french ex-pats cast their ballots in the country's ronald presidential vote as france decides on sunday between nicolas sarkozy and his socialist francois hollande and election which has sharply split the country. the man accused of masterminding the nine eleven terror attacks stays silent and then arraignment hearing at eight kuantan a military court but some claiming its timing is politically motivated. that russia's republic of dagestan mourns the victims of a deadly twin bombing which killed thirteen people and injured more than one hundred in an attack suspected to have international terrorism links.

oh and thanks for joining our t.v. it is sunday one o'clock here in moscow karen tara well french voters abroad have begun to vote in the last leg of the nation's presidential election and what's been one of the most bitter and divisive campaigns in recent history incumbent nicolas sarkozy is battling for his political life against socialist challenger francois hollande voting is in full swing at french and the seas across north and south america a day before ballots open across mainland france austerity cuts pushed by the french leader have proved deeply unpopular with his leftist opponent promising to undo much of psychosis work if elected instead are to tesoro sileo brings us more from paris. one day to go before the french at the polls and make that decisive vote and even the city itself is preparing to ensure it there. next president now

it's down to two men incumbent nicolas sarkozy and his socialist challenger ponselle along cording to the polls is still it's a bit hard to log but there is still that question mark as to the voters of that in the pen of the national front and centrists france will by rule who are they going to choose for the second route the french will essentially be choosing between a man along with claims that he will bring back a wall would be to the country also want to go head to head with german chancellor angela merkel to challenge a fiscal pact that he says is bad for france on the other hand you have a man a sucker's even claims that he is the only one who can prevent france from going down the path that greece italy spain and all the trouble do result nations have gone down but there is a group of french people who believe that they don't really have a choice when it comes to the program be presented to them and therefore the personality of these two men has become just as important as the proposals they put for it boils down to which man is more presidential who can take on the job better

now for the beginning of the campaign there has a big box of things he has and for the people saying that they don't really see any of the candidates perceptive that with a real solution that could bring france out of the quagmire that it's there nevertheless eighty percent of voters have said that they have already made up their minds be it the sufi's the what dogs or either of the two. robert harness an independent journalist specializing on france says a francoise hollande defeats nicolas sarkozy france will play a much calmer and more measured role on the world stage. the biggest change you have to say it will be one of style psychos either is is very dramatic he leaps into a plane and flies to georgia he intervenes dramatically in libya very vocal in his hostility to syria and iran i think if all of these elected only if i know me yet he will be much more carm. grown partly because he doesn't carry

the experience to credibly leap into into the forefront if you like but also by temperament he used much more of a synthesizer as the saying goes than done so because he's much less a dramatic personality and i think because he thinks that france needs a change from the slightly energetic style of leadership of nicolas sarkozy but i think one has to say that there are a big question marks but far smaller and he's never been a minister of any sort i mean this is i would say probably almost unique in a major western country that someone's got this far in the electoral process and they've never served in any sort of you know like office at a national level so they're kind of course there is the other faction but least of the country have a big question mark about whether they really want a socialist government because they always suspect fairly or unfairly for the socialists will tax and spend and maybe that's not appropriate for the present circumstances. as france holds its collective breath and wondering who the country's future president will be russia's preparation for the inauguration of

a next leader the new to me the bit of a well hand over to vladimir putin at a ceremony in the magnificent halls of the kremlin that's all happening on monday and we'll be covering it live so tune in from seven thirty g.m.t. . anyway. all right it's five minutes past the hour and at least five people are reported dead serious second largest city of aleppo explosion at a car wash it follows

a blast that ripped through the capital damascus there were no casualties in the bomb which was attached to an army vehicle and went off in front of a military institute there are other unconfirmed reports of a second blast in the city damascus has also been the scene a mass rallies following the funerals of those killed in clashes on friday between rebels and the army r.t. sara firth has more. you've got the bodies of the dead they carried through the streets of damascus. rules the people who were killed under the station they get under way and you can just have a look at how many people have turned out there are thousands of people here here's the story you've got the military security watching. now this comes as the u.n. observers are in the country touring around different areas tasked with verifying the implementation of the u.n.

