limited. we can become. chums and. it's always personal. except. for in choice matters to everyone. russians go to the polls to choose their next presidents who govern the country for six is. this promises to be the most transparent election in russia's history with russian international observers as well this. morning tory every polling station every detail all the latest information live with me just several minutes. more than a hundred suspected mercenaries caught being war torn homes as fears of foreign interference in syria escalates. and e.u. states sign up to tough budget rules to stop overspending europeans rally against

harsh cuts imposed to save the single currency. you're watching artes with the news your view on the latest developments welcome to the program well russians are going to the polls to choose their next president thousands of observers are monitoring the tens of thousands of newly installed web cameras trained on the ballot boxes across the country. polling stations have just opened across moscow. to see how the vote is going alexia who've been casting their ballots so far. well probably most of russia has

already started to vote from the far east to the regions and now as we speak polling stations have opened in the russian capital moscow and all the cities which are in the same time zone we also expect that in one hour the russians westernmost point the city of pulling out will also start to vote so the turnout at this moment is reported to be very high and some of the presidential candidates have already cast their ballots this is certainly because a lot of who voted in his home region of course they are sweden and suddenly they're watching is underway we in for some interesting thirteen hours or so after the polling stations close across the country at nine o'clock pm moscow time we are expecting some any supposed to come out and said we will bring resume the results as soon as we get them. and we seen a number rallies both against and in support of the current russian leadership in the run up to election how people been voicing their opinions on this. well there certainly have been a rather turbulent three or four months since the election season economy action in

december when many accused the authorities of falsifying the ballot and people took to the streets thousands of them were protesting everywhere across russia definitely the biggest protests russia has seen in its mordant history well since basically the one thousand the troubling times of the of the of the collapse of the soviet union and definitely this these protests have changed a lot many demanding fair election many demanding changes in the in the democratic system in the political system in russia which we have been seeing some indications from the authorities from the from the ruling power always that's sure to become the president of this country then russia will see some changes and definitely the selection of the election process itself has changed dramatically due to these protests but the interesting thing is that even before the election this election started some opposition forces have already started preparing for the protest

action on monday march the fifth and definitely it will be very interesting to observe what happens come come tomorrow and exodus more about the candidates who are running for the top job this year. well there are five candidates running for the top job in russia this is certainly the current prime minister who is seen as a strong favorite by most of the analysts and most of the observers despite his support well diminishing somehow still it is almost certain that he would gain victory in this election is just a matter of whether there will be a second round runoff and who will make it into the second round one of along with what you have which i'm sure it happened the other candidates are they lived in a liberal democrat but initially lawsky the communist leader gennady zyuganov russian tycoon mikhail gorbachev well something of a dark horse in this election and also player part player russia party leader sygate you know the so definitely interesting vote and we'll see how it unfolds and of course a lot has been done to make the most transparent to date hasn't it. certainly it's

all the stake it's the first time russia is voting for a president who will sort of a six year term and the run up to the election as i said has been very turbulent many demanding fair elections to be held so this particular vote has all the indication to become russia's most transparent election since it since the collapse of the soviet union and we understand that lots of observers both russian and international are here to want to sell the election as well as web cameras which have been installed at every single polling stations across our huge country and this cost almost half a billion u.s. dollars. installing these weapons or as my colleague he's going to show we did a story to report on how this election will unfold how transparent it could be and i believe we can have a look at this report right now. yes. yes ok. we won't forget and we won't forgive 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 won't 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 on as before even without cameras i don't think it will make the vote more transparent it's only made to please the opposition out. of there was no sense installing them too many people are voting and there are too many polling stations who 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 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 just and published on the website immediately then we would realise 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 and 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 promised 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 but we could see first hand 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 vote those who wish to take part were invited to cast their ballots not for candidates today but from history including alexander mckibben ski peter the great winston churchill and. your eternal great twenty six year olds it's only hours before russia's next piece of the great is named but even before the ballots have been counted many warned of a new wave of protests. protesters in december demonstrated not against the results

