biggest stories of the week here on our t.v. and of lot of me have put in a merger is a triumphant in the russian presidential election after turning the 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 dashed expectations and internal fractures leave the movement increasingly short of support. russia and the arab league are finally in the same book about how to stop the syrian crisis but there are still those trying to put sticks in the spokes of the club or c. . three days of fire scuse me more deaths are reported in israeli airstrikes on

gaza after the assassination of a palestinian resistance leader sends rockets flying over the border. it's a good to have you with us today this is r.t. i'm at real research a lot in moscow but the long and hard fought race for the kremlin is 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 it any other time with serious national challenges still ahead compounded by a public more politically acute than ever before. he got a chef he reports. it was one emotional night for.

you we would we. i. mean we have you on. but the prime minister may have justified his cheers about his strong wind but no one would be surprised if it was caused by the joy of victory i it was hardly a shock as clinton had been the elections clear front runner but eventually result of almost sixty four percent stunned even those at the helm who would never think of such a high result so it's even higher than we predicted for ourselves and shows once again actually proves that organize a political figure number one in this country and he's potential is yet to has yet to be open told her that but it's no time to party now many experts believe clinton's real challenge in fact starts now that. this will get sort of a battle between the two ultimate of concepts all of that state irrelevant here and development strategies for myself i've been to fry the first concept which in

a land they want russian political system would be transparent whereas as russia's economy where they will get no nepotism and no corruption on the other can this other group of elite as well as the russian public who i associate with a b. or they just need status quo or 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. 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 a country split six has serious potential and could 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 each sunday should. other candidates. from the old stylish. song and. then

you know any more. leaders of the younger generation and figures for themselves second place community leaders are going to gauge seventeen percent in houston for presidency less than he scored he 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 french politicians to make way in the western countries even party loses the election its leader is no friend changed if it happens again then he's definitely changed these guys had lost three times crikey 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. to screw things up you know we still need stronger leadership they're able to offer we need a more concrete program. which you know will continue his work as prime minister for two more months period which could become crucial and decisive for the

country's long term future. to put in 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 a greater task. alyse russia ascii r.t. reporting from moscow. well one of the issues 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 but today however the protest movement is fizzling and support quickly fading parties are really looks at 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 to place some caps the police busy. to give

myself i started to on stevie a lot it's two hours yes you were there it was again no no no 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 all by itself shows as a makeshift stage to make his statements from and from which police removed him and several dozens of his supporters. a situation repeated itself on saturday when police pulled all the stuff from an atrocity transformer again after the opposition rally was officially over but the council the opposition leaders seem to do little to keep people coming to protest rallies they used to vote but also 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 all violence which is what could scare them away the results of the elections to this the duma hotly contested by many brought tens of thousands out in the streets of moscow but the day after presidential elections nearly half of that number showed up to pushkin square square and even fewer still to the demonstration on saturday they are not believing right here is that they don't always hear every single protest absolutes that by some a lot of them are gonna see it more as if they don't need that really go away satisfied oh ok so it was your guidance you know harry 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 why the hair if i were a star i want to see different in japan. candidates that i can choose from but i tell you think we can really reach any calls by protests like feeds even some of

the most of the movement for their actions see solid foundations are necessary to carry on with a movement that's in the book some sort of regulation and structure is needed some sort of goals an understanding of what happens next which could be easily understood by people who are also necessary. which began as a call for free and fair elections in russia following the vote for the state duma seems to have turned into haphazard series of gatherings they have achieved success in bringing people. suited streets. trikes you were tracked more attention to their slogans but we are now witnessing that their slogans need 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 and those who aren't. free and fair the government's motto leading up to the presidential election in

russia and officials certainly spared little expense and delivering the hundreds of thousands of webcams broadcast of the vote for the whole world to see that artist cut by mazzei found out that much transparency also came with rather a good dose of hilarity. allegations of widespread voter fraud in last december's column entry lections set off a wave of mess of protests against mr putin sensitive to the incited opposition he ordered the installation of web cameras at 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 ensure transparency the cameras however did prove to be quite handy in some provinces such as dagestan when one station the results weren't cancelled after cameras showed by lesions of election procedures.

