bronze has two problems in a runoff vote which will define whether any good outside crazy will be the latest e.u. leaders swept from his post by the crippling debt crisis. big picture presidential campaign is marred by escalating violence as protests against the military rulers turn from big peaceful and ended deadly clashes. the news that shaped this week of russia's north texas a drop by twenty times in the republic of dagestan that left thirteen people dead and more than a hundred injured. plus an anti-government rallies expected in moscow a day before let me prove he returns to the kremlin and dmitri medvedev leaves would take a look at the legacy of the outgoing president. hello

and welcome to r.t. twenty four hour news life or most. of all with the latest news and a review of the week's events polls are opening in france in an hour's time as millions choose between the two candidates in the runoff vote they defending president nicolas sarkozy has already claims the election is on a knife's edge as he closed in on drive all francois london the final polls seen visited the headquarters of both candidates. as the french prepare to choose a future of their country word on the street here in paris is that they're likely to get a socialist president the first in seventeen years in the form of now here in front of the socialist party's headquarters there's certainly high hopes for that but of course nothing is certain until the french cast their ballots polling agencies are the closest gauge of the public's polls incumbent nicolas sarkozy is still trailing behind along by between zero four and seven points now in the last final did he

presented himself as a president who will unite the country blaming sarkozy for having been a divisive president alluding to his anti immigration rhetoric for instance poland also says he will be the want to bring back equality to the country to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor essentially by heavily tax it big companies and rich individuals a lot it's also been one of the loudest voices calling for more growth in the euro zone criticizing be a sturdy driven measures imposed so far by the e.u. now some say that a vote for a launch is essentially a vote for change but others would point out that only in the sense that they've had enough of nicolas sarkozy on sarkozy side there's a sense of cautious optimism the president's re-election bid has been an uphill battle but the fight is not over for him yet he has appealed to what he has called the silent majority of people who he says would not want to see france go the direction that greece went on criticizing the socialist plan sarkozy said he does not want to see more spending deficits higher debt and risk and indeed the markets have been jittery at the prospect of a no longer victory especially since there is

a potential for a franco german deadlock on the fiscal pact that was agreed upon and what sarkozy is hoping for now is to get the voters of the national friends body depend as well as a centrist fossil bayrou finished fifth in the race now at a time when unemployment is a top priority of french people it's not surprising that foreign policy is taking a back seat however it will be soon enough that the next president will have to deal with these matters so as the french go out or voted to choose a france that they want the rest of the world is watching and waiting to see what kind of france they will have to deal with. tesser cilia r t paris and do stay with r.t. for constant updates from france as millions that choose their next president. the syrian government has granted amnesty to two hundred and sixty five rebels ahead of monday's multi-party parliamentary vote the first such lection in decades meanwhile a series of blasts in iraq c. rist capital damascus and the northern city of aleppo on saturday killing at least

three civilians understand for reporters blood is continuing to bits played by both the regime's forces and the opposition hopes rest on the growing u.n. observer mission. in the heart of damascus thousands come out of the funerals of people killed during clashes in the capital once again drew into focus the very precarious situation the country now finds itself before the bodies of the that they carried through the streets of damascus as the funerals of the people who were killed under the station they just the story you've got the military the security watching and this is at the same time as the un observers are supposed to be here overseeing the peace plan. in the day we join the u.n. observers one of the daily to is to flash point areas if service of been traveling to some of the areas where the this is by things being breaking out and you can see

on the ground smooth slow steps are being taken in the observers are really going to be one thing over the coming period the building on the observers are also based full time in some cities like homs and it led many have felt that their presence that has come into we have little time between stops to speak to the people who live here we did talk to tell us that the last few days being quiet they don't know how long that will last long in a situation is much calmer there's not much happening you know because of the story today and yesterday have been fine for go there was a lot of problems we're here at the checkpoints on the device the other day you know the u.n. has just done a tour through the area it's been a very very fast trip they've literally driven through stopping at some of the military checkpoints around here to speak to some of the people but no more than five ten minutes at a time to give you barely enough time to speak to some of the people in the area

