the presidential election is underway in a washout with voters in the eastern part of the country already casting their ballots a record number of observers are also and polling stations with almost two hundred thousand web cameras set up to monitor the floating process online. seven people are killed in iraq southern syria when a suicide bomber targeted government supporters this as the b. opposition syrian national council foulston to escalate the fighting. plus tension over a possible military strike on iran mounts in washington ahead of president obama's meeting with the prob israel lobby and

a visit by israeli prime minister benjamin yeah. in broadcasting live there from our studios and something also this is our t.v. my name is sean thomas and these are the top stories the presidential election has kicked off here in russia with almost one hundred eight million eligible voters turnout is expected to be the highest in decades and the easternmost part of the country has already started casting their votes will take twenty one hours for the whole country to complete the poll with the first results expected when the final polling stations close in russia's western exclave kaliningrad as much as you want these cannot reports this year's election has been marked by unprecedented public activity. every hour more polling stations open in russia as the country stretches through nine time zones which means night the voting began in the most eastern

parts of the crunching when it was still midnight in moscow and killing right region in the most western parts of russia will be the last to join the vote it's happening at a very interesting time i mean a spike in social and political activity among the public we've seen massive rallies for and against the candidates we've also seen scores of people taking to the streets after the parliamentary election in december i mean accusations of ballot fraud and a massive social campaign for a transparent presidential poll is underway and indeed a lot has been done in that sense over ninety thousand polling stations have been equipped with cameras to feed videos including close up shots. boxes on portals so that internet users can watch online how the vote is conducted right there at these stations see through ballot boxes have been introduced and several hundred thousand observers have been invited now. just to remind you five

candidates are taking part in this race the winner will need to secure fifty percent plus one vote if neither again it manages to achieve a second round it will be introduced in which the two most popular candidates will compete for a simple majority of votes the high voter turnout is expected as well over seventy percent according to some polls. he's been off reporting for us there now with a record of number of observers at the polling stations and almost two hundred thousand web cameras set up to monitor the voting process online these elections are being billed as russia's most transparent yet. takes a look at the preparations before the. first few years. we won't forget and. we won't forgive if this is what the opposition promised the kremlin after december's parliamentary elections they claimed the vote had been

raked in response the authorities decided web cameras at all ninety eight thousand polling stations would solve that problem it's cost russian taxpayers over three hundred million dollars doubling the initial cost of the vote now it's officially the most transparent and the most expensive in the nation's history but not everyone's convinced. the cameras won't change anything there will always be discontent it was honest before even without cameras i don't think it will make the vote more transparent it's only made to please the opposition. that there was no sense installing them too many people are voting and there are too many polling stations it will make things more complicated. one of the main concerns about the c.c.t.v. system is whether it can serve a country as vast as russia hacker attacks on the website in charge of broadcasting shortly before the vote only added to concerns but these young people claim they

came up with a strong alternative if the phone and tablet application older geale was created mostly for observers it allows them to upload pictures report on the turnout to give the final results and register any violations the data would be precise asked and published on the website immediately when we realize our web site might be attacked on the x. by hackers but we're ready for any attack on our reserves are capable of dealing with serious traffic that are based in data centers in europe so we'll cope with processing information from observers and regular users to ultra geo is independent from the central election committee and its founders promise to come up with reports just as independent meanwhile that all five candidates had quarters it's been mostly about training observers this election also has set a record number of watchdogs almost a million including seven hundred international observers. i was invited to this

election doors open day it was good training for everyone we could see firsthand how c.c.t.v. systems work to see transparent ballot boxes it will be the first presidential election in russia which not only will be filmed on hundreds of thousands of web cameras but which has been rehearsed to a couple of days before the actual those who wish to take part were invited to cast their ballots not for candidates today but from history in closing and xander methadone ski piece of the great winston churchill and. you'll be doing a great twenty six year olds it's only hours before russia's next peter the great is named but even before the ballots have been counted many were in other new wave of protests. protesters in december demonstrated not against the results of the vote but the fact an advantage in putin was swapping seats we're irritated them was

