we stop 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 with him retaking the top job. radical islamists say they carried out a deadly bombing in the syrian capital in response to the actions of government troops confirming fears that terror groups are fighting on the rebel side. spaniards for the country's streets for a second day as anger and hurt from a stir a tea boil over into protests while fresh turmoil in greece puts a question mark over the fate of the euro. and russian rescue teams join the search for ounces of indonesia but the site of the sukhoi superjet crash which killed

forty five on board in the week. when i am here in moscow you're watching at the weekly on r.t. with me kevin owen it's a round of of our top stories of the last seven days and first a new president but a familiar face the name of putin was sworn into office this week in a lavish culmination of russia's tumultuous election period with opposition activism and historic high the focus is now on how putin will deal with the huge challenges he's facing at home and abroad. reports. for the third time to put into 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 he's taken on could be more like an uphill ride experts believe any leader who's been in power for 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 used 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 a reform and not a reform on paper but something we'll 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 to point out 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 me that he made a video however putin statements on foreign policy have given a hint that we may see something new off to roll first he insisted russia will firmly defend its interests over american missile defense plans 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 a 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. 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 new putin willing and able to face difficult challenges. r.t. moscow could his return to the kremlin scene people turning out on the streets of mass with major anti government rallies happening in moscow some of the most recent protests ascended into clashes and hundreds of arrests that he's innocent now and political analyst dmitri babich of looking 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 it modern russian opposition is to me through bob which he's a political analyst for voice of russia radio thanks for being with us i want to start with alexis in the widely and surrogate so 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 well does he use them more into 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 communist solidly right because it would

also friesen to decode. he's. left from the reason why all of the communist party of russian federation human being chronically ill but dissipating all the sections getting constantly arrested that's his style but it's like is that they're on a kiss where he is their traditional. russian i guess what does that mean in terms of there are several groups which do not i y themselves with or with the communist party it was a 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 were 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 america. yes what's this if it means someone you know all of the groups all the nationalist groups are strongly opposed to the current government strong of course white blue and red. but who also but 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 syrians 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 a mutually exclusive view 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 liberal secular would have been a nationalist the leftist accused in the soviet social system is the liberal secular sporting of reviving the soviet imperialism 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 meet their bar which political analysts from west 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 in this and now are there with the latest series of anti putin which is also seen ongoing in the indefinite sit in a one of moscow's central square gatherings really been labeled occupier by from the name of the poet and a monument of dawn to the square not many people have been taking part just a few dozen but there are some surprising visitors as rebel to see one farmer out of the protest he's got some serious be friendly with russia join the world trade organization and i over then for muscovites who aren't used to life stuck on the streets but police say slogans it was on a leash no laws were broken meantime around two thousand opposition activists marched through central moscow on sunday in what they've dubbed the control walk. participants say they wanted to check how the police would respond to their mass rally no one stood in the way in the march passed off piece for the.

next it's a murky story of dodgy financial links between british royalty and the fugitive russian oligarch prince michael of kent facing questions over reports he's received more than half a million dollars from the london based tycoon boris berezovsky the british prince's spokesman says the financial support was private and is now ended by london correspondent ivan bennett brings you up to date. 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 that there was nothing underhand he's called it just a matter between friends and prince michael of kent who's 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 they were fifty six payments made in total over the years between two 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 use for and why was it needed ny 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 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 and fled to the u.k. after an investigation was launched into his ass it's so awesome seeking us 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. xander caracal from the u.k. based production company russia now who's interviewed prince michael a can't in the past told me better as i was in the right place at the right time when the prince was facing major financial troubles the year reign to prince michael probably would be very confirmed concerned about you know issues welfare and they think that is. all eager to have spotted pretty soon it's here the american journalist called mir actually referring to that to do his article. well i didn't know all the costs of. blood money many in britain not. with with people who are you know using their position using the streets of the refugee to basically bring involved

political unrest else we're all using that simply as a leverage and i think that it's not going to reflect very nicely by the prince michael all mr berezovsky. coming up on this channel look at how the mighty have fallen portrayed as out of content divisive childhood nicolas sarkozy lost his presidential reelection bid to the socialist francois hollande but how to win a reverse france's fortunes that's a question. that's ahead next is limited streamers have claimed responsibility for the twin bombings in the syrian capital on thursday which 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 group called the el nusra front is thought to share it is jihadist ideology it says the suicide bombings are in response to attacks on residential areas by president assad's forces the claim seems to confirm fears than that al qaeda linked extremists have

joined the anti regime fight serra first met syrians have been living through more than a year of violence and his hopes now rest with the u.n. observers. the sound of gunfire and heavy artillery rings out in it lipsky line with the u.n. observers in it live in there's been some pretty heavy gunfire going on throughout the night. now also government seemingly has very tight control of the century area in the areas of it live and the fierce fighting is continuing there's no ceasefire here both sides we're told of violating the peace plan we followed the un observers into it live on the way passing through homs and hama other areas monitors it based and there is that a scene some of the most destructive fighting as we passed through homes we have a brief an emotional conversation with a resident after. safety. what

the people who feel about the fighting that happened. but it's clear. that it 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 name for 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 other states armed 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 law. 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 your 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 civil. r.t. . the turmoil in syria sparked clashes in neighboring lebanon two were a soldier and three civilians were reportedly killed on sunday gunfire broke out of

