two colors communists usually vote with putin's forty on the big issues. for exploiting soviet nostalgia with pensioners and the discontented in just a working class. presidential election two thousand and twelve on park street. the presidential election is underway in russia with voters in the eastern half of the country already casting their ballots in fact right now you're looking at live pictures a record number of observers are also at the polling stations with almost two hundred thousand web cameras set up to monitor the voting process on monday he'll be have a streamed from one of those polling stations on air for you right now and take a look at. seven people are killed in the southern syria when a suicide bomber targeted government supporters as the opposition syrian national council vows to escalate the fighting. plus tension over

a possible military strike on a brand now it's in the washington the head of president obama's meeting with a pro israel lobby group the visit by the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu . and with a top news headlines from around the world this is our team direct from our studios in central moscow on election day to write your top stories which of course this is the presidential election and it has kicked off here in russia with almost one hundred eight million eligible voters turnout is expected to be the highest in decades polling stations here in moscow are set to open in about two hours time but the eastern half of the country is already casting ballots it will take twenty one hours for the whole country to complete the poll as artie's you've got a piece going off 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 that the voting began in the most eastern part of the country when it was still midnight in moscow and region in the most western parts of russia will be the last to join the vote it's happening at a very interesting time amid a spike in social and political activity among the public who have seen massive rallies for and against the candidates we've also seen scores of people taking to the streets after the problem and she'll action in december amid 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 calls of shots of boxes on portals so that internet users can watch online how the vote is conducted right

there and. 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 candidate 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. a record number of observers and polling stations and almost two hundred thousand web cameras set up to monitor the voting process online these elections are billed as russia's most transparent yet. take a look at the preparations that took place before the. first few years. we won't forget and we won't forget if this is what the op. position 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 not solve that problem it's cost russian taxpayers over three hundred million dollars doubling the nischelle 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 were in changing 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 processed and published on the website immediately when we realize our website might be attacked on the x. by hackers but we're ready for any attack on our servers are capable of dealing with serious traffic they 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 that i was invited to this election doors open day it was good training for everyone but we could see first hand how she g.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 cameras but which has been rehearsed to a couple of days before the actual vote those who wish to take part were invited to cast their ballots not for candidates today but from history including alexander mccall don't ski piece have a great winston churchill and. he will be doing great twenty six volts is only hours before russia's next piece of the great is named but even before the ballots have been counted many warn of a new wave of protests. protesters in december demonstrated not to give the results

of the vote but the fact an inventive and putin was working seats were 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 in self to avoid a second round seventy no one will believe the results but if he gets fifty five to sixty percent there will be no rallies or to the figure would look realistic. the press tags and polls will do at least one voting in the westernmost city of kaliningrad konstanz the question them will any of the candidates have that much needed fifty percent to avoid a second round exit in the actual r t. and of course we'll be bringing you special coverage of the election right here on r.t. starting at five pm g.m.t. on sunday for the latest results analysis and candidates reaction and already for you on where you can find additional information on our website are. there you'll

find a contender profiles a retrospective of previous ballots and answers to questions such as what makes an ideal leader in the opinion of russians that you can watch the vote online on this and much more of our tweet out on. a suicide car bomber has struck in the southern syrian city of daraa 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 homes parties where if national has the latest from syria. two days after the rebel fighters pulled out from barbaro a neighborhood in holmes faiza grow you know free range attacks by the rebels the chief of the free syrian army has that thursday's withdrawal was a practical one here position syrian national council who was recognized by the european union as legitimate representative of the syrian people has warned of

massacres claiming they would provide leadership that is a good sized colleges and give them weapons the opposition group already formed a military council to coordinate their weapons supplies these reports follow the free syrian army claims that it's already received weapons and anti aircraft missiles from u.s. and french sources on in the rebels has been considered as an excellent idea by qatar and saudi arabia earlier with a twenty two nation arab league also view this as an option if the violence doesn't stop here in syria humanitarian organizations have been appeals to president bashar al assad to agree on a daily some of the hour ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid to be brought to the areas where prices still continues but the rock concerts that the opposition supporters of broadway use these two green 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 one hundred foreign offices detained in homs most of them reportedly french

