in the city of homes and twin suicide bombings on friday that killed forty four but as artie's sara firth reports with western sanctions strangling the country it's the syrian people who are bearing the brunt. it's been nearly ten months since syria's uprising began the capital of damascus has remained largely sheltered from the conflict. in the bustling sand say it seems like it's business as usual this one says so and the winds of change has begun to flow a little stronger the arab league's imposed tough economic sanctions the effects of which would be felt even had in a poor area in the damascus grass and her family struggling to make ends meet. learning this fall the beans for a living that he barely makes a hundred and fifty three and a day three dollars to support him and there's one. now the fuel for his vending cart has become harder to get hold of with the economic sanctions i'm driving by i sat. there last products available and the prices are pushed higher there's been fights over gas we've been trying to manage by cutting back as much as we can but sometimes when we can't affo

looking back at what's been a year of despair and discontent for austerity greeks and correspondent sara firth witness to their anger boiling point she covered the protests in the country. i think in two thousand and eleven we really sort of felt the world shift and. we saw people's protest movement sort of spread around the world and with the yearly crisis reaching fever pitch i think all of us had concepts north woods and locusts in the west really meant and greece is certainly for me very much on the front line if that fight. became really the sort of the child the financial crisis it turned into a political crisis became a social crisis and yet this does is saying that if you're a hammer everything looks like a nail if you push people into a corner then they're going to come out fighting and i think increase is exactly what happened. the first time in. forcing and they had a protest planned there remember in the morning. it was just still think cool in a very very close to central square as the euro is saying crisis rumbles on grief is once again found itself the focus of international att

population as its rivals pledge to offer up tough competition for more knowledge across to our team sara firth who is here in central moscow following a story for us so sara good morning now the whole country as we know is great by the voting frenzy so what more can you tell us about this. but the ballot costing began of course russia's time zones at eight am local time so already well underway in some of russia's far eastern regions according to russia's election committee says hoffa million observers from competing parties and nearly seven hundred international observers are going to be on hand today to make sure they're in a violations with the emphasis is also on transparency thousands of the polling be sick going to be equipped with automatic ballot counting machines and they're also going to be some people who are going to be with the calls and vote using electronic devices now from the innovative to the imaginative of course some of russia's harder to reach areas people have had to be a little bit more imaginative in coming up with how they've reached these probably be some people arriv

sara firth reports. chaos and confusion in damascus as the capital which until now has remained largely spared from the violence starts to feel the effects of an escalating conflict. on. the first day of the league's work was a bloody tragic day the people of syria will never forget these terrorists. this kind of here the capsule is usually brightly lit it is christians here comes the ten percent of the population get ready to celebrate christmas but these scenes of devastation are a harsh contrast and a stark reminder of just how much the country has changed in the past nine months. last year to christmas we used to wish and pray for people in other countries that were going through hard times with war we never thought that this year it would be us. this year is totally different because of the situation in our country. the priests here planning their own mark of respect for the coast. of syria our people to avoid the external signs of the beauties but to go. there one really feels like celebrating anyw

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 t

sara firth reports with western sanctions strangling the country it's the syrian people who are bearing the brunt. it's been nearly ten months since there is uprising began the capital of damascus has remained largely sheltered from the conflict. in the bustling sun so it seems like it's business as usual when says the winds of change have begun to blow a little stronger the arab league's imposed tough economic sanctions the effects of which would be felt even head in a poor area of damascus and her family struggling to make ends meet has certainly has learning difficulties for the beans for a living but he barely makes one hundred fifty three and pounds a day three dollars to support him and here's why. now the fuel for his vending cart has become harder to get hold of with the economic sanctions driving the price up. their last products available and the prices are pushed higher there have been fights over gas we've been trying to manage by cutting back as much as we can sometimes when we can't afford it which is don't eat the economic situation in syria was one of the areas president

that was our correspondent sara firth reporting from damascus well that is going to do for now for the very latest information on the crisis in syria or for more on the stories we covered you can head over to r.t. dot com slash usa you can also check out our youtube page it's youtube dot com slash r t america you can also follow me on twitter at liz wall i'll be right back here and a half hour so stay tuned for that and we'll tell you the very latest about a soyuz liftoff and the mission that lies ahead for the cause minutes on board. the official. i pod touch from the. geology on the. dot com. well. technology innovation.

