the biggest stories of the week here on odyssey blood amid putin emerges triumphant in the russian presidential election after turning overwhelming poll numbers into a convincing victory but tough challenges are still ahead for the new leader. the russian opposition scrambles to recapture the public's passion but gosh expectations on internal fractures leave the movement increasingly short of support . russia the arab league finally in the same boat over how to stop the syrian crisis there are still those trying to put sticks in the spokes of diplomacy. and three

days of fire more deaths are reported in israeli airstrikes on gaza after the assassination of a palestinian resistance leader sends rockets flying over the border. at salvation to some collapsed to one greece amazon the biggest debt reduction deal in history but while it's praise to the hilt by brussels ratings agencies slime two thousand default by another name. worldwide news twenty four seven this is r t live from moscow with me rule recent showing the long harsh and hard for the race for the kremlin is now over with prime minister vladimir putin now set to make a return to the presidency after a landslide election victory but expectations are now greater than any other time

with serious national challenges still ahead compounded by a public more politically acute than ever before team selection to skip reports. it was one emotional night for going to watch and yeah i did we would win didn't i. but we have a young. but you foreign minister may have just a fine piece she is about his children but no one would be surprised if it was caused by the joy of big three i it was hardly a shock i still could have been be elections clear frontrunner but even she will result of almost sixty four percent even those at the helm will never think about such a high result so it's been higher than that were predicted for ourselves and it shows once again actually proves that putin is a political figure number one of this country and his potential is yes so is yet to

be oh i'm closer to it but it's no time to party now many experts believe you can see real challenge in fact starts now. this will get sort of a battle between the two outer of course of all that state the relevant coherent development strategies for myself i've been to try the first concept as portugal and they want russian political system to be transparent whereas russia's economy where they will get no nepotism and no corruption but on the other hand this other group of leap as well as russia 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 little to no where the change manifested itself in the sudden rise of. 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's politics has serious potential and also have already declared an

intention to form an opus ition party with putin promising he would cooperate with it to symbolize. the new russia in some patients. other candidates. from old and stylish solid elite. and. they're not you know any more leaders of the younger generation and figures speak for themselves second place community leaders you going to gauge seventeen percent in his fifth campaign for presidency less than he already had a parliamentary vote and experts say even this came mostly as protest goldstein in the eyes of many this is a clear signal it's time for politicians to make way in the western countries if a party loses the election its leader is no from changed if it happens again then he's definitely changed these guys had lost three times prior to this moment a lot of those folks are still seen as being somewhat out of touch you and the

russians traders you know look these guys had their chance in the one nine hundred ninety s. this group things are you know we still need stronger leadership and they're able to offer we need a more concrete program but they are huge and will continue his work as prime minister for two more months the period which could become crucial and decisive for the country's long term future vladimir putin will officially return to the kremlin on may the seventh that is when his inauguration takes place at all 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. the r.t. reporting from moscow i know one of the issues of this presidential campaign will be remembered for is the massive rallies that heralded a political awakening of russia's public and by all appearances they worked with transparency becoming a top government priority today however the protest movement is fizzling and

support quickly fading parties are really going to kind of see what's behind the sudden drop. when the protestors unhappy with the results of the presidential elections took to the streets the day after the most took place some kept the police busy. to give them something they started to mouth stevie wanted two hours yes he was there was to get in your door i'm not going to leave the square i'm staying here until putin leaves where the tents go and there were no tents but there was a fountain which all by itself shows as a makeshift stage to make his statements from and from which police are moved him and several dozens of his supporters. the situation repeated itself on saturday when police pulled and i suffer from an electricity transformer again after the opposition rally was issuing over the antics of the opposition leaders seem to do little to keep people coming to protest rallies for your support but also it was

the. effect 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 all violence which is what could scare them away the results of the elections to the state duma hotly contested by many what tens of thousands out in the streets of moscow a day after presidential elections there are only half of that number showed up to push his case square and even fewer still to the demonstration on saturday young of the face here it was written on my spiritual protest actually stood by some a lot of them are going to see it was a good idea that they are you going to it's not a silhouette of president it was your guy could you know here is already 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 are or have

