the stories that shaped the week here on ars he. confirmed as russia's president elect after securing a comfortable within the poll that many believe tough challenges are still lie ahead for the new leader. the election draws thousands to russia's streets rallying for and against the outcome of the opposition movement facing a test support amid accusations of failed expectation in. the arab league a season with russia on how serious the crisis should be come to an end it's all about growing calls for foreign intervention and fears that could lead to further bloodshed. and greece receives

a cold shower from ratings agencies after it finally seals a debt deal with private investors as moody's declares the country to be in default . a very warm welcome to you from all of us here at r.t. moscow rory sushant russia's or prime minister vladimir putin will soon return to the kremlin for his third president was made official this week after he secured a first round election win but despite finishing way ahead of the other candidates there's a growing feeling that serious challenges lay ahead for the country's future leader . reports. it was one emotional night for. ya i did we would win. but we have won.

but you're the prime minister may have justified his tears by the strong wind but no one would be surprised if it was caused by the joy of victory i it was hardly a shock as putin had been the elections clear front runner but eventually result of almost sixty four percent stunned even bills at the helm who would never think of such a high was so it's of and. that was predicted for ourselves hey shows once again actually proves that putin is a political figure number one of these countries and he's potential is here is yet to be zero and closer the brits no time to party now many experts believe putin's real challenge in fact starts now. this will get sort of a battle between the two i'll tell it of course of all that stayed the relevant quote here and there are many predators for myself i identify the first concept as

put in a land they want russian political system to be transparent whereas russia's economy where they will be no nepotism and no corruption but on the other hand this other group of process elite as well as russian probably. associated with a deal they just need status quo they need just some ten dollars from the state they don't want any change which is the road to nowhere to change manifested itself in the sudden rise of me how you broke it off in under four months the russian billionaire managed to persuade more than five million people to vote for him many say this new face in the country has serious potential and groups that have already declared an intention to form an opposition party with putin promising he would cooperate with it to symbolize the new the new russia and some be sure. all the other candidates. from the old and stylish. saw it.

and. they're not you know any more leaders of the younger generation and figures speak for themselves second place communist leaders are going of the gate seventeen percent in his fifth complained for presidency less than he's already had earned the parliamentary vote and experts say even this came mostly as protest voting in the eyes of many this is a clear signal it's time for fringe politicians to make way in the western countries if your party loses the election its leader is no from changed if it happens again planned he's definitely changed these guys had lost three times prior to a lot of those folks are still seen as being somewhat out of touch you in the russian street is you know look these guys had their chance in the ninety nine years they screw things up you know we still need stronger leadership and they're able to offer we need a more concrete programmed and putin will continue his work as prime minister for two more months of that period which could become crucial and decisive for the country's long term future blood david korten will officially return to the kremlin

on may the seventh that is when his inauguration takes place until then the president elect will have to work out a strategy of holding a dialogue between those in power and those in the streets and given that some are still calling for him to step down even after such a convincing victory this may prove to be quite a task. let's see russia's ski r.t. reporting from moscow. all opposition rallies have taken place in the weeks leading up to the vote and even after the presidential election outcome thousands take to the streets but the number of those protesting is and the nature of the demonstrations is changing as well we're going to go to school now examines what caused the shift in the protest movement. when the protestors unhappy with the results of the presidential elections took to the streets the day after the votes to place some caps the police busy. to give myself decided to i'll stay you

wanted two hours yes you were there third was to get in your book i'm not going to leave this square i'm staying here until putin leaves where the tents and there were no tents but there was a fountain which you by some chose as a makeshift stage to make his statements from and from which police removed him and several dozens of his supporters. the situation repeated itself on saturday when police pulled over and suffer from an atrocity transformer again after the opposition rally was officially over but the and six of the opposition leaders seem to do little to keep people coming to protest rallies for years about one of those it was over with the spirit if that hysteria that irritation and aggression had continues it would have alienated the public no one here wants a revolution no one wants to fight with police the people who come to these protests only want change they don't want bloodshed or violence which is what could scare them away the results of the elections to the stage tomorrow hotly contested

by many brought tens of thousands out in the streets of moscow the day after presidential elections there only half of that number showed up to pushkin square square and even fewer still to the demonstration on saturday young of the leverage here yesterday don't always hear a single protest action was that place of a lot about honestly it was a hangover did that really go let's not say oh ok well it was a good idea here it was there some blame the lack of a coherent idea and absence of unity among the opposition leaders for the waning support that i had i think these people all have a different agenda some don't even know rival here if i was gone i don't see different interpol. the candidate says i can choose from but i tell you think we can really reach any calls by protests like b. even some of the most volatile supporters of the movement for parallel actions see solid foundations are necessary to carry on with the movement because that's in the

