a record turnout in egypt's first parliamentary election since the fall of president mubarak but it comes after days of tension and violence that claimed more than forty lives. thousands show up to have their say in the future of the country but many of the pro demanding the military rulers step down immediately i mean he's now in cairo with more details. the u.n. report accuses the syrian regime of human rights violations as the country also faces tough economic sanctions from the e.u. and the arab league. eastern control. financial ministers are said to me over the spiralling debt crisis china's influence on europe's economy is growing

fast. they are watching welcome to the program a record number of egyptians have cast their votes in the country's first parliamentary elections since the ousting of president mubarak preliminary results are expected later this week but despite the turnout the voting was still boycotted by many who were demanding the military step down immediately it comes after ten days of bloody clashes with security forces which claimed more than forty lives. and. in a certain millions of egyptians are hoping this is a vote for change but at the same time many are boycotting it saying the military should step down so a major split of opinion there but what do you make of it from where you are. it is

it really seems like a gyptian star split into two camps and very simply outlined how they feel about this election and you have the group that is flat out boycotting this vote because they say the military rulers are still very much in charge it's them who came up with this system of voting they will essentially be the top people monitoring these votes and then you have the camp of people who don't agree of course with the military rulers especially in light of that crackdown that we saw just ahead of this vote but they feel like if they don't come out to have their say that they would be essentially giving up giving up the months that protesters spent on talk we're square trying to bring change to egypt so really a split of opinion like i said and really some some long lines of people very excited about coming out to be able to vote a lot of people are voting here for the first time in their lives and it almost seems as if they're not really thinking so much about whether this will be a valid election what the results will be for them what's important is that this vote is taking place and they said the election has had setbacks that may have been

reports of nation's security problems did a's is there any way of telling if the election will actually be fair. there have been some minor violations the most common that we heard were counted it's coming up to actual polling stations and campaigning up into the end on twitter you could read about some people actually trying to go into the booth with people we heard of some minor i don't think you can even call them clashes but fights that happened at polling stations with people understanding that this was wrong that that most of this was a flat out violation we also heard of some parties actually setting up booths if you will with laptops trying to help voters because what we're hearing is that the system that was created is quite complicated in a lot of people came to the polling station and didn't actually understand how it all works but really in light of the violence that we've saw some very minor violations still it's relatively calm here of course no security situations but people are very aware that anything could happen at any moment and you really can

sense that in the year along with that excitement about this first vote how can we tell if this vote is fair well first of all it's only the first round of this parliamentary election in fact the parliament won't go into session until sometime in march also not even the whole country is voting in this first round it's selected by districts in cities so a lot more of the country has has their say and with the situation with these military rulers in power no one knows what will happen between these rounds of elections just before these elections when this this clampdown happen on talk we're there were actually that many protesters when they came in actually decided to disperse protesters but that action brought hundreds of thousands of people onto the street and then we saw ten days of violence so you really never know what will happen this is the first round it is being praised as being so far pretty successful but anything can change here at any moment and egyptians are very aware of that. ok our correspondent in the tsunami reporting from cairo there thank you.

well hosni mubarak may no longer be a part of egypt's politics but his regime is still echoing around the country during the elections he director of the transform center for conflict and an assistant at how by the way he says the outcome will be pivotal as the state moves forward. is gone but the regime still the explains why the demonstrations. this satisfaction continue the supreme council of the forces there are very wary of elections happening now because they see a alliance that is taking shape between the muslim brotherhood some of them and some of the old regime and the supreme council of the armed forces and they are very worried that the results of the election will be a victory for this coalition and for them that would mean that the revolution would

be hijacked. i back you can watch the full interview with more of dr ahmed but now is insights into the situation in egypt but also syria and the rest of the middle east in about twenty minutes time here in r.t. . a un investigation has concluded that syrian forces committed crimes against humanity doing crackdown on anti-government protesters reporters based on eyewitness accounts taken outside syria as investigators were refused access to the country he comes out of the e.u. approved why the financial sanctions putting more pressure on damascus parties are syria has just been to syria has more. but this time of the e.u. was putting more pressure on the financial institutions in the syria more specifically they put a ban a long term financial support on trade with the exception of perhaps a few industries such as food and medicine e.u. companies are now prohibited from doing business especially with syrian state banks as well as investing in sectors such as energy and oil there's already an oil

