and one that many people here think the government failed. stories of life. and inspiration. a series of short documentaries from around the world. that celebrate the human spirit against the odds some of them come from a focal. al-jazeera selects change makers at this time. and see yes i see your. eyes see your. blossom in person when six more years we'll look at how he plans to take russia forward.

when you're watching all of their lives my headquarters here in doha coming up in the next thirty minutes international investigators are in the u.k. to help police discover who poisoned a russian spy and his daughter. also a fourth blast two more black victims but a different type of device the latest on another bomb attack in the u.s. city of austin. i mohammad followed by the shores of lake chad coming up i'll tell you why this source of fresh water for millions of people in the region is at risk of disappearing. welcome to the program it was always expected to be vladimir putin's victory the question was how many voters would turn up for russia's presidential election now the number was higher than the last election and president putin got seventy six percent of the vote despite calls for

a boycott by opposition leader alexina valmy independent monitors have reported hundreds of irregularities but electoral officials say none of them was serious lawrence lee has more from moscow. they called his election such as the status of blood in their putin in russia that he was in reality little more than a coronation was given you are going to you me it's very important to maintain this unity to attract those who could have voted for other candidates we have to stand together shoulder to shoulder we have to think about unity not about differences we should think about the future of our people about the future of our country we are destined for success. it was never a contest to single out the overwhelming percentage of votes cast and more than six out of ten russians voted for the kremlin it went more or less to plan of course russians knew perfectly well that when the television told them that they had to go out to vote because it was a civic do you see what they really meant was you have to go and vote because we

have to get putin back in the kremlin that meant this wasn't great election about who was going to win but it was about but how much several instances of fraud were caught on camera harmless looking old ladies voting twice or stuffing reams of papers into books is not enough to alter the outcome but for alexina valmy banned from standing in the election evidence of a corrupt vote. thousands of people went to vote and out of curiosity i went on twitter to check on the candidates to see if they are writing about violations they are behaving as if nothing is happening people who are observing these elections keep writing about other violations and they are complaining about it and the people who are remaining silent don't care about this they are candidates it's just that kind of election i guess. in delhi even took part in the campaign and was entirely absent from the t.v. debates but during the election videos surfaced on the internet like this one which

gave a glimpse of how the kremlin wants people to think. the film depicts a man who tells his wife he can't be bothered to vote something which putin himself had warned against the man then has a nightmare in which black africans suddenly appear in the armed forces to his horror the homosexual in the kitchen the message is clear is day this is what you'll get if you don't have putin in charge and of course it's coupled with a promise from the president to spend more and more on the military what he. put in would very much like to normalize ties with the west but his personality means he can't show weakness he can't be seen to be giving up yet he understands very well that with international isolation his regime is open to risks and dangers his fourth term begins with a flat out diplomatic crisis with the west's events which are uncertain and fast moving but political change in russia continues to move as fast as the ice on the moscow river gloriously al-jazeera in moscow. voters in crimea are also

overwhelmingly supported putin victory is widely seen in russia as a validation of crimea is an exception from ukraine four years ago but the ukrainian president has dismissed the election as an illegal political fos. the results of illegal voting in crimea are no and void and will have no legal consequence the only legitimate presidential election in crimea is the ukrainian presidential election it is another kremlin attempt to legitimize aggression but the an extension is doomed to fail. the legitimacy of the presidential election in russia and of the so-called elected candidates is in doubt not only because of illegal voting it was a political farce which has nothing in common with a truly democratic election for us it was a choice without any choice without real political competition without freedom of speech so. that assistant professor at the moscow state institute of foreign

relations he says putin's landslide victory will deter plans for any large scale opposition protests in the near future. good afternoon well i don't think that any irregularities will bring people to the streets because the general attitude is still favorable towards mr porter and he's why did he has wide support of the population and i don't think that there is also our will go well well there is no read difference even if some irregularities took place still. the major outcome is clear here is very strong support more than a period of more than sixty percent promise to restore the status of a great follower and that's what he'd be restored the military and now he is clearly showing that russia's plain global growth especially with the successful campaign in syria and include spreading influence around the middle east and other

