egypt's crossroads voters lining up to cast their ballots in the first post mubarak parliamentary election against a backdrop of protests against the military and warnings of further violence. president obama sits down with e.u. leaders to discuss iran and syria with experts predicting the further isolation of the countries possibly ultimately aiming at regime change. making their point by making a scene the ukrainian women whose topless protests against women's abuse at home and in europe set to go global.

it's five pm in moscow i met good to have you with us here on r t our top story egyptians are voting in the first step of a long parliamentary election which will happen in stages up until march is follows a week of violence that returned to the cities with more than forty people killed in protests against the military regime archies an isa now a has more from cairo. this is just the first round of these parliamentary elections in fact you don't actually have a parliament set up if the vote is considered valid until march sometime and then the presidential elections only happening in twenty thirteen with that said the atmosphere is tense it's very festive at the same time a lot of people voting for the first time in their lives from young to old release there is excitement about this this vote some people see it as the first step in egypt's road to so-called democracy but no people have forgotten what we saw unfold

here over the past couple of weeks the very vicious clampdown and clashes that we saw and calls for the military rule to resign just ahead of elections but what's concerning the people first off of course is the security situation just this morning we saw a blast this is something that has happened several times since the revolution part of a pipeline that carries gas from egypt to israel so the security situation very tense although it has to be said that so far there has been no kind of. unsecure situations throughout the day so far another concern of course is legitimacy of the vote and people here say that scaf is very much in control and in fact some people that we've spoken to are either going to boycott the vote or going to vote to make sure they highlight what they see as fraud during this first holes where. some adoptions are bracing for the worst medics are lined up and security is tight for egypt's first parliamentary election since the revolution the country's only

female candidate for the presidency expects the vote to be void due to from want but sent this message to the supreme council of the armed forces or scaffold took over after mubarak we are as the. movement. we are rooting you. money during the election just to to quebec. mistakes and then there are frogs we had and our own good no waiting for democracy others are planning to boycott the ballot minya a protester at occupy cabinet says they are encouraging people not to vote trying to do with trying to call the people to come down here so we would be a lot of people and nobody would vote and then they would know that these votes and this elections is not correct it's wrong how could you ask us to vote for a parliament was which you are building under you were. the scouts. the violent

crackdown that swept over egypt just before elections seems to be pulling focus from the long awaited dream of democracy minya says if the vote goes through the military will succeed in covering up the blood spilled. like take them to courts or something like for the people the kilt i got shot in my yard like here but of course it's not that big of deal like other people go now they're blind and more a lot of them are did because of what happened who is going to say when you were wrong the party likely to win a staunch number of seats is the muslim brotherhood considered a terrorist affiliated organization in some countries appears very popular here in egypt known for tight organization and a hard islamist mind also accused by some of wheeling and dealing with the military supreme council they are politicians and they mean the who is wrong that they won

in that it would use indians and this not for that he would use this all the power power that the people on to our career have been fighting for on the streets to his square people would love to have a strong presentation in the parliament. so i urge everybody of those who is going to miss the election please don't do that but what egypt wants and want. egypt gets so far proven to be two very different results many egyptians feel the political parties on the ballot don't resent the people and even more so their revolution one of the most common things you hear on throughout the year is that the people running the country are no different from mubarak and they're thought to be very much running this vote reporting from cairo and he's now a party the gloves come off later today and crosstalk as peter lavelle girls as guests over the western or all of the arab spring here's a preview. we saw

a year ago almost the turmoil in egypt which is now returning no democracy there obviously the americans with the west are waiting for a western friendly government to be imposed and this of course sucks up to the israeli situation so that the the border with gaza is controlled by the west and by israel that create this thing about the lack of democracy that been prizing in egypt and have been clamped down there was no democracy there and these developments are part of the process and i believe that it is an inexorable process in which ultimately the arab peoples will achieve the democracy that they aspire to everyone should have the right to democracy except for the palestinians and the people of bahrain ok because these are national security issues of the united states of america.