paratroopers meanwhile humanitarian situation in the city that suffered from an almost month long siege is that erasing 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 over create injured people and take away bodies of those many who were killed during the clashes in homes which is really for national reporting for us their city with a story to recall the author filmmaker in a middle east expert says the only option for syria is the negotiation table as any alternative would be disastrous. keast 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 fisa court very hard on both sides be

also bridging carries on as if it doesn't realize how heated it's used by some so comfortable to be very crude and the opposition which is now increasingly by the west are turning nasty and this does not help anyone in syria a bit goes on like this it's becoming more and more sectarian if minorities christians whoever else was being targeted no by the so-called liberation from forces of the country so i think what it suggests is a negotiated settlement and for people to push both sides to sit on the round up there will still to come this hour no more rhythm but plenty of blues and r. and b. file sharing site hits the rocks u.k. users of the website have been threatened with jail terms normally reserved for murderers just for downloading music as another porter all falls victim to the

internet crackdown. and the child trader florence's in nepal has a new adoption laws aimed at improving the situation opened a dark door to organized crime. and. 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 where he's can has more from washington. president obama's walking on a razor's edge on one hand members of his administration keep saying a war with iran would be a mistake u.s. military i think all. states. on iran not only would be premature but crazy 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 a very very clear message within a week from. the war. and we say president obama's failure to go along with this really plans on iran might hurt him in the a large since 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 a 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 which suggest that there is 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 the core objective but both those who would back a strike against the random. those who would seem to be tired of the administration's ambiguity and. it's very very badly we need to go to war and we have to make that very clear. but i'm not going to go to war they're not going to go to war by flying over our airspace over iraq. and they do it will be on their own the consequences will be theirs because the

price will pay if they start a massive war. interpret. the disastrous for. iraq into. this post that was paid for by the mergence secret media for israel you. see in washington the campaign very obviously pushes for a more informative 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. make those statements but to many it would make a mockery of diplomacy in effect for president obama's nobel peace prize as well for that matter i'm reporting that i think well if you want to stay up to date on everything that is happening around the world go to our website archery dot com and here is some of what is waiting for you there. tracking the trackers big brother

allows users to monitor how their online activity is tracked and shared by various websites plus. as an asteroid hurtles towards earth experts agree on a way to alter its trajectory in two thousand and thirteen more about this celestial body. file sharing website r. and b. exclusive dot com 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 even murderers r t is laura smith reports on what this could mean for the world wide web . 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 uses 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 would expect that to be 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 and respective donati musically the u.k. government serious organized crime agency or soccer confirmed it arrested this site but wouldn't talk to us about why it's threatening users with a decade behind bars instead they sent this statement. it's 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 a year to the site security that's raised questions about how the police became the personal in for three of the recording industry standing guard to protect corporate profits and it's also given those concerned with internet freedoms and unpleasant glimpse into a more regulated. the treaty to protect against online copyright infringement in piracy goes ahead pick. your ip address was being monitored so you could be monitored and tracked again this was. move which is seems quite unprecedented in the united kingdom i'm afraid that we're going to see this kind of

abuse on the scale it back to comes to pass after a short response from internet campaign as the government agency has now taken down the harsh message and replaced it with this simpler one which just taking control of the domain but it's already caused much worry and distress on twitter many users the pair 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 campaign as say the notice was meant to frighten and in reality severe penalties couldn't be applied to casual downloads 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 illegal in serious organized crime to traditional serious organised crime as people understand it the more. drug dealing as far as i think republican concerns 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. r.t. london. and some other news making headlines around the world for you this hour two suicide bombers have struck an army base in southern yemen killing two soldiers they drove a truck packed with explosives in the camp reportedly getting past guards by saying they had a present for the commander it is the latest in a string of struggling government forces al qaeda has claimed responsibility for your truck. the search for survivors begins after severe storms that ravaged midwestern and southern united states leaving at least thirty seven dead indiana

