but it is the european problem and it's not accountable and it's impossible for the people to school end up our people don't want to take. their lead i defo find a stronger man or song woman while getting the growth of rejectionism of this world because the ball goes in europe's forbidden colony episode to at this time on al-jazeera. i'm. sure you. some of the like. this is zero. hour i'm citizen this is the news out live from london coming up the last polls

close in russia where observers have reported violations and they lection expected to deliver another victory for vladimir putin and. turkey says its forces have taken full control of three in town in syria from kurdish. this president assad visits syrian troops a newly captured areas of eastern. and republican senators urged president trunk not to shut down robert while this investigation after he steps all his twitter attacks. i'm joined in doha with the day's top sports stories goodbye pyong chang south korea closes the paralympic games on the historic five weeks of sports and politics. polls have officially closed in russia's presidential election which is widely

being viewed as a foregone conclusion russia's incumbent president vladimir putin is expected to take a commanding victory in a contest without any serious opposition candidate in the absence of credible opponents the kremlin has focused on boosting the turnout to give the election as much legitimacy possible people have reported being pressured to go to the polls and some polling stations have offered free concert tickets and even cancer screenings to vote or russia's opposition leader alexina valley was barred from running in the vote he and his anti corruption group say there have been dozens of violations in polling stations across the country so thousands of people went out of curiosity i went on twitter to check on the count just a few theorising about violations they are behaving as if nothing is happening people who are observing these elections keep writing about things other violations and they are complaining about it and the people who are remaining silent don't care about this they are it's just that kind of election i guess. that the polls

have closed in russia the first exit polls have just come out and i expected that putting incumbent president vladimir putin way out in front is projected to take between seventy three point nine and seventy six point three percent of the votes well let's cross to laurence leamer now who is standing by for us and moscow so if that indeed is true lawrence that's quite a thumping majority much more than twenty twelve. yes there are several different exit polls saying mostly different things ria novosti is saying that putin's got about seventy percent of the votes another website saying possibly seventy seven and we haven't got it yet but you have been talking about turnout and the importance of town i mean given that you know every russian knows that the results preordained why would you bother going to vote it

looks like the turnout might be around sixty five percent which pretty good i would say from the kremlin's point of use like a strike on syria again to the commentators that that's not so that's fair to say is that from the kremlin points of view sixty five percent turnout two thirds of russians voting given that they know the results already is ok for them as well as his early to jump to the conclusion it is already clear and this is the probably the main conclusion of what we can make a liberated now that. president putin was able to consolidate his power base and to remarriage as national leader with a mandate for another six years we have not seen numbers of his supporters we have not seen disenchanted crowds russians braved. i'll stand in a cold what we witnessed today. and they went to polling station to show that they don't see any real tentative deal. right ok so the lack of an alternative seems to be really important in the western view seems to be well you know the guys know

it's a krantz he's dismantling the rule of law just explain for people in different countries what he says about putin that does seem to be quite incisive it's a very many russian probably there's a perception in some of the western countries that when they put pressure on russia run the way then they will impose sanctions from prevent what at one point that would make russian water still think rather. serve as a guarantee of stability but on the contrary it's had an opposite effect and we've seen russian society comes. to date an over the national leader and shore and that is the language your sanctions the language of my terms will never refuse the russian elections because because russians think if you're going to pressure us we're just going to push back on this guy but they that they believe you stand absolutely and it will have bomber effect on the rest while russia will steal and make its stake on regiment. do you think there's a bit of

a contradiction in putin because people say he wants to normalize relations with the west and yet hit the entire basis of his arguments is that the west is out to get us and we have to defend ourselves against it he can never normalize relations with the west if he goes on all the time saying the west is our enemy look i'm not the spokesman of kremlin but but what i believe that have led you to putin genuinely is looking for an approach from him to the west let me just very mind you that late last year we had of was it off boris johnson to moscow and believe me you were an outspoken critics of the west refrained from anti west and british japs so we were genuinely looking for for reproach meant and you didn't threaten not not to our falls and socially so the view here is that the west continues when tiger nice well there the west is driven by the perception of russia as an evil empire

it is driven by the national of the old approach of the west is not able to get out of that trap which is called sanction policy and the approach of this is the problem not only for russia but for the west also of course as he starts his fourth term there is a full blown diplomatic crisis between russia and the u.k. and by extension other western countries about the the spy poisoning in the the in . very violent language has been used from both sides against each other do you see this particular situation worsening over the coming weeks and the russians find a way to get the west to calm down obviously we can witness to further grow ration of british russian relations however. some experts here are saying that we can probably expect that european union would not throw its full fledge support to britain and it will only. just. use retiring rhetoric