that putin was trying to return to the top job so regardless of how transparent the vote is if putin gets slightly more than fifty percent protesters will claim he added that up and so to avoid a second round he gets seventy no one will believe the results but if he gets fifty five to sixty percent there'll be no rallies or two to figure would look realistic . the first exit polls will do at least one boat in the westernmost city of kaliningrad konstanz the question then will any of the candidates have that much needed fifty percent to avoid a second round if the democrats are t. more skilled and of course we'll be bringing you special coverage of the election here on r.t. starting at five pm g.m.t. on sunday tune in for the latest results and analysis and the candidates reaction and already you can find additional information on our web site. there you will find a contender profiles are retrospectively of previous ballots and answers to questions

such as what makes an ideal leader in the opinion of russians because you can watch the vote online all this and much much more of. a suicide car bomber has struck in the southern syrian it's city of tehran killing at least seven people and wounding several others it is the latest in a series of bombings targeting pro-government neighborhoods this comes amid reports that over one hundred mercenaries many of them french have been caught as they fled the city of homs argues more if a national has the words from syria. two days after the rebel forces pulled out from above our neighborhood and homes face a growing of revenge attacks by the rebels the chief of the free syrian army has sat thursday's withdrawal was a tactical on your position syrian national council who was recognized by the european union as a legitimate representative of the syrian people has warned of massacres claiming they would provide leadership that is a good sized voters and give them weapons the opposition group already formed

a military council to coordinate their weapons supplies this report called the free syrian army claims that it's already received weapons and anti aircraft missiles from u.s. and french sources arming the rebels has been considered as an excellent idea if i caught and saudi arabia earlier with a twenty two nation arab league also viewed this as an option if the violence doesn't stop here in syria humanitarian organizations have been accused to president bashar al assad to agree on a daily hour ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid to be brought to the areas where prices still continues but the rock concerts but the opposition supporters abroad may use these to bring weapons to the rebels meanwhile it seems that the foreign nations involvement in this crisis in syria stretches far beyond weapon supplies local and regional media has been have been reporting about more than a hundred foreign offices detained in homs most of them reportedly french

paratroopers meanwhile humanitarian situation in the city that suffers from an almost month long siege is deteriorating the international red cross and syrian red crescent are both working on the ground they've brought seven trucks of food water medical supplies and all the emergency aid they're also expected to ever create injured people and to take away the bodies of those many who were killed during the clashes in homes. which is more if a national reporting us for us from syria they're now sticking with this story in syria ali author filmmaker and middle east expert says the only option for syria is the negotiation table as any alternative would be disastrous. but keys thing is where the intermediaries not aligned with either side are capable of pushing both sides to a conference table to agree to a solution to this crisis it seems to me the things of god very hard on board for.

the also grosjean carries on as if it doesn't realize how heated it is by some say comfortable to be true and the opposition which is now increasingly by the west are turning nasty and this does not help anyone in syria if it goes on like this it's becoming more and more sectarian if minorities christians who are arabs are being targeted now by the so-called liberation from forces of the country so i think what it suggests is a negotiated settlement time for people to push both sides to sit around a table and still to come this hour and no more rhythm but plenty of blues as an r. and b. file sharing site it's the rocks u.k. users of the website have been threatened with jail terms normally reserved for murderers just for downloading music as another portal falls victim to the internet crackdown. and the child trade of fortunes and in nepal has

a new adoption laws aimed at improving the situation open a dark door to organized crime. the debate over a possible military strike on iran's nuclear facilities is intensifying in the united states more so ahead of president obama's meeting with a pro israel lobby group and israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu or he is coming to town has more from washington. president obama's walking on a razor's edge on one hand members of his administration keep saying the war with iran would be a mistake. or something and states. on iran not only would be premature but on the other hand president obama keeps saying a war with iran is still an option and that he is not quote unquote blocking the powerful israeli lobby which president obama will be addressing shortly expects to hear a blunt answer to the question is the u.s.

ready for war with iran and will washington back israel should it decide to attack first the only way to stop the. release. is to send the. message within a week from the. analysts say president obama's failure to go along with this really plans on iran might hurt him in the elections the president carried you know the overwhelming majority of the jewish vote and fighting back in two thousand and eight and if he is perceived as an enemy of. enemy of israel or. the issues. for community here in this country it could have an adverse impact on the funding of votes. really prime minister netanyahu speech in the u.s.