a different agenda some don't even know why the whole day if i respond i want to see different in japan. candidates that i could choose from but i don't think we can really reach any calls by quota flighty even some of the most vocal supporters of the movement for you actions see solid foundations are necessary to carry on with the movement ok and there's not some sort of regulation in structure is needed some sort of goals an understanding of what happens next which could be easily understood by are also necessary. to remove an interest began as a call for free and fair elections in russia for going to both of the state duma seems to have turned into haphazard series of gatherings they have achieved success in bringing people. suited straights. try to see where tracts more attention their slogans but we are now witnessing their slogans needs to be changed there's a need for a new age gender impact 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 to go school artemy. oh reaction so you have lot of importance returned to the presidency by no means stopped at russia's borders coming your way in about her twenty minutes time here at r.t. it's a stake for everyone at the media's relentless tirade against putin is kind of a see comes to a hard start as observers and russian voters paint a very different picture of reality. and if you're in the mood for more election stories or footage of pre and post poll rallies are always far we're looking for a party to call also their expert and amateur opinion on what's ahead for russia in the course of the people want to take that and so much more at r.t. dot com. debate on how to stop the syrian crisis has been tending towards diplomacy russia and the arab league of come up with

a joint plan ruling out foreign meddling and calling on both the government and the opposition to lay down arms. but you were an arab envoy is in syria promoting an all inclusive dialogue there is r.t. it's morea for national reports there are those still trying to hinder those efforts 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're 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 been involved in this crisis. 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 fluid no external interference for the unrestricted delivery of humanitarian aid to the syrians and finally the firm support of kofi annan mission to start

a political dialogue between the government and all opposition groups you've seen your visit. the joint u. and 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 kofi annan is a rival to syria by and now the opposition group based outside the country the syrian national council recognized by many countries by e.u. as a legitimate representative of the syrian people seeking for democratic changes firmly rejected talks with the government and called on more military pressure on the losing side these calls were followed by suggestions by qatar to deploy foreign troops to syria but there is a feeling here on the ground the growing international interference in the country's conflicts is paving the way for an even bigger crisis as the syrian conflict stretches out in time it has also spread geographically i case of the uprising belt part of the country's borders what's happening in syria is.

rages and what you've seen is the international community mobilize against the assad regime strategic analyst dr somebody who says. one thing is clear that mobilisation has many more forms than officially stated. during the operation in baba amr the syrian army arrested 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 seized israeli weapons especially missiles and israeli drones while the us and many other countries have admitted al qaeda linked extremists groups fighting alongside beyond opposition in syria dr salim 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 iraq these countries don't have democracy at home of course they cannot ask for establishing it in syria they

have another agenda. there are books and written sources where this plan is described in detail decades ago and hardcore blogger and freelance journalist has been investigated for a nickel in syria's crisis since last year she says this is a story with three main chapters often smuggled across the border overseas contractors and foreign cash. when you see a lot of money in syria then you really believe this or all these this is comparable to what happened in. there were plenty of money then you will find not they're going to talk about hundreds of dollars or something nobody would kill him so. now you would see now this is happening here in syria with more and more reports on international involvement emerging and calls to the opposition getting louder even for those at the grassroots for the uprising the

initial euphoria is turning peter. i can say we regret what we did but we don't want things to go that far but it turned so much militarized globalized and violent we never wanted and don't want intervention. but here's our afterwards he 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 dialogue and 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. original shot see. syria and top u.s. of defense officials admitted this week that president obama has asked the pentagon

to set out military options for syria that's off he dismissed a veteran senator john mccain's calls for airstrikes saying any attack would be a mistake middle east expert professor paul shelton a foot from the university of california says that waging wars is america's usual business you hear on both sides of the alley it is applied war. president has he claims and back to experience wars that cardinal built his prize for his what in fact he's the biggest warmonger with. every nigger three republican candidates to. work certain hooks to try to outdo him and say that we're even stronger or should be taken cursors with their words syria needs is to be so debate . you don't have solutions with terrorists libya is really a weapon. with the problem is that syria the problem is the foreign intervention in