which would not be supported by a new round on sections and probably britain won't be able to emerge as the leader and to russian front because european union is already fed up with sanction policy their relations with russia is bad quite bad enough so britain and france germany and france they they are looking for for escape strategy out of this crisis not to make an address ok thank you very much putin's expect to speak a little later on tonight there's a celebration planned in the kremlin just over the expect fireworks i would imagine like you by the banks lawrence bringing us the very latest on this breaking news coming out of moscow while in ukraine the national guard and police are deploying to prevent russian citizens from casting their votes in the presidential elections stationed outside russian diplomatic mission is to block voters from entering election is being held on the fourth anniversary of russia and that saying crimea from ukraine where we challenge has more songs of us to poll the biggest city in

crimea. for the kremlin for letting me putin it is the central achievement of his last term in office to have brought crimea back russian orthorexic it's a source of immense national pride for many russians and so therefore it plays very well so yes there is the. i suppose a coincidence that the election is being held on exactly the same day as crimea was brought back to russia four years ago voters here are being given this little medal and sebastopol when they. have done their deed in the in the in the voting booth and it says the on the back with russia forever and it's got on the front a little memorial of basically for the sixteenth of march two thousand and fourteen that's the date of the referendum four years ago and tonight we're going to get a big concert on red square and that concert is called russia sevastopol crimea so

it kind of shows really exactly how these two events are being linked to the presidential election the crimean referendum the annexation of crimea four years ago people here particularly in sevastopol where i am at the moment are by and large ethnically russian and very much supportive of the president's policies and most of the people we spoke with everyone we've spoken to here today has said that they have only voted for one man guess who it is. well let's update you on those first exit polls for all of the candidates who ten is projected to take between seventy three point nine percent of the vote according to the exit poll is nervous rival is communist candidate al gore didn't he was sitting on eleven point two percent good and he's a multimillionaire strong he's been critical of the government but not too soon personally just behind him on six point seven percent is nationalist i'm glad i'm

a ski former reality t.v. star and the sub jack has been one of the most high profile candidates in this election but she came in fourth with just two point five percent of the vote. russia's ambassador to the e.u. has suggested that the nerve agent used to poison a former spy could have originated in the u.k. the british government has dismissed the claim saying the poison used on sergei script l. and his daughter came from russia britain accuses moscow of being behind the attack a charge it denies russia and britain have expelled twenty three of each other's diplomats over the row with both sides considering further retaliatory measures from secretary powell as johnson says international experts will conduct further analysis on the poison. helps us to understand how the stockpiles of novacek gone missing and how some of it could have turned up on the streets of wilcher in this way or else i'm afraid we will be forced as

a problem to set in the house of commons to draw the conclusion as we did in the case of alexander litvinenko that the trail of culpability leads inexorably to the kremlin. coming up on the news hour new dash cam fortune shows the moment a newly built pedestrian bridge collapse in miami killing six people as the us to base is gun laws we visit school which has been quietly arming educators for years and roger federer accent's is on base as well as he closes in on a wreck or title at in time miles joe will have all the details coming up in sport . in syria's north western african region how about to fight on after the main town was taken by turkish forces and their allies killing state's operation to clear the

enclave of kurdish wife e.g. fighters in january after marching into a friend town its forces immediately raised the turkish flag and tore down the statue links to kurdish culture turkey considers the y p g a terrorist organization links to the p.k. . most of the terrorist have already fled with their tails between their legs our special forces and members of the free syrian army a cleaning the remains of the troops i left behind in the center of referee our flags of trust and stability away even sort of rags of terrorist. the kurdish administration says it will now use guerilla tactics against the turkish army was that the how our forces in every area in africa will be a nightmare for the turkish troops and their allies the resistance in a free will continue to the liberation of every inch of rain added to the return of

the residents into their villages. so this is a situation across syria now turkey and the free syrian army have captured large swathes of the african district but kurdish forces remain in control of most of the northern territory east of the euphrates and to the province in the northwest remains the largest rebel stronghold however syrian government forces in the south backed by russian airpower have divided the rebel enclave into three cutting off key rebel supply lines. syrian president bashar al assad has visited positions in a single so where his forces now control almost eighty percent of the territory assad met with soldiers who had been part of the effort to retake the. un is said to be negotiating a possible ceasefire with the main rebel group that firelock. the rebels say they're in discussions about getting aid to civilians and evacuating people with