the web cameras reproduced 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 apps training and lots of dancing. one a video that was a hit with this three hundred thousand hits on you tube this man bring in michael jackson's moonwalk back to life because his ballot. we caught up with him and asked if he expected his video to be 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 they 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 election and the world and the country awaits the swearing in the president elect most of bloody mary putin as well the rest of us there's no doubt we'll never forget the glimpses that people gave us of their lives from all across the country and those who thought at their moments on camera wasn't being watched agreed we were looking. to bundle say on t.v. moscow thank. you. and so good to have you with us or in our teats ok now debate on how to stop the syrian crisis has been tending towards diplomacy russia and the arab league have come up with a joint plan ruling out foreign meddling in calling on both the government and the

opposition to lay down arms that says the u.n. arab envoy is in syria promoting an all inclusive dialogue but if that is maria financial 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 sergey lavrov has said they have an out a common plan that sends a clear message to all the sides being involved in this crisis their solution to this goal 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 through no external interference which forces the unrestricted delivery of humanitarian aid to the syrians and finally the firm support of casinos mission to start political between the government and all of position you've seen it was it. the joint u.

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 coffee allen'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 a legitimate representative of the syrian people seeking for democratic change is firmly rejected talks called want to pressure on the regime of bashar al assad these calls were followed by suggestions by qatar to deploy foreign troops to syria but there is a fear 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 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

says one thing is clear though that mobilization has many more forms and 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 could tare and saudi intelligence officers as well as cia and mossad it's also seized israeli weapons especially in take eight missiles and israeli drones while the us and many other countries have admitted a kind of link to extremist groups fighting alongside beyond a position in syria. says some countries are using those groups to further their own interests. to get local players involved in order to hide there and 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 a stabbing in syria they have another agenda. there are books and written

sources where this plan is described in detail. and how the culture of a blogger and freelance journalist has been investigated for a new serious crisis since last year she says this is a story with three main chapters often smuggled across the border of this is contractors and foreign cash when you see a lot of money in syria i believe this is comparable to what happened in the civil war. there were plenty of money then you will find not. something nobody would get in so. now you would see now this is a. city 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 the town. they can say we regret what

we did but we don't want things to go back. to turn so much militarized global oil and never will. wanted. intervention. but fears are abdul aziz says it's good to meet to stop this all too far into claims of conflict while the conflict between president bashar assad and his opponents here in syria and politics and so it's something dear another conflict is also in full swing between those calling on the political settlement as their way out and those who insist on minutes the solution and the let's say started into fights almost as important as the one claim in blood on the streets. see damascus syria tell us about one of our top stories here in our tell you that over the recent presidential election win by prime minister vladimir putin bring him back to the kremlin for a third term let's get more perspective on this and what it means for the

international standpoint now joining me now here on our team michael burns a political and military and economic analyst live in new york good to see you thanks for coming on the program today let me putin has never been one to shy away from stating his own view on world affairs and ultimately sticking to it but in that context how it is coming return being viewed by international leaders do you think i think people i think people are quite pleased with his return don't forget . internationally we want russia to be economically viable and certainly was on his first terms. and he's a muscular charismatic grow from all the opposition although very real was not in the abundance and velocity he was projected by many people i think the international community is quite pleased but what about the what about the u.s. public or certainly in the western media especially there's been a barrel of negativity ahead of the elections so what's the general feeling towards

putin among the people there in the u.s. . i think among the people there is great comfort that he's back in power for one thing american people don't want to go into fourth and fifth war which is looks like we're headed that way with respect to syria and iran and perhaps son of a strong muscularity on the part of russia and china we are going to just simply find ourselves in another war in two wars and the american people are tired of it we we are we're spending all our money on these wars and we're in this raiding our our our domestic spending it's it's a terrible situation now up until the days leading up to the election certainly the western media was quiet and see putin we've heard it from from various leaders in

fact we've heard the so we've just lost the connection here and we were speaking to you michael burns a political military and economic analyst i do apologize we will work to reestablish that connection certainly an interesting conversation and to be continued here on artsy. thank you for your patience on that let's turn our attention now to about of libya whose interim rules are struggling to keep the country together after a group of tribal land militia leaders declared a partial autonomy for an oil rich region in the east but the head of the national transitional council was quick to blame quote remnants of the khadafi regime for the breakup mostafa abdul julio also said the country's integrity would be defended by any means including force if needed sorry beirut based research of syracuse university says the new libya hasn't changed much from the gadhafi era state id only difference is the international community is now turning a blind eye to crimes against humanity that. the country is in chaos right now it's

heartbreaking and outrageous as president obama said it. situation in syria no this iteration in libya is the way we hear about militias torturing people who are suspected of supporting qaddafi in the past and there was a hideous story about someone's fingers getting cut off because he was horsewhipped on the head and repeatedly over and over again until his fingers were severed these are crimes against humanity that are happening in libya and there is no outcry by the international community the same international community that called for a no fly zone in libya to see civilians to save people's lives so really it's a very dangerous situation we don't know who has what capacity right now to attack other people in other tribes and so it's very difficult political solution is required for this certainly not a military one. we're watching out to you still to come for you in the program i thought of an emotional one year dawn of