envoy kay financed peace plan now casey and spokes person has come out and said that peace plan despite reported violations from both sides is back on track now really the message for the u.n. envoy spokes person was that this crisis that has now been going on for more than a year is not going to be solved in a day is not going to be solved overnight syria's gearing up for parliamentary elections next week people feel that against the backdrop of a lack of security and of continuing violence that is simply not the right time to be holding these parliamentary elections but of course we've heard a lot of people calling for this push for democracy in the country to be implemented through the ballot box and not three bullets. the first arraignment hearing of the self-confessed nine eleven mastermind. and his accomplices got off to a rocky start on saturday as the defendants remained a result lee silent at

a military tribunal in guantanamo bay khalida shaikh mohammad repeatedly refused to answer the judge's questions while his co-defendants knelt in prayer the five men have been charged with almost three thousand counts of murder for the two thousand and one attacks and could face the death penalty however this was their first hearing in almost three years american lawyer eric month although believes the timing of the military tribunals is politically motivated. within twenty four hours of president obama taking office issued an executive order to close guantanamo bay as the most powerful leader in the world and that did not occur for what reason i have no idea and this is three years later on that you book another election i think what they're trying to do is take that issue off the table and say well we're at least trying to proceed in an orderly fashion but i think it's fairly certain bill and people will be able to see through it does a tremendous injustice to the memory of those victims are not

a little bit and i say it does a tremendous justice to the thing that we call the justice system in america and you know it's going to highlight you know an embarrassing chapter in our history. and what you're going to see is a tremendous amount of incompetency as they proceed forward and there are going to be appeals and this thing is going to linger on. political transition continues to be scarred with intensifying while it's less than three weeks before the country's first presidential elections after last year's revolution a curfew has been extended for another night after a friday rally ended in fierce clashes between protesters and security forces in cairo leaving at least one person dead and scores injured parties correspondent the region paul slayer has the details. well friday's violence is. have been triggered when protesters ignored warnings not to approach the defense ministry building they

started throwing stones at security forces who responded with tear gas and water cannons and according to a number of eyewitnesses they were rounds of live ammunition that were fired what is particularly significant those are for the first time we witnessing hard line islamists at the forefront of these what have become a weekly demonstration is with the ruling military and when we talk about islamists we're talking here about the powerful muslim brotherhood as well as the ultra conservative party now all of this comes hot on the heels of diddy caches earlier in the week on wednesday in front of the defense ministry building and here we see allegations go forward and backwards between the security forces and the protesters in terms of who started it so these surging violence is affecting the election campaign in what we witnessing is that these street battles are grazing fears of a new cycle of violence ahead of these presidential elections on the twenty third and twenty fourth of may the violence has also lived the campaigning in turmoil already two front runners as well as several other candidates the candidates have

an ounce there they are temporarily suspending their campaigns in protest against the heavy handedness in which the ruling military has been dealing with protesters there is also anger increasing across the political spectrum against skeff the supreme council of the armed forces they also say that the generals are not sincere about really wanting to hand over all the power come the twenty fourth of may and that they're trying to maneuver a way that they can still maintain some kind of control over the reins of authority what we've been hearing from the generals exact coming twenty fourth of may if there is one outright winner from one of the thirteen candidates who are standing in these presidential elections then they will hand over power but as i say increasingly egyptians on the street don't believe the word of the ruling military a prominent human rights activist has been arrested in bahrain. a move that could further escalate the gulf kingdom's fifteen month old on rust and tie regime

protester and now bill or a job has been detained at bahrain's international airport with no comment made on the reasons for the arrest there are claims however it could be linked to his recent meeting with the world's most notorious whistleblower julian a son and you have a chance to see his last interview before his capture in tuesday's show of the world tomorrow right here on our team. as speak to two leading revolutionaries one from bahrain where the revolution failed was that egypt where the revolution is now in turmoil what makes a revolution and where is the arab spring going to go. russia's republic of dagestan has been mourning the victims of thursday night's twin terror attacks two successive powerful blast killed thirteen people and injured more than one hundred r.t.s. american reports from the state. it's

a sad fact that the recent attacks on police and authorities in darkest and i'm merely the latest incidence in a long running history of violence in russia's volatile caucasus region for thursday's tragedy has already become the most devastating in months to massive car blasts hit the outskirts of the capital markets and woke up the entire city. at home watching t.v. then we heard an explosion little t.v. set fell down and broke around twenty cars were destroyed and the scene was littered with human body parts some even thrown as far as nearby trees and rooftops . de vry was prayed for hundreds of meters around. my brother and me ducked down this metal being still here my brother almost died. but they were among the lucky ones as their tech claimed more than a dozen lives policemen rescuers local residents the first explosion took off here