book some sort of regulation in structure is needed some sort of goals an understanding of what happens next which could be easily understood by people who are also necessary. movement which began as a call for free and fair elections in russia pulling the vote for the state duma seems to have turned into haphazard series of gatherings they have achieved success in the bringing. seats of straights. try to attract more attention to their slogans but we are now witnessing that their slogans need to be changed their lives for a new agents are in fact the rallies seem to have only one slogan out with putin but what to do if he leaves no one seems to know in moscow in a girls' school r.t.e. . while the protest moved in russia seems to be waning in the wake of the presidential vote from abroad is the growing exile we look at some of the strongest

of statements coming from the west putting a british politician who called the president elect a quote ruthless dictator. but in contrast to assessments made by the west russian authorities said the past election has been the most transparent in the country's history to ensure a fair vote almost a million observers were allowed to monitor the election process one of them. shared his view on how it all meant. we have seen several lead irregularities several mistakes of the members of the polling spaces so it's normal you can out there prepare all people i mean there thousands of people working on the electoral process had you kind of have progressed them perfectly still not a good idea about the era who are against or they're the people there's not even irregularities but those technical and organizational problems were seem a lot of the problems we had faced in european countries. following claims of

multiple violations during december parliamentary for russian authorities pledged to do everything to ensure fair presidential polls this time are things out of iraq say now looks at how hundreds of thousands of web cameras monitoring the vote are provided not just transparency but also a few moments of clarity and allegations of widespread voter fraud in last december's parliamentary elections set off the weight of massive protests against mr putin sensitive to the incited opposition he ordered the installation of with cameras and all of russia's polling stations it has been a very ambitious and costly project for the russian government not everybody was convinced by the use of the web cameras to show transparency they cameras however did prove to be quite handy in some provinces such as tank is done in one station the results were cancelled after the cameras showed by lesions of election

procedures. the web cameras to reproduce a fascinating slice of russian provincial life which went viral and got hundreds of clicks on social networking sites such as. some even joke that mr putin gave us the best reality show. cameras captured various activities from cultural dancing in chechnya. to russian women abstaining and lots of dancing. one reviewer that was a hit with over three hundred thousand hits on you tube should this man bring in michael jackson's moonwalk back into life cost ballot. we caught up with him and ask if he expected his to be the year to beat this

popular song i would say we did it for fun not for free actually i was surprised because we were the only ones who voted this way i thought there should have been more people like us there were a lot of opportunities to create whatever you want i hope next time people will vote more creatively with the lection over in the world and the country awaits the swearing in the president elect most of it in as for the rest of us there's no doubt they will never forget the glimpses that people gave us of their lives from all across the country and those who thought that their moment on camera wasn't being watched but really we were looking. to ban it see i don't see moscow. and i explore this week's our top story and that's just part of a special section dedicated to the presidential elections in russia and artsy. i

discover what russians think. an ideal president and whether people want evolutionary or revolutionary changes for the country but your expert opinion on the story the very latest footage from a post poll of demonstrations like this and much more in store for you about. russia and the arab league have agreed on a plan to help syria and its yearlong crisis in which thousands of people have died came after months of diplomatic bickering over how to tackle the turmoil. now brings us the details from damascus. after several recent differences between western and arab views and those of russia and china on how the long running syrian conflict should be handled we are now seeing some consensus speaking after the meeting with his arab counterparts russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov has said they haven't out a common plan that sends a clear message to all the sides being involved in this crisis there's going to go we've agreed a joint position of five main points first to stop violence wherever it comes from

second to create an impartial and independent monitoring system third no external interference for the unrestricted delivery of humanitarian aid to all syrians and finally the firm support of kofi annan is mission to start a political dialogue between the government and all opposition groups. so join two arab league envoy is currently on a peace mission here in damascus both their sources and within the country opposition welcomed the initiative but the efforts were dismissed even before the island's arrival to syria by and now the opposition group based outside the country the syrian national council recognized by many countries by e.u. as the legitimate representative of the syrian people thinking for democratic changes firmly rejected talks with the government export more military pressure on the regime will push that aside these calls were followed by suggestions by qatar to deploy foreign troops to syria but there is a fear here on the grounds of the growing international interference in the