and get a feel for exactly what's been happening here was the observers presence here does seem to have made some small in rights situation in the country is far from stable tension in the. to live damascus is palpable explosions here a regular occurrence now and security everywhere is tight firefighters rushed to the scene after a demonstration servers themselves have admitted a resolution won't happen overnight and it will have to come in large parts of the syrian people themselves but with part of it sheer lections next week and with the observer mission under close scrutiny a scenes like this won't do anything to raise hopes that this mission will be a success but they will say show the very real and urgent need for it to be say so see damascus. the syrian opposition is reportedly sending its missiles to kosovo to be trained to as the assad regime that thought to be going to the same guerilla

counts built for the kosovo liberation army a group that for years has seen as terrorised by the door as the u.k. and france and. the foreign affairs that for the us based chronicles magazine believes little good can come from this the charolais was singularly unsuccessful inmate's rebellion against the serbian security forces until a major bombing and even then they were not in gauging home but they were acting as my orders and thinking cleansing normal brain so now this should be a huge wake up call called those syrians who are not supporting. the opposition especially the minorities if the syrian rebels. are on the trail like that means there will be a bloodbath of the fall of assad and there will be no room for anyone but the majority group which subscribes to its extremist credo whether it is there to greater albania in kosovo or. muslim brotherhood offshoot syria.

next hour we'll speak with also cover spondon chris hedges who things there's no point in pushing for the ouster of syria's president when there's no organized opposition the country. i don't think anyone in the muslim world thinks that we care much about human rights or democracy we have since the first gulf war planted military bases some the size of small cities i think there is at this point absolutely no credibility i'm talking about within the middle east when the united states claims that it would like to bring liberty or democracy to syria my feeling is that everything should be pushed through to create some kind of a ceasefire rather than pass a resolution that calls for assad removal or resolution. that calls for intervention or anything else there's no real formal opposition you know it's

a sort of a mess and they just went through this in libya. egypt saw a sharp sudden violence this week as mass rallies against the military rulers ended and deadly clashes tension between the interim authorities and protesters hasn't testified less than three weeks before the country's first post revolution presidential election on wednesday at last at least nine people were killed when a group of conservative islamists were tang's by unknown assailants while staging a sit in against their candidate big barred from the race most rushed to blame the military for that time but some locals and active it said the protestors were armed and provokes the situation on friday the weekly rally that this time was predominantly islamist also resulted in deadly clashes and hundreds of arrests police used water cannon tear gas and live ammunition to disperse the protesters who tried to break through the baba while the defense ministry and while the military keep reiterating that they will hand over power after the election many

accidents doubts that that will bring the desired track. the military want to crush this revolution every way possible and they're using every tool they have including the government which is not adhering to any of the demands that have been put forward since the first day of the revolution many believe that even if. this transfer of power he should billion government. that won't change anything because in the end of the day i believe that. once through him power today before the thing is that they want to hand over power without being prosecuted for any of the crimes that they have been committed they have that they have committed in the past year and a half any outcome that will come out of this presidential process that even the any election process will only be favored scout. and another country that's been seeing anti-government protests for more than a year at home and bar res human rights activist has been arrested in the capital's

airport and incident many say could further escalate into unrest the head of bahrain you are right center was detained upon returning to the country and has come back for a sunday court hearing where he faces charges of participating in the protests police have not given a reason for their arrest about the speculation it could buildings to a recent interview have given to the world's most famous whistleblower julian assange and you can have a chance to see this latest edition of the wiki leaks founder is our own show on tuesday right here on arson. and speak to two leading revolutionaries one from bahrain where the revolution was a leadership where the revolution is now in turmoil what makes a revolution and where is the arab spring going to go. to interacts rocks russia's republic of biggest on thursday night killing thirteen

people and injuring more than one hundred two car bombs went off in the capital within twenty minutes of each other a marina question i will talk to the relatives of some of the victims as they mourn their loved ones. national mourning. under muslim tradition three days after the funerals of family and friends come to the symmetry twice a day to pray and to pair respect to their loved ones we're going to go. to massive car bombs hit the capital. straight claiming more than a dozen lives this freshly dug grave is the final resting place of twenty nine year old police officer. back of his name is hendrik here. jimmy says he feels lost without his brother who'd acted as the head of the family since their dad passed away years ago. the first blast happened i tried to call him but it very tricky was that he called me back saying he was round to go into the sea to well he said all

