please top stories on our t.v. back in russia's presidential saddle with all eyes now on his plans and policies following the latest wave of discontent within retaking the top job. radical islamists say they carried out the deadly bombing in the syrian capital in response to the actions of government troops confirming fears the terror groups of fighting on the rebel side. spaniards fled the country streets for a second day as anger to her for a sturdy boil over to protest a fresh turn mourning greece puts a question mark over the fate of the. russian rescue teams join the search for answers and an easier at the site of that suv for you see project crash that killed

all forty five on board in the. midnight here in moscow welcome if you just joined us here watching the weekly here on r.t. with me kevin now in its our roundup of the top stories of the last seven days and first a new president put a familiar face for dinner putin was sworn into office this last week in a lavish culmination of russia's tumultuous election period with opposition activism lower than historic high the focus is now on how putin will deal with the huge challenges faced at home and abroad. reports. for the third time vladimir putin took the thirty three word oath to become russia's president with an air of ease and calm. as i fulfill the duties of the president of the russian federation i swear to protect and guarantee the rights and freedoms of our citizens

to observe and protect the constitution of the russian federation to protect the sovereignty independence and territorial integrity of our state to serve its people faithfully. but the task is taken on could be more like an uphill ride experts believe any data. five six seven years in a difficult position because people get used to him and taken for granted he has to then reinvent himself international challenges have changed greatly since he's two previous terms while russia's new president faces an absolutely different situation at home the country has become more politically active and with so many reforms promised by putin during his campaign he has no choice but to start fulfilling them he needs to set out for reform and not a reform on paper but something real something that both the opposition and you know the regular people not just in moscow but all throughout russia can see that

this is really putin two point zero the eyes of the world are also on what putin's foreign policy will be many believe it's likely to stay close to that of meeting with the video however putin statements on foreign policy have given a hint that we may see something new ofter role first he insisted russia will firmly defend its interests over american missile defense plants in europe he also said he would not be going to the next g. eight summit in the united states it has already made some analysts speculate that the relationship between moscow and washington would not be so rosy the return of putin to the presidency. heralds. strong not a decisive shift but a strong shift in emphasis away from the failed reset policy that hillary clinton offered when video first the man as president and i think it's been clear that the reset has brought nothing positive for security or stability in russia it was

a time bind measure on the part of washington simply to allow it to build more of its ballistic missile defense installations and put more pressure on russia's security situation the next few months say experts will be instrumental in defining putin's long term strategy the question is whether russia and the world will see any you putin willing and able to face difficult challenges. see moscow putin's return to the kremlin scene people turning out on the streets on masses major anti-government rallies happening in moscow some of the most recent protests centered into clashes and hundreds of arrests now he's innocent and political analyst a meaty babbage of a look at a bit more closely at the aims and ambitions of the opposition movement. who is the russian opposition well of course it depends who you ask but also if you take a look for yourself what you'll see most often are a lot of different colors organizations and parties well to help us kind of

decipher who's who in this i think we can call modern russian opposition is to me three bob which he's a political analyst for voice of russia radio thanks for being with us i want to start with alexina violently and sergei just because they're the most well known at the moment they're constantly getting arrested and being released just briefly tell us who they are and why they've become the prominent leaders of our name is not a typical leftist populist like will does he use the morning to corruption and nationalist. but let's focus on the flanks for a bit looking at this video this is this is sunday's protest which for the first time turned really ugly you see these there's so and the left front it's called what what are the main focus of that party it's a flag we saw a lot of on sunday you see the red flags with the red star so this is an image abroad people might think it's you know a communist party because they read russia a communist so what they write because it will do so for recently because. he is.

left from the reason why all of the communist party a russian federation human being chronically ill but dissipating all the sections get him constantly arrested that's his style what's like is that they're on a kibbutz where he is their traditional. russian i guess what does that mean in terms of these protests there are several groups which do not i why themselves with the left front or with the communist party if you go sunday i was there and there were clearly some people who were trying to provoke violence a lot of these so-called anarchists you can see here basically were running into the riot police and also wearing a lot of these masks. let's talk a little bit more about the nationalist fight that we see sometimes i believe it's white there it is. yes what's this is it means someone you know all of the groups all the nationalist groups that are strongly opposed to the current government strong of course white blue and red. but who would not like to be associated with

communists or leftists what does it mean that. when we see tens of thousands of people on the streets of moscow as opposed to small groups like we see here which we saw after the inauguration sit ins trying to happen why don't we see the thousands of people the masses do we see so many different flanks if they are so anti putin can't they just get under that banner all these groups have mutually exclusive views they're not simply i think in his degree not simply contradictory there just in the school of the nationalistic he was put in of being a liberal the liberal secular which you know would be the nationalist the leftist accuse putin of bahrain the soviet social system is the liberal secular splintering of reviving the soviet imperialist so they can't agree on anything the only thing that they can agree on is that they don't like what they want the current russian state to collapse that's about it to me through bob rich political analyst from wastes of russia radio thank you very much for trying to help us understand what's

