the biggest stories of the week here on r.t. vladimir putin emerges triumphant in need russian presidential election after turning overwhelming poll numbers into a convincing victory tough challenges are still ahead for the new leader. the russian opposition scrambles to recapture the public's passion but dashed expectations on internal fractures leave the movement increasingly short of support . russia in the arab league a funnel in the same boat over how to stop the syrian crisis but there are still those trying to put sticks in the spokes of the global sea. three days of more deaths reported off israeli airstrikes in gaza after the killing of

a palestinian resistance leader sense of rockets flying over the border of analysis from israel this hour. with a look back at the past seven days top stories and the latest developments this is the weekly on. the long and hard fought race for the kremlin is either prime minister vladimir putin now set to make a return to the presidency after a landslide election victory but expectations are now greater than at any other time with serious national challenges still ahead compounded by public and more politically aware than ever before. he has this report. which was one emotional night for. you we would win. but we. one. of the prime minister may have justified his cheers might

a strong wind but no one would be surprised if it was caused by the joy of big three. 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 they were predicted for ourselves and shows rance again actually proves that organize a political figure number one of this country and then his potential is yet to has yet to be oh composer there but it's no time to party now many experts believe real challenge in fact starts now. this will get sort of a battle between the two out there of course of that state a relevant coherent development credits for myself i identify the first concept as portugal and they want russian political system to be transparent whereas

russia's economy where they will get no net parties and no corruption but on the other hand this other group of process elite as well as the russian public whom i associate with a. they just need status quo they need just some candles from the state they don't want any change which is that will come 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 the country split six has serious potential and people 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 it's some be sure the other candidates . from the old stylish song is really. good. then. you know any more leaders of the younger generation and figures speak for

themselves second place community leaders are going to gauge seventeen percent in his fifth complained for presidency less than he scored he had earned a 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 sins to make way in the western countries if a 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 prior to this a lot of those folks are still seen as being somewhat out of touch you and the russians traders in our work these guys had their chance in the ninety nine you say screwed things up you know we still need stronger leadership able to offer we need a more concrete program and they. will continue his work as prime minister for two more months of the period which could become crucial and decisive for the country's long term future bloody reporting will officially return to the kremlin on may the

seventh that is when his inauguration takes place michael 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. alexi russia ski r.t. reporting from moscow. one issue this presidential campaign will be remembered for is the massive rallies that heralded a political awakening for russia's public and about appearances they worked with transparency becoming a top government priority today however the protest movement seems to be fizzling out and support quickly fading out here in english got upset why. when the protesters i'm happy with the results of the presidential elections took to the streets the day after the votes to place some caps the police busy. to do and some decided to outstay they wanted to hours yes you were there that it was your book

i'm not going to leave the square i'm staying here until putin leaves where the tents and there were no tents but there was a fountain which all died so 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 them south from an electricity transformer again after the opposition rally was officially over but the antics of the opposition leaders seem to do little to keep people coming to protest rallies for your support but also. 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 can scare them away the results of the elections to the studio hotly contested by many

brought tens of thousands out in the streets of moscow but the day after presidential elections there are only half of that number showed up to push square and even fewer still to the demonstration on saturday luckily it was a serious hit and all i see every single protest out so is that by some of the loud i'd rather see it wiser than any that really it was not so no matter who it was. no i didn't hear it was there some blame the lack of a coherent idea and absence of unity among the opposition leaders for the waning support. i think these people all have a different agenda some don't even know why the here if i was there i want to see different independent candidates that i could choose from but i don't think we can really reach any caused by protests like this even some of the most born core supporters of the movement for their actions see solid foundations are necessary to carry on with the movement. 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. the movement 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 that bringing people suit to the streets and try to attract more attention to their slogans but we are now witnessing their slogans needs to be changed there's a need for a new age and 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 gold r.t. . government the russian government rattled public protests went a long way and making sure this election was as transparent as possible but with transparency came unexpected insights from moonwalking to the ballot box to

weddings and discos at polling stations all part of the electoral reality show captured by two hundred thousand webcams more on that point in about twenty minutes from now here on r.t. . the debate over how to stop the syrian crisis has been tending towards diplomacy in russia and the arab league have come up with a join. planned ruling out foreign intervention and calling on both the government and the opposition to lay down on answers the un i remember has been to syria promoting an all inclusive dialogue but the financial reports there are those still trying to hinder the 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 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 it sounds 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 for no external interference for the unrestricted delivery of humanitarian aid to all syrians and finally the firm support of kofi annan mission to start a political dialogue between the government and all opposition groups. 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 coffee allen's arrival to syria by another 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 seeking for democratic changes firmly rejected talks with the government and called on more military 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 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 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 than officially stated. that 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 kotori and saudi intelligence officers as well as cia and mossad it's also seized israeli weapons especially in take take 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 a stablish unit in syria they have another agenda. there are books and written sources where this plan is described in detail decades ago and how the coach never blogger and freelance journalist has been investigated for an important and serious crisis since last year she says this is a story we 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 that this is comparable to what happened in the civil war in lebanon there were plenty of money then you will find