of the vote but the fact an advantage when putin was swapping seats 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 result the first exit polls will be released when boating in the westernmost city of kaliningrad comes to an end the question then will any of the candidates have bet much needed fifty percent to avoid a second round if you look at actual r t scale. and you can watch our special election coverage throughout sunday and monday as we bring you the latest figures under variety of opinions across the political spectrum not. dot com is showing you the votes actually being cast on that web site streams and the live feeds from cameras installed at polling stations. on our web site

about the candidates running russia. and what they're promising. much more in our special election pages. two other top stories of the week fears of outside interference in the syrian conflict have resurfaced one hundred suspected mercenaries and even french have been caught trying to flee the city of homs and senior rebel leader also claimed his militia group had been supplied with french and american weapons and even the aircraft in assad's. reports were wrong could mean that shit. but the borders those and we do estate despite international isolation syria's borders have remained opened and easy to pass through and that may have played

a crucial role in the militarization of the country's conflict almost immediately after the crisis began here last march they were reports of the reference been smuggled through to on president al assad's opponents one thousand dollars for a truck full of black prince capable of delivering house sale destruction and death that's how much al qaeda will pay to smugglers usually iraqi oil lebanese drivers accordance with ziad ismail chief of the customs service on the border with lebanon . these people we're here to destroy our nation to try to kill syrian people on the syrian territory enemies. we can see it says that in just a few weeks stopping has been toppled in a border zone throughout syria now with other countries allegedly supporting and arming the opposition fighters in the term all to even greater militarization this is more than just a precaution but. we are on high alert. and we are not against people of

these countries governments will between us. syria has more than two thousand kilometers of front year with five states israel iraq jordan turkey and lebanon the syrian cities where the most violent clashes have taken place homes and there are all over the in an hour of the border is a fact that some believe has determined their fate or destiny is this is one of three checkpoints on the three hundred fifty kilometer syrian lebanese border in the last year as we've been told here there were only three attempts to smuggle weapons across the offices confiscated thousands of dollars dozens of guns and hundreds of kilograms of little knuckle pieces like this one used to may well be a source his main concern and make little clothes like this one but parts of the border where there isn't any security at all but here look at this in the middle of

nowhere there is nothing only one road across the road right now at the same time crossing the border and i'm already in lebanon on. and further south she remains extremely vulnerable the city of cairo the cradle of the syrian uprising it all started here and it continues to play a role in the country's crisis with what i was doing just several kilometers away from here and numerous reports suggesting that foreign weapons and troops can easily folks that are has become one of the weakest points in the country's security the city has become the scene of fierce and bloody clashes at least twice in the conflicts twelve months of history the authorities have claimed that many of the so-called free syrian army have in fact come from across the border. they appear shoot and kill and then they disappear immediately they arrive from abroad but they are not from jordan they use this country's border many of them are from

africa. we're showing the weapons allegedly seized in military operations now. in the army we don't have weapons from israel and america sniper guns and night vision binoculars advanced developed weapons we don't have in syria this what we confiscated was killing innocent people and kill even more. the u.s. is making every effort to please the israeli government that's why the u.s. is reinforcing its groups and their suppressing their rivals so the groups could act instead of americans anyway of we believe that washington support for terrorists will produce a negative impact for the state itself and also those who support these terrorists . while the international community condemns the al assad regime and supports its opponents many believe all sides in the conflict should be held responsible for violence across syria and with so many foreign ruf is involved it's clear that the

crisis thresh is far beyond these borders relief an option r.t. reporting from syria. meanwhile troops loyal to the regime are thought to be continuing to advance through the city of homs seen as the main stronghold of the opposition against the present i said the government says it's aiming to tackle armed gangs and terrorists red cross claims humanitarian aid was prevented from reaching a worst hit areas of the city people there have been left without water or electricity . this. government for since an eye witness told our thing that people have been hiding indoors because we're gonna run killing civilians and images in the streets were more of a first hand account of horrors of homs is a better one accounting dot com. but on the diplomatic front u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton has compared syrian president bashar assad to criminal latest rhetoric comes despite recent reforms adopted by syria and the

