world but if you look at what's been happening around europe in fact in the past year we've been seeing austerity protests we've been seeing people come into the streets who are looking for jobs and in fact the unemployment rate's if you look at greece twenty six percent if you look at the e.u. in general the average there are eleven percent if you look at the unemployment rate in russia only six point four percent so you can see there are more jobs to be

had here less people looking for work less dire situation but it's also an emerging market it is a diversifying market in things here though to be much more stable than in the rest of the a lot of the same as in the world for a lot of opportunity here right here in russia the biggest country on the planet interesting that the united nations is actually taking a moment to appraise russia's immigration policies that what's what about well certainly if you look at the numbers the most recent numbers in fact show that russia is the second most desirable country for immigrants to come to only second to the united states in fact in fact it can be a little bit confusing because people look at the numbers about moscow being one of the most expensive cities for ex-pats to live with that's for ex-pats and it is true things here. it is a big city it can be expensive but if you look at average cost of food it's cheaper than the rest of europe much cheaper to live here for gas prices as well now keep in mind moscow russia you know this is the biggest city in the countries of course things are going to be a little more expensive here but russian general things cheaper than in the goddess of that it's just a fun place to be is and certainly is in fact the arts in the culture of the

entertainment here in moscow is famous for its nightlife but if you look past that we have famous musicians coming from russia famous artists famous history architecture all of that here but i'm going to say russia has always had this balance between east and west right so if you look at the orthodox culture and the western cultures i think that the real reason people come here is that you get two christmases and you get two new years. it seems that everyone wants a piece of to bits while beijing lose the region with riches the western media focuses on human rights abuses. to gauge the feeling that. the communist party of china a slogan so widespread in tibet it's even displayed on taxis here everything is an ambiguous mix of modern technology and tradition communism and religion.

six his son is a buddhist monk but ten years ago this elderly man joined the communist. party is breathing new life into our nation and he might just do your time in the capitol where shops and businesses sit beneath the monastery's on the hills this is quite a normal scene for us every day even as gather in the city center to pray right outside traditions are very strong here but at the same time chinese national red flags are hanging almost on every poll in every building as a constant reminder of which country tibet is a part of. for decades china has been accused of occupying tibet and destroying its culture human rights organizations report numerous abuses there on a daily basis some are even willing to go to the most extreme measures in protest in almost all instances protests down through violence.