when officers from this police post stopped the car for documents check apparently the driver was a suicide bomber minutes later as many police cars and ambulances teens and emergency crews and fire brigades reach the area the second blast occurred it was much more powerful you can see the crater is huge one some reports say the second last had a force of one hundred kilos in t.n.t. coolant and it claimed the most victims the investigators have already identified the owners of both exploded cars. the double attack one more mortar another is a tactic commonly used by international terrorist organizations such as and qaeda in places like iraq enough. the stunt is designed to kill as many people as possible the president of biggest on was a we when the blasts happened in a bitter irony he was into congress in moscow highlighting a counterterrorism complains recent success. the caucasus region has been suffering

attacks by islamist terrorists for years this recent one the deadliest militants strike is part of this and go in battle between russia's federal forces and militants and it's unlikely to be the last. reported from in russia's biggest town clashes broke out in the german city of between local police and followers of a radical islamic salafist wing fighting erupted when the islam a staged a counter demonstration against an anti muslim rally the radicals have been distributing free copies of the koran in major cities sparking concerns among some in germany over the spread of muslim extremism there's nothing illegal however about the activity which those behind it say is freedom of expression are cheesier go to chris cornell investigates. afternoon brewer inserted for moon and once the words are being ended the reduce reducing off groans

continued. three hundred thousand copies in over one hundred across most parts of germany. material here if the bible can be distributed why not the koran. there's nothing illegal about handing out the koran the campaign may be provocative since it kicked off during easter but it's not even the timing which could do so much attention but who is behind the distribution. that's in the southeast movement is one of the most radical wings of islam known for its truth interpretations of the koran and in association with jihad the holy war against nonbelievers and punishments that can include amputation and stoning not exactly the most constitutional penalties this man sums up the credo don't mention who gives men the right to create laws that right belongs to. organized mind the local salafist

community the campaign's long term goal was to put twenty five million copies of the koran into german forms but it's not clear which interpretation is being used but. there are passages about violence especially against women protected by the law as men would be also about violet's it gets the other faithful. in here it says here this is only an approximate translation. one of germany's most influential selfless leaders has already been charged in cologne with inciting the public to commit illegal acts. there and i do believe these people are dangerous they don't just which is ok but they're trying to draw the youth into specific interpretation which promotes violence in the distribution of religious literature is protected by the constitution being part of the right to the freedom of opinion and religion as long as it doesn't promote violence or he treats you it's not

officially established if that's the case with all the koran is being given out by the son of this so for now the only legal option for the german authorities is to stand aside and watch you want this golf or rule in. a british court clamp down on the file sharing website pirate bay appears to have backfired educational requests by internet service providers to block the site has instead seen a massive search of twelve million more visitors to the portal journalist david seaman says governments globally are focusing on the wrong internet crimes in the fight against quote unquote piracy is global we have these powerful but dying and detainment corporations that are putting tremendous pressure on legislators and on law enforcement on our government to crack down on what they see as piracy but piracy is not the same thing is that when you distribute

a piece of music or you know a comedy show or anything like that and other people see it it's not as if the original creator has lost anything and fact there is a lot of evidence that those artists who receive a lot of play over the so-called piracy networks. and doing quite well because they reach millions of people who would not have even known about them otherwise they have these laws in place to attack piracy and i think ten years from now it's going to seem laughable. but that our government went after pirates when there are legitimate digital crimes happening online there's identity theft there's credit card fraud there are very serious things happening this online harassment all these things are happening and i think that's what our law enforcement agencies should be focused on and now some more stories making headlines around the world a sour a river near one of the paul's most popular resorts has burst its banks and swept away a village killing thirteen people floodwaters from the swollen city reverse smashed

into buildings leaving seventeen missing quoting three tourists army helicopters and a private airliner been deployed to the area for a rescue operation. fourteen people have been killed when a fire tore through a drug rehabilitation clinic in peru the investigation is underway but the blaze is reported to have begun after one of the patients set light to a mattress this follows a nother drug clinic fire in the country that killed twenty seven patients in january of this year. in canada students and government officials have reportedly struck an agreement after three months of months of protests at least nine people have been injured and one hundred arrested in the most recent riots that descended into violence on friday and saturday protests were against a government plan to raise tuition fees in the parliament price seventy five percent

