french experts cast their ballots in the country's run of presidential vote as france decides on sunday between nicolas sarkozy and his socialist rival swansong land in an election which has sharply split the country. the self-proclaimed mastermind of the nine eleven terror attacks on says the judge's questions with the stony silence at a guantanamo port was something the timing of the military tribunal is politically motivated. and a day of mourning is observed in russia's republic of dagestan for the victims of a double bombing which is thought to be linked to international terrorist groups.

twenty four hours a day seven days a week you are alive here with our teeth thank you for joining us now our top story for this hour french voters abroad have begun to vote in the last leg of the nation's a presidential election in what's been one of the most bitter and divisive campaigns in recent history and cumbered nicholas a cosy is battling for his political life again socialist challenger francois law and thirteen is in full swing at french embassies across north and south america as ballots are to open in a few hours across mainland france austerity cuts pushed by the french leader have proved deeply unpopular with his left his opponent promising to undo much of the cozies work if elected artie's tessa's sylow brings us more from paris. even the city itself is preparing to usher in there that's president now it's down to two men incumbent nicolas sarkozy of his socialist challenger afonso

a law and order to the polls is still a trailing behind the law but there is still that question mark as soon as the voters of but in the pen of the national front and centrists france will by rule who are they going to choose a for the site that the french will essentially be choosing between a man or lawyer claims that he will bring back a quality 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 of substance even claims that he is the only one who can prevent france from going down the path but 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 presented to them and therefore the personality of these two men has become just as important as the proposal stay put for it boils down to which man is more presidential could take on the ball better now for the beginning of the campaign there has a big box of jews yes and for the people saying that they don't really see any of

the candidates was up to 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 sarkozy who are either of the two. robot honus an independent journalist a specialized in one francis says if one so long defeats nicolas sarkozy france will play a much calmer and more measured role in the world stage. the biggest change you have to say is that it will be one of style stucco z. this 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 it's all of these elected only because i know means. he will be much more carm and withdrawn partly because he doesn't carry the experience to credibly. into the forefront if you like but also

by temperament he's 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 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 you know like office at a national level so they're kind of course there is the other factor at least half 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 friends hold if their collective breath wondering who the country's future president will be russia's preparing for the inauguration of its

next leader to meet you maybe at ever handed over to vladimir putin at a ceremony they make never been told of a crime then it's all happening on monday and we'll be covering it live as a human in seven thirty g.m.t. . anyway. the first arraignment hearing of the self-confessed a nine eleven mastermind and his accomplices got off to a rocky start on saturday as the defendants had remained resolutely silent at

a military tribunals in guantanamo bay khalid shaikh mohammad to repeatedly refused to answer the judge's questions while his codefendant 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 you know with three yes' american lawyer eric montoya 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 three 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 decent 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 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. you're watching r t and still ahead for you in the program a questionable resolution after three months of student protests in q back and at least one hundred arrests and government officials claim to have found a solution but will it bring an end to canada's violent clashes. a perfectly legal and peaceful action by radical islamists in germany sparks serious concerns over growing muslim extremism in europe. a prominent human rights

activist has been arrested in bahrain in a move that could further escalate the gulf kinda mz fifteen month old unrest and to regime protest in a bill or a job has been detained at barry's international airport with no comment made on the reasons for the rest they claims however it could be linked to the recent meeting with the world's most notorious whistleblower julian a son and you have a chance to see his latest interview before his capture and choose they show the world tomorrow right here on our team. speak to two leading revolutionaries one where they were. once an 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 often

explosion at a car wash it follows a blast that ripped through the capital damascus there were no casualties when the bomb which was attached to an army vehicle went off in front of a military institute the wrong of course unconfirmed reports of a second blast in the city damascus has also been the scene of mess rallies are following the funerals of those killed in clashes on friday between rebels and the army are teaser sarah ferguson has moved. we've got the bodies of the dead they carried through the streets of damascus. the people who were killed under the station they get out of the way you can just have a look at how many people have turned out there are thousands of people here. 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 from 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. 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 election is up to last his revolution a curfew has been extended for another night after friday really and in fierce

clashes between protesters and security forces in cairo leaving at least one person dead and scores injured parties correspondent in the region policia 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 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 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 surging violence is affecting the election campaign in what we witnessing is that these fifth street battles are 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 lived the campaigning in turmoil already two front runners as well as several other candidates 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 of 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 reigns of the forest what we've been hearing from the generals it's like coming twenty fourth of may if there is one outright winner from one of the thirteen candidates who is