country's conflict is paving the way for an even bigger crisis as the syrian conflict stretches out in time it has also spread geographically i coasts of the uprising belt far from the country's borders what's happening in syria is heartbreaking. and what you've seen is the international community mobilize against the assad regime strategic analyst dr sullivan says one thing is clear though that mobilization has many more forms and officially stated. during the operation in baba amr the syrian army. fighters from gulf countries and afghanistan iraq libya and some european states their work was coordinated by qatari and saudi intelligence officers as well as cia and mossad it's also sees israeli weapons especially in take take missiles and israeli drones while the u.s. and many other countries have admitted al qaeda linked extremists groups fighting alongside the armed opposition in syria dr sullivan says some countries are using

those groups to further their own interests. to get local players involved in order to hide their involvement this is why we hear mostly arabs like saudi arabia and qatar or iran these countries don't have democracy at home of course they cannot ask for us they're pushing it in syria they have another agenda. there are books and written sources where this plan is described in detail dating and how to coach never blogger and freelance journalist has been investigated for a new and serious crisis since last year she says this is a story with three main chapters weapons smuggled across the border overseas contractors and foreign cash. when you see a lot of money in syria then you really believe this is comparable to what happened in the civil war in lebanon there were plenty of money then you'll find that

they're going to talk about pandas doorbell and or something nobody would get in so . now you would see now this is a. city with more and more reports on international involvement and calls to arm the opposition get louder even for those at the grassroots of the uprising the initial euphoria is turning. they can say we regret what we did but we don't want things to go back for a return so much militarized globalized and violent we never wanted and don't want intervention no such fears are abdul aziz says that it could be too late to stop this all too far into claims of conflict while the conflict between president bashar assad and his opponents here in syria about to enter its second year another conflict is also in full swing between those calling on political settlement as the way out and those who insist on military solution and the let's turn it into

a fight almost as important as the one claiming blood on the streets. shot see damascus syria. the pentagon so this week it was ordered to review was potential options on syria which include the enforcement of a no fly zone and humanitarian airlifts trends forecaster gerald celente says washington simply put is not interested in diplomacy and this rebel eastern country . when you hear world hawks like senators lindsey graham and john mccain calling for bombs away and again go back and play over and see the same scenario their heads come in and they say we have to be calm we need time and we have to use diplomacy in the meanwhile they're building up the military conflict and you heard president obama say at the height of the iranian incident with

netanyahu that he said you know that at this time when there is not a lot of sympathy for ron and it's only now why syria is on the ropes we have to quiet it down a little bit. but what you know it's still to come for you on the program of out of israel breaking its promise to get another attack on gaza by the boston bombings in the region for more than a year. plus nuclear fears continue to spread in japan experts accuse the government of failing to disclose information one here on earth quake and tsunami sparked nuclear crisis. this week greece finally concluded a deal with private investors is considered to be the biggest debt write down in history that the agreement which reduces the greek burden by over one hundred billion euros was hailed by european leaders as a solution to the u.s.

economic woes however there was no applause from ratings agencies with moody's declaring athens in default on its debt and another firm out of fitch as it downgraded greece to quote restricted default status chris we fire chief strategist of investment firm troika dialog says there's a bigger threat hanging over not just greece but all western banks. frankly this is no longer about greece what's at stake here is the bigger picture in europe if there is a technical default if that's what it's called then put at risk the whole basis of the c.d.s. market the c.d.'s market is essentially a bond insurance scheme that banks use when they take out the invest in bonds in their own country the very effectively paid insurance premium reflecting the risk of default in that country so the c.d.s. is aware of the insurance premium move up and down is what gives is

a measure of how risky one country's debt is relative to another so if there's a technical default in greece it means that the c.d.s. spreads didn't work and therefore there's no question my call for whether or not you want to see a spread of insurance premiums everywhere else is also valid and that's in most control dollar business globally if that starts to confidence in that system is undermined then you're looking at potentially catastrophic consequences for western banks and therefore the western economy so that's really what's at stake it really is that serious. and i don't forget here on our t.v. and i took up plenty more news stories on comment on our website for you right now some of the items standing by for example our final frontier mystery an experimental u.s. spacecraft has been circling our planet for a year but the put the purpose of the mission to date and remains a secret. plus the social networks tearing families apart and the wife and

discovered her husband was already. we're coming to you live from moscow as japan not marks one year since a devastating earthquake and tsunami killed over it nineteen thousand people are devastating an entire nation from. a minute's silence has been observed at the exact moment the quake hit last march by the tsunami turned whole neighborhoods into leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless it also triggered the worst nuclear crisis in a quarter century after the cooling systems of the fukushima plant would knock out