medical cases asama binge of a has the latest on the situation in a single time. this is still happening in the besieged pockets of rebel held eastern. district in shelling have continued on duma one of the largest and most populated parts of the entry from inside duma this footage from a drone shows the shrinking boundary between rebel fighters and advancing forces loyal to president bashar al assad thousands of people have been wounded in more than fifteen hundred killed in the latest on slot. should we hold the united nations and the security council directly responsible for this silence around these crimes and for failing to take action to prevent these crimes but let us not forget the party that holds direct responsibility of the syrian regime and the countries that continue to stand by it. like much else of rebel held syria relentless bombardment of the has forced most of it into submission the buildings

over parking garages no longer stand that's a washing machine hanging out from the shell of an apartment block a fridge shows what was once a kitchen another floor appears to show but and the caved in roof the cameraman who filmed it says this used to be his neighborhood creatures on top of buildings are the entry points from where rockets and bombs entered these buildings until recently eastern there was home to almost four hundred thousand people the u.n. is said to be negotiating with rebels for an evacuation deal many don't want to leave because they fear conscription arrests reprisals and revenge wants to leave. more than twenty thousand have fled to government controlled areas but tens of thousands still remain inside. we lived in horrible conditions we did not have food water or water. syria's military has released videos of tanks and soldiers rolling into the streets of towns across eastern huta in addition to russian air cover

government forces are backed by iranian troops hezbollah fighters and shia militias from iraq and afghanistan they say they have almost won but they're taking over another area decimated by syria's seventy a war with some of a job with al jazeera and israeli has been stabbed or were wounded in occupied east jerusalem a suspected attacker who was shot dead by security forces but the turkish tourist tensions have been escalating in jerusalem since the last president donald trump recognized the city as israel's capital and then the last year. and israeli forces say they destroyed a new tunnel network dug by hamas in the gaza strip the military says the tunnel was two hundred meters from the israeli border and was going to be used to mount a cross border attacks it was cut off during the twenty fourteen gaza war and how must have been working to get it back into operation a spokesman for hamas has denied the claims and accuse israel of marketing fake

achievements to increase the morale of its soldiers. cateye has asked regulators in the united states to investigate a subsidiary of the biggest bank in the united arab emirates over claims of illegal currency manipulation they accuse n b a d americas which is linked to the state owned first abu dhabi bank a fake foreign exchange deals they say the deals undermine the cattery currency and economy the u.a.e. is one of several states imposing an economic blockade on cattle i can't. comment on the legal procedures of the case but i can confirm that a lot of letters have been sent to us regulators and other international is a little regarding. the market manipulation republican senators are warning us president donald trump not to fire special counsel robert mueller they say he

must be allowed to investigate alleged russian meddling in the twenty sixteen presidential election in a series of tweets over the weekend trump accuse the f.b.i. leadership of lies corruption and leaking information tamaqua man has more from washington d.c. . while calling the investigation into his campaign suspected connections with russia a which shunned the us president had indicated he might be willing to submit to questioning by the special counsel but as robert muller's team appears to tighten its focus on the president himself trumps latest tweet storm made clear his open hostility towards the probe why he said as the motor team have thirteen hardened democrats some big crooked hillary supporters and zero republicans another dam recently added does anyone think this is fair and yet there is no collusion on saturday trump's personal lawyer john dowd called for

a shutdown of moaners investigation at first saying he was speaking for the president but later backtracking he spoke after former f.b.i. acting director andrew mccabe was fired for what government investigators said were on authorized media contacts and a lack of candor about alleged disclosure of classified information mccabe disputed the allegations and said his dismissal was an attempt to undermine his credibility because he could corroborate former f.b.i. director jim commies own firing by trump who's admitted it was intended to and the russia investigation amid reports that muller has presented the white house with questions he wants to ask the president even under threat of a court ordered subpoena there's growing speculation that trump is ready to fire muller that say members of congress would be a big mistake this is a serious investigation and if the president tries to terminate it prematurely i think it will be. a true constitutional crisis but meanwhile mccabe's firing just

two days before he became eligible for a full government pension has prompted at least one democratic congressman to offer him a temporary job allowing mccabe to preserve his benefits tom ackerman al-jazeera washington . new video has emerged of the moment a newly built pedestrian bridge collapsed in the u.s. state of florida killing six people this dash cam forty taken on the road at florida international university in miami shows how in a split second the bridge crushed on to vehicles below the university says engineers met hours before it collapsed on concluded a crack in the structure was not a safe a concern. believe that we've recovered the final two individuals final two victims from underneath the bridge so that makes a total of five people that were recovered from underneath the bridge those one individual or passed away at the hospital four total of six people and i believe