. thousands have marched through tokyo to mark japan switching off its last working in a clear reactor for the first time in over forty years the country will be without atomic energy after intense public opposition and following the fukushima plant meltdown caused by last year's earthquake and tsunami the government had been eager to restart some reactors fearing blackouts and rising emissions as they turn to other power sources. free public schools available to all have been the cornerstone of the u.s. education system but savage government cuts slashing budgets in half have brought teachers parents and pupils out on to the streets saying learning is now beyond the reach of many parties my view no question about listen to their plight. parents who join forces can be a powerful voice for change. i think i was actually right i

actually had to take was ok this is the third but this is being served if the governor is caught you are going to probably not have from two thousand and three told today if you will of experience of forty six percent much you can tell eleven year old vanessa had to repeat her grade and was well behind agents reading ability she lives with her mother to remain in the port town in south in california there remains frustration over what she sees as the school's paintings led her to use the state's piney rain parent trigger long we were outraged disappointed and felt that we had to do something find a way to make a positive change her children the law allows parents at a school with consistently poor results to file a petition to reform this court although rejected by the local authority to send this case parents are taking it all the way to the courts. i don't want to get

upset but it's frustrating because i want my daughter to go to the kitchen of my son's three or four he's going to be going to canterbury i mean if you start from this school might as well keep on my home because he's not going to be marrying there and we need to get the best for him and for both on because i want to go to her opportunity so much to be become somebody in my adelanto doesn't stand alone when it comes to dating standards how imported by the state coffers are running on empty. programs and even the number of teachers have all been cut and the axe as a step swing gania. the proposed twenty twelve budget would slash a thirty five point two billion dollars from public school funding now unless motorists can be persuaded to have income and sales taxes. for. now some schools here are moving to four day weeks canceling field trips and charging students to play sports while mothers like since the end to read are trying to take the law into their own hands and show their stories that their children deserve the right

to d.c. now do cation my you know question archie reporting from california being a member of a secret society carol apparently growing an elevated sense of status and power but how much influence can it give you on the world stage our resident laurie harvest is on the streets of new york to find out the opinions of people there. do you believe a secret elite is running the world this week let's talk about that there doesn't seem to be any compelling evidence the world has too many. disparate and independently acting things and functions in it for there to be sort of a single. ball of individuals instructing them where to go it just doesn't seem credible to me what about groups like the bills or bridge group or the bohemian club those kinds of things and i think a lot of that is just sort of overblown and just rhetorical but there are groups of

people that are powerful men that get together once a year and no one knows what they're talking about but we know they get together what do you think they're talking about. i get together with my friends couples homes here nobody knows who are talking about either so i don't really care about what these are you don't think that they're making decisions that influence your life not at all. do exists. in a part of the world but not the whole world so it seems there is a lot of different groups with different goals so there's a little element of it but it's not as evil as people might think yes exactly i don't really have an opinion on it i mean if you know rich people are rich people are going to have their own little country club that's fine with me to really bother me but money influences the world's right true but many of these people probably are employing us right kind of goes both ways so things like most people don't even care whether or not there's a secret elite group of people ruling the world and if they do exist that's probably just the way they like it.

that's the news for this hour i'll be back with a recap of the main stories in just a few minutes right after that a fresh portion of banking scandal served up by artie's financial guru max keiser.

the people of the united states and their friends and allies will not live at the mercy of an outlaw regime that threatens the peace with weapons of mass murder is a regime as an active program to acquire and develop nuclear weapons and let there be no doubt about we know for a fact that there are limits there. this were just being carried out into the direction of dr david kay respected scientist and former u.n. inspector was leading the weapons search in iraq we are determined to take this apart we have a tremendous a group of dedicated american men and women involved in this with the best assets of the intelligence community can provide. data cheney is not going to be done with this for quite some time david kay wants more time and he says it could take another six to nine months to make a definitive finding ministration is asking congress for hundreds of millions more six hundred million dollars to fund a continuing search we have not yet found shiny pointy things that i would call

a weapon before we can draw from conclusions we need to let the iraq survey group complete its work. we were all wrong probably in my judgment. and that is most disturbing. sometimes the true patriot takes the unpopular course but helps the country avoid the stakes and even if they come this way with these photos that patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels and i think these are scoundrels they have no argument now they have no defense for what they did the country is in a terrible international security situation that i think is perilous so they're attacking the patriotism of others. join me on a journey to the heart of the problem to a place is hidden from the tories are you going to meet some real climate insiders

although they may not be the usual news makers you see on t.v. . recently. the mission. couldn't take three years for charges three. major missed three. three stooges priests.