parliamentary election day here in russia up to heated political campaigning and debate it's time for the day to to have their say so before they do they should hit in the hearts of the capsule. the war of words between iran and the west players up is washington and the e.u. infuriated by did ron's on phase reaction to threats him bad by choking up oil revenues. the u.n. human rights commissioner calls for an international intervention in syria sanctions continued to pile up on damascus over alleged civilian abuses by forces loyal to president bashar the loss of. an islamist parties claim to have won in

egypt's first post-revolutionary action and it frustration in the streets as many believe their voices are not heard. eleven am in the russian capital you're watching r t with me rena joshie it's a big day for voting in the world's biggest country with people deciding on a fresh board of lawmakers for the lower house of parliament. following months of heated debates and political it's now up to people to have their say and the main intrigue rests in the ruling party and whether it retains

its overwhelming support among the population as its rivals pledge to offer up tough competition for let's now cross to one of their first who is following the story for us here in moscow quality of sars so could you say even say probably it's the call before the storm for the parliamentary hopefuls who are eagerly waiting for the results so how does approach to seem to be going so far. bullfighting now well underway started at eight am local time across rush's nine times i hear most gay president dmitri medvedev has called his they know if he said there is some uncertainty about whether his ruling united russia party will be able to maintain that two thirds majority in parliament pre-election polls showing that support for the party has full and recent weeks and months of course we won't know that until later the polls just sing at eight pm local time and then the votes will be counted will be giving me the results of that the russian election committee has

said in a bid to try and ease concerns about transparency in the voting process that really hot the million observers from competing parties and around seven hundred international observers there will be on hand to monitor against violations now the two thousand and eleven elections in the context of a thousands of the polling base today they're going to have electronic ballot counting devices some people will be able to watch the cost of using electronic devices and another bit to try and combat concerns about transparency in face so i think they are very to see it going to be able to have access to a hotline and a twitter account to voice any complaints and concerns but any discrepancies if they come across articles have that twitter account that will be bringing you all the latest news and information you can also follow a life blog on all see called following the election needs throughout the day

a lot of interesting facts and information people going to the new usual means to get to the polling be some people arriving at them today in the further flung parts of rochelle rain did we've also seen people have the ballot boxes delivered to them by helicopter and snowmobile previously as you said we'll be bringing you all the information. throughout the day full hundred fifty feet from the seven political parties by filling it out when they see my colleague. taking a closer look at how. this right here is the state duma the lower chamber of the russian parliament where laws are adopted and all bills are first reviewed and the term comes from the russian dumont meaning to think it was founded in one thousand nine hundred six but

does survive the one nine hundred seventeen revolution whoever did bounce back in one thousand nine hundred three when a new constitution was introduced and the upcoming election and the makeup of the six duma since one thousand nine hundred three. there are four hundred fifty seats up for grabs in the duma and the elected deputies will serve for five years well as it stands the stay do must be divided between for political parties. or for currently has three hundred fifteen seats the biggest party in the duma it's followed by the communists with fifty seven seats the liberal democrats forty seats and a fair russia has thirty eight. let's look at those parties in detail now the ruling united russia party has a constitutional majority in the current parliament and is led by prime minister vladimir putin and with the upcoming election of president dmitry medvedev will be at the top of the party's list of candidates for the party's representation in the duma is not only made up of career politicians but celebrities as well such as one

of the most decorated gymnasts a two time olympic medalist. former n.h.l. star slava salt as well as the first man to walk in space alexei illegals now the party's platform essentially revolves around modernizing the economy uprooting corruption and out to radicalism however united russia is all. so often criticized as bureaucratic inefficient and to some extent blame for political and economic stagnation. and the second of the number of seats is the communist party headed by its leader gennady zyuganov the communists are the biggest opposition force in the country constantly in second place and one of the most prominent deputies in this sector us of federal funds a nobel laureate in physics in two thousand of the communist party promises and not for the first song the nationalization of key industries they're often criticized for sticking to a platform that caters to an elderly constituency that still dreams of returning to

the glory days of the soviet union. or another old timer of the russian the state duma. is a leader of the liberal democratic party of russia now it's often called a one man party he is widely considered to be the show mad and is over his eccentric behavior and sometimes shocking political views for example he advocated forcibly retaking alaska from the us and openly expressed his hatred of certain ethnic groups from that is it is often turned his words into action while on a lighter note since resting chopping the next out of the building was elected as a united russia deputy there's been no more poles in the state. fair russia is headed by he said again and as the name implies its platform is based on the principles of fairness freedom and solidarity calling for the proper functioning of a welfare state. this is the usual working place with the deputy