embargo on syria that has been imposed by the e.u. some time in may now e.u. officials would maintain that all of this is to aimed at cutting off financial support to the syrian government but the people themselves so the syrians a state t.v. in syria have been showing them going out into the streets by the thousands granted these are state backed protests but they are frustrated with the growing growing number of sanctions on the country because they are the ones who are feeling the pinch just an example i was there with the r.t. crew about a month ago and it was almost impossible to find a role it was impossible to actually five eighty have to get some money and everything was done in cash and when you ask the locals why is the case they said we say because there are sanctions on our companies the e.u. sanctions are in addition to the arab league sanctions which is the toughest sanctions by the arab league to work towards an arab country and they think that this is a betrayal they feel that an economic war has been waged on the country and that they maintain that by doing so it's simply exacerbated the situation is just

encouraging those who are involved in what the government sees the terror as terrorists and those who are part of an opposition that is growing increasingly militarized the government thinks that all these sanctions would just encourage them and those who are opposed to a putting sanctions on the assad government and one of the arguments put forth this if this is really intended to come up with a solution to the crisis why is it only focus on one side when both sides first of all are both increasingly armed both capable of violence and so by putting pressure on one side it encourages another side against the end of the day more financial sanctions while it may cripple the economy it may corner the government and business leaders it will also definitely impact the people. yes our senior political analyst dr his some gossip believes the e.u. is unconcerned about the civilian population in syria and the sanctions are designed solely to remove president assad's government these sanctions are meaningless actually i think they're meaningless and on every level on the level on

the economic level and on the security lapid it will not stop the violence western powers particularly the united states now to use these sanctions and to use the decisions of the arab league for their own purposes to put pressure on syria to put pressure not for the syrian regime to stop the killing as they put it you know what they want to weaken the syrian regime and to weaken the alliance between syria iran and lebanon i don't think they they. so much for for syrian blood in libya more than one hundred thousand people were killed by nato bombings and the country was devastated that nobody said anyone so i can't actually believe that they're now so good about three thousand syrians when they are not actually what it about more than one hundred thousand libyans it has nothing to do with stopping the violence on the contrary they're feeding the bodies we can't expect the syrian

government and the syrian army to end the violence if the other if the gangs do not stop atrocities against the syrian armed forces. well still ahead this hour on r.t. spying secrets and dandle who allegedly worked for russian intelligence in order to gain information on a mission number awaits her fate you know what in the u.k. . while western economies are struggling it's the east that's been seeing rapid financial growth china's presence in europe can that be felt more than ever as beijing has been making strategic investments although it still cautious about buying the continent's debt t. sara for three ports on china's growing influence in the u. you know the fashion capital of the world where you can be sure to sponsor an emerging trend but right now it's the economy here that's being getting i'm a cave with the west seeking east an inspiration funk and you're going to want to

see the forget the business model with its focus on some fine and expensive production business here is saying this competition from its chinese counterparts but their emphasis on fast cheap good book along some of the high streets here in the chinese influence isn't hard to spot with you its economy struggling countries like china need better time to snuff out the bug and such is the acquisition this year at the well known italian fashion brand series c by a chinese luxury clothing retailer for. the interest of china. very store so. i suppose the. opportunity. to catch the west struggles it's been the emerging grapes the brics that is brazil russia india china

and south africa that if impairing ahead this is really kind of a moment where you might look back and say this is a chance where emerging markets finally got their opportunity to become much bigger players and much bigger powers around the world take a look at the g.d.p. growth to china and italy was this lease that meeting economy has resulted in a great slump china in comparison has been full steam ahead emerging as a major manufacturing base but was chinese business is approving strong competition china is being cautious when it comes to buying up your debts the investment should be told in a more valuable. help me industries you start arriving all blonde is chinese investments in western companies and infrastructure grows so you to just china's control and influence across the entire european economy with the chinese trade and investment delegation g.