happening with the opposition in russia because certainly people in the country have never been more involved in politics. a correspondent mr now i will the latest series of anti putin demos a salsa seat in an ongoing an indefinite indefinite sit in at one of moscow's central squares together it's already been labeled occupy a by from the name of the poet is mourning meant adorns that square not many people are taking part just a few dozen but there are some surprising visitors like this one from a border cowed to the protest that was of course in serious piece part of russia joining the world trade organization was an eye opener though for moscow fights who are used to livestock of the streets but police say as long as it was on a leash no law was broken meantime around two thousand opposition activists marched through central moscow on sunday in what they dubbed the control walk participants said they wanted to check how the police would respond to the mass rally however no one stood in the way and the march passed off piece. i. next it's a murky story of dodgy financial links between british royalty and

a fugitive russian oligarch prince michael of kent is facing questions over reports he's received more than half a million dollars from the london based bodies but his offscreen the british princes spokesman says the financial support was private and has now ended for details. of our correspondent in london i have a bennett other i have so what kind of connection is there between the prince and the oligarchy. well that's just it the two men are said to be very close but were these payments just a friendly exchange or was there something more to it both sides have been very keen to play down any shady implication here stressing that everything was above board has come out and said there was nothing on the hannity's call that just a matter between friends and prince michael of kent to the queen's first cousin their fathers were brothers his spokes person has said that everything was conducted properly and all the appropriate tax was paid on these payments there were fifty six payments made in total over the years between two thousand and two

and two thousand and eight to one of prince michael's offshore companies amounting to a massive three hundred twenty thousand pounds so over half a million dollars and serious questions still remain over these cash payments such as what was the money used for and why was it needed neither the questions answered so far by either party lawyer however has said that his client client neither saw nor obtained any benefit from this friendship however it's certainly worth noting here that there is all ski at the time of these of the first payments was and still is. on the run from the russian government he used to be one of the country's richest men he was highly influential but in two thousand he fled to the u.k. after an investigation was launched into his ass it's so awesome he's seeking a political asylum here he was actually convicted in russia in absentia in two thousand and seven for embezzlement he's been living here ever since. and obviously

was in his interest that he should be allowed to stay in the u.k. despite numerous extradition requests from russia now he said there was nothing in it for him but the fact that substantial cash payments were made to a member of the royal family here certainly begs the question why were these payments made. ok thanks for bringing us up to date there's pre-show to the london correspondent bennett well spoke to an exam the current case from the u.k. based production company russian our he's interviewed prince michael of kent in the past he told me but as off key things was the right place at the right time when the prince was facing major financial troubles the year in two huge human prince michael probably would be very confer concerned about you know his welfare and i think that is. all they are all eager to have spotted that they're a pretty soon it's yeah well interestingly i spoke to the american journalist today who is associated with the project. obviously referring to all when you go that

famous american journalist who was killed in russia and who was the author of the book about berezovsky of the world father of the kremlin which was very critical of berezovsky and the american journalist told me actually referring to that today's article that well i didn't know that the house of windsor takes blood money so that is the opinion of many people i spoke with. coming up a look at how the mighty have fallen for traders arrogant and devoid charted nicolas sarkozy lost its president for reelection the socialist francois but. kind of in reverse france's fortunes that's what we're trying to gauge to bin laden. next is the most extremist have claimed responsibility for the twin bombings in the syrian capital on thursday that killed fifty five and injured four hundred others it was the worst terror attack in the country since the start of the uprising there

last year the so-called front is thought to share al-qaeda is jihadist ideology it says the suicide bombings were in response to attacks on residential areas by president assad's forces and that claim seems to confirm and fears that al-qaeda linked extremists have joined the anti regime fight r.t. sort of syrians who are living through more than a year of violence now and whose hopes rest with those u.n. observers. this sound of gunfire and heavy artillery rings out in it lipsky line with the u.n. observers in it in there's been some pretty heavy gunfire. now wolf the government seemingly has very tight control essentially areas in the area. and the fierce fighting is continuing there's now a cease fire here both sides we're told of violating the peace plan we followed the u.n. observers into it on the way passing through homs and hama other areas monitors that

