stage of voting last month after voting for the lower house, egyptians will elect an upper house. unconfirmed reports from syrian activists say at least 36 civilians and 7 members of the security forces were killed in fighting on tuesday. the u.s. state department is calling on russia and other countries on the u.n. security council to speak out against the lethal crackdown in syria. a blistering attack by one iraqi politician against another. in an interview with cnn, deputy prime minister called prime minister nuri al maliki a dictator. it came as u.s. president barack obama noted the end of america s military operations in iraq. almost all u.s. troops will be out of the country by the end of this month. those are the top stories here on cnn. i m monita rajpal. world business today starts right now. hello and a very warm welcome to world business today. i m nien sa dos santos at cnn london. i m andrew stevens in hong kong. the top stories this wednesday, december