to visit europe next year further investment seem extremely likely. that we call it. could be very very. bad in order to. financial crises as the crisis continues to readjust the economic leaders on the global stage emerging economies such as china looks set to remain firmly in the spotlight surface r.t. . tion quantised francisco. china is greatly interested in europe's economic recovery as it's one of the e.u.'s not just trading partners. this situation in europe and with the euro is uncertain and. one doesn't know if and when the situation in europe will be

settled and will be stubborn lies the now for because the chinese for instance don't want to invest in in europe with the euro and then to see their assets devalued all or even economies crashed because of the ongoing crisis in a way the situation in europe is beyond their means and that they can do very little to actually help the situation but lend some kind of political support because actually the crux of the crisis is not really financial but is the political will to find a unity within the euro zone so they want to see thinks start belies first i think. well that all of our news coverage and much more is available few online just log on to our website r.t. dot com here's what's waiting for you there right now more than a thousand people were detained by police during

a massive anti nuclear protest in germany against the storage of nuclear waste on home soil you can read more about it and watch the footage r.t. dot com also online. u.s. government reported the order during the songs to destroy all material wiki leaks holdings on them and to stop using government insiders to gather fresh information and. that previously unknown work by a russian painter does need soft patch is a record breaking one point seven million dollars at christie's auction. a spy scandal under the love affair a london court is due to decide the fate of a russian woman facing deportation over claims she was working for russian intelligence wow being romantically linked to u.k.

member of parliament twenty six year old cat is a two vet or is accused of making several attempts to get her lover to divulge information including details of a top secret nato paper might have been it has more. this is where kat is that juliet as fate will be decided by the special immigration appeals commission it will rule whether or not she's to be deported from britain averred it's been a long time coming in what's been a headline grabbing case it's got all the ingredients to a james bond spy thriller even being called the spy who loved him because it went something like this she was arrested in december last year she's accused of being used as a honeytrap by the russian intelligence services to ensnare my cancun member of parliament and to gain access to top secret documents and why him why my can call for m i five says that he was picked because he was because of his position on both parliamentary committees for the defense and also for russia and also targeted because of his reputation for infidelity now that is something denied by the two

yet a and details did emerge in what was a very colorful hearing of an affair that the two conducted during the time she was employed by him as his researcher and she through the whole time of the hearing her defense was that their relationship was nothing but genuine and even said as strange it may be for a for a woman in her early twenty's to be in love with a man three times her age that was in fact the case it was true love and even read out excerpts of her diary. to attest to that and why it's so even read that she was beside herself with worry during one of his trips to iraq now she also denies ever being contacted by the russian intelligence services but it's up to a panel of three judges one of which is the former chief of britain's security services the m i five it's up to them to decide whether or not she was indeed in love with my can call whether or not she was in fact a spy whether or not she was to be deported. coming your way this hour

a creative approach to politics video game characters to gangs of glamorous women russia's president and prime minister have some very unusual for there was. fresh clashes have erupted between nato forces and locals along the serbian border with northern closer to serbs and to nato soldiers were injured in the latest round of violence early this week tensions have been running high since nato forces fired tear gas at protesters in attempt to dismantle road barricades living in the area they've been blocking the view since july when cost as authorities try to take control of border checkpoints. goods. that you could claim independence in two thousand and eight move that's never been recognized by the latest footage you can head on to our you tube channel.

four news today. these are the images. from the streets of canada. giant corporations are all day. now let's take a look at some other news from around the world pakistan has ruled out doing business with washington and threatened to wrap up its cooperation with united states on afghanistan announcement or the nato attack on saturday in every afghan border that killed twenty four pakistani soldiers thousands of people across the country protested on the streets outraged by attack the country's military officials insisted that yes trial lasted for almost two hours and continue after pakistani commanders have pleaded with conscience forces to stop. mass protests in kuwait have forced the prime minister to resign along with his government to step down after position party members of driving in peace for their

support the main power to cabinet is former prime minister has been in office for five years seven governments during that time. and the top colombian drug trafficker has been captured in venezuela maximiliano on the congo and on to the endless. who's on the most wanted list for allegedly smuggling tons of cocaine from colombia and the u.s. is also accused of leaving your gang which control drug routes between the two countries the us had offered a five million dollars ring want to point a mention in leading to his arrest. now with so many modern distractions getting youngsters interested in politics is never the easiest of tasks what if those distractions were given the political twist bits of experience. russia's two main political figures have been since against an entirely different backdrop from the

field of top level politics. surrogate sees them battling it out in the fictional realm world war craft. i've got a record i can smell better of is an orc putin plays the troll the personalities of the two leaders excellently match their war craft characters putin is tough and aggressive but very of calm quiet and clever he's brutal although he looks very much like an intellectual but with the online funds he role play game is hugely popular in russia players here making up the lion's share of the ten million subscribers worldwide plenty of potential funds for the comic book adventures of the president and the pm there's not too many people there with thing being depicted as one of these guys was a compliment but the man at the top it seems happy with his persona. at another with the president medvedev laughed sincerely when he saw my comic i think