not the government book about bellows or something you would get in folklore. now what you would see now this is the beginning of a war here in syria with more and more reports on international involvement and calls to the opposition getting louder even for those at the grassroots for the uprising the initial euphoria is turning. i can say we regret what we did but we don't want things to go down for a turn so much militarized globalized and boil and we never want to and don't want intervention now but here's our says that it could be too late to start this all to far into flames of conflict while the conflict between france and bashar al 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 a lot a certain interface almost as important as the one claim in blood on the streets. see damascus syria top u.s. defense officials admitted this week that president obama has asked the pentagon to set up military options on syria that's despite recently dismissing veteran senator john mccain's calls for airstrikes saying any attack would be a mistake actually returned a london based journalist and author told me earlier that he thinks neither the united states nor the european union are interested in a peaceful solution. the horrifying prospect of foreign intervention hasn't gone away the e.u. and the us not concerned about humanitarian help the people being killed by troops if they were really caring about humanitarian issues they'd be caring about what the saudi arabians are doing to their people over the weekend or the bahraini government killing its own citizens what wiki leaks is strapped for document is

correct british troops are there now american special forces british special forces on the ground libyan money hundreds of millions there the supply routes from turkey this is a horrifying prospect. the light here in moscow coming up in this hour outrage in afghanistan as american forces have some major blood on their hands that comes after a u.s. soldier opens fire on civilians in kandahar killing sixteen many of them children what effect will this have on washington's quest to win over hearts and minds. operations to some collapse to others the biggest debt reduction deal in history one expressed by rating agencies the other night. israel has carried out several airstrikes in gaza killing seventeen people over three days and said worst part of the region seen in more than a year the first attack came despite an informal truce between the sides it

targeted a high ranking palestinian resistance leader and sparked a fierce exchange of fun. watching developments. but the situation here on the ground continues to escalate as israeli forces and palestinian militants continue exchanges of fire now the latest figures we have put the palestinian death toll at seventeen most of them are members of islamic jihad but overnight a twelve year old palestinian boy was killed in the refugee camp by any israeli airstrike is reportedly needed eighteen what he's trying to mediate there is a her master negation in egypt and the gyptian 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 meeting in cairo and they've also called the israeli airstrikes and message cut the middle east quartet is meeting to look at these stored 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. well for an overview of the situation i'm now joined by journalist from the hundreds newspaper gideon levy he's in tel aviv well just days ago we heard from our reporter there rival palestinian groups agreed to preserve the truce with israel so is there a particular reason that israel chose not all for this attack. i think the reason is that there was this opportunity to assist in a one of the leaders of. small militant group in gaza know that they justify it but there was their opportunity the guy was responsible according to israeli sources to take a few months ago on the egyptian border so there was the opportunity he was a seventy eight there and then the palestinian organization organizations couldn't

help but can take revenge so you're saying an opportunity israel's been waiting for a moment to launch an attack after all it's been very quiet ever about a year isn't it though the opportunity was to assess in a this guy. once the opportunity was available they did the first time and here we are again in this vicious. in this automatic reflex of assignation revenge for a branch of the river until there will be another truce and other cease fire i hope in the coming days but not a lot of charity perhaps to launch another major invasion which we saw three years ago. and not at this time look at this nobody is interested in invasion right. i am very afraid that. there will be another invasion but not for the not in this. the circle will be ended hopefully within

one or two days there are no israeli plans to invade gaza now so you don't think this will have a major impact on the already struggling peace protests process. i don't know what you mean when you say. peace process there is no peace process there are even no more talking at all about peace process and this. repeats itself once in a few months until the next invasion i'm afraid what about the u.s. there is expressed concern about the worsening situation do you think washington will try to calm israel over this in the way it's been trying to calm israel over the iranian issue. i think washington is preoccupied always other subjects and other issues and i'm not sure bugger's

washington as long as it is controlled and seems to be controlled i don't think that except of some kind of a lip service i don't think that washington. can intervene here don't forget also that the hamas the main but is still in leading group is quite best sieve in this. so i really anticipate really. just very briefly that is how fast totally in control of what's going on there in cars or bearing in mind these these rocket attacks at the moment just briefly you know hamas can control but hamas cannot stand against those organizations or take revenge for this assignation so hamas is playing a very careful role a very personal role and they let the others do the job gideon levy really interesting to hear thoughts and we appreciate your time joining us live here on r.t. thank you for being with us. thank you. a u.s.