back at what's been a year of despair and discontent for austerity hit greeks our correspondent sara firth witnessed their anger reach boiling point she cover the protests in the country. you know i think in two thousand and eleven we really sort of felt the world shift on its way we saw people's protest movement sort of spread around the world and greece is certainly for me very much on the frontline fight and it became really the sort of pace to child the financial crisis it turned into a political crisis became a social crisis and yeah this is a saying that if you're a hammer everything looks like a nail if you push people into a corner then they're going to come out fighting and i think increased that was exactly what happened. the first time in. reporting and they had a protest planned i remember in the morning. it was just the coup in a very very close to central square as the european thing crisis rumbles on greece is once again found itself the focus of international attention and it seems like everyone had an opinion about it that you might. going off and finishing to. getting a p

protesters the authorities say they are fighting extremist armed groups operating in the country artist sara firth has been to one of the flashpoints in the ongoing unrest. here in the embattled city of homs and you can hear heavy gunfire in the background it's really hard to fathom the sheer insurances that the civilian population here lives here a week of the wait a month often months they've had to endure this conflicts. with the ongoing violence is taking its toll. there are neighborhoods that are being suffocated surrounded by armed groups there many people who have been kidnapped have had enough did we do to deserve this holmes is being described as this if you live bring in civil war the way some of the series this is fighting has broken nose driving through the streets there are clear signs of conflicts bullet holes in window panes and then. there's a heavy military presence we went to visit some of the areas where concentrated fighting was continuing it would be dangerous to visit. you know there are areas of the fifty day life struggles on movies and the backdrop of them. you can see the

monetary fund to make savings cuts to qualify for desperately needed bailout money our correspondent sara firth witnessed of the worsening crisis in greece in two thousand and eleven and reports from athens on what's been a turbulent turbulent year with an uncertain year ahead. well it's just been such a challenging year for the people here in the country because if we pull about that this year and the bailout that the bad guys feel stacks of it now in real terms of the people hit us that just because of that we get a little bit like it's really affected so many people here in the country every household felt the brunt of this the scene and you love the famous springing up here in the country even here this evening the results that are very clear you can see lots of people out on the street leaping up on the streets tonight so many different people signed up saying that discontent and so many young people it's all that you were speaking to buttin fifty is a very nice if they did very well educated people that are happening to grapple with extremely big issues and they're you know doing their pa

comments as he met with leaders of the party's elected to the state duma the lower house of parliament sara firth has more now from central moscow. we had mcdade of the pools addressing the concerns of the election violations he once again reiterated the old these claims are going to be fully investigated though we also heard him talking about the pol the opposition to going to have to play in the need to miss saying that they should have the best say in the team a committee of course we had all the elections united russia lost the parliamentary majority that she says majority so you know it's russia two we're talking about two milledge in the thought they will have to work much closer with the opposition in the feature to boss important decisions that compromises will need to be made of course all of this coming on the back of tens of thousands of people taking to the streets over the weekend to have their political voices heard amongst other things demanded a rerun but they call them until elections now so it's already turning somewhat to the presidential election so it will be happening in mar

sara firth who's in central moscow with more mr so are still being counted but what's the latest information you have. ninety six percent of the vase now being counted we have an announcement from the election committee that if given the early results of the seats in the demus and this is what they need to look like united russia holding two hundred thirty eight states the communist party ninety two states fair russia sixty four seats and the liberal democratic party fifty six theses of the early results of the davis states from the russian election committee and now of course the seats in the duma work on proportional representation say there is full parties that passed the seven percent threshold needed to get the seats in the duma then the seat in the duma correspond directly to the national percentage of the vote say at the moment the percentage is standard around fifty percent for united russia twenty percent for the communist party thirteen percent the thera channel eleven percent for the liberal democrat party you can see that united russia have lost their majority that they enjoyed t

looking back at what's been a year of despair and discontent for austerity greeks are correspondent sara firth witnessed their anger reach boiling point as she cover the protest in the country. ok i think in two thousand and eleven we really sort of felt the world shift on its axis slightly we saw people's protest movement sort of spread around the world and with the yearly crisis reaching fever pitch i think all of us had concepts in our sumption start with democracy in the west really meant and greece is certainly for me very much on the front line if that fight and it became really the sort of peace to child the financial crisis it turned into a political crisis to became a social crisis and it is there's a saying that if you're a hammer everything looks like if you push people into a corner then they're going to come out fighting and i think increased that was exactly what happened. the first time in. reporting and they had a protest planned there remember in the morning our hotel was just off the corner syntagma very very close to central square at the year i think crisis rumbles on grief