that is the final count. next we can tens of thousands of students are expected to march in cities across the u.s. to demand action after the florida school shooting the level of gun violence in the u.s. is strikingly high compared to other developed countries three of its deadliest mass shootings have happened in just the past six months last october a gunman killed fifty nine people at a music concert in las vegas making it the deadliest gun crime in modern american history a month later twenty six people were killed in a church in texas the deadliest mass shooting in the states and last month in florida a gunman opened fire in a high school killing seventeen people including students and teachers this year alone there have been more than ten thousand shootings in the u.s. killing at least two thousand eight hundred men women and children one of president suggestions for tackling gun crimes in schools has been to arm teachers and school

staff child hundred visited one school in ohio which has been quietly doing so for unions. this might be the most heavily armed public school in america in the rural town of sidney ohio would be attackers are warned each entrance to every school scattered throughout this school or several safes opened with a fingerprint it put a glock one thousand handgun in reach of a team of teachers and staff trained to take out the shooter i don't necessarily like having guns in school either mental health backpacks background checks assault rifles gun control laws all of those things i don't necessarily agree disagree with but at the same time all of those things combined are not going to stop an active shooter five years before president trump said this if you had a teacher with who was adept at firearms they could very well end the attack very

quickly educators like this former soldier were volunteering to train for classroom combat back when we first started this. i second guessed whether this was the correct thing to do and sometimes i still do but. if if we save one one one student or we say a whole building where the students and i think it's worth it i think it's. i don't it's it's just sad that we have to do that now after the massacre at connecticut sandy hook elementary school in two thousand and twelve sheriff john lindh heart decided that if anyone start shooting here there would be a small army to fire back its case in america i cannot wait on the state i cannot wait on the federal government i can't wait on psychologists to figure out why one person hurts another person you have to protect yourselves if i could wave a wand and make it all go away i would prefer no guns period. but that's not what happened in the states. each school in sydney also has an armed deputy and each

classroom is numbered on the outside so first responders can pinpoint a gunman the locations of the weapons and the identities of the first responders are secret so that if a gunman came to this school he wouldn't know who might be armed because it's all caught on camera the first responders can see him many teachers say they're already overburdened without adding security to their duties they're there to teach so what they would rather have than guns is to have training on how to i identify mental health problems but here in sydney some parents of reluctantly come around like it's not the world i think any of us well event but i think it's the reality of where we're at and. you know we take all kinds of measures to protect banks and our money and museums and why would we do the same thing for our kids as she can schools across the u.s. return to focusing on the so-called three r.'s reading writing and arithmetic here

in sydney they've added a fourth responder john hendren zero sidney ohio. sri lanka's president has lifted a nationwide state of emergency which wasn't it was to stop anti muslim violence they only came into effect twelve days ago after anti muslim riots which killed two people and damaged and as a muslim owned properties in mosques much of the violence was carried out by celie's buddhists was concentrated in the central can the district security forces have been deployed to help we build damaged homes and businesses and us with a small from the city of justice in northern sri lanka. now went into communal violence first broke out two weeks ago the police and the government were criticised for not doing enough to stop the violence that was directed mainly muslim owned shops businesses and homes so in response to that they quickly imposed a state of emergency in as part of but they blocked all restricted access to what's

up viber to facebook because the government says messages inciting racial violence were being spread by members of the sinhalese majority nationalist community to the muslim minority now one of the lessons the government has learned is that it says in future it's going to much more closely monitor what goes out on the social media because now for two weeks people not been able to get access to watch baseball viable or imo because of those restrictions considerably inconveniencing people here but he says he needs to monitor what the message is that the spread on those social media platforms and indeed facebook was called in by the government last week to say what it could do and facebook has said it will work with the government to try and stop these messages the messages of. violence and racial incitement being spread by or it's possible. as much more to come on this news hour including why people are still suffering health complications four years on from

sierra leone's a bowl of prices day zero a little looms for cape town while residents of this. town may be forced to turn their taps off by july and sports a final victory of the season for no ways superstar coming up with joe. welcome back hell look at the weather around the levant and western parts of asia we've got a weather front which will be moving across the eastern areas bringing some rain indeed a higher elevations some snow but as we move into tuesday that will tend to clear way further towards the east but you see some snow up over the mountains but for couple we're looking at temperatures of sixteen degrees or fine and sunny around the caspian sea air on the eastern side of the mediterranean to the weather is now looking decide the spring like temperatures of twenty three there for beirut in