syria. trying to get another state in a string of arab revolutions remains restless. libya's new rules are accused of kathy style tactics that they threaten to use force against eastern separatists but that's in the next hour here on our team. israel has carried out several airstrikes on gaza killing seventeen people over the past three days it's the west of violence the region's seen in more than a year the first attack came despite an informal truce between the sides and targeted a high ranking palestinian resistance leader and spock to face exchange of fire nazis paula slayer is monitoring developments. but the situation here on the ground continues to escalate as israeli forces and palestinian militants continue the exchanges of fire for the third straight day today sunday now the latest figures we have put the palestinian death toll at seventeen most of them are members of the

islamic jihad but overnight a twelve year old palestinian boy was killed in the jabalya refugee camp by an israeli air strike is reportedly mediating work he's trying to mediate there is a harassed indication in egypt and the interruption in basad to the palestinian authority has put the blame firmly on the shoulders of the israelis saying that they are to blame for breaking this test that cease fire that has been in place between israel and gaza at the same time the arab league has been meeting in cairo and they've also called israeli airstrikes and messy cut now tomorrow monday in the middle east quartet is meeting to look at these stalled negotiations between 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. policy reporting right in just a few minutes here on israel's weapons maybe about a target a different international talks on iran's nuclear program or finally to restart

after years of i love those little two of israel's pull moves television says it's losing patience with char on. the other latest shocks in the activist world triggered more protests site takedowns after the community stop was a patrolled by one of its own. japan is marking one year since a massive earthquake and tsunami that devastated the country leaving more than twenty thousand missing people gathered to united the exact moment the quake struck last march to grievances. the magnitude nine earthquake which shifted the earth's axis left the whole northeast of the country in ruins displacing hundreds of thousands of people the tsunami it triggered also knocked out the cooling systems at the fukushima plant

triggering the worst nuclear crisis in decades dr robert jacobs a professor of nuclear history and culture at the hiroshima says that the japanese people trade by their own govern. 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 the 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 and that these kind of accidents don't happen then when the accident did happen it was hidden from them for three months that there were out 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 all the parts and they're full of worry and anxiety over the health and welfare of themselves and their children and

their families. oh twenty minutes past the hour here in moscow it has been a week of shop ups and downs for the greek economy managed to talk private creditors into accepting a crucial dawn swap deal that's considered to be the biggest debt write off in history of the agreement seem to loosen the noose around athens neck vi reducing the deficit and by more than one hundred billion euros e.u. leaders praised the deal to the skies claiming a solution to the crisis had at last been found but just hours later the euro kratz suffered a major slap in the face by the credit rating agencies as moody's and fitch declared greece in default but markets bucks the trend by showing no signs of optimism william anderson associate professor from frostburg state university is resolute in his assessment which is default. this is it before or i'm going to whatever you settle with your creditor for less than what you. have agreed to do it

and you do it i don't care how systematic it is or how complicated these debts swaps are we are dealing with a real live before everybody knows that just because he claims that it isn't a deed fault means absolutely nothing he's a politician i don't believe the european leaders are trying to put a political spin on this but what you have in the end is in fact the taking of assets that are worthless and you have a central by pretending that these assets mean so i think that these assets really are valuable when in fact they're not and then they try to monetize the whole thing and then pretend as though they solved a problem and solve nothing they have actually made it worse because they won't admit what is going on or. meanwhile in spain public anger of austerity measures is so intense that must protest or even underway on the anniversary of the two

thousand and four madrid train bomb. exe the country's two biggest trade unions have drawn thousands onto the streets for nationwide rallies they are outraged over reforms that make it easier and cheaper for companies to fire workers the country's unemployment rate is currently soaring with more than one in five years out of work . what you got see this week's or along the way to the agreement between iran and several world powers to restart talks on the islamic states nuclear program tehran however warned that such negotiations would fail if the west keeps crippling its economy with sanctions during a meeting with the israeli prime minister barak obama called for any possible attack to be held back to give diplomacy more time and benjamin netanyahu indicated his country's patients with her on it was running out reports emerged israel has asked washington for high tech weapons that could be used in a strike the u.s.

