you're watching r t here three o'clock in moscow thank you for joining us french voters abroad have begun to vary 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 nicholas occurs he is battling for his political life again socialist challenge of console launch in full swing at french embassies across north and south america a day before ballots across a mainland france austerity cuts of pushed by the french leader have proved deeply unpopular with his left his opponent promising to undo much of the work if elected instead. a celebrity so small from paris. the city itself is prepared to that's president now it's down to two men incumbent nicolas sarkozy of a socialist challenger francois log cording to the polls is still it's really hard to log but there is still that question mark as to who the voters of but in the pen

of the national front and such as france will by rule who are they go to choose a for the side that the french will certainly be choosing between a man along with claims that he will bring back the wall would be to the cards and you also want to go head to head with german chancellor angela merkel to challenge a fiscal pact that he says is bad for us on the other hand you have a matter suckles even claims that he is the only one who could prevent france from going down the path of greece italy spain and all the trouble do result basis have gone down but there is a group of people who believe that they don't really have a choice when it comes to the program. and therefore the personality of these two men has become just as important as the proposals they put forth boils down to which man is more presidential could take on the job better now for the beginning of the campaign there has a big box of things for the people saying that they don't really see any of the candidates was up to there with a real solution that could bring france out of the quagmire that it's there nevertheless eighty percent of voters. said that they have already made up their

minds be it the sarkozy or dogs or neither of the two. are a bit harness an independent journalist a specialized thing on france's if francois along defeats nicholas the crazy friends will play a much calmer and more measured role on the world stage. the biggest change you have to say is that it will be one of style stuck ozias is it's very dramatic he leaps into a plane and flies to your journey he intervenes dramatically in libya very vocal in his hostility to syria and iran i think if all of these elected you don't leave his by no means. he will be much more car. drawn partly because he doesn't carry the experience to credibly. into the forefront if you like but also by temperament he used much more of a synthesizer as the saying goes than than sarkozy 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 they're of the 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 for public office at a national level so of course there is the other factor but least half 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 hold its collective breath are wondering who the country's future president will be russia's preparing for the inauguration of its next lead him to meet or maybe ever will hand over to vladimir putin at a ceremony in a big never seen halls of the kremlin it's all happening on monday and we'll be covering it live from seven thirty g.m.t.

. again. the furthur rain meant hearing of a self-confessed and nine eleven mastermind and his accomplices got off to a rocky start on saturday as the defendant there remained resolutely silent at a military tribunal in guantanamo bay khalid shaikh mohammed to repeatedly refused to answer the judge's questions while his codefendant and knelt in prayer before

i've men have been charged with almost three thousand counts of made up of the two thousand and one attacks and could face at the death penalty however this was their first hearing in almost three yes' american lawyer eric one tollable believes that the timing of the military tribunals was 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 which years later on the eve of 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 a 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 think it does a tremendous justice to the saying that we call the justice system in america and you know if it's going to highlight you know an embarrassing chapter in our history

in the end 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. a prominent human rights activist has been arrested in bahrain in a move that could further escalate the gulf kingdom's fifteen month old under arrest and to regime protest jeb has been detained at bahrain's international airport with no comment made on the reasons for the arrest those claims however it could be linked to his recent meeting with the world's most notorious whistleblower julian a fungi and you have a chance to see his latest interview before his capture in choose a show the world tomorrow point here on r t. a speak to two leading revolutionaries one from bahrain where the revolution once of egypt where the revolution is now in turmoil what makes

a revolution and where is the arab spring going to go. at least five people are reported dead in syria's second largest city of aleppo after an explosion at a car wash it follows a blows that ripped through the capital damascus there were no casualties in the bombing which was attached to an army vehicle and went off in front of a military institute there are unconfirmed reports of a second blast in the city in damascus has also been the scene of mass rallies are following the funerals of those killed in clashes on friday between rebels and the army artie's a surfer it has more. we've got the bodies of the dead they carried through the streets of damascus. the people who were killed on the station they get on the way 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 the u.n. envoy kay finance 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 from the u.n. envoy spokesperson 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. for democracy in the country to be implemented

through the ballot box and not three bullets. egypt's political transition continues to be scarred with intensifying violence 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 and in fierce clashes between protesters and security forces in cairo living at least one person dead and scores injured artie's a correspondent in the region policy has the details. well friday's violence a city 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 there is that for the first time we witnessing hard line islamize at the forefront of these what have become a weekly demonstrations 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 did he catch it's only when 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 surge in violence is affecting the election campaign in what we witnessing is that these fears street battles all raising 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 left the campaigning in turmoil already two front runners as well as several other candidates see 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 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 it's that coming twenty fourth of may if there is a one hour flight when or 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 . russia's republic of dagestan has been mourning the victims of thursday night's twin terror attacks two successive appall full blast killed thirteen people and injured more than one hundred r.t.s. a maria national report from the ball a tough state. it's a sad fact that the recent attacks on police and authorities in his town a merely the latest incidents in a long running history of violence in russia's volatile caucasus region thursday's tragedy has already become the most devastating. two massive car blasts the

outskirts of the capital markets and woke up the entire city. we were at home watching t.v. then we heard an explosion. 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 spread for hundreds of meters around. my brother and me ducked down this metal being. my brother almost. which 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 teams and emergency crews and fire brigades reach the area the second last the current 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. equivalent and it claimed the most victims investigators have already identified the owners of both exploded cars. the double attack one more after another is a tactic commonly used by international terrorist organizations such as in canada in places like in. iraq in afghanistan is designed to kill as many people as possible the president of his tone was away when the blasts happened in a bitter irony it was a 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 militant strike is part of this and go in battle between russia's federal forces and militants and it's unlikely to be the last. to reported from in russia's biggest

town. clashes broke out in the german city of bond between local police and followers of a radical islam as a slow office wing fighting erupted when they slam a stage 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 which there is be hided say is freedom of expression. god of pisco novel and this could investigate. afternoon brewer in central maryland. and once the worshipping ended the redistribution of korans continued. three hundred thousand copies in over one hundred across most parts of germany.