areas so that's that's the main that's the main issue but also. definitely an issue of the confrontation with the west which is i think one of the biggest challenges for mr putin in his next term the activists say syrian government forces have arrested hundreds of people as they fled east and over the past few days they say basically men between the ages of twenty five and forty were targeted tens of thousands of civilians have fled the rebel held enclave in recent days the government stepped up its attacks on eastern ghouta last month and that controls an eighty percent of the territory say the holder has more from beirut in neighboring lebanon. renewed escalation on the ground in eastern the pro-government alliance now trying to push into three rebel controlled towns in the southern pockets america be in and has the the pro-government forces trying to capture more territory they already control about eighty percent of eastern what that this is

clearly an indication that negotiations are not producing any results what we understand is that there have been negotiations between the three rebel fact. three rebel factions in each controlling one pockets of territory the north the west and and the south and now pro-government media saying the rebels are refusing to surrender we know what the pro-government alliance wants they want to surrender they want them to lay down their arms and agree to go to other rebel controlled territories and the rebels in there are the rebel factions and their statement saying we're trying to negotiate for a cease fire the civilians are trapped inside they're increasingly worried about their fate they're calling on the international community issuing open letter to the united nations help open a safe passage that is monitored by the united nations we are ready to move to other rebel controlled areas this is not what we want we want to stay in our homes but the situation on the ground is not to their advantage so appeals for help from people inside a lot of concern about the safety of people and their protection with reports that

people have been arrested after crossing into government controlled territory thousands of people have crossed into government controlled territory as frontlines have been changing so concerns about the safety of civilians the renewed escalation on the ground not a good sign. no bomb blast in syria's freeing region has killed at least seven civilians and four rebels from the free syrian army the explosion happened after turkish forces backed by syrian rebels took control of the city on sunday turkey launched its offensive in january to drive out the kurdish one p.g. fighters who it says are terrorists and pursuit of has more from istanbul. the latest explosion in alfred tell center shows us the possible risks of the unexploded devices that are hidden inside the city by the y.p. g.p.u. id cells and it shows the possible risk for the civilians if they enter back the city until the clearing up operation by the turkish military and the f.s.a.

has been no way that's why the turkish military has launched an emergency operation to defeat is the movie traps that are hidden inside the city after the after the military and therefore say have captured city for no inside the city center we're not hearing it's really ins returns but. we know that for a while this really has been returning to their religious in. provence but of course until the clearing clear operation is over inside the city center it's going to be tough days for the civilians there also there was a coastal that gathered in turkey syria turkey borders the. naming themselves as cornish robert this is a city council. by the kurds of a friend but probably why p.c. n.p.l. why the real not spirit cognizing this city council because politically they are

different from the y.p. g.n.p. why the who are named to be more secular kurds the sort of the cane i were investigated from the world chemical weapons watchdog cover rived in the u.k. to independently test the nerve agent used to. poison a former russian spy in moscow has dismissed the united kingdom's allegations that it was behind the attorney scruple and his daughter in the english city of solsbury both sides of expelled diplomats in response rusher insists it does not possess the nerve agent that was used correspondent bob phillips is following the story from the british capital of course the p.c. w. have arrived now on monday in the u.k. what do they hope to sort of clarify or how do they hope to help the british or forty as well they say that they won't comment on operational matters so whatever they're doing is fairly confidential a statement from the british foreign office says that the o p c w will collect

samples of the nerve agent which the british say was used and they will analyze it in reputable international laboratories of the o.p.c. w.'s choice and that results will take at least two weeks to come through at the end of which clearly the british hope that the o.p.c. w. will confirm that the british line of argument and analysis is correct that this was one of the novacek group of nerve agents developed in russia and i think there will be considerable international weight and interest to the o.p.c. w.'s verdict which could either bolster or undermine the respective russian and british positions in this argument but of course this topic would have been high on the agenda in brussels today is e.u. foreign ministers were meeting they were really going to be talking in the show

jeweled meeting on a range of subjects from missouri breaks it to the result of the russian elections as well. yes that's right it ever since this attack oh ever since the british concluded from their point of view that the russians were responsible there's been a concerted british effort to bolster diplomacy i would get expressions of solidarity from across the west to those have come in recent days from from berlin from paris from washington and i think the british government being quite pleased about that and then they got a statement this morning from the e.u. twenty eight remember of course an organization that britain rather awkwardly is in the process of leaving but nonetheless the e.u. twenty eight did come out with this statement i can tell you what they said so it was just in the last hour or so the e.u. expresses its unqualified solidarity with the u.k. and its support including for the u.k.'s efforts to bring those responsible for

this crime to justice we take extremely seriously the u.k. government's assessment that it is highly likely that the russian government is responsible so i think it's only words but they are the right kind of words that the british were searching for and boris johnson is also spending is a day in brussels looking for solidarity from the nato secretary general young stuff about which i would imagine he will receive of course we'll come back to you bob you know once we get more word of what conduct either of souls priore out of brussels as well for the moment thank you still ahead here on al-jazeera. he wants to create his own project in the middle east very much like. saudi arabia's crown prince hits out at iran's supreme leader in his first interview on u.s. television.