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 students and government officials in kickback are said to have agreed a solution after months of protests against jewish in fiji hikes that at least nine people were injured when drives turned violent and on friday and saturday amid a car dealer a politician in the national assembly of quebec says canada sacrifice of the needs of its people by spending billions on defense to side with america. all these policies of the canadian government are now heavily relying on defense defense policy with billions of spending uniquely in the last two years there have been almost more than five billion dollar of spending announced. with contracts with. american farm builders and in the same time the transfer to the

provinces and money needed for the transfer of education for example has been curtailed so in those circumstances governments like the government is holding back on its social spending this is just unacceptable by the back and canadian standards it's almost unbelievable what was what has happened in the last three months because the police reacted so violently in a very disproportionate manner to some disturbances which would have been very easily. controllable but the government being on their very harsh. i would say pressure from all parts of society to come out of the crisis i think has lost control over its police force. 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. the maria and national report from the volatile state. it's a sad fact that the recent attacks on police and authorities in his town i'm merely the latest incident in a long running history of violence in russia's volatile caucasus region thursday's tragedy has already become the most devastating. to massive car blasts in the outskirts of the capital markets and woke up the entire city. we were at home watching t.v. then we heard an explosion little t.v. set 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. but we were among the lucky

ones as the tech claimed more than a dozen lives policeman rescuers local residents the first explosion took off here when officers from this police post stopped the car for documents checked 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 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 wal-mart or another as a tactic commonly used by international terrorist organizations such as and qaeda in places like. iraq in afghanistan is designed to kill as many people as possible

the president of darkest and was away when the blasts happened in a bitter irony it was at 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 militants strike is part of this go in battle between russia's federal forces and militants and it's unlikely to be the last refit option are to report in from in russia's biggest town. clashes broke out in the german city of bond between local police and followers of a radical islam make a solid fist a wing fighting erupted when they slam a stage a counter demonstration against an anti muslim rarely 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 is behind it say it's freedom of expression r t z you got

a piece cannot investigate. afternoon brewer in central. and once the worshipping ended the free distribution of car runs continued on 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 draw 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 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. organized mind the local salafist community the campaign's long term goal to put twenty five million copies of the koran into german forms but it's not clear which interpretation is being used. there are passages about violence especially against women protected by the law is . also about violet said gates the other faithful. it says here this is only an approximate translation. one of germany's most influential selflessly was 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 use lamb which is ok but they're trying to draw the us into

a specific interpretation which promotes violence. 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 does. it's a more violent sport. it's not officially established if that's the case with all the grounds being human by the sound of this so for now the only legal option for the german authorities is to stand aside and watch you walk or de bruyne. stay up to date twenty four seven with r t dot com let's take a look at what else we've got lined up for you on a website right now the f.b.i. is watching you and i'm president of new surveillance program is to be prepared it will monitor all your activities through facebook. pricey eyes a multi billion dollar agreement on the acting shelf development has been signed between the russian oil company rosneft and always dead or oil.

as the u.s. government introduced cuts at all levels of public education los angeles parents teachers and children have rallied in forces saying the measures have put it in cation beyond the reach of many they blame washington for failing standards after slashing the education budget by half increase and gets them idea now question of our listened to their plight. parents who join forces can be a powerful voice for change. you have i think was reflection right actually i was ok this is the third year that this has been observed if the governor is caught you go into

a plane from ny from two thousand and three till today you will of experience of forty six percent much you can no eleven year old vanessa had to repeat her grade and was well behind agents reading ability she lives with her mother to remain in a poor town in south in california. restriction over what she sees as the school's failings and that 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 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 this in this case parents are taking it all the way to the courts that i don't want to get upset but it's frustrating because i want my daughter to get a good education of my son's three or four he's going to be getting can never i mean if he starts in this school might as well keep all my home because he's not going to be learning there and we need to get the best for him 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 how imported by the state coffers are running on empty. or programs and even the number of teachers have all been cut and the axe has a step swing gania that's. been proposed twenty twelve budget with slashing thirty five point two billion dollars from public school funding unless troops 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 well mothers like since you to read are trying to take the law into their own hands and show their stories that their children deserve the right to decide now to cation original question archie reporting from california. and now some more stories

making headlines around the world at this hour on a river near one of nepal's most popular resorts has burst its banks and swept away a village killing thirteen people floodwaters from a swollen said to reverse mission to buildings leaving seventeen missing including three tourists 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 rehab taishan clinic in piru an investigation is underway but the blaze is reported to have begun up to one of the patients said like to a mattress this follows another drug clinic fly in the country that killed twenty seven patients in general this year. thousands have marched through tokyo to maga japan switching off its last working nuclear reactor for the first time in over forty years the country will be without atomic energy after intense public opposition in 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 post sources. being a member of a secret society can apparently grant you an elevated sense of status and poem but how much influence can they give you on the world stage resident laurie half of this is on the streets of new york to find out the opinions of people. 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 cabal 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 those are but you don't think that they're making decisions that influence your life. 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're rich people rich people are going to have their own little country club that's fine really bother me but money influences the world's right true but many of these people probably are employing us right. 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. the sun 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 scandals as served up by artie's financial guru marks a kaiser i'll be back same. all.

wealthy british style. that's not on. markets why not come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cars a report on r g. leaves keep this inside g two green room. to grow spinach. make two for.

us. civilization notice their absence. but is there life outside civilization possible.