a country stands united in solemn silence to remember the thousands of lives taken by the deadly earthquake and tsunami last march. and salvation to some collapse to others greece the biggest debt reduction deal in history and while it's pretty used to the hilt by brussels ratings agencies slammed it as default by another name. israel has carried out several airstrikes on gaza killing seventeen people over three days it's the worst violence the region's seen in more than a year for first came despite an informal truce between the sides it's all good a high ranking palestinian resistance leader and sparked a fierce exchange of fire. as watching developments. 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 overnight a twelve year old palestinian boy the still the image of the valley of refugee camp by any israeli airstrike cairo is reportedly mediating where he's trying to mediate is and how mass immigration in egypt and there the interruption ambassador to the palestinian authority has put the blame certainly 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 meeting in cairo and they've also called israeli airstrikes and massacre now tomorrow monday in the middle east caught it is nice 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. his policy reporting well japan is marking

a year since a massive earthquake and a tsunami devastated the country leaving more than twenty thousand or missing people gathered to united the exact moment the quake struck last march to greenough incitements. the nine magnitude quake which literally shifted the earth's axis the whole northeast of the country and ruin displacing hundreds of thousands of people tsunami it triggered also knocked out the cooling systems at the fukushima plant triggering the worst nuclear crisis in decades donald going to sun energy advisor at fairwinds associates believes that many details about the meltdown remain undisclosed with the contamination spreading well beyond the local area. i think

the government has been slow to disclose facts ever since the accident occurred there's clearly the cleanup is going to cost around half a trillion dollars u.s. and that's not just for the site but for the pretty picture of fukushima as well but the contamination goes well beyond the prefecture to pick it up in tokyo and that's two hundred fifty kilometers away the entire north of the country has a public health hazard here because everyone is exposed to radio active cesium radioactive strontium and other isotopes. this is r.t. it's been a week of sharp ups and downs for the greek economy and spanish to talk private creditors into accepting a crucial bond a swap deal that's considered to be the biggest debt write off in history the cream it seemed to loosen the noose around athens neck by reducing the debt burden my beloved 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 they suffered a major slap in the face by the credit rating agencies as moody's and fitch declared greece in default of the markets backed the trend by showing no signs of optimism william anderson associate professor from frost state university is resolute in his assessment which is ultimately that of. whatever you are with your creditor for less than what you. have agreed to do i don't hear how systematic it is or how complicated these debts rob savoye are we are dealing this with a real life before everybody knows that just because sir cosey claims that it isn't a deed fault means absolutely nothing it's a politician i don't believe you also have to deal with the fact that for a long time the greek government has been you know living this gravy train an imaginary gravy train with. borrowed money and now all of

a sudden reality is heading there and i think. in the long run you're going to see what's happening right now about these boring people certain criteria that does not exactly bode well for a tour of the us i know people come to greece to see ruins but they want to see the ruins on par with the acropolis a night in downtown athens. demonstrators and supporters of a hucking group anonymous gathered in paris on saturday protesting against the controversial act treaty and it fears it'll violate internet freedoms this comes after the hecticness community was shaken by tuesday's detention of members from another well known group of. its alleged ringleader was turned into an f.b.i. informant after being arrested last summer before turning in his colleagues this week by the group is known for carrying out several high profile hacking attacks on the cia fox news and sony following the arrests of the anonymous group retaliated

by taking down the website of the security company best known for its widely used and c virus software political commentator samuel that 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 has actually managed to achieve a shutting down nasty 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 all for a tarion way which in the end of the day is completely pointless. now let's look at some other international news for you in brief with the r.t. was up there it will start going to start where a u.s. soldier has been detained after a shooting at civilians in kandahar local residents say the servicemen killed

sixteen people after opening fire inside several homes the incident is under investigation by both nato and afghan officials kandahar was the scene of protests last month after u.s. troops mistakenly burned copies of the qur'an at a military base. a suicide bomber in northwest pakistan has attacked a funeral being attended by nancy taliban politician at least thirteen mourners have been killed and thirty wounded another politician did escape on heard his secular leaning a while mean national party holds power in the region and several of its leaders have been targeted in the recent past. all right a review of the week's top stories including the top headlines of today coming your way in just a few moments seems.