based there is that it's seen some of the maze destructive fighting. as we pass through homes we have a brief and emotional conversation with a resident after. the safety. of people who are still fighting the. war but it's clear. that is he tries hard not to show as perfectly encapsulate the level of devastation that has been wreaked on people's lives here throughout the course of the conflict is on to it and a stretch of road this names are being extremely dangerous it's a journey that would have been near impossible without the u.n. presence and with the volatile situation criminal gangs are thought to operate in this area we find it live under siege like conditions a quiet and intimidated city i don't know since a year and

a half ago no one knows what's happening we go to sleep and wake up with fear some say the government and others say it's on groups we don't know who's doing that last we get a chance to meet it lives governor and ask him about the situation here. even if there is a little unrest in some areas or in a few spots it's due to people who are breaking the. checkpoint after checkpoint then we enter into an area outside of government control and it's a unique chance to see the u.n. monitors in action almost a month into the peace plan and you're monitors are making small steps on the ground but it's going to be a slow process throughout the course of the conflict it's been hard to come to some of the areas where the fiercest fighting is happening and get a gauge of exactly what the situation is on the ground the u.n. observers traveling to some of these areas have given them access to what we see is a frightened population and the city symbol is the olive branch the symbol of peace

is right now a city at civil war sara furth r.t. . well the turmoil in syria sparked clashes in neighboring lebanon two were a soldier and three civilians were reportedly killed on sunday gunfire broke out in the city of tripoli in the north most of the fighting took place between a neighborhood primarily populated by sunni muslims who oppose syria's president assad and alawite supported the two countries share multiple religious and political traits there are deep rifts in the police society right now over attitudes towards the south. in bahrain anti-government protesters have stepped up their rallies demanding the release of the country's top human rights activist was arrested a week ago for allegedly organizing and taking part in protests but just days before that he's spoken to wiki leaks founder julian assange in an interview aired here on our t.v. last tuesday and raja himself believes that what prompted his arrest what i said in my twitter account that i'm going to meet julian assange and i'm going to his. t.v.

program my house was surrounded by almost one hundred policemen and. machine guns in the and they realized that i was not at home didn't they just to. tell me to come to the public prosecutor today at four o'clock where are you going to do it i'm going to go back i mean i have to face. jealous of middle east affairs expert afshin rattansi believes rodger was a rest exposes the west selective approach in dealing with the arab uprising. there is no case against in the case against the british and american and european governments that are backing bahrain i don't know i don't know how long julian assange has been under house arrest here in this country without charge but they obviously seem to think that they can now arrest his interviewees very disturbing what's happened to the president of the bahrain center for human rights is not just him more worryingly of course is the. longest strike i understand his daughter who

is also be in custody you know they are killing people fifty dead in a country that small equates to a lot of people this is an apartheid state being backed by the obama administration in the years two thousand and nine two thousand and ten as if seeing what was about to happen in bahrain the obama administration stepped up sales which include equipment used by the authorities in bahrain to suppress the protests and to this is ongoing and they know journalists that the government should returns in and let you know the next edition of jewel in the science show is here on this channel on choose day and if you missed the program the mana triggered by jobs and rest you can find it streaming on a website whenever you want to watch it indeed you can catch all the previous editions of the sun so far you'll find that out songe dot r.t. dot com. speak to two leading revolutionaries arrange with old ones where the revolution is now in turmoil what makes a revolution and where is the arab spring going to go.

recovery teams in an easier reportedly focusing now the search honor of the as they try to track down the flight data recorders from the su holy superjet the crust on wednesday that has been put on hold over night but will begin again and to warn all forty five people on board the plane were killed when the newly designed russian jet slammed into a mountain chris read a report. it was the demo flight that ended in disaster rescuers in indonesia have attempted this week to scale the treacherous terrain outside jakarta at the site of the crash of the russian sukhoi superjet one hundred forty five people were on board and authorities say there are no signs of survivors ever since the plane disappeared on wednesday family members of those who were on the plane have been gathering here at the airport hoping for any word from authorities about what could have hopped into the plane they've also been putting up memorials like this one to

remember the lives that were lost that day. on med had no idea his wife was on board the jet that took off for the second time on wednesday for a thirty minute demonstration for potential customers and airline executives his wife was heading the cabin crew that day because when they got to she was not supposed to fly because shouldn't tell me i was in the forms of that normally when she flies she would tell me while authorities are still continuing the search an investigation into exactly what happened many believe that the poor visibility and fog that day contributed to the plane crashing into a nearby mountain the sukhoi superjet was on a tour of five asian countries demonstrations had already taken place in kazakhstan caucus on and me and mar the multibillion dollar plane is the first commercial aircraft built in russia since the end of the soviet union and already had one hundred seventy orders placed for its purchase around the world it's not yet clear