hello there is absolutely throwing it down for some of us in japan at the moment here's why on the satellite picture you can see all this cloud working its way across us bringing us some very heavy rain and it's still clinging on to that southeast corner on cheese day elsewhere it does look a good deal dry it still a lot of cloud around the still quite gray and quite gloomy we've got yet more wet weather this pushing its way towards us as we head into wednesday this mostly over the southern parts but we could see a few outbreaks of rain there across tokyo as well meanwhile towards the west generally mild air force in beijing temperatures around twelve degrees heading a bit further south in the wet weather that we've had over the southeastern parts of china is still just clinging on to that eastern coast it's not warm in that way where the either we're looking at around twelve in shanghai and that drops further as we head into wednesday on wednesday the rain clears away but the cold air works in after it so a maximum temperature will just be around nine degrees towards the west there's another system beginning to develop here so for trying to looks like it's going to

be pretty wet at times i mean further towards the south or for some of us into march where we've had some very ferocious storms recently more wet weather still to come as we head through the day on choose day and over the next few days will see some more showers for the north as well say for some of us in thailand and cambodia is looking wet. what went wrong in society that opened up the space. race is the european parliament it's not accountable and it's impossible for the people to bear the it's fairly up our people don't want to take. their lead i depart from a stronger man our song you're getting the growth of rejectionism of this world because the model doesn't work europe's forbidden colony episode two at this time on al-jazeera.

welcome back you're watching i'll just there i'm so whole robyn a reminder of our top news stories of land amir putin has cruised to victory in sunday's election for another six year presidential term and his victory was widely expected as russians overwhelmingly voted for putin by independent monitors reported hundreds of irregularities electoral officials say none more serious. investigators from the world's chemical weapons watchdog are in the united kingdom to independently test the nerve agent used to poison a former russian spy moscow has dismissed u.k. allegations that it was behind the attack on sergei shrivel and his daughter both sides have expelled diplomats in response activists say syrian government forces

have arrested hundreds of people as they fled eastern cuter they say men between the ages of twenty five and forty were mostly targeted the rebel held area has suffered heavy bombing by the government forcing tens of thousands to leave in recent days. saudi arabia's crown prince has hit out of iran accusing it of wanting to expand its power in the middle east haven't been sold man was speaking to. a us t.v. news program ahead of his trip to washington d.c. later this week also in jordan possible. for thirty minutes on sunday the u.s. news program sixty minutes profiled the saudi crown prince mohamed in solemn on his meeting this week with president donald trump and with climbing actual officials in new york for americans who don't pay much attention to foreign affairs the impression of the thirty two year old man slated to be king one may well be a positive one he's trying to turn saudi arabia's oil based economy into one that's

more diversified he favors religious and social reforms and he wants women to have more rights if you had a man we have extremists who forbid mixing between the two sexes in are unable to differentiate between a man and a woman alone together and their being together in a workplace but many of those ideas contradict the way of life during the time of the prophet and the caliphs the presenter asked m.b.'s about saudi arabia's poor human rights record and about his country's air war against hope these in yemen a war that has caused a humanitarian crisis but india was most forthcoming about the existential threat. from a rhodes ayatollah ali khan and he wants to create his own project in the middle east very much like hitler who wanted to expand at the time many countries around the world and in europe did not realize how dangerous hitler was until what happened happened that night i don't want to see the same events happening in the middle east. not mentioned during the segment the saudi led economic and political