defense chief in turn said an american attack on iran would be far more effective reza rushy from the national iranian american council says it's crucial for regional stability but israel's warlike cries are muzzled. after three decades of little or no communication between iran and the united states there's no question that it's going to be a very challenging path that all sides are facing and you know i think being on the precipice of war has really focused the attention of the various decision makers in various capitals and focus them specifically on the need for all parties to compromise and there's a difference between what the united states and the international community are asking for and what the israelis would prefer they've done a very good job of trying to take actions that would lessen the possibility of diplomacy being successful but the obama administration understands better than anyone right now what's at stake he's taken multiple steps publicly and privately to push back and i'm hoping that we're going to see more of that continue because if it doesn't look like it when you try to bully him. it's good to have you with us here on r.t. today the demonstrators and supporters of the hacking group anonymous gathered in

paris on saturday protesting against the controversial act treaty amid fears it will violate internet freedoms this comes after the had to be community was shaken by choosers detention of members from another well known group that a lot sec it's alleged ringleader was turned an f.b.i. informant after being arrested last summer before turning in his colleagues this week the group is known for carrying out several high profile hacking attacks on the cia fox news and sony following the arrests the unanimous group retaliated by taking down the website over the private security company best known for its widely used antivirus software political commentator luke samuel says the government's approach to hackers will not achieve anything anonymous is a group that genuinely sees itself involved in a kind of cyber war where they play the part of the self-appointed protectors of internet liberty because it's worth bearing in mind that the most this group

actually managed to achieve a shutting down the card for a couple of hours so this kind of jittery response on behalf of western governments is really an embarrassment it really does show that this is a set of governments that completely run out of ideas and the only real response they can come up with is using the law in this kind of war for a tarion way which in the end of the day is completely pointless. this is r.t. now the international media made little secret of where its loyalties lie or do not lie when it comes to russian elections weeks before the polls opened u.s. networks were spinning fraud as fact and rigging as a given skipping over opinion surveys that painted a very different picture but it assays guy nature can reports there are perceptions to go up or out. oh after we won the call for the election the american r.t. is we're primed to believe that the presidential vote in russia had to be a fraud is this one going to be with a win the west will call a free and fair election. it seems that highly unlikely that it will be

a free and fair election in our sense of the term and that is russians made their choice we knew the results of russia's presidential election therefore a single vote was cast. why don't we put victory was confirmed not just by the vote results but even before that i need your opinion polls as well the focus of some media on rampant fraud or stolen elections seems to leak out of the equation the vast majority of russian voters would be choose their next president if you look at how western let's look at russian opinion there's a tendency to ignore inconvenient opinion so support for putin is ignored which is genuine i don't know if it's quite as overwhelming as the election results might make but it's is large and sincere i think it's easy for westerners to ignore anything like that because they don't really fit in a narrative very easily and the question some ask is why would it seem trying to rig the vote when opinion polls before the elections clearly indicated that he had

sixty plus percent support it's very possible to put himself in order any of this stuff but there are supporters or people is a long tradition in russian culture and history of people underlings trying to please people further up the chain of command unlike the media and the reaction of the white house to the russian elections was more reserved think congratulated the russian people with their elections and said washington looks forward to working with the president elect and urged the russian government to look into the reports of violations when it comes to the media coverage here is not just about reporting on certain irregularities which absolutely should be covered but it's one perception is being created whole vote was a fraud no matter what the majority of russians say and it casts a shadow not just on the future president but also on those who voted for him i'm going to check our reporting from washington r.p. . the international assessment of these elections has been by and large very positive with some going as far as to call them the fairest in the country's

history despite reporting by nations overseeing the vote way million international and domestic observers one of them but of. course keep he told us what he saw we have seen several irregularities several mistakes of the members of the polling station so it's normal you can't. prepare all people i mean there are thousands of people working on the electoral process and you cannot have prepare them perfect so i think if they'd. be irregularities or could be called as not even irregularities but those technical and organisational problems were seemingly out of the problems we have faced in european countries. and watching our recap the top stories with you in just a moment see you shortly. the

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