sara firth has been following the final stages of the ballot count. the very last day states being counted at the moment the final result i expected in about four days but pretty clear already how the outcome of that's going to be united russia leading followed by the communist party the russians and the liberal democrat party in force no united russia failing to break free psychological a percentage barrier fifty percent what that means in terms of seats in the damage because it's proportional representation at the moment it looks like they have two hundred and thirty eight seats in the name of that now that will be seventy seven less seats than they won back in two thousand and seven they lost a two thirds full chief majority in the dream of the main other there's already talk to them having to work much more closely with the opposition parties to make compromises that would have the certainly the results reflect what many people are calling a change of political mood among status here in the country who are closely monitoring the situation in mosco

as a city on the brink of civil war where some of syria's fiercest fighting has broken our two sara firth is on the ground to bring us the latest. we're here in the embattled city of homs and you can hear heavy gunfire in the background but it's really hard to share insurance as the civilian population here lives here as we called to wait a month after month to ensure this conflict. the on going file in is taking its toll he added that there are neighborhoods that are being suffocated surrounded by armed groups there are many people who could not have had enough who did we do to deserve this homs is being described as a city on the brink of civil war where some of the series this is fighting has broken out. driving through the streets there are clear signs of conflict bullet holes and when they paint and he was seen slogans on walls as a heavy military presence we went able to visit some of the areas where concentrated fighting was continuing it would be empty dangerous to visit. us in other areas of the fifty day life struggles on. the backdrop of. you can see the children playing here i

that was our to correspondent sara firth reporting from damascus coming up on our teeth are taking that trip to the international space station well tell you about the latest saw us lift off and the mission that lies ahead for the cars cars and ops aboard. thanks to we've already seen it. but what is the test of the body seems to know. that never a pepper sprayed the face but more of the argument that they're being overly dramatic. with the capitol and now because i'm lauren lyster. a russian soyuz spacecraft carrying three future international space station crew members blasted off this morning just in time for the holidays the rocket which is carrying some newly developed digital equipment is expected to reach the i assess on friday and the crew members will stay on board for six months to conduct experiments are in season he's now he was lucky enough to witness the launch take a look. why is rocket just about to blast off here from baikonur cosmodrome conflicts and let's take a look at this site. absolutely incredible there will reach the top speed of one point five kilometers per se

that was r t correspondent sara firth reporting from damascus and for the latest on what's happening in syria visit our web site dot com well capital account is up next on our t.v. let's check in with lauren lister to see what's on the agenda today laura well liz as you well know the holidays are here happy holidays do you think you and santa claus is coming to town the question really is in what form is it in stock market rallies like we saw yesterday well bill gross pointed that out but said hey wait a minute there is a cold winter ahead we're going to look at lives where that winter chill is really going to come from also we know the u.s. politicians they love to use china as a little whipping boy however i have a guest who says hey santa claus is chinese and we are going to talk about why it's going to be a great show you don't want to miss it well that is look forward to that holiday version of the capital account coming up next but that does it for now for more of the stories we covered go to artsy dot com slash usa and check out our youtube page it's youtube dot com slash r t

the capital for rallies over the result of the parliamentary poll sarah firth is also moscow forest's let's get her on my now sara how is the situation looking where you are than tonight. but it does . look like opposition protest is going to happen here tonight the press of being hit the police is certainly being here you can probably see some of them behind me they've got the police homeboys all around the square been no protesters safe tonight of course in moscow contrast to the scenes that we saw here on tranquilize square yesterday then thousands of opposition protesters had turned out here demonstrating against what they claim were violations in the election system. earlier on today in central mosque a we did see a large gatherings of pro governments the forces they rallied in the center of moscow that was there's no opposition movement here it's not as expected all eyes are going to be on saturday when there is a big gathering planned now that's seen a lot of interest position on social media sites thousands upon thousands of people saying that they're going to turn out there have been some reports that ac