blockade against. the possibility of diplomatic relations with israel or the war in syria analysts say the interview was revealing in one significant way i think that his instinct to blame everything on iran from domestic problems in saudi arabia to the region was quite striking and to rewrite history that somehow the problems in saudi arabia only started in one thousand nine hundred nine erases the fact that his relative king faisal was assassinated in one thousand nine hundred five for bringing television to the kingdom and allowing girls to school go to school this is not a problem that started with iran this is a problem inside saudi arabia inside the ruling family in saudi arabia that mohamed bin some on is really trying to erase and it comes out pretty clear in this interview the chrome prince wants saudi arabia to be the most powerful country in the middle east and he wants to make sure the u.s. is in his country's corner all the more reason then to make an appeal to the court

of u.s. public opinion. al-jazeera washington. just before c.b.s. aired its interview iran's foreign ministry spokesman commented on tehran's relations with riyadh he said in the persian gulf region we have good relationships with oman and even coate and qatar but iran is facing a serious problem in the region and that is saudi arabia we have made extensive efforts for normalizing relations and creating a suitable climate for talks with saudi arabia but unfortunately continuation of saudi arabia's illusions in the wake of the iran nuclear deal showed that the country lacks adequate preparedness for talks with iran to reach an understanding. the saudi crown prince also addressed the month long detention and subsequent release of hundreds of influential saudi figures at riyadh's ritz carlton hotel the campaign which was dubbed the corruption cracked by the government led to reports of physical abuse and confessions from those held against their will. be

a full committee amount exceeds one hundred billion but the real objective was not this amount or any other amount to kill innocent so i don't buy the idea is not to get money but to punish the corrupt and send a clear signal that whoever engages in corrupt deals will face the long. two people in the u.s. city of austin have been injured in an explosion it's the full such attack there this month and police are investigating whether it's connected to three package bombs that killed two people and whether race may have been the motive marianna honda has more. for explosions two people killed and in less than three weeks this is the scene of the latest blast a residential area southwest of austin the capital of texas two black men in their twenty's were hurt investigators say they're working on the assumption that it is connected to three package bombs left on people's doorsteps earlier this month but

unlike those explosions this happened in a different part of the city and police say the bomb may have used a triggering device like a trip wire it is very possible that this device was a device that was activated by someone either handling kicking or coming in contact with a trip wire that activated the device the first three explosions all happened in the eastern part of boston package bombs delivered by hand and lift on people's doorsteps the first exploded on much the second to killing a thirty nine year old black man and then ten days later two more bombs the first just before seven that sunday morning killing a seventeen year old black man and injuring his mother and another at around midday injuring a seventy five year old hispanic woman police say they're still looking into whether she was the intended target that the victims were black or hispanic has led many to speculate whether the attacks of racially motivated investigators say

they're still looking into most of us but have not ruled out the possibility of hate crime. just hours before sunday's it tech officials raised the reward to one hundred fifteen thousand dollars for information leading to the arrest of whoever is responsible police say they believe the explosions are part of a larger plane and are meant to send a message quite what that message is and why it will be an important part of the investigation made in the honed al jazeera now thousands of protesters have rallied again in brazil to denounce the killing of a politician who was not spoken critic of police violence demonstrators gathered at the slum in rio de janeiro where city councilor mariella franco grew up she was shot along with her drive on wednesday in what investigators are treating as a targeted assassination franco was a popular advocate for the city's poorest citizens. the north african now it is

here has long been a regional leader in protecting women's rights last year muslim women were allowed to marry non muslim then and now activists are demanding equal inheritance rights as men but activists say sexual harassment is still a big problem met some university students who used technology to protect women. for settlement and her fellow university students their mission isn't just clear it's also personal we're a team of four students who take public transportation and while we think public transportation we face sexual harassment a lot in the public spaces selma tells us it's a terrible and terrifying situation that women in tunisia face constantly it's why she and her team are developing a mobile app called safeness whatever you're working on the streets alone and you don't feel safe you will send your location to one of the trusted person that you

that. these person will get. and they will track your movements until you arrive safely or arrive to the place you are heading to despite their busy class schedules they meet as often as possible the app will allow this victim if she wants to know what are the police stations that are nearby and the hospitals that are around her so that chicken take action at that moment even in a country many say is one of the most progressive in the region for women's rights this group says there's simply no time to waste to nature past a landmark law last year criminalizing domestic violence since then several women here have launched initiatives to raise awareness about the numerous issues affecting their safety and security. the new legislation also includes provisions outlawing sexual harassment in public spaces. at a conference in the country's capital organized by us walk in the senate