lebanon here in the arabian peninsula we've been spring light for a very long time away through the winter months we've got fine conditions on the western side of the potential with thirty eight in mecca and temperatures here in doha still close to thirty degrees expected much change as we head on through into tuesday so let's head down into southern parts of africa where we've got a tropical cycle working its way down the eastern side of madagascar giving some very heavy rain here that will continue to cause problems in the next few days otherwise heavy showers across the northern parts of zambia and away in towards angola prison come southwards into namibia and through botswana weather conditions looking dry and find twenty seven that when talk to get into south africa should be a fine day in cape town with my son twenty degrees so this is a chance i want to show is further east because of your downpour in johannesburg. what went wrong in society that opened up the space for him to get out but age is

the european problem and it's not accountable and it's impossible for the people to build it is for link up our people don't trying to take more of a lead that if profundity stronger man or song woman was getting the growth of rejectionism in this world because the ball goes in europe's forbidden colony episode to at this time on al-jazeera. with a big breaking news story it can be chaotic trying to behind the scenes. people shouting instructions and if you're trying to provide the best most accurate up to date information as quickly as you can. it's when you come off on things to pin to realize you've witnessed history in the making.

welcome back remind all the top stories here on al-jazeera exit polls from russian state t.v. gave lot of a person a landslide victory in the country's presidential election way out in front of the other candidates. says in syria's north western african region a vow to fight song using guerilla tactics to turkish forces took control of the main town and syria's president bashar al assad has as its soldiers in the un clave . with his forces now control almost eighty percent of. let's get. you know a recap of the russian presidential election exit polls from state television and

the other main person is projected to take seventy three point nine percent of the votes is nearest rival is communist candidate pawel gourgeon is sitting on eleven point two percent good in is a multimillionaire strawberry tycoon who's been critical of the government but not christian personally just behind him on the six point seven percent is ultra nationalist there and of a. former reality t.v. star sub check has been one of the most high profile candidates in this election but she came in fourth with just two point five percent of the vote. the association of southeast asian nations summits has just concluded in australia with leaders expressing grave concerns about the situation on the korean peninsula leaders from the ten pm nations and australia have also begun discussing the

militarization of the south china sea trade and counterterrorism but as andrew thomas reports from sydney the summit attracted a variety of protests sydney felt like parts of southeast asia on sunday it was unusually hot and humid but australia is not a member of the association of southeast asian nations so hosting an assay and summit was a diplomatic coup for australia's prime minister malcolm turnbull but to kill e in the face of the ever growing power of china and a more isolationist united states turnbull wants australia and as the countries to speak with one voice and says that's what you've got. the countries of r.c.n. are among our closest neighbors they're our friends and increasingly our family as well the so-called sydney declaration issued at the end of the summit commits the end countries to support trade and resist all forms of protectionism it supports

action to address climate change and the full implementation of the powers agreement the declaration stresses grave concerns about the escalation of tensions on the korean peninsula and it commits as he and countries to further cooperation on counterterrorism it just sensual it to ski and it is imperative that we have legislations that prevent acts of terrorism rather than just deal with the aftermath the declaration also calls for restraint in the south china sea before the summit some analysts said but one test of the final declaration strength we whether it mentioned china as a country by name this declaration doesn't presumably that was seen as too provocative but it does emphasize the need for non militarization and self restraint in the south china sea outside the summit venue there were protests against some of the leaders attending australia welcomed me and unsung to cheat

despite the range of crisis viet nam's prime minister knew and one folk was there too despite human rights abuses in the one party state but the biggest protests were against cambodia's prime minister hun sen who has cracked down on opponents and had promised before the summit to find and beat up anyone who burned in effigy of him in sydney protesters did it anyway the fact that there were protests here is a great sign a lot of countries when they hold these summits they're not progress or they're at such a far distance from the summit site they can't possibly have an impact it's forecast to cool down in sydney on monday by then most as the end leaders will be home after thomas al-jazeera sydney. sierra leone is still struggling to recover from the ebola outbreak which hit west africa four years ago the epidemic killed thousands of people in the country while those who survived say they're not getting the help they need for health complications links to the disease in the city of waterloo

where they just reports. their fault and survived one of the most fatal viruses street west africa indicate a group of survivors of the twenty fourteen or ball outbreak are working on an awareness strategy to help others instead of your so they say the disease is still killing people three years after the country was declared a ball of free. the. complications leads to the. you know there of fifteen of the survivors in the country and that one is too bad there is also mitigation there for even the probably the country that if we don't have proper cleaning from a care so you will be i mean we it's a risk because members mill survivors some are still there that i have a fragment of the virus in their seam in. a period instead of the young ones after