this fine with him but the scene is a mess and he has to stay out to help i get here cries of sobbing through his phone and he said i'm going to call you in five to ten minutes ok. but he never called back the next time she would see his brother would be in a morgue. piece of metal that the big places around the bottom of his chin a little became well through his. looking. at the symmetry skipper says at least this family had a body many others received only body parts in plastic bags it's a sad fact that the recent attacks on the police and authorities in darkest town a merely the latest incident in a long running history of violence in russia's volatile this region that thursday's tragedy has already become the most devastating once the first explosion took off here when officers from this police post stopped the call for documents check

apparently the driver was a suicide bomber minutes later as many police cars and i'm real and stains 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 into intake roland and it claimed the most victims of the double attack one more monster another is a tactic commonly used by international terrorist organizations such as and qaeda in places like iraq and afghanistan is designed to kill as many people as possible if their right you have the networks around the region is hosting this training is even. funding some of the activities of these you know terrorist in russia in an instant lives were snuffed out families left devastated. women again under the rules of don't go to cemeteries they grieve at home the mother along with the wife

or the article say he never liked cameras and they have to console themselves with a few pictures they have little moves of the shooting left in the morning and then came back you forgot something i told him this is a bad lot and will be fine mom he tried to calm me but. i don't know how long i'm gonna love but i'll leave him for value and. leaves behind two little girls. actually where you will all tell them to be good girls is their father is watching us and will tell them to proud of him because he was a brave man he ran to help and died he was the best father in the world i'll tell them. in russia's dagestan. and so they have for you on our see on his first day in office u.s. president barack obama made america promise trial and one hopes to keep away from

the u.s. soil is said to highlight obama's uncle felt. undealt u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton praises recent talks that china relations between the two sides are still clouded in doubt. that's later this hour but fuzz president richard better have just one more day to join the kremlin before handing over to vladimir putin's russia's leader although credited for his liberal views and push for reforms as well as steering a reset in relations with the u.s. that as president he also saw some of the largest protests in modern russian history what is an eastern hour takes and back at his town of. one term in the kremlin was it too little time to make a dent mr medvedev is going to be remembered as someone who had genuine reform intentions and who was impeded on achieving all of those reforms through

the political process through the structure of the political system. at the dawn of his presidency georgia attacked south he said here by the media and much of the world community blamed russia destroy those in this case that only but he did the actions on the georgian side led to dishes among them a russian peacekeepers children the elderly a dying in south set at the most of them are citizens of the russian federation so those responsible for the deaths of our citizens will be punished mr. because i'm right in the misconception that russia attacked georgia put serious strain on international ties into an independent council of europe report up held that georgia launched the attack me for months medvedev spawn policy was overshadowed by the war but it wasn't long before our warming in u.s.

relations something many argue is his foreign policy legacy the words of the russian president at the time the reset button press and u.s. and russian relations devoutly and for over the next few years by twenty ten medvedev and obama signed a new start and cart both country's nuclear arsenals by a third. as a result of hard work we've created a treaty that fully complies with the interests of both russia and the us back home medvedev wants reforms focusing on the justice system in rule of law you want the less people behind bars. less persecution. businesspeople. and just special justified persecution. corruption and i think that he has managed to start some cases jump start the process. but

little change from high profile cases like me cough skip press is former richest man still serving his sentence for economic crimes madrid has pushed for modernization and diversification could have been a highlight of his presidency and he still has a chance to if he presses on as prime minister. we can be sure that without modernization the russian economy has no future it may be based on vast natural there's also but we cannot rely only on them the job swap with putin was the last straw for medvedev supporters who hoped he would run for a second term but the secrecy and surprise of the smart added to the negative sentiment prior to the biggest protest russia has seen hears. heard. in december after claims of vote fraud in the parliamentary election