he's going to read it to the end oh he's going to give it to his son who also plays warcraft but i think he would be happy to learn that a comic starring his father has been made in move craft. from the gruesome to the glamorous both made given puton have drawn unusual fun groups in the past midyear lives girls putin's army both collectives of young attractive women have made headlines around the world one rally this summer literally stopping traffic in the russian capital. of the goal is to support an invidious initiatives and to inform the general public especially young people about them recently where to find it in meeting with mitigated in our girl's dream came true we got to keep so president these groups have come under attack from some political experts who say a lack of policy is being hidden behind pretty faces these girls are one way of entertaining people obviously they don't. they don't want to raise serious

political issues and they don't appeal to the intellect of the voters but they keep them entertained and in response the girls say they are sincere. in their admiration for russia's political big guns unfortunately people don't seem to believe that anyone could do something like that from their heart we're working on breaking the stereotype and hopefully we'll succeed in this work peter all over martin. and a few minutes the arab world is the focus of our interview section sports person is coming right up after that but first imagery brings us the latest business news next. thanks carrie hello and welcome to business are a double dip recession in the eurozone now seems all but inevitable during the first wave of the crisis in two thousand and eight russia suffered a rapid economic contraction as well beyond its borders slowed however this time it's in a better position and even if europe does collapse russia is predicted to stay

healthy as nick parsons from national australia bank explains russia for example at no period in the next three years has a growth rate according to the o.e.c.d. of less than four percent so i think that is that is substantially encouraging if you look at china yes there's a modest slowdown to eight and a half percent in two thousand and twelve but again that the focus for thirteen is well above nine so for the emerging market economies for asia for russia for latin america i think we've got a slowdown from some of the rates of growth in prospect for the next twelve months but the o.e.c.d. themselves are seeing some insulation from the pain and they're seeing continued outperformance and alex their liberation into two thousand and thirteen. the euro zone may be in danger of falling apart but here russian customs union partners belarus and kazakstan are trying to establish a new economic bloc they are pressing ahead with the eurasian economic community

aimed at creating a common market between former soviet states one of the most important initiatives is the anti crisis fund its managing director explains it would prevent european style crises. there has been an agreement to coordinate macroeconomic fiscal and monetary policy why it's very obvious from the experience of european debt crisis currently when countries that belong to the same economic club had significantly divergent macro economic and monetary policy this of course means that one country which allows much higher inflation essentially. benefits from its list disciplined less rigorous policy and this of course hurts the economic prospects of its neighbors of its members of the same club so this agreement to coordinate the policy affects the level of budget deficit

the level of inflation if it several other parameters and this is what all three countries of the customs unions will adhere to. so i go to the market prices are mixed now after seeing some gains on monday is declining thirty cents brant is up pretty much by the same. agent shares are extending in advance made in the previous session as investors hope for a timely resolution to europe's debt problems because the sentiment was not reversed by later decision of fish to review the outlook on the u.s. credit rating from stable to negative signs of strong u.s. retail sales over thanksgiving holidays helps some exposure for stocks with lynn over in hong kong adding more than three percent. here's the kick off one russia's market actually initially there was a moderate upswing but now the r.t.s. my stocks have come down to monday's closing figures actually on monday they gained

more than four percent. this week we see absolutely same situation it was last week but last week. after yesterday's sharp move in the market. i think we'll see some consolidation today and i think the markets will develop further growth to more as for longer term i think we call it quite interesting situation sentiment drew in markets everyone expects some decision or kind of practical measures on the european debt crisis we see the confirmation of positive gradual but positive change in the u.s. and this station in the middle east in syria and egypt while supporting more oil prices so all these things i think positive for russian sentiment as i said but again everything depends on your own development of european cities right now russia is currently experiencing a liquidity crunch central bank has kept interest rates unchanged citing inflationary risks but. capital says there are other tools to resist the big

squeeze the three main reasons is that the budget who. want more budget expenditures should come into this system and provide some relief there global conditions we deteriorate it in three get some portfolio investment. and. their central bank speech from currency buying more current failing more and then these are all factors. in the little bit more but still the central bank is the able to fully control situation in the domestic money market the headlines are next on on to do stay with us.

whether it's life in the fast lane or most slow boat to any. patient alongside them nonsense. actual science and technology updated. the diversity of this land against the limits is. coming.