the first outbreak in guinea in march two thousand and fourteen it killed thousands dozens already die before help arrived this symmetry in waterloo is dedicated to victims of the disease thousands of them are buried here some sort of loon is believed many could have been saved if the funds received by government had been used properly this symmetry is a constant reminder of one of several yards darkest moment. activists and survivors still struggling to recover i caught you wanting accountability on how fourteen billion dollars of money meant to fight the disease vanished the history of many strikes one it may strike inking their whole idea is really sure that the victim survivors can just is what it will are we have to strike again that our government is prepared that our government judicious the money just whatever forms their side

to respond to the virus that is what we do it is a government official told of just zero but they've not received communication on the matter from the regional court. government says more than four thousand people died here activists say the numbers are higher. for now their biggest challenge is dealing with the health complications and the stigma of having contracted the virus . al-jazeera water said. the world water forum takes off in brazil this week angus addressing a looming global water crisis as well as climate change human factors like overpopulation and migration into urban centers are making things worse this is certainly the case in south africa's cape town where day zero is fast approaching a day when the city may be forced to turn off the taps welcome extends all.

comes water is running out this has become a common sight city of thirty three people should you know more than fifty liters of water per person per day some lined up at this communal spring collection extra and taking really very difficult for some of us a bit of garden to be things we just did not wash our cars so it's just a question for a book that i don't think a country that they should have. but it's the kind of insurance that many south africans are familiar with about a third of the city's residents live in informal settlements like this one the only consume about four percent of the water but for generations they were already been collecting it from communal taps and carrying it. all thora to say the city will reach day zero on the ninth of july that's when they'll turn off the water in the homes that have it only the communal taps will stay on angela van vike lives right

next to one since she heard about the shortage she says as much as she can i save my water by keeping the same or day as i did my wife's make issues i don't i don't want the way i just keep it for tomorrow and i use the same what i did this was. the city's taps are fed by reservoirs this is one of the largest. gallop where four years ago they would have been under twenty five meters of water since then the province has suffered the worst drought on record kevin winters researched it for years he says the city was vulnerable because it relied only on rain filled reservoirs this climate change wakeup call this quarter small on the back foot and so this is a wake up call the city like cape time needs these kind of loud some people wake up calls to say it's time to actually diversify their water and now you've got a repro tries which is what city of cape town is doing. water is now being pumped

from aquifers here work began on a plan to desalinate sea water with accessing new sources takes time so for now more lines water saving measures have already postponed day zero by three months everyone here is hoping the winter will soon bring enough rainfall to make sure daisy never comes now can webb al-jazeera cape town south africa. still ahead this news hour also i go sad to six matches on basin in spain is toppling will be hit with the sports plus. a little. colored sound musicians from around the world flock to pakistan for they love called a two week extravaganza celebrating all things creates its.

own the benefit of people. so bad they see the importance of. witness documentaries that open your eyes. at this time on al-jazeera. the nature just news as it breaks it's estimated ten million children of school age are still roaming the streets of baghdad with details coverage children what i'm off base and number of serious problems from chronic child malnutrition to a stream poverty from around the world child one is lost u.s. lawsuit in two thousand firm by then he'd spent more than twenty million dollars in legal fees.

a lot of a putin's latest election victory means he'll serve as president until twenty twenty four the end of the current two term limits make same the longest serving russian leader since joseph stalin at least a quarter of a century his career started as a k.g.b. officer where he rose to become lieutenant colonel before weaving into politics in one thousand nine hundred one it took over as acting president on new year's eve one thousand nine hundred ninety nine and one over half the votes in the next year's election russia's economy stabilized and the expanded substantially over his next day is between two thousand and eight and two thousand and twelve as prime minister as he was widely seen as the force behind russia's invasion and that

sation of georgia mass protests over alleged voter fraud followed his re-election as president in two thousand and twelve hussein was outraged by western support for the possessed of the past six years have seen putin's most audacious for policy maneuvers including his annexation of the crimean peninsula in twenty forty and intervention in syria the following year well an amount fida joins me now in the studio she's a russia analyst and senior visiting research fellow at king's college here in london thanks very much for coming in to al-jazeera and directly from the russian embassy where you were voted to go to stand curie in the snow as well just like just as many in iraq as many russians have been doing i mean my question i suppose first of all is why did people bother to vote it was a foregone conclusion we knew christian was going to win i probably thought we could suspect he was going to win by seventy three point nine percent. just cuts