no bells and whistles just a mike and a device with which to vote but not all deputies are interested in the daily debates over bills last year a huge scandal emerge when it came to light that some deputies consistently missed sessions and simply asked their party called leaves to vote in their absence now only after public criticism from the president they returned to work despite the shortcomings of russia's politicians there are still. hopes of the country will be able to put together the kind of poem that it needs to address its people's demands and navigate russia's future so who exactly will be filling these four hundred fifty seats of the state duma they won't be long now till they find out. well the big decision day is in sharp focus here on r t we'll be bringing you detailed coverage of russia's parliamentary election all the way through to the end and our reporters will broadcast live from the central election committee is office and from major party headquarters later in the day so stay with us for the results reaction and in-depth analysis. closes. the

people prepare to speak. in duma election. coverage of this one the hearts and minds of the russian people on our team. still coming up in today's review of the week's news all ties the strained to the limit. for show us back talks on the future of afghanistan further winding the rift opened by a deadly nato airstrike on pakistan's border. and you are hold his breath as merkel and sarkozy try to brew up a cure for the blocks financial agony while the people protest against austerity. now it's been the most it's been one of the most rather tense weeks yet in iran's continuing drama as western nations more sanctions greater restrictions and even more rhetoric on the middle east nation it all began with britain's decision to levy fresh measures against iran as punishment for what israel and others believed

to be a covert nuclear program that sparked outrage among the iranian public angry students stormed the british embassy in tehran reaction was to shut down its diplomatic mission along with other e.u. nations and some twenty four iranian diplomats were expelled from london they returned home as heroes the u.s. hasn't been quiet on the issue either. washington preparing its own crippling sanctions against iran central bank but political analyst chris bambery believes provoking the islamic state would have. consequences. as the. sanctions against iran and there is talk of some restraint against iran over this you could program we should remember that nationalism runs very deep and people one with memories of when for instance britain and america watched the coup in one thousand nine hundred eighty three to overthrow a democratically elected government which had nationalized oil interests and stored the. nationalism is runs very deep and. enthusiasm present.

many the mood around against any notion of sanctions against iran or a brutal american strike against the rise. of america and britain between them have enough weapons to destroy the world many times over wake suring of nuclear weapons it does not have. around the americans and the bruce do have plans for eventually for a military strike is whether or not the kind of and i think those people who are committed to peace and don't want to see you know war should be concerned about this and should pressure in washington london paris to stop any talk of for the sanctions or any talk of a military strike against iran. the un's high commissioner for human rights has called for an international dimension in syria to protect civilians from president assad's forces she side of the number of protests protesters and rebel fighters allegedly killed by pro-government forces since the civil conflict began acid's

rule was also condemned by the u.n. but a resolution that could have paved the way for a military intervention was a blog by russia and china they believe the u.n. continues to ignore reports of atrocities committed by opposition fighters and warned that foreign meddling may worsen the situation meanwhile sanctions continue to be piled on damascus but political analysts dr he. questions just who the sanctions are aimed at. 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 level it will not stop the violence western powers particularly the united states now to use the sanctions on iran 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 no they what they want is to weaken the syrian regime and to weaken the alliance between syria iran and lebanon i don't think that 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 any word so i can't actually believe that they're now searching 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 violence. and while the west presses harder on arab nations to ease up on public protests the approach taken to deal with their own demonstrations from london to new york is somewhat different the fine brutal cop tactics and a government crackdown the occupy movement shows no signs of slowing down the stairs joining in new supporters from the most unlikely places. minus one as discontent over washington's actions mounts up across middle asia the new kirghiz president vows to shut down america's military base in his country.

islamic parties have reportedly taken an overwhelming lead in the opening round of egypt's first parliamentary election since mubarak's fall the muslim brotherhood's freedom and justice party gained forty percent of the vote with the fundamentalist all newer party claiming around twenty five percent however the results aren't final as most parties are set to go through to further election rounds over the next two months but as our policy reports from cairo many in the streets feel their votes will carry little weight in their troubled country. vote. and a record turnout. of political interest in a country with. the power of the ballot the faces of candidates smiled on the one for the most you street corner and wanting to persons are excited to be voting in the real mix and these models say maybe hold nothing but hold on.