the city of tripoli in the north of the country most of the fighting took place between a neighborhood primarily populated by sunni muslims who oppose syria's president assad. who supported the two countries share multiple religious and political traits and there are rifts in lebanese society right now ratatouille towards. in bahrain anti-government protesters have stepped up their rallies demanding the release of the country's top human rights activist now bill rodger was arrested a week ago for allegedly organizing and taking part in protests but just days before that he'd spoken to wiki leaks founder julian assange in an interview aired here on r.t. on tuesday now roger himself believes that is what prompted is arrest. when i said in my twitter account that i'm going to meet julian assange and i'm going to his victim in a 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. ask my family to

tell me to come to the public prosecutor today at four o'clock where i am here what are you going to do or i'm going to go back i mean i have to face a journalist a middle east affairs expert afshin rattansi believes rajab the rest exposes the west selective approach in dealing with the arab uprisings. so there is no case against in the cases against the british and american and european governments that have 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. going on to strike i understand his daughter who is also be in custody you know 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 to 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 a cover of. recovery teams it is an easy reportedly focusing this on a ravine now as they try to track down the flight data recorders from that jet that crashed on wednesday the spin put on hold over night but it will begin to get a dawn full forty five people on board were killed when the newly designed russian plane slammed into a mountain pretty street as the story. 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 one thing

a family members of those who were on the plane have been gathering here at the airport hoping for any word from authorities about what it up into the plane they've also been putting up memorials like this one to remember the lives that were lost that day did it gone mad 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. when they got to she was not supposed to fly because shouldn't tell me i was in the forms of the normally when she flies she would tell me while authorities are still continuing the search and 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 pakistan and me and maher 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 part just around the world it's not yet clear if the crash will affect the jets future as well as sukhoi for a few taishan but some aviation experts say it won't this is going to have a temporary. sukhoi very much depends on the group or too cool. to hold the primary cause the crash was we have to remember of course because the jet thought implying here in commercial of a very new across a very. russian rescue teams will work alongside indonesian search teams until the investigation is concluded hoping that family members like they can get some answers to that that it's be able to i just want to find out what happened to her. preassure either our teacher card indonesia such

a sad story was that investigation continues you can follow it online and website as well r t v dot com the story is there right now as well if you get a moment to check it out hundreds making their voices heard in london occupy demo against corporate corruption we've got the details on the video online for you tonight and also the secret ties between the u.s. national security agency and google a federal court revealing the details could spread through the entire government is online from us. it's been a truly hectic week for the e.u. with violent. and political deadlock again casting doubts over the future of the euro in spain this is the footage of the second round of demonstrations there home saturday hundreds of thousands turned up around the country to protest for kone in

cuts and tax hikes also in italy too violent clashes erupted in the city of naples after yet another suicide apparently caused by the press and government taxation program but above all of course it's been greece that's been making the headlines in the political turmoil there a last ditch attempt to death to a former coalition's all but collapsed over differences on the sterett in bailout terms the country now looks likely to stage new elections but regardless of the journalist and lecturer at the university of ga and when he got his satoris 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 that austerity cannot continue in a 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 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 the east 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 up soon it is exit from the euro zone as is no way to punish people for rejecting austerity and trouble for the eurozone came this week not only from the struggling south but also the more prosperous north to french president elect francoise lander's vowed to renegotiate europe's debt limit thing agreements on member nations now that may begin as early as tuesday german chancellor angela merkel at his test priscilla reports on the man elected to lead france and whether he can really deliver. i out with the old.

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 have 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 because it will then france would also cite france for many reasons one of them was is based on the arrogance so we can hope but in foreign policy is going to move in the right direction that is unless 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

march thirty second seeing has created an overall 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 a gargantuan 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 he will experience in the coming months the negotiation power of america because america will face an election in one year and will not be willing to compromise we said was a french president and to withdraw for. troops from afghanistan a year earlier than planned it's a sign that i thank you want to scale down the foreign policy but i would guess

that is going to be. more considerate of what's happening in the rest of the world i'm all focused on economic issues within europe at the end of the day all the french really want our jobs and leadership to truly represents them both at home and abroad. tesser cilia are to paris and world views in brief for you had least eleven al qaeda fighters have been killed by drone strikes in yemen which are believed to be carried out by the us becomes after the yemeni government launched a new offensive against armed groups in the arab peninsula that's already resulted in the deaths of fifteen militants over the past year some of the country's southern provinces a fall under the control of al qaeda. mother showed that a senior afghan peace negotiator involved in talks with the taliban in a drive by shooting in the capital kabul salary money was one of the most senior members of afghanistan's high peace council set up two years ago in a bid to try to reach a peace deal with militants the group earlier threat the spring offensive aimed at

lawmakers and officials as well as american and coalition personnel. and indeed afghan president hamid karzai has offered his views on the tense security situation in the country in an interview with r.t. you can listen to what he has to say later today monday to what extent when i would call them paid mercenaries how much are they going to be in your defense to protect your administration and your successors none none you say the mercenaries like blackwater will not play a major role because really this kind of this is one of the issues over which we are in. detention but they will be here they will be they are not as far as the afghan government schools and no way no mercenary no way way no. much more of that later today back to the present come about five minutes tommy got the story lined up of czech religious fighting against american attempts to build another military base

on their doorsteps the self to round up of the main stories in the past seven days in the weekly with me kevin owen here on our team moscow. to music sigrid laboratory to mccurry was able to build

a new its most sophisticated robot which on fortunately doesn't give a darn about anything tunes mission to teach music creation why it should care about humans in the world this is why you should care only on the r.-g. dot com. you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture. for. mine.