a local women's rights organization participants discuss what more needs to be done i mean the law if we have a no it's not it's not necessarily implemented or we don't have the budget or we don't have the process to to to monitor it and to to evaluate it and second the people are supposed to apply the law like the police or the mrs they don't know they're not trained they don't have the skills and the tools to do that in this era of the me too movement selma and i sure like others in attendance are encouraged in seeing through two thousand and seventeen there are many women that who are raising their voices and taking action so it's really like a moment and yet i think it's going to make it they say real change whether through grassroots activism or technological advances can't come soon enough mama jim drummond zita tunis tunisia. well the world water forum opens in brazil on monday where a growing fears of water security around the world will be discussed lake chad in

africa provides water for tens of millions of people in four neighboring countries but it has shrunk to less than a fifth of its original size over a number of years as mohammed valve reports in the second of all series thirst environmentalists are warning of impending disaster if nothing is done to stop the lake disappearing. for the people of get a village and the lake is life but these fishermen say things are changing but i'll get a look at them for another when water was abundant in the lake we could fill our boats with fish on one trip now the water is scarce and we need ten trips to catch half the previous amount. lake chad was one of the largest freshwater bodies in the world it struggles the borders between chad cameroon and nigeria in the mostly dry ice ahead climate the lake remains an exception of necessity for thousands of fish animals and plants species supporting the livelihoods of forty million people

living along the. route and the harsh dusty winds over the last sixty years have turned much of the area into a desert. hundreds of islands began to appear in the middle as the water levels dropped environmental organizations and regional governments have long sounded the alarm bells. villages that were on the shores of the lake years ago are now fifty kilometers away. special that is appearance of the lake is an extremely sad situation within the last twenty five years it's water receded by two thousand five hundred square kilometers and the right of it's shrinking is getting faster now causing a huge disruption in the natural habitat. the climate issues have been compounded by insecurity in recent times. and it's a new islands as a hiding place and base from which it could launch attacks but in the majority of villages around the lake are now deserted especially on the nigerian side those who

fled are living in refugee camps and lack of funds has also complicated regional and international efforts to launch meaningful programs to save the lake. and there's a growing concern that further deterioration of the lakes environment will encourage thousands of disability young people to join armed groups as the only available source of income by. lake chad. where hundreds of people have fled their homes in australia as bush fires burn across two states in the southeast at least seventy homes are being destroyed in the town of tathra in new south wales and a dozen more in victoria state fire is believed to have been sparked by lightning on saturday were found by dry hot winds. you're watching al-jazeera is a whole robin these are all top news stories lattimer putin has cruised to victory

in sunday's election for another six year presidential term and his victory was widely expected as the russians overwhelmingly voted for putin while independent monitors reported hundreds of irregularities electoral officials say none was serious investigators from the world of chemical weapons watchdog have arrived in the united kingdom to independently test the nerve agent used to poison a former russian spy moscow has dismissed you can gauge and that was behind the attack on surrogates crippled and his daughter in the english city of solsbury both sides of expelled diplomats in response russia insists it does not possess the nerve agent that was used. activists say syrian government forces have arrested hundreds of people as they fly. eastern over the past few days they say mostly men between the ages of twenty five and forty were targeted tens of thousands of civilians have fled the rebel held english even recent days the government stepped up its attacks on eastern ghouta last month the no controls in the eighty percent

of the territory a bomb blast in syria's a free region has killed at least seven civilians and for rebels from the free syrian army the explosion happened after turkish forces backed by syrian rebels took control of the city on sunday turkey launched its offensive enough freely in january to drive out kurdish y p g fighters who it says are terrorists. two people have been injured in an explosion in the u.s. state of texas it's believed a package detonated when it was opened in a residential neighborhood in austin police are investigating whether it's connected to three package bombings earlier this month that killed two people and whether race may have been the motive thousands of protesters are valid again in brazil to denounce the killing of a politician who was an outspoken critic of police violence demonstrators gathered at the slum in rio de janeiro where city councilor mariella franco grew up she was shot dead along with her driver on wednesday in what investigators are treating as

a targeted assassination franco was a popular advocate for the city's poorest citizens those were the headlines we'll have more news in thirty minutes next on al-jazeera it's inside story do stay with us. saddam of prisons dominated russian politics for eighteen the is now he's done to be elected president for another six at a time when relations with the us a compared to the cold war and moscow is accused of poisoning a spy in britain what do russian voters expect from them this is inside story.