soldier has been detained after going on a shooting rampage in southern afghanistan killing sixteen civilians including nine children and thought he opened fire inside local homes in the middle of the night it was investigating the incident which comes after a mass protest last month over the inadvertent burning of copies of the koran at a u.s. military base lindsey german from the stop the war coalition believes this is massively damaging for america isn't our campaign in the country the americans will try to say this is just an isolated incident but we have to remember that there are one hundred thousand occupying troops there are many many demonstrations over the pearly of the koran that isn't just about the offense to islam it's also about the occupation itself the air strikes and particularly in this case we know that every night in afghanistan up to forty miles it's a raided looking for alleged terrorists in the country now if this

soldier is one of the many who have been involved in these raids and it does raise many many questions as to exactly how the americans and treating the occupied population the afghan people. it's been a week of sharp ups and downs for the greek economy athens minister climate credits into accepting a crucial one swap deal that's considered the biggest debt write down in history the agreement seemed to loosen the rope around athens natal reducing the debt burden by more than a bunch hundred billion euros has praised the deal to the skies claiming a solution to the crisis had at last been found just hours later the year of cuts suffered a major slap in the face from the credit rating agencies as moody's and fitch both declared greece indifferent william anderson associate professor from forsberg state university police that the e.u. politicians are just putting their heads in the sand and unwilling to admit the obvious. this is a before 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 debt swaps are we are dealing with a real live before everybody knows that just because sir cosy claims that it isn't a deep thought 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 subtle by pretending that these assets mean something to 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've solved the problem and solve nothing to have actually made it worse because they won't admit what is going wrong. demonstrators and supporters of the hacking group anonymous gathered in paris on saturday protesting against the controversial act of treating amid fears it will violate internet freedoms this comes after the activist community was shaken by choose days

detention of members from another well known group. its alleged ringleader was arrested last summer then said to have become an f.b.i. informant and this week turned his colleagues in a group is known for carrying out several high profile hacking attacks on the cia fox news and sony following the arrests the anonymous group retaliated by taking down the website at the panda security company but its best known for its widely used antivirus software political commentator luke samuel says the government's approach to hackers would achieve anything. anonymous is a group that genuinely sees itself involved in a kind of cyber war where they played a part of self-appointed protectors of internet liberty because it's worth bearing in mind that the most this group actually managed to achieve. 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 i mean only real response

they can come up with is using the law in this kind of war fora tarion way which in the end of the day is completely pointless. free and further governments my phone leading up to the presidential election in russia and official spared little expense in delivering hundreds of thousands of webcams broadcast the vote for the world to see but as. that much transparency also came with a dose of hilarity. allegations of widespread voter fraud in last december's parliamentary elections set off a wave of massive protests against mr putin says that eventually incited opposition he ordered the installation of web 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 ensure transparency the cameras however do prove to be quite handy in some provinces such as date is done in one station

the results were cancelled after cameras showed why legions 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 add straining and lots of dancing. what did we do it was a hit with over three hundred thousand hits on you tube this man and bring in michael jackson's moonwalk back to life because his palate.

we caught up with him and ask if he expected his video to be this popular. i would say we did it for fun not prepare him actually i was surprised because we were the only ones who voted this way i thought they should have been more people like us they were a lot of opportunities to create whatever you want i hope next time people will vote more creatively with. the world and the country awaits the swearing in the president elect in the bloody mary putin as well the rest of us there's no doubt we will never forget the glimpses that people gave us all 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 would see on t.v. moscow i. think are recognizing the latest round of russia's football premier league was more a streak of draws for teams at the top of the table just under twenty minutes. will

be telling us more in his. update before the weekend headlines an aussie special interview thing i went. to.

nearly a billion people in the world for knowing countries every day. in the united states even our trash cans are full of the food you just have to go get it all of these perfectly good eggs because one was cracked in even get all over the other ones just dromo way but she's from the german oh give clearly my. upper crust. from the dumpster at one am this morning three pm this afternoon on the grill to the cake is made from and one dozen them stir egg whites. delicious breakfast for the family make some toast for about a week every year in america we throw away ninety six billion pounds of food.