referendum on a new draft constitution we could go after civil unrest in which the u.n. says more than seven thousand killed by government forces a journalist and contributor to britain's guardian newspaper neil clark says clinton statements confirm that the u.s. and europe aren't interested in democratic reforms in syria. it's a great day for democracy in syria and yet what's the reaction of the western leaders well hillary clinton's announced it is a cynical ploy he knows best about the german minister he said that it was a sham that what is a sham is the best approach because it could because their reaction to this referendum shows that we're not really keen on real democracy in syria it's the last thing we actually want and we've got opinion poll before the show and if you frightened of syrians i want president assad to stay. demonstrations in favor of president assad in damascus we can barely be reported in the western media the reality is the majority of syrians support assad but for the west these are long

their views go out and so we have this musician where we have the west which claims to be supporting democracy is discounting the views of syrians. to strike or not to strike president obama between those four hundred gangs military action against iran since really the biggest gun in front of. the whole three months of talks and confrontation are less than united in union and signed a deal to prevent the block from overspending and so-called fiscal pact was supposed to force tough new budget rules for czech republic from the idea too much to take. the reports. it's good talked about for months quaint as a solution to europe's crisis fiscal compact fiscal park new fiscal rule after another two day summit this fiscal stability compact is signed sealed and delivered

. most e.u. leaders have agreed to give it the go ahead it's expected to be ratified by at least twelve euro zone nations this pact comes with tight budgetary rules that must be strictly adhered to relf face automatic sanctions. member states must maintain a balanced budget or have a surplus keep a budget deficit of three percent or less and shrine the balanced budget rule of national legislation within one year prefer we within the constitution if budgetary targets are not met the guilty nation can be brought to the european court of justice and be obliged to make penalty payments the reins of strict budgetary oversight will be in brussels hands now we've in europe in brussels we've got our first saw and it's a budget start and he's going to police all the dodges all the member states and these member states will lose sovereignty in the field of budgetary policy now

is the population going to accept this. population that's already been forced to accept a lot tougher study measure after another good economy sniffles and if you are doing well thirteen if you were to go towards crisis if everybody is no parking people because if we're keeping america expenses everywhere then you crush it with the bodies consuming nobody's interesting but what the growth is the point of this truth is a continuation of true liberal orthodoxy. so we are exactly going back to what we have been in that i think. in the us you read or see the budgetary discipline this is the school civility pact is expected to bring as a step closer to solving the eurozone structural imbalances and help crisis that countries ease their way out of their predicament it's a one size fits all approach that has some worried about the impact it could have on healthier economies food lead to huge fiscal consolidation bias.

even those countries that have your fiscal situation even go. to school accounts beach can the press comic activity at a time banks face problems and they don't actually want to and not a desirable scenario when the new buzzwords are growth and employment just are cilia r t brussels. but ahead of the e.u. summit people in europe opposed to fiscal union on the deeper cuts post on them held rallies in belgium france and greece greek union stopped work for three hours and marched in athens protesting at their government cutting pensions benefits and wages scuffles broke out side of the building as one union member tried to force his way inside severe austerity measures were ordered by a brussels international monetary fund as a cure a second bailout with one hundred thirty billion euros of financial writer peterbilt central cash injection market to save greece. of course

talking about the probable need for a. she's not guaranteeing anything as a result of that you saying i can't guarantee we hope it's going to work with the opposition and saying you know it's her own policy her lack of drive or lack of leadership that has left europe in this position people don't deny that of course greece shouldn't have been. drawing your i would. meet the criteria nobody denies that probably greece would be better out of it but here's the issue is how do you get from with. out. now that at some other news making headlines around the world this hour head on collision between the two express trains in southern poland has left fourteen people dead and a further sixteen that matches the workers are still trying to free passengers