congress last year was greeted with innovation many u.s. lawmakers slammed the rhetoric of the obama administration we suggest there's still room for diplomacy with iran many in israel believe that if we wait too long we'll be at the point of no return it seems to me to be painfully obvious that this administration's policy is not only the same but that it's failed to achieve a core objective but both those who would back a strike against iran and those. seem to be tired of the administration's ambiguity and. very very badly we need to go to war and we have to make very clear. we're not going to go to war they're not going to go to war by flying over our airspace over iraq. if they do it will be on their own the consequences will be theirs because the price will pay if they started a massive war. interpret. the

disastrous for. iraq in the terms of. this post that was paid for by the merge and see comedian for israel you. see in washington the campaign very obviously pushes for a more so for many a response from president obama on his readiness to go to war with iran in the run up to this year's elections he might want to do the probably three lobby and make those statements but for many it would make a mockery of diplomacy in their words then president obama's nobel peace prize as well for that matter. and if you want to step up to date on everything that is happening around the world go to our website. tracking the trackers. big brother add on allows users to monitor how they're all.

shared by various websites plus. hurdles towards earth experts agree on a way to alter its trajectory in two thousand and thirteen find out more about this celestial body at our. file sharing website r. and b. exclusive has been shut down by britain's organized crime police for alleged copyright violations anyone who downloaded music from there has been threatened with jail terms equivalent to the punishment for rapists or murderers or his or smith reports on what this could mean for the world but. if you downloaded this song through the website or and be exclusive it's not just the prisoner of love you got to be afraid of instead of finding the usual blog

commentary and links to r. and b. and hip hop music recent users of the site was shocked to find their online activity was under police scrutiny and they could be jailed for ten years more than the usual penalty for many violent crimes and a ten year prison sentence you can expect that to me and they don't for very serious offenses serious sexual assaults and rape manslaughter very violent offenses. and you would normally expect it to be handed down in respective downloading music illegally the u.k. government serious organized crime agency or soccer confirmed it arrested the site owner but wouldn't talk to us about why it's threatening users with a decade behind bars instead they sent this statement. gets organized

criminal enterprises profiting from the exploitation of the u.k. public in legitimate businesses much of the music offered for download by the r. and b. exclusive dot com website was illegally obtained from artists leading the industry to attribute losses of approximately fifteen million pounds per year to the site's activity that's raised questions about how the police became the personal enforcer of the recording industry standing gods to protect corporate profits and it's also given those concerned with internet freedoms an unpleasant glimpse into a more regulated each are the treaty to protect against online copyright infringement and piracy goes ahead to claim your ip address was being monitored so you could be monitored and tracked again this was. a move which is seems unprecedented in the united kingdom i'm afraid that we can see this kind of abuse on the scale if actor comes to pass after

a short response from internet campaigners the government agency has now taken down the harsh message and replaced it with this simpler one which just says they've taken control of the domain but it's already caused much worry and distress on twitter many users appear not even to have known they were visiting a dodgy site and certainly didn't think they'd be liable to do time for it internet campaigners say the notice was meant to frighten and in reality severe penalties couldn't be applied to casual download as they also say there's nothing to link the current be exclusive with criminal gangs so why even involved if this is what they're leaving serious organized crime was committed to show serious organized crime as as most people understand that the more. drug dealing as far as i think republican concerned that crime still happening on our streets opposition to act out in force around europe this month centers on fears that cyberspace will fall

under strict government control and while the serious organized crime agency focuses its efforts on r. and b. and hip hop fans many worry that serious organized criminals are getting away with it your it's me forty. well look at some other news making headlines for you around the world right now. two suicide bombers have struck an army base in southern yemen killing two soldiers they drove a truck packed with explosives into the camp reportedly getting past guards by saying they had a present for the commander it's the latest in a string of struggling government forces al qaeda has claimed responsibility for that. the search for survivors begins after severe storms ravaged midwestern and southern united states leaving at least thirty seven dead indiana ohio kentucky georgia and alabama were devastated by ninety four nato's

with hundreds of freak weather events reported such as a giant storms president obama has offered a federal assistance while the governor of ohio has declared a state of emergency. b.p. says it has reached a sudden point eight billion dollars deal to settle claims from thousands of fishermen and businesses affected by the gulf of mexico oil spill it comes ahead of a much anticipated trial in the u.s. in which the american government is expected to claim billions of dollars in fines the b.p. oil rig deepwater horizon exploded in april two thousand and ten killing eleven workers and leaking four million barrels of oil. to religion and politics mix that's a major part of the debate raging in america's presidential campaign so our g.'s resident reporter hit the streets of new york to ask people if the government or the media should be behind a certain ideologies. when