syria is another country feeling that its decisions are being made from outside it's now suffering more pressure and isolation after the arab league imposed economic sanctions measures include freezing assets and cutting off investment projects to punish the government for failing to end the violence and allow international observers at damascus lambasted the league's unprecedented move as a betrayal saying encourages our be anti-government forces acting in the country. some are about experts think the sanctions are likely to average syrians to the discredit of the lead. it's going to make the situation much worse definitely for the syrian government for the syrian people part particularly so how can we look to the arab league with any kind of credibility or legitimacy how can we claim that they are speaking on behalf of the arab people rather it becomes evident that they are speaking on behalf of western interests again if we look at qatar and we look at saudi arabia and we see the positions that they have taken and with whom they are most closely aligned we see their alliances are quite close with the united

states and they seem to be mouthpieces from before the united states which again for anyone who has studied the arab league none of this is surprising the arab league was constructed officially to protect our poor old you would think one of its most basic that it would do would be to protect the arab countries like instant patients they each of these are countries have promised to support and defend any arab country that has been invaded and yet when lebanon was consistently invaded by israel not to want our country came to its protection so again what is this our league gets and it's another farce it's another joke about that was imposed upon the arab world by the former colonialist that we're here well stay with us here on r t still ahead for you this hour the adventures of ukrainian ukrainian feminists in europe. we meet the scandalous activists who think revealing their bodies or expose the sins of politicians plus. cold war era trade barriers against russia may finally be lifted

once it joins the world trade organization the u.s. congress could have balazs the jaxon van a commandment next year join me for more on the story in our business bulletin. i had to go through a ten year old boy that. we train them how to tell. develop the orders for them to. we never explained to them why it's ok. most people at the point of looking down in time to pull the trigger became conscious objectors. and i don't remember squeezing the trigger i don't remember seeing him go down well i remember is that we shot him.

on the other side are soldiers too and soldiers do it and they're trying to kill us we're trying to kill them and that's just the ugly face of war. nothing honorable and. i went to the war zone and i started seeing how i need to change. and the only way to do there's a knock at the door rivaling kill another person that's why i'm applying for concerts and. the. wealthy british style. that's not on my.

market mind. find out what's really happening to the global economy for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines to cause a report on. eleven minutes after the hour in moscow thanks for staying with us on our team as the war of words between nato and. pakistan rages on islam about announced that the recent closure of nato supply routes to afghanistan and by its territory will now be permanent the already strained relationship has thrown into chaos after a u.s. airstrike targeted a known army base killing twenty four soldiers close to the pakistan border the incident triggered a massive rallies throughout the country elevating anti-american sentiment to new levels this as a new nato strategy came to light paying taliban fighters one hundred fifty dollars a month to get them to put down their weapons reporter and author phil reserves

this shows how desperate has how desperate the situation has become for the allies . the point about afghanistan and you know there was a very unflattering colonial statement about the afghans that you can buy an afghan but you could rent him in other words that you can you know gain loyalty for a short to but after the money runs out you know their loyalties will return to where they were before and i think the afghans are very well trained as it would take them from both hands so as a strategy you know i think this is going to fail and what's going to stop taliban members simply taking their money and going back home you know i think it's a it's a desperate measure and i think it's a sign of the the failure of the whole afghan episode and the fact that the taliban they're probably going to return as the most powerful political force once the west is gone. as we've reported damascus has been hit by fresh sanctions from the arab league and there's another blow waiting awaiting the

country as the u.s. president barack obama hosts leaders in washington to thrash out additional measures against syria concerns over iran's nuclear program also on the table with the european oil ban the likely response. to reports on why the two countries are caught in the crosshairs. splitting the spoils of war in the middle east and north africa the u.s. and europe are meeting in washington searching for new ways to fortify their global position now with syria and iran on their plate here at the white house european leaders together with the u.s. president might be trying to turn political tensions around syria and iran into economic gain after all the decision on whether or not to meddle in a foreign country's affairs is never entirely selfless looking at the ranch for example a country with vast natural resources it's not hard to see the benefits in such a venture iran is the world's third largest oil exporter its seconding gas reserves

the u.s. is not getting any of the rain and oil europe on the other hand accounts for a significant part of iran's crude exports a year has severe energy problems there are a huge net importer of better europe has recently stopped buying oil from syria it might stop buying crude from iran as well if the e.u. decides to impose an oil ban on the rand but analysts say it's not full long that the west would want to deprive themselves of middle eastern oil that would mean more oil more gas lower price of oil lower price of gas more steady supply. how to make it happen typically what we'd like to do is make the population so you cannot make the measurable that they will seek to change the regime and the second way is to isolate the country from its neighbors to the point where you can

