parliamentary election day carried russia and up the heated campaigning that this could debate is the basis chose to have that day join me full of late information in the hearts of the cops in. the war of words between iran and the west flayers office washington and the e.u. infuriated by terrans on phase reaction to threats hit back by choking off oil revenues. the un human rights commissioner calls for international intervention in syria sanctions continue to pile up on damascus over alleged civilian abuses by forces loyal to president bashar al assad. an islamist parties claim to have

won in egypt's first post revolution election and frustration in the streets as many believe their voices are not heard. one pm in the russian capital you're watching r t now 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 politicking it's now up to the people to have their say and the main intrigue rests in the ruling united russia party and

whether it retains its overwhelming support among the population as its rivals pledge to offer up tough competition from or we can now cross live to our correspondent sara firth who's got more well today sara seems to have hit a wall as all the candidates can do now is wait for the results so how's the voting going so far across the country. was there eating continues russia of course has knowing times and so in some of russia's far eastern regions the poles of kuwaiti plays and the value of being counted here in most cases of coups it just go one pm so the fighting continues we would feed president medvedev and his wife costing that day the leader of the communist party has also called his state as well but he's going on with the public in the three thousand three hundred seventy four polling base here in the capital people able to toss the base the majority in schools at the polling be still say a railway stations in hospitals and in airports as well in the polls thousands of

polling based around the country thousands of people still taking part as day continues causing that all important votes and we see in the lead up to this campaign helicopters snowie the bills even raising the yes' to ensure that polling be so able to reach people he wouldn't necessarily have been able to call that whole important but now the police placing at eight pm local time it most gay that the base will be counted we've already had that the international observers. including some deputies from the parliament amongst others has that the safe on a violation to be registered they don't have any objections with the crisis at the level of the. opposing parties that have people monitoring has that that been a couple of minor violations that they've registered but the russian election committee has said the whole thing million at the competing parties is that it and

around seven hundred international observers are going to be on hand throughout the rest of that election process what with a violation that's been a tech savvy election people are able to cause that some of them using electronic devices some of the polling be having. having. the polling be so quick with those not to public counting devices and of course we're going to be continuing to bring you all the latest information as the day continues you can follow us on twitter you can follow the life logo on our feet dot com full hundred fifty feet in the state duma seven political parties will be competing to win those all important states my colleague test also has been taking a close look at some of the political parties boii.

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 it did bounce back in one thousand nine hundred three when a new constitution was introduced and the upcoming election will determine 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 lead to death. will serve for five years well as it stands to stay do must be divided between four political parties. are currently has three hundred fifteen seats it's 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 the salt as well as the first man to walk in space alexei now the party's platform essentially revolves around modernizing the economy uprooting corruption and add to radicalism however united russia is also 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 communist saw the biggest opposition force in the country constantly in second place and one of the most

prominent deputies in this sector is on us of federal funds a nobel laureate in physics in two thousand and the communist party promises and not for the first time 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 a show man and is over as eccentric behavior and sometimes shocking political views for a. sample he advocated forcibly taking alaska from the u.s. and openly expressed his hatred of certain ethnic groups from that is that in the last years often turned his words into action on a lighter note since resting trapping on exotic of alien was elected as a united russia deputy there'd been no more pools 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 a 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 the 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 polling 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 who won't be long now to find. test actually reporting their well the big decision day is in sharp focus here on

our team and 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. campaign closes. the people prepare to speak. in duma election eleven. in-depth coverage of this one the hearts and minds of the russian people are. still to come in today's review of the week's news all ties strains to women as one of our pulls out of course the u.s. back talks on the future of ghana stands for the whining the rift opened by a deadly nato airstrike on pakistan's border. and you were polled his breath as merkel and sarkozy gets together to brew up a new cure for the blocks financial agony while the people who protest against the

spirit. it's been one of the most tense weeks yet in iran's continuing drama as western nations on leash 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 it sparked outrage among the iranian public and angry students stormed the british embassy in tehran the u.k. as a 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 with washington preparing its own crippling sanctions against iran central bank but political analyst chris bambery believes provoking the islamic state would have disastrous consequences for its. way to run itself sanctions against iran and there is talk of some interest right against iran

over this you could program we should remember that nationalism runs very deep people won't memories of when for instance britain and america wants to come in one nine hundred sixty three to overthrow democratic way a way to government which would nationalize american oil interests and install the . i know nationalism is runs very deep and for iranians who maybe no enthusiasm present. many of them would rally against any notion of sanctions against iran or a british american nato straight against the rise. of america and britain who between them have enough weapons to destroy the world many times over in the wake suring iran about nuclear weapons it does not have. in iran the americans and the british 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 another war should be concerned about this and should pressure in washington london and paris to stop any talk of for the

sanctions or any talk of a military strike against iran. the un anti commissioner for human rights has called for an international intervention in syria to protect civilians from president asked his forces she cited the number of protesters and rebel fighters allegedly killed by pro-government forces since the civil conflict began ass's rule was also condemned by the un but a resolution that could have paved the way for military intervention was blocked by russia and china they believe the u.n. continues to ignore ports of atrocities committed by opposition fighters and warned that foreign meddling may worsen the situation meanwhile sanctions continue to be piled up on damascus but political analyst dr hisham garcia questions just who the sanctions are aimed at. if 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 these sanctions 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 city and to g.m. 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 come through as devastated the nobody said any words. can't actually believe that they're now searching about three thousand syrians when they are not actually what about more than one hundred thousand libyans it has nothing to do with stopping the violence on the contrary they're feeding the bodies. and while the west presses harder on arab nations to ease up on