iran to boot but they're just trying to. narrow it down. and there were tens of thousands if not mohamad young unemployed and frustrated they think it doesn't matter who they vote for because. all the important decisions the problem is you know what are that she going to produce a parliament to appoint ministers that come to point a government. whose constitution whatever it turns out to be is going to be guarded by the army. many in egypt say they will continue to camp out on talking square the center of the revolution and in front of the parliament building youth movement leaders like ahmed drabble opportunist and what they see as an empty vote offering no democratic mandate will be you. know you will not go in your office. and you have to go and we do. two more rounds of voting still need to take place but the strong showing of the

muslim brotherhood leaves little doubt that the islamist parties will have a significant majority in parliament for what it's worth although claims of a record sixty two percent turnout is already being questioned after a series of regularities were courted the country's only female candidate for the presidency is not surprised even with. monitoring election just took the lead to mistakes and. we have a long way for democracy but the west has been quick to praise the election as an important step towards change although the americans are beginning to say well no the army must go back to barracks deep down they'll be perfectly happy to keep the army where it is egypt if you give one point three billion dollars a year to the egyptian army which the americans to you are spirit spectra to do what it wants which means little people to get what they want setting the stage for more to hear turmoil they are to see. here it is looking forward to

another meeting between the german and french leaders set for this monday to push the eurozone towards a fiscal union a potential cure offered by angle merkel this week for the financial agony gripping the continent belgium and greece are massive strikes as people fought against new measures to stop the current financial rollercoaster european central bank has been pumping money into the blocks financial institutions to compensate for investors pulling out their funds earlier the e.u. monetary affairs chief warrant the euro zone has no more than ten days to contain the crisis that the german chancellor insists that the process will take years but you know that our veiled editor in chief of the trans and magazines says europe is just not ready for the changes needed to contain the crisis. you can't have a functioning monetary union without a political union that's a choice you have to make and you can't have one without the other that has been very much proven now in the last two years of crisis what we do lack is political

authority the member countries of the eurozone will have to give up a large part of their server entity in terms of economic budgetary social and financial policies and it is almost in thinkable if you look at the major countries i'm talking about france i'm talking about germany the two most important countries that they are prepared at this moment to accept that a lot of the social economic financial policies of the countries will be decided not in peru paris or berlin but in brussels you can agree amongst each other i mean for example the seventeen members of the euro zone that certain kind of budgetary powers or even powers with respect to social or financial policies are given to brussels but the big question is if then brussels takes of this once but a sponsibility how much really biting and automatic power will it have. to make

sure that everybody. respects those rules. ten weeks of exhaustive controversial and sometimes even bloody protests the fruits of a movement that was widely expected to fizzle out in days far from it the occupy wall street campaign is now bigger than ever defining a coordinated government crackdown widespread car brutality and media ridicule and artie's more important i discovered the movement's message resonates even with those whose job it is to silence it. occupy wall street has become an undeniable american household name. and police crackdowns against the democratic movement have become something of the norm not so normal is seeing one side endorse the other. retired philadelphia police captain bray lewis became the game changer on nov seventeenth arrested while demonstrating with occupy

protesters on the streets of new york city the twenty four year veteran was held in police custody for eleven hours and received one comment from a new york cop nobody talk to me this one individual said that i had the testicles of an elephant although all of america's police force is part of the ninety nine percent captain lewis says cops secretly supporting o.w.m. face dire consequences by going public tremendous fear of losing their job being disciplined being fired and then what do they do everybody in the ninety nine percent figure and police officers also they cannot risk they have children they have one what would they do once you're fired there are no jobs available the nighttime raid on zuccotti park and subsequent arrest of dozens of journalists covering the story are among many reasons captain lewis says he temporarily transplanted to manhattan that's as close to a dictatorship when you exclude the media. as with dictators around the world and

that is very scary brutal scare tactics such as pepper spray the tongs and flash grenades paris servers have been used against occupy camps throughout the us oakland california resembles something of an urban war zone this fall leaving a war vet in critical condition and the eyes of an eighty four year old burning from tear gas oakland police officer fred chavez is the only octave cop who's gone on record with his support like i totally agree with occupy. even to understand what ike broke i am a part of the ninety nine percent for the most part people are peaceful and i want to see change many believe the biggest change could come when or if u.s. law enforcement officials stop suppressing the right to assemble and begin supporting it despite his arrest captain lewis is back at zuccotti park showing unwavering support for the occupy movement standing roughly ten or fifteen feet away from him a group of new york city police officers yes they're here securing the area but