safely without too many complications go in and simply attack iran and destroy the regime through destroying the country singe. the u.s. and the e.u. are trying to press the rands biggest trade partner china to do less business with tehran the u.s. is now calling on pakistan to stop building a gas pipeline with iran isolation seems to be the strategy regime change the end game the benefits could be enormous get a check on our team washington d.c. . syria and iran won't be the only topics of discussion in washington as both the us and e.u. struggle to contain their economic troubles the most urgent is europe's debt epidemic at the center of which lies athens speaking with r.t. greek m.p.c. most care to go blue said there's no telling what tomorrow holds for the embattled union full interview coming up in the next hour here's a preview. of the future for tomorrow we do know what's coming next and i believe

that the whole of europe doesn't know what's coming next we will move toward those closed tomorrow but come too late greeks those and produce the we the me the greeks need so it's the first time since world war two that greece come to feed its people and the come too late greeks with everything can grow i think it's a crime. unafraid and undressed a series of for evocative protests against the abuse of women's rights have been raising eyebrows across europe or to find out these ukrainian activists now have their sights set on new horizons. oh yes. on a chilly morning in kiev health naked women in racing outfits drink champagne and chant slogans this is how the feminine movement celebrated the resignation of silvio berlusconi several days prior to that that very same ladies were in rome voicing

their support to the anti berlusconi protest even do it until he had staged a lot of protests against berlusconi and his sexual adventures here and here and they are really happy his political career has finished and it's an embarrassment to up to the next couple somebody who came to tell an embassy not only to celebrate but to say that he needs to go on trial for his sexual crimes. for more than a week the cranium topless protesters had been making themselves heard across europe on a dedicated road trip to draw attention to the sexual exploitation of women in room one of their activists made a revealing protest against injustice towards women in the catholic church in the vatican right in front of the pope. was before that they hit paris storming former i.m.f. banker dominique strauss kahn his residence. and women from italy came to us in

switzerland and said we know that you're coming to rome and will be staging protests again berlusconi and the pope thank you they said for sharing our problems there while draw free rallies in ukraine have been making international headlines for several years now from protesting against the alarming rate of prostitution especially with the upcoming who are twenty twelve tournament to exposing flaws in ukraine's politics now they're looking even further afield the dealing with the no could be worse what they went through the classic famine is no longer works it is if you excuse me impotent but where would dubai. it's the desired effect that's why not only ukraine needs it but europe as well were planning to take over the world and that's. what we see how well you were received in europe remember your colorful actions in ukraine where are you planning to expand now but of those that. you didn't you know you received lots of letters telling us to continue fighting

against religious injustice towards women especially in the muslim states that's where we want to develop that we are even ready to go to iran or any other islamic state to stage our topless protests but knowing all risks i didn't tale for us to think that they started out as a few enthusiastic computers now they're told this protest messages go read global . in ukraine alone they have tens of thousands of supporters the family network has been set up in europe and now stretches as far as the united states still they say they've got a lot of demons to find at home. because you from kiev ukraine. there are plenty of other stories about like your fingertips at r.t. dot com here's what's a click away right now. courage britain's prince william rescues two russian sailors after their ship sinks in stormy seas off north wales. and why

you can't poke fun at the monarchy in thailand where a facebook jibe could get you a jail term if you like that story you can head over to our team for plenty more. turning now to some other stories making headlines across the globe a monday morning eviction deadline has passed in los angeles where nearly a thousand anti wall street activists have camped outside city hall as the midnight ultimatum approached peaceful protesters flooded the surrounding streets some along the occupy l.a. movement have been learning resistance tactics including how to deal with rubber bullets and pepper spray officials say you have action is necessary on public health. grounds. a suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into a prison entry gate north of baghdad killing at least nineteen people leaving twenty four others wounded no group immediately fessed up to the attack which is the third major assault in iraq in a week. a train load of nuclear waste has reached its destination in northern