through the result is pretty predictable but then there is also not about elections it's about show off loyalty and salute there it with the state people who are queuing for pools are not just not necessarily voting for putin but their idea about the. vote that's actually an expression of citizenship and participation both the political value which putin paradoxically actually brought into russia people started to believe that politics matter and they have to have position and there is a sense that the other candidates were created by the kremlin and in a way i think many people maybe think that if only had been allowed to actually stand it would have given the election more credibility that's very western view how's that this seen from the point of internal politics of russia there there is competition not in terms of personalities there's bound in terms of discourse and

ideals on how internal russian development truthful and that competition comes from the left because putin and his government are more kind of monetarist liberalist there are people who are more socialist who want the state to go into more kind of spending into mo socially and programs and the candidate who is likely to be number two campaigns on that front and that's point to reshape probably the discourse in future secondly if there was more free that if there was more genuine debate and free for all that would give chance to all nationalist isolationist far right politics rather than what what we have seen now vali is more going to be the beneficiary of it darker forces would be the utah international policy policy is there one of the things i think people are looking at is they wanted a good turnout there's reports it's as much as sixty five percent is not being

confirmed yet if indeed he does get a strong turnout how do you think he is going to start shaping the future of foreign policies which is obviously what a lot of the world is interesting to see. it is not so the election is not about foreign policy because china. getting a mandate there is consensus on foreign policy in russia there is different opinions on internal policies in the russia that's where you'll have different camps and that's where you'll have the real kind of competition foreign policy it's north electoral subject here putin would use this term to consolidate his achievement to try to identify his successor and make sure that he leaves the country. entering history of russia with a capital letter with a certain consolidated his position on the matter viva thank you very much for coming in.

the way. i. go to joe with news from the winter paralympics and the rest of us will see thank you very much south korea is celebrating the end of a successful winter games and its first ever gold medal as a winter paralympics in men's sitting cross country skiing in muncie and of a historic event which saw north and south korea uniting at the end picks a north korean athletes participating in the winter paralympics for the very first time kathy novak reports from chang. just over five weeks ago athletes and visitors arrived in this snowy region of south korea for the winter games now that much of the snow has melted and the final medals have been awarded it's time to say farewell with the closing ceremony for the biggest ever winter paralympics about

five hundred seventy athletes from forty nine countries took part in clothing for the first time in a winter paralympics north korea the show of unity started with athletes from both koreas marching under a unified flag at the olympic opening ceremony they helped to make these the pisa lympics that the south korean government had hoped for we begin to get to the olympics acted as the path that led to donald trump and agreeing to hold talks and korea became a driving force behind promoting peace to single you don't like a really big deal a lot of people have said that the winter games lead to the easing of into korean ties which is very positive and i feel great about it south koreans enthusiastically supported the paralympics with record breaking ticket sales but many complained they couldn't watch korean athletes competing because of a lack of television coverage. it was difficult to tell our children who was

competing at the paralympics them with what kind of disability is hard to find out if it's not in the media so that was a bit disappointing petitions to the president lead to broadcasters showing more paralympic events it's hope to these paralympics will help improve conditions for people with disabilities in south korea here in the host city organizers build and upgraded facilities to help make them more accessible but around the country older buildings narrow pathways and an even surfaces can make getting around challenging for those with impairments. there is shoes being shared with the host cities of the next summer and winter games tokyo and beijing we want to take advantage of the fact that we are staying here in asia for a decade to really prove accessibility but also the way people perceive persons with an impairment because it's not only about physical structures is about mentality as the international paralympic committee president closed to the

celebration he paid tribute to the renowned scientist stephen hawking who passed away on wednesday and like the athletes here refused to allow his disability to hold him back kathy novak al-jazeera pyongyang south korea or pyongyang has now handed the olympic flag to the next host city beijing in four years' time china will try to better its medal hole play got just one gold leaving them in twentieth place the united states in the table with thirteen gold behind them with the n.p.a. or you troll paralympic athletes the name given to russia's compasses canada came in third. place in the last four in the english f.a. cup beckons for chelsea they're battling out with leicester for a semi final spot it is two one right now to chelsea in extra time earlier on sunday southampton joined manchester united and tottenham in the semi southampton winning two no thirty side wakin and it's just four days into a new manager mark hughes is right well in spain have made it thirty six matches