and the 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. of 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 none of 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. we're going to find a local scientist community that campaigns long term 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 who are

not protected by the law as men would be also about violet's it gets the other faithful. in there it says here this is only an approximate translation. one of germany's most influential service leaders has already been charged in cologne with inciting the public to commit illegal acts. i do believe these people are dangerous they don't just which is ok they're trying to draw the youth into a specific interpretation which promotes violence. the distribution of religious literature is protected by the constitution being part of the right to freedom of opinion and religion as long as it doesn't promote violence. it's not yet been officially established if that's the case with all the qur'an is being given out by the salafist so for now the only legal option for the german authorities is to stand aside and watch you walk the scum of the berlin. a

british court to clamp down on the file sharing website pirate bay appears to have backfired off the internet service providers were told to block it the portal has seen a massive surge of twelve million visitors jenna's david c. man says governments globally are focusing on the wrong internet crimes. 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 theft 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 and sad 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 there's 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 of this hour on a river near one of the poles who is popular resort has burst its banks and surfed away a village killing thirteen people floodwaters up from the swollen said two rivers measure into buildings leaving seventeen missing including three tori's army helicopters and a private airliner have been deployed to the area for rescue operation. fourteen people have been killed when a fire tore through

a drug rehabilitation clinic in piru an investigation is underway but the blaze is reported to have begun after one of the patients are said like to a mattress this follows another drug clinic fire in the country that killed twenty seven patients in general read this year. in cuba canada students and government officials have reportedly struck an agreement after three months of mess of protests at least nine people have been injured and one hundred arrests 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 province by seventy five percent. thousands of through tokyo tomorrow japan switching off its last working nuclear reactor for the first time in over forty years and the country will be without our tomic energy after intense public opposition 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 the

other power sources. now as the us government introduced cuts at all levels of public education in los angeles parents teachers and children have rendered in force as saying the cuts have put education beyond the reach of many they blame washington for failing standards after slashing the education budget by half in recent years are to. listen to their plight. parents who join forces can be a powerful voice for change yeah if you think about it i think sheriff actually was ok this is the third year that this has been observed if the governor is caught you would go into play you sound from not from two thousand and three till today if you will of experience of forty six percent but you can't know eleven year old vanessa had

to repeat her grade and was well behind just reading ability she lives with her mother to remain in the port town in south in california. frustration over what she sees as the school's fame things lead her to use the state's pioneering parent trigger law we were outraged disappointed and felt that we had to do something find a way to make a positive change her children below allow spare into the 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 get a good portion of my sons three or four who's going to be going to kindergarten and if you start from this school might as well keep all my home because he's not going to be learning there we need to get the best for her and for both on because i want to go to her opportunities and not to be become somebody and i. had to learn to

doesn't stand alone when it comes to dating standards imported by the city's coffers running on empty. or programs and even the number of teachers have all been cut and the axe is in a step swing. the proposed twenty twelve budget slashing thirty five point two billion dollars from public school funding unless troops can be good to have income conceals taxes but for now some schools here are moving to four day weeks canceling field trips and charging students to play sports while mother is like since you do read a train take the law into their own hands and show the authorities that their children deserve the right to decent advocation i do not question marty reporting from california. being a member of a secret society can apparently grant you an elevated sense of status and power but how much influence can

a give you on the world stage our resident laurie hoffman estates on the streets of new york to find out the opinions of people that. 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 is on the run thing that they're making decisions that influence your life. do exists. in a part of the world but not the whole world jaycee's 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 or 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 it seems 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 kaiser.

to a substantial degree and one form or another socialism has spread the shadow of human regimentation over most of the nations of europe and the shadow as i'm quoting

a river. in the early twenty first century military bases a network of military bases all around the forms of the evil empire that the united states is trying to build that's astonishing most americans have no idea there are more than a quarter of a million more than two hundred fifty thousand u.s. troops stationed on these bases all around us. we don't have foreign bases in america we don't have any british base we don't have any korean base we don't have any french bases or you know we just all american bases in our bases of a lot of the noise is our noise and those bother us at all because they're all bases but for other people it's almost like a cancer here for these people. since the end of world war two the spaces i've been . working here to

provide a safe and secure environment for everybody. the questions. get everything you need to wealthy british stock. market why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy. for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines two kinds of reports on.

line. which brighten. songs from funds to impressions. screams totty. the book. i am. if you're. going to take free storage. arrangements free. free. free. free bird videos for your media projects free media oh god r.t.

dot com. you're watching r t it's three thirty here in moscow thank you for joining us here's a quick recap of our headlines at this hour french experts cost their ballots in the country's run up presidential vote as francis decides on sunday between nicolas sarkozy and his social his rival francois alond in an election which has sharply split the country the self-proclaimed mastermind of the nine eleven terror attacks on some of the judge's questions with a stony silence and a one tunnel chord with some saying the timing of the military tribunals is politically motivated and a day of mourning is observed in russia's republic of dagestan for the victims of a double bombing which rocked the capital on thursday night the explosion which.