medvedev came back on line and laid out changes that his response was too little too late yet but if i propose complex reforms to our political system. i don't discuss that i hear people who are demanding change and i understand that you. are going to be outlined a series of measures including the easy registration for political parties and direct polls for regional leaders maybe it is administration continues to stress how much work is left as he prepares to step aside as president and take over as prime minister i have that. all initiatives all. discussed. hume here you proved all the things the government was a key vehicle to implement all the initiatives put forth by the by president need to be different the good acts aren't convinced debates are buzzing over what might

that its legacy will be and how his policies might be implemented with putin back in the kremlin but the fact that mates mithridates moved as president would have only seen real results during or even after a second term in office even the question of how do you trouble between what my trader did as president what he might do i mean he's now a r.t. moscow. and today before the jury a person returns to the crime than antigovernment protesters will take to moscow streets opposition activists initially promised a march of millions but have later said they expect around five thousand people to turn up and will be bringing you live reports from that rally and on monday join us fast national coverage of the presidential inauguration from seven in the morning.

has been held at gun tunnel basins to thousand and six yet he stood in front of a military tribunal for the first time in three years only yesterday they confessed mastermind of the nine eleven attacks khalid shaikh mohammad and his four accomplices refused to answer questions until a police chairing the seven hour hearing that charged with almost three thousand counts of murder and could be sentenced to death the trial is being held by a military tribunal at home got autonomy after an attempt to try the man in the u.s. failed three years ago because of

a public backlash and american lawyer eric montoya believes the timing and planning of the trial is questionable one has to wonder why now you know 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 how us or three years later on that you got 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 thin 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 injustice to the thing that we call the justice system in america they have no plan and it's taken three years to get to this particular point and this is going to be another tremendous and sad waste of us resources on on

a matter that can be resolved in a number of different ways and they just said not to do so. don't forget all the stories we're covering are also lined up on our website and see the call there's always plenty more in life and you'd like to give you know a show as a presenter boy cause the you are twenty twelve championship in ukraine over the treatment of the country's x. premier units from a shunt who claims that she has been the reason by prison guards they've made controversy over at video reportedly showing that something what pm striding iran has to sell despite saying she was bedridden and all the details at home for the. fun of the world witnesses the the warning this supermoon an event which sees alice unless its own neighborhood and much bigger and brighter describe the details on our website.

the relations between china and the u.s. two nations many see as rivals have been described as the most consequential of the century by hillary clinton the remarks came after the u.s. secretary of state today high stakes talks in beijing but despite the praise the visit was of a shattered by a number of disagreements china accused washington of meddling in its internal affairs by shouting at chinese dissident activist there later beijing has agreed to let him go and it's also wary of these u.s. military buildup and there's a pacific what looks like an apparent effort to contain china's growing regional clout dr chua hanging from the foreign policy in focus think time believes the u.s. china corporation is being forced upon them it's very bipolar kind of relationship because in many ways not china is our number one trade partner. and they hold the trillions of dollars in u.s. bonds we are all kind of locked into an international market so on one level the

cooperation is kind of forced on us by the fact that we're so interlinked at the same time you get this growing military tension and chinese are also very uncomfortable about the fact that about eighty percent of their energy suppliers arrive by sea generally through the yellow sea those to the energy supplies are basically controlled those waters are controlled by the u.s. fifth fleet and the u.s. seventh fleet and that makes the chinese nervous. and coming away with a showcase the u.s. finding its military clout across the continents in our special report before that's up about whether remind our top story.

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 is an approaching of the for. the early twenty first century military bases a network of military bases all around the world for misleading 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 or more than two hundred fifty thousand u.s.

troops stationed on these bases all around and. 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 are fine the noise is our noise and doesn't 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 into world war two the spaces i've been. working here to provide a safe and secure environment for everybody. the questions you know thing else you get everything you need to join me on a journey to the heart of the problem to a place is hidden from the terrorist you're going to meet some real crime insiders although they may not be the usual news makers you see on t.v.

. but. there hasn't been anything good on t.v. . it is to get the maximum political impact possible. the full source material is what helps keep the journalism honest we.