beaten in the country's top flight after to know victory over athletic bilbao affair that put them ahead after just eight minutes before little messi score his twenty fifth league a goal this season the win could see at ness of a day side go eleven points clear at the top of the standings depending on all the results on sunday. one man his manager has compared him to messi is of course strikeout most solid the egyptian who is the leading goalscorer in europe's top five leagues says he's flattered to be mentioned in the same breath as the argentine star some of them of his carbonite communal and i of course when they compare you to a great player and he's one of the best over the last few years it's great for me but i think the comparison is more about our goal tally rather than our style i read what they write on social media in the end social media spawn it won't affect me change my mood and change my life sometimes we talk we laugh about nice things but in the end it's a compliment but the federal go for a record sixth indian wells title when he takes on one in the final later on sunday

the world number one was made to work for his place in the showpiece prevailing over twenty one year old relations for no correction three sets the wind was federer's seventeenth of the year it's a passing his previous best of sixteen straight victories at the stalls of the two thousand and six season. a lot of confidence took me a while to break my own record but i'm happy i did it that's almost thirty seven years old so it's it's been great look i can't believe that things are going as well as they doing i mean joining myself crowds are amazing every time i show up on court i really appreciate that i don't take that for granted at all. well the portrait made it through to the final with a straight sets win over canada's milosevic i wanted the argentine is now unbeaten in ten games a time limit champion marat going to ended her record breaking season with a flourish in the final event of the cross-country skiing world cup as fellow norwegian heidi wing sealed the overall title bergen who became the most decorated

olympian of all time and kyung chang last month won the ten kilometer pursuit in sweden on sunday the thirty seven year old finish sixteen point seven seconds ahead of nearest challenger jessica dickens of the usa when finished down in eighteenth place but was still able to hang on to her lead in the overall standings to claim her second consecutive first would go elsewhere in sweden the final races of the world cup season were cancelled because of high winds the cancellation gave victoria ravens burkhard search giant slalom title and first since two thousand and twelve that is all your support for now back to sue in london thank you joe now also. poets from around the world have been flocking to lahore for pakistan's first ever you know ali the arts festival aims to put pakistani art on a global stage want to have a look. this is bush being knowledge thanksgiving. art lover going into g.h.

. once known as lawrence garden by the british in the mid nineteenth century since being renamed juno gargan after bulger sounds founding father. is rejecting rejections entertain the audience with classical music and to allow to produce. but outside the music is more. and some of the originators find their hard to dictate the rhythm of their drop everything is so wonderful and almost fantastic and so you know to be participating. he was a historian gallery and then to show them facts of. even we don't visit modern enough culture and cultural events are important to any country absolutely any country at all because that's what. who we are i think the horrible said really

nice things about pakistan i think the people every person i've met in pakistan has been fantastic so you couldn't ask for a better investment or for the country as a rare time by the pakistanis to show the original show. the beer knowledge first off it's going to air and their historic edward norton only showed. her the rest of the words but also gave an opportunity for progress on the artists to learn from all those people who have come all the way to bach to shepherd and district of and although there are more than fifty artists taking part from bangladesh india iran syria longer europe and the us focused on new yorkers. i think it is really excited it's like a new journey has been. and we are learning from them they are learning from not only an exchange of culture of british history of experiences and

a very. relative calm in the city a national security situation improves organizers believe it will encourage people to partnership very very great but now is an opportunity for world travel for people to come and visit. for artists folk yury. for. casual travel and to be able to see the whole to be able to see pakistan that we all are living and we're all a part of the same global culture and it's business as usual here things go up and down but things are going up and down all over the world back at the long haul beauty of one of their favorite locations for the event it is not difficult to understand the rich tapestry of. the posh but the message heritage that love orders . with its rich traditions of art and beauty come on her. blog or

pakistan. may see some but maryam namazie will be with you in a moment with much more of the day's news including the news coming out of moscow and we're going to show you scenes from central moscow from red square where they're celebrating the annexation of crimea but numerous to the newly elected president vladimir putin will be making a speech later on today. the sky should be no borders up here was only horizons. as an

airline we don't believe in boundaries we believe in bringing people together the world's better that way. it is a right for all of us to go where we need to go to feel with things we want to feel . to see the people we want to see. that's why we'll continue to fly the skies providing you with everything we can and treating everyone how they deserve to be treated we do this because we know the travel goes beyond borders and prejudice. the travel teaches compassion to travel is a necessity. to travel is a right for all remember that this world is all of ours to explore. and it's a strange thing for us to be a part. cats are always going places together facing realities growing up when did you realise that you were living in a special place

a so-called secret city getting to the heart of the matter why is activists to live in jail just because she expressed herself hear their story on and talk to al-jazeera at this time. al-jazeera. where ever you. bhushan on track for a commanding victory in russia's presidential election amid accusations people have been pressured to vote.