germany hundreds of protesters made a last ditch effort to stop the train returning the radioactive material from reprocessing in france with some chaining themselves to the tracks activists say the containers and storage facility are not safe delivery was heavily policed and led to about thirteen hundred arrests. suffering a campaign of harassment for protecting the planet discover the sinister splot surrounding want to determine environmental activists coming your way in our special report after the business news with kareena stay with us. and i welcome top business update this hour thanks for joining me a double dip recession in the u.s. are now seems all but inevitable he will get is ation for economic cooperation and development warns that the bloc will see a construction of one percent in the fourth quarter of this year and will continue to shrink in two thousand and twelve paris based organization as that if the euro

breaks up this will lead to a global recession. and the former head of the european bank for reconstruction and development predicts that the u.s. may not survive until christmas governments and companies around the world that pairing through what could happen in the currency disintegrates. world on costs get more capital believes all firms in russia would need government help to survive if the euro were to fall. strive to survive by hiking the. rates at the pump stations. after the station number two there will encounter the anger government then. there will be a clash with the. word. to use. some sort. of tax. in order for them

to preserve positive margins so we. have to make huge sessions to russia in order for them to survive. poorer trade barriers against russia may finally be lifted as the joins the world trade organization u.s. ambassador in moscow says congress could abolish the amendment next year r.t. so for. the jackson five a commitment itself is an old amendment that was a mistake think straight privileges to countries that had live it's like even but it's not a great you should know it's a full agreement this concert every year with russian anyway but there are now concerns that american businesses could suffer losses was russia joins the world trade organization but that's because this amendment is inconsistent with the deal the t.s.a. rules and so there are concerns now that american businesses won't receive all the

benefits that they gave. to other nations what's russia joins the trade. us about this is that today the amendment a relic of the cold war era having it repealed has been a long time coming out of there isn't likely to happen by the end of this year it's going to be a priority getting it with wheels up for the us twenty twelve. and if a national title where was threatening to swamp europe many economists predict a severe recession on the continent in two thousand and twelve as government significantly cut spending however this could be of great benefit to gold prices and i'll tell it from u.b.s. says that the average price for the metal will read two thousand and seventy five dollars per ounce next year. goals. emotions fear bad current climate and fear about what lies ahead you know this there's a mistrust of governments governments in europe you know the debt management for

many of the european nations there's a moose certain each word safehaven acid and what we saw in two thousand and eleven was a very volatile year for gold and for other us and we continue to see to expect that again which he doesn't and two of so at some time here when gold is approaching those record highs that people need to be perhaps a little bit more proactive and be prepared to take profits with a view to coming back in again and buying gold you know one hundred hundred fifty dollars lower. and let's take a look at the markets now commodities first oil prices are heading up on a strong start to the holiday shopping season in the u.s. now light sweet is currently trading at over ninety nine dollars per barrel while brand is at one hundred and nine dollars a barrel stocks in europe push higher on monday vang's are in the lead after media reports pointed to leaders making progress in addressing the eurozone debt crisis present germany are also studying ways to deepen fiscal integration and here in russia markets extend gains an evening session they are test is up over three and

a half percent the my zax is over three percent in the whackers well let's have a look at some individual trammels on my sex energy mages are on the rise supported by stronger crude rosneft is getting over four percent this hour banking stocks are no exception with spare bank of just under five percent and carmakers solar's is also up on news of its joint venture with japan's master. and there's been a leap frog in russia's oil market as tank a b.p. has become the second largest oil producer in the country company produced half a percent more crude during the first nine months of the year than look oil analysts say look or has been concentrating more on foreign operations and that rather than best expansion. mazda is joining the list of international car makers to localize production in russia starting from next year the japanese company aims to ideally produce over thirty thousand cars at sollers plants in the country's far east plus there's

a part of the investing around eighty million dollars and the project and solar is already has production agreements with a number of international companies including korea's sign young at least. that's all i have for you this hour but remember you can always log on to our website r t dot com slash business from mark.

the. world with. its technology innovation. all the latest developments from around russia we've gone to the future covered.

in two thousand and ten especially economic zone for industrial production was established in russia's somalia region with a total area of six hundred sixty ekta as. its investors are granted exclusive tax and customs benefits which includes a five year exemption from property land and transport taxes as well as an income tax reduction to fifteen point five percent. the special economic zone operates as a free customs own which enables manufacturers to market their products in russia free of in four g.'s the some our region is he said is currently witnessing a sewage in.