if the crash will affect the jets future as well as sukhoi for education but some aviation experts say it won't this is going to have a temporary. very much depends on the group. through the primary school crush was we have to remember of course because. you thought it. here in commercial where there's a very new word craft a very modern russian rescue teams will work alongside indonesian search teams until the investigation is concluded hoping that family members like good can get some answers that i just want to find out what happened to her. prius three there are teacher card indonesia has been a truly hectic week for the e.u. with violent demos and political deadlock again casting doubts over the future of the euro in spain this is the footage of the second round of demonstrations of some

of the hundreds of thousands turned up around the country to protest took only in cuts and tax hikes did it really violent hundred thirty clashes erupted in the city of naples after yet another suicide apparently caused by the aggressive government taxation program above all the political turmoil in greece there the last ditch effort to form a coalition has all but collapsed over differences about austerity and. the country now looks likely to stage new elections but regardless of the journalist a lecturer at the university of virginia and pentagon to sit told us told me he thinks a default is guaranteed. i think the only way to solve the problem is to have a radical change in policy as austerity cannot continue in the way it is a choice between austerity and democracy the people have rejected the terms of the bailout agreements they have rejected the terms of the loan agreement they want a radically different policy the question is not whether or when greece is going to

exit but how i think that default and an exit from the euro zone are now practically inevitable i think it's must but it's much better if i default and an exit from the euro zone takes place according to the will of the people and not in the sense that i think that certain circles in the european union are karen thinking that is. exit from the euro zone as is in no way to punish people for rejecting austerity. and trouble for the eurozone came this week not only for the struggling south but also the more prosperous north french president elect from seoul and has vowed to renegotiate europe's debt limiting agreements on member nations that may be and soon is choose day when he meets german chancellor angela merkel. said the report's no on the man elected to lead france and whether he can really deliver. out with the old guy.

in with a new. president a large task a victory in the french presidential elections the people here are saying that france is once again peaceful if they're here they had voted for change but the question is how soon are they going to see that change and what kind of crowds are they really going to have and the world is asking precisely the same question realizes that people rejected sarkozy when then france but also france for many reasons one of them was his personal arrogance so we can hope that in foreign policy is going to move. in the right direction that is less arrogant. be it arrogance or something else there was no hiding nicolas sarkozy's eagerness to lead the libyan intervention sending french warplanes in first he of course betrayed himself all along as deliberate of libya but he kept that extremely quiet

as allegations kept coming out about his relationship with gadhafi you know the much good psychos he has created an awful image of france we don't want divisions within the french society we don't want the bombing of arab countries we are friends of the arabs. a lot is being branded france's new hope or gadget on task ahead of him to sort through the euro crisis and clean up an image which many think is no longer in line with what's traditionally french while foreign policy took a backseat during the campaign a lot it did throw out two moves one go head to head with germany's angela merkel on renegotiating the e.u. fiscal pact believe me she will experience in the coming month the negotiation power of purchase of america because america will face an election in one year and will not be willing to compromise we said with a french president and to withdraw french troops from afghanistan a year earlier than planned it's a sign that i think he wants

a scaled down foreign policy but i would guess that is going to be more considerate to what is happening in the in the rest of the world and more focus on economic issues within europe at the end of the day all the french really want are jobs and leadership that truly represents them both at home and abroad. tesser cilia r.t. paris. small world news in brief right now at least eleven al qaeda fighters have been killed by drone strikes in yemen which are believed to have been carried out by the us becomes after the yemeni government launched a new offensive against armed groups in the arab peninsula as a result. in the deaths of fifteen militants over the past year some of the country's southern provinces of fall under the control of al qaeda are going to show that a senior afghan peace negotiator involved in talks with the taliban in a drive by shooting in the capital kabul arcelor money was one of the most senior members of afghanistan's high peace council set up two years ago in a bid to reach

a peace deal with militants the group earlier threatened the spring offensive lawmakers and officials as well as american and coalition personnel. coming up pittsburgh not a sport kate say with the update for you just over fifteen minutes tom vilsack exclusive interview coming up with the victim's boat who talked to us from a new york prison members a first time he's talked to an english language channel since extradition so the next hour shapes up then here on our take a bunch of live tonight from moscow. my

grandmother did not buy because. he was afraid. and she was very good. she felt. i was frankenstein's monster. we don't have the problem. every. effort is made. by the powerless then you know on the european side to negotiate an end. to the violent attacks against israel which i have no fear of war or the. song goes you have

no you're calling the leader of the state of israel one of them. terrorists in the world. we're supposed to be seriously examining history but you mention a few words about jewish culture. and people gets so upset this is i'm sorry to say it's a form of emotional blackmail. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you you thought.