some are beginning to show little interest for the first time i had an officer break ranks yesterday the barricade line a white officer named officer murray and introduced himself and he started this with your question i said do you know the risk you're taking and he was so brave that you said this is still america and until supervisor ordered ordered me back to the line i'm going to talk with you i hope to get mainstream america involved the police involved realizing that we're all victims of corporate america and for the murder it's got to be stopped marina porter r.t. new york and you can follow this in other stories on our website r.t. dot com here's a brief look at what's on the line for you right now where of exploding apple's the i phone really is the hottest touchscreen on the market and there have been two cases of spontaneous mobile phone combustion reported within a week. plus antigravity dancing tough break dance stars battle it out in

a hip international qantas being held in moscow we've got a video on r.t. dot com. pakistan has ruled out taking part in a u.s. backed conference on the future of ghana stan next week the decision was just want to islamabad reactions to a recent nato air strike that killed twenty four pakistani soldiers the air raid brought already tense relations between the u.s. and pakistan to a new low nato supply routes through pakistan. shut off amazon about official said there can be no business as usual with washington until it makes a man's and wins back the people's trust terrorism analyst hillary says it's just the beginning and we'll see a full scale clash between u.s. and pakistani interests in the near future. i think that both the united states and pakistan have this very strange relationship that they need each other and that probably before it absolutely ruptures there will be some concessions but you know

the the united states is planning to leave by two thousand and fourteen all its troops there what will be left behind pakistan is determined to have a force in kabul that actually pakistan wants to support it in other words for similar to the taliban that is pressure to the base this is quite opposed to anything that the west wants so i think that the next two years are going to be fascinating when you've got two wholly different dynamics unfolding there. another sign of washington's rapidly losing trust to middle asia comes from kyrgyzstan were the newly elected president has called on the u.s. to leave a military base that's operating in the country since two thousand and one and found out the korea's government is also paying a little more attention to some of its own people's demands. they call it operation enduring misery several times a day u.s.

military planes take off from an airport near the characters capital bishkek there and gins generating a lot of anger and mung the locals that there's it's so noisy here i can barely sleep back in soviet times the village of of there was famous across kyrgyzstan for years gigantic whatever melons but ever since the americans landed here ten years ago locals say the quality of their crops has been steadily declining like most of his neighbors further nicholai is convinced americans a dumping fuel undefiled surrounding the base which is commanders deny your version i wish the u.s. planes come and go several times a day i know there should be the noise is disturbing but i sort of got used to what's really bad is that they're killing nature the fields and the crops and people's health is getting worse through the air base represents the shortest and the most efficient route to deliver you supplies and servicemen into afghanistan

nicknamed the gateway to your house it's the last safe stop on the way to combat but for the residents here getting rid of the base is a battle in its own right but i'm not going to have series we're going to america has so many enemies it's forty wars in afghanistan iraq libya what if it's enemies want to attack us. one former colleagues pressed than sunday americans and the vixen notice only to negotiate a three fold lease increase a few months later the following year of course by key was ousted from. office on allegations of corruption some really did to payments from the us base mistrust and even has still achieved between the locals and use troops abroad are hardly anything new many countries are hosting american bases despite sometimes very strong objections of the indigenous population but here in kyrgyzstan the issue is so politically charged that it has already shown the power of making or breaking

once presidency yet america's presence in the region has its legal benefits to military gear in accessories have long found their way to biscuits bazaars things to shady network of buyers and sellers secondhand u.s. military uniform is held in a very high regard here the owner of this business who doesn't want us to show his face says he usually gets it from american troops on the ground for a couple hundred bucks and he sells it to a wide range of clients many of whom come from all over the former soviet union according to the bases commanders them miracles do try to be nice in addition to sixty million dollars a year for the least use personnel in kyrgyzstan have done volunteer work and raised money to renovate the local school and the locals are appreciative they say they have nothing against the americans per se except that they have long out stay there welcome back some of the work of art see. in just a few moments

a recap of the headlines in our special report asks how far mining companies in peru are willing to go to protect profits that amount to billions of dollars just for their team.

magine assets that the devil watches show every single day. and waiting for you to stumble. i saw a man with a video camera so i moved over and he followed me as i was up with him but we realized there were following everyone from early in the morning. the only chance to get rid of him. is to reveal him. me devil operation on our cheek. the.