is it ok for a government or the media to support an ideology is weak let's talk about that i don't think it ever should. i think that the government is that serve the people in the media is there to report the news not make it a trial directional on any of the report i don't think it's right that they can come out and say they support it they can't do it in different ways so if you support morris is the worst of ways. that's probably what they do anyway right. probably people are choosy about who is supporting their cause. absolutely their. people are too easily swayed probably propaganda is the people that want to use a belief something bad one else follows like she feels out their own personality and look at the own facts and the details make their own opinion that's what they should do and not just follow her body else there's a pretty great principle in psychology that you start and finish where you are so

you like what you like and you don't like the other guy for liking something different but that's just human nature but i mean that the principle of democracy it's unusual it's a kind of a crazy idea that you can get wacky people like your answer your crazy sister and you just a line them up by the millions and you somehow assume that all these crazy people acting together will have a wisdom greater than the key do you think governments try to impose a will through propaganda without a doubt yes so why do some people when they hear their point of view being spouted i think it's just this being time but then if they don't agree with it they call it propaganda. well. that's is the nature of that's is the nature of of rhetoric in general your your opinion is always. right and everyone else's opinion is always propaganda and that's there. stance whether or not you believe it's ever ok for

a government or the media to support an ideology the bottom line is we should all remember it's all too easy to become hypocritical when it comes to the support of our own beliefs. orphans in nepal are being a soul that huge profit by human traffickers and is also alleged that illegal orphanages are acting as its suppliers to people who want to make a fortune from often abused children parties press reports. today thirteen year old chin moving child areas all smiles but it wasn't that long ago that the teenager with living in an illegal or an age in nepal capital kathmandu. is that the homes would be given rations for the children but they could take as would say hoffer food for themselves while giving i was only a small portion of it but they would also get drunk and would be to. moment is now living in a home run by the umbrella foundation and irish angio working with nepal's government

to keep track of kathmandu after needed its hundred thousand children living in orphanages. investigations have uncovered that around eighty percent of these kids actually have parents oftentimes families living in rural parts of nepal will sell their children to traffickers who they believe will give them a better life if you have a traveler who goes to a village and says very poor. people illiteracy no education they're told you can hear your children will receive a small amount of money from an international family or an individual in return we will bring them to help when do we want an excellent education. traffickers are known to buy in a poly child per around fifteen dollars and then sell them to orphanages that are not monitored by the government they are then sold on for up to twenty five thousand dollars to families prom abroad while they're living in the orphanages many of the children are reportedly abused and forced to work some are even

sexually assaulted who forced to work in the fields and have been woken up early every morning to clean the house and also to look after the cats and because infant child nepali government admitted that almost half of the country's orphanages were involved in illegal international adoptions but since then things have changed. now paul has been an international adoption wild child advocates believe that this will help prevent the trafficking of children organizers of orphanages are worried about how they're going to continue to ride without money from abroad remains shlomi works part of paul children's organization which runs eleven legal orphanages across the country he says that before the ban on international adoption has orphanage in katmandu made five thousand dollars for every child that got adopted by a foreign family. has been difficult for us to run the home after the suspension of international adoption because we still have to provide for the daily necessities

of every child in the home and so you can of the medical bills to today many organizations are trying to reunite trafficked children with their family but many lection mohandas barely remember their real simple infant parents anymore korea sri there are t. kathmandu nepal. that brings you up to date afford i'll be back to the headlines after a short great. source

of votes for president archie looks at the five running for the kremlin top job security today to become. the boxer billionaire estimated fortune eighteen billion dollars. the record. precious metals giants got its legal. sold out before the crisis saving himself millions plan for presidency privatized ation exultingly used under it's in production and releasing because other hosting comes from the same. push of l. two thousand and seven arrested and charged with organizing prostitutes for a christmas party cleared two years later known abroad. as owner of the n.b.a. new jersey nets basketball team and looking for a wife of forty six. presidential election two thousand and twelve on party.

resistance is not politics but a culture. is could cast. on its own. cultures of resistance on the march. more news today violence is what the sick and fled up the families are the images gold has been seeing from the streets of canada after. the giant corporations are on the day.