public protests the probe taken to deal with their own demonstrations from london to new york is somewhat different. defying brutal cop tactics and a government crackdown on the dog by movement shows no signs of slowing down instead it's drawing in new supporters from the most unlikely places. and minus one is discontent mounts up over washington's actions across the middle age the new kerry as 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 freedom and justice party gained forty percent of the vote with a fundamentalist nor a party claiming around twenty five percent however the results are in final as most parties are set to go through to further election rounds over the next two months but as published in your reports from cairo many in the streets feel their

votes will carry a little weight in their troubled country. long queues vote stained fingers and a record turnout over a sign of political interest in a country where decades of dictatorship has with little appetite for the power of the ballot the faces of candidates now down to one most of the street and wanting to are excited to be voting in a real election. say maybe it's nothing but false. and there are only iran two but i just tried. to meet you down with. a few there are tens of thousands like mr mohammed young unemployed and frustrated they think it doesn't matter who they vote for because the military will still make all the important decisions but the problem is you know what are they actually going to produce a parliament that cannot appoint minister of the car 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 until his square the center of the revolution and in front of the parliament building youth movement leaders like dravot are protesting and what they see as an empty vote offering no democratic mandate there will be you. show tonight we will not go inside your office we have to stop you 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 islamic 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 irregularities were ported the country's only female candidate for the presidency is not surprised even. monitoring the election just to point out their mistakes and their fraud we have no way for them on.

chris 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 really gypped if you give one point three billion dollars a year to the egyptian army which the americans do you were you are expected to do what it wants which nice little room for the people to get what they want sitting the stage for to hear turmoil policy r.t. . europe is looking forward to another meeting between the german and french leaders set for this monday could push the eurozone towards fiscal union a potential cure offered by angle of merkel this week for financial agony gripping the continent they're all german 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 pouring out of their funds earlier the e.u. monetary affairs chief warned the euro zone has no more than ten days to contain the crisis though the german chancellor insists that the process will take years by over that our veldt editor in chief of the transit magazine 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 for 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 responsibility how much really biting and automatic power will it have to make sure that everybody respects those rules. the occupy crackdown in the u.s. continues as cops shut down yet another camp this time in the city of portland. so that's a good part of the shot long walks for now cause you may freely. to the north

and the west. or your t.v. show and shot you the. police in riot gear are made a number of arrests officers refused to specify how many people were detained this is the second time in less than a month that people that police have dismantled the occupy movement headquarters in portland protesters now. a new camp a plan made harder by new legislation banning overnight stings in public parks and artie's marina portnoy reports the movement's message is beginning to resonate even with those whose job 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 ray 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 call a tremendous fear of losing their job being disciplined being fired and then what do they do everybody in the ninety nine percent figure they're police officers also they cannot risk they have children. what would they do once you're fired there are no jobs available the nighttime raid on zuccotti park in. 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 what the papers around the world go to and that is very scary brutal scare tactics such as pepper spray the tongs and flash grenades canisters 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 wall street even to understand what i can broker 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 calm 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 on the wavering support for the occupy movement standing roughly ten or fifteen feet

away from him a group of new york city police officers yes there are thier securing the area but some are beginning to show little interest for the first time i had an officer break ranks yesterday at the barricade line a white officer named officer murray and introduced himself and he started asking if you 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 a supervisor ordered ordered me back to the line i'm going to talk with you i hope to get mainstream america involved the players involved realizing that world victims of corporate america and corporate america has got to be stopped marina porter r.t. new york. and you can follow this and 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 out the i fell really is the hottest touchscreen on the market and there have been two cases

of spontaneous small bottle phone combustion reported within a week. plus antigravity dancing the world's top break dance star's battle it out in a hip international conference being held in moscow we've got the video on our. pakistan has ruled out taking part in a u.s. backed conference on the future of afghanistan next week the decision was just one of islamabad reactions to a recent nato air strike that killed twenty four pakistani soldiers they air raid brought already tense relations between the u.s. and pakistan to a new low nato supply routes through pakistan were shut off and officials in islamabad said washington must make commands for its mistakes and win back the people's trust political analyst manticore she says the u.s. fails to acknowledge pakistan's final role in afghanistan. any interest will have to be respected of parks and is to participate in take part in any efforts to

stabilize of going to and let me just remind you that has played a major role as you know in the beginning of the war we're talking ten years ago. in our first peace efforts that led to the formation of the government that is headed know that president hamid karzai there's no way that you can have the operation of a country if you will not take that country's interests along unfortunately the international coalition led by the united states and abroad has done has failed to do that locks and has suffered losses in excess of fifty billion dollars over ten years lost opportunities investments right away when somewhere else and so forth and of course not to mention the huge psychological damage of course that the pakistani people are suffering from as a result of our role in america's war in afghanistan. another sign that washington's rapidly losing trust in the middle asia comes from kyrgyzstan where the newly elected president has called on the us to leave a military base that it's operated in the country since two thousand and one and is or six on a boy who found out that his 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 morocco and there was famous across kyrgyzstan for his 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 on the field surrounding the base which is commanders deny yes. i wish the u.s. planes come and go several times a day i know there should be the noises 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 to the biggest 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 mean you can't have seams with them going america has so many enemies it's what wars in afghanistan iraq libya what its enemies want to attack us while in kabul mahato one former colleagues press than sunday americans and the vixen noticed 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 related to payments from the u.s. base mistrust and even has still it's a bit in the locals and u.s. 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 they 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 big kids bazaars thanks to a shady network of buyers and sellers secondhand u.s. military uniform is housed 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 billy's 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 outstayed their welcome back some boys are at sea could because they. wanted just a few minutes we treated to a close look at the many wonders of russia's picture perfect far north and that's our special report coming up right after a recap of our top stories. the rich life in the fast lane. the slow boat to anywhere. alongside. true science technology. the darker the city of this land.