trapped in the wreckage authorities say one train was traveling on the wrong track occlusion has already been described as a bus train crashes. the muslim brotherhood in libya has created its own political party is the western. music jail and. the party is set to be a leading player in the country's quest directions since the overthrow. of north korea's leader surge troops may have really border with the south just stay on the frontline visit. the country increased threats against south korea ongoing military exercises with the u.s. . persons from the asian. prince also a massive rally in the second. debate over

a possible military strike on iran amounts in washington where president obama's meeting with the pro israel lobby the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. israel and the u.s. suspect around of developing weapons islamic republic says its nuclear program is purely peaceful. this it remains specters to run the international atomic energy agency says it can't tell whether iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb iran has spent a great country's envoy. not exclusively he. is not impartial. we are warning that a couple of countries including united states are trying to randy agency so that they can dictate from washington what d.n.r. should do and that is why we don't not permit such a thing to occur and that is the whole issue that the agency as

a professional technical organization should do its work and that is why you see they make meet so many noses here and there they do not let the agency to do its work and that is why we want expect all countries including russia and others and i'm very pleased that last meeting in fact russia and china ambassadors along with hundred countries of nonaligned movement all together questioned what had happened in fact namely the least of confidential information that we need the mobilization of member states to prevent something happening in vienna. way this agency promises actually. interview with iran's envoy to the u.n. nuclear watchdog in full on a website called. threatening to attack iran's nuclear sites could lurk much closer. building a security barrier for egypt to keep militants and migrants out. reports

that's just one. love the neighbors as the biblical saying goes but in the case of israel there is not much love lost between the jewish state and the countries closest to it while authorities in jerusalem in fierce and feyerick is ations at iran some wonder if in their empty tehran frenzy they may have overlooked other troubles brewing much closer to home to bury the roots of my euphoria in israel the result. as a result of the. other than the hamas. the gaza strip. in fact the conflict has long been a source of problems for the israeli government which recently seems the issue has all but been forgotten some believe this blinkered approach may end up having dire and explosive consequences for israel with the rise of islamic tendencies in the

wake of the arab spring states which until now have been tough for people leveling what israel may do it in fact is already evident in egypt the muslim brotherhood which holds the majority of seats in the parliament has already threatened to bring peace accord but israel as a response of pressure from the u.s. . relations with me it gets even worse egypt want to go tremendous changes egypt will stand behind closed. one day hamas may attack israel as it did in the summer of two thousand and eight the question is how would egypt react to such a conflict that i think is an imminent threat iran is not an imminent threat. but could also be an imminent threat some believe as the situation in syria which seems to go from bad to worse with every passing day. controlled by decentralization in the messages means. the presence of terrorist groups that

may operate for good steve israel meanwhile israel's most placid neighbor jordan may seem to be a better got stability but experts say that isn't so it's israel's immediate neighbor to the east that's a pantry that israel has a. relationship with it also has the longest border with and i think it is most vulnerable. to stabilizing influences from almost everywhere else from syria spillover from iraq there are very serious problems and one look at the map is enough to show that israel's position in the real. could be described as potentially problematic at best however israeli authorities seem to be less concerned with reinforcing good relations with neighbors or preparing for those relations to worsen instead they are absolutely continue to confront iran with the word of words for now in tel aviv it even goes party. but every capper the

latest on the presidential votes currently underway in russia and weeks are the main things and if you stay with us. as most of those for president archie looks at the five running for the kremlin top

job as a candidate liberal democrats a lot of usual state by far bush's most boisterous bully politician on the record at sixty five june or skeet is on his fifth presidential campaign coming on ten percent of the vote in two thousand and eight his campaign slogan is journalist or it'll be worse plan for the presidency a two year drive against corruption and drug smuggling in russia vera food and housing prices controversy cost campaign from us is included free vulgar and free underwear journals is infamous for racist remarks and fighting with opponents known abroad for securing parliamentary immunity for the month britain says poison to alexander litvinenko. presidential election two thousand and twelve own party. wealthy british science knows sometimes the title of.