of more on the risks of contamination the plant poses today i'm now joined by dr robert jacobs a professor of nuclear history and culture at the hiroshima peace institute thank you for coming on our to today so one year on how has the government dealt with the nuclear crisis of effectively and what can you tell us what is the current situation on the ground. the government has been increased this note for a year and it remains in crisis knowledge at this point is simply trying to stop the entry of radioactive particles into the environment which is not successful there is still radiation coming into the sea into the ground why. water in some being released into the air so this point the government is simply trying to put a lid on the plants but it's only it's nowhere near planning anyway to deal with the radiation contamination or also to get the plants into a safe place they say that they're in cold shutdown but in essence the plants are still leaching radiation and they're still uncertain of the condition inside the

reactors so as you say there are still concerns about radiation contamination and leaks ongoing but the japanese red cross has said that the government has wasted the entire year and is still failing to work out of viable plan on how to rebuild the affected areas are some of call that extreme negligence why is that i mean it's partly because the nuclear crisis is ongoing and chaotic after the earthquake in the osaka area the government was able to rebuild quickly because they could focus directly on it but in this case the government has a much. going to sastre its problem which is keeping it preoccupied so that it's not able to simply attend to the rebuilding. now when the when that is also struck the japanese people were admired as a nation of dignity and strength and now it seems to be just a nation of distrust because of the nuclear crisis they don't trust their government now the food they eat all the water they drink how hard do you think is

the psychological burden of a tragedy on the people of. the psychological burden on the people is brutal and on the people who remain in the contaminated areas and the people who've been evacuated who will likely never return to their homes their psychological burdens are intensely brutal these people have been betrayed in repeated ways they were betrayed by being lied to that nuclear power could never have a problem that these kind of accidents don't happen and when the accident did happen it was hidden from them for three months that there would melt those that were lies for three months that they were meltdowns they were not told where the contamination and plumes from the explosions were going so these people have been lied to repeatedly now they've had their lives for that part and they are full of worry and anxiety over the health and welfare of themselves and their children and their families and i would just add that on top of that people who defend the nuclear industry are now blaming them for their own health problems and saying that the health problems are the result of ames id and stress well even if that were the

case the same as id and stress has been produced by the nuclear industry and by the actions of the government but assuming the worst which is that they do have reason to fear from the contamination these people have been treated fairly and unfortunately for communities exposed to radiation this is typical behavior what happens is that the exposure is the initial victimization but then they themselves are blamed for having disastrous responses to it having stressful responses to it and even health problems and depression that can come with it so there needs to be mental health services in place and there needs to be honesty and there needs to be transparency for these people obviously you know if you just take a short time issues but more importantly the long term issues i thought was a professor of nuclear history at the hiroshima peace institute many thanks and thank you. israel has carried out a series of pressure attacks on gaza and the worst violence in the region for nearly a year claiming seventeen lives over the past three days israel first pounded the

palestinian territory on friday which sparked an exchange of fire between both sides. are now reports from top of. well the situation here on the ground continues to escalate as israeli forces and palestinian militants continue exchanges of fire for the third straight day today sunday now the latest figures we have put the palestinian death toll at seventeen and most of them are members of islamic jihad overnight a twelve year old palestinian boy was killed in the jabalya refugee camp by any israeli airstrike kyra is reportedly mediating or at least trying to mediate there is a harassed indication in egypt and the egyptian ambassador to the palestinian authority has put the blame firmly on the shoulders of the israelis saying that they are to blame for breaking this tacit ceasefire that has been in place between israel and gaza at the same time the arab league has been easing in cairo and they've also

called the israeli airstrikes and message now tomorrow monday in the middle east quartet is need to look at these stored negotiations between the israelis and palestinians that meeting comes ahead of a special session of the united nations security council that will be addressing the arab spring uprisings it's not his policy or their intel of events going to some other global news for you in brief this hour with the r.t. world update and least fifteen more minutes have been killed after a suicide bomber targeted a funeral in the northwest pakistani city of peshawar police believe the attack was targeting a car on the deputy speaker of the provincial assembly who has been critical of islamic militants in the region a car was not injured in this a turk. a u.s. soldier has been detained in afghanistan after a shooting at civilians in kandahar a local resident said a service when killed sixteen people are opening fire inside several homes the

incident is under investigation by both nato and afghan officials and the heart was the scene of protests last month after u.s. troops mistakenly birder copies of the koran a military base. under one of our top stories in just about a minute or so do stay with us if you can hear a lot. the . guitar sometimes you see a story and it seems so for life you think you understand it and then you glimpse something.