ohio kentucky georgia and alabama were devastated by ninety tornadoes with hundreds of freak weather events reported such as a giant hail storms president obama has offered federal assistance while the governor of ohio has declared a state of emergency. a head on collision between two express trains in southern poland has left at least six dead and a further sixty injured emergency workers are trying to free some passengers who are still trapped in the wreckage authorities say one train was traveling on the wrong track the polish prime minister is on his way to the scene which has already been described as one of the country's worst train crashes. do religion and politics mix that is 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 certain ideology.

when is it ok for at government or the media to support an ideology this week let's talk about that i don't think it ever should. i think that the government is that a serve the people of the media is there to report the news about regulatory direction on any of the record i don't think it's right that they can come out and say they support it and they can do it in different ways though if you support more it is the first of ways. that's probably what they do anyway right. probably if you think people are choosy about who is supporting their cause. absolutely their. people are too easily swayed probably propaganda is the people that want you to believe something bad one else follows like she feels about their own personality and look at their own facts and details make their own opinion that's what they should do and i just followed everybody else there's a pretty great principle in psychology that you you start and finish where you are

so you like what you like and you don't like the other guy for like you 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 you can get wacky people like your answer your crazy sister and you just the line them up by the millions and you somehow assume that all these crazy people acting together will have a wisdom greater than a king do you think governments try to impose will through propaganda without a doubt yes so why do some people when they hear their point of view be out it think it's just this time but then if they don't agree with it they call it propaganda. well. that's is the nature of this is the nature of rhetoric in general your your opinion is always. right and everyone else's opinion is always propaganda in the end there. it's 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 sold at a huge profit by human traffickers and it is also alleged illegal orphanages are acting as suppliers to people who want to make a fortune from often abused children or to spread through the reports. today fifteen year old chen mohan child areas all smiles but it wasn't that long ago that the teenager with living in an illegal orphanage in nepal capital katmandu. homes would be given rations for the children with his would take off the food for themselves while giving those only a small portion of it but they would also get drunk. 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 to meet it eighteen 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 trafficker who says very poor people people. you know it's a case you. can give us your children you will receive a small amount of money from an international family or in return we will bring them to come and do we will get an excellent education. traffickers are known to buy in a poly child 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 why. 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 would be woken up early every morning to clean the house and also to look after the cats and because infant trials the nepali government admitted that almost half of the country's orphanages were involved in illegal international adoptions but since then things have changed. you know paul has been an international adoption wild child advocates believe that this will help prevent the trafficking of children organizers of orphanages they're worried about how they're going to continue to ride out money from abroad. tony works printed paul children's organization which runs eleven legal orphanages across the country he says that before the ban on international adoption his orphanage in katmandu made five thousand dollars for every child that got adopted by a porn family. and it has been difficult for us to run the home after the suspension of the 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 mohanned barely remember their real siblings and parents anymore korea sure either archie kathmandu nepal. well that's brings you up to date for now i'll be back with a look at your headlines after a short break don't go away to watch an orgy.

russia votes for president archie most of the five running for the kremlin top job fiction today because of the popular billionaire estimated fortune eighteen billion dollars. the record keep those precious metals giants to the sold out before the crisis saving himself millions. claim for the presidency privatized they should adopting a used andras in production and releasing because other posters controversy. push of l. two thousand and seven arrested and charged with organizing prostitutes for a christmas party cleared two years later known a brawl. as owner of the n.b.a. new jersey nets basketball team and looking for a white cloud forty six. presidential election two thousand and twelve on forty.

mean. we. are limited. to. me was. we. if. he if. he he. if.