>> this is "bbc world news." >> funding for this presentation is made possible by -- the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, newman's own foundation, and union bank. >> at union bank our relationship managers use their expertise in global finance to guide you through the business strategies and opportunities of international commerce. we put our extended global network to work for wide range of companies, from small businesses to major corporations.

what can we do for you? >> victory for vladimir putin. winning an unprecedented third term as russian president. >> i promised you we would win. glory to russia. >> but opposition groups report widespread fraud, call for mass protests in central moscow. welcome to "bbc world news." iceland's former prime minister geir haarde goes on trial as the first world leader to face criminal charges over the 2008 financial crisis. gunmen in haditha wearing military uniforms killed 25 iraqi police in early-morning attacks. dob's advance against al-shabab rebels -- ethiopia's advance

against al-shabab rebels. the opposition supporters in russia will be protesting today against vladimir putin. he was president 80 years until 2008. then he became prime minister. let's go to moscow for the latest from our correspondent following the events. >> everyone has been adjusting to a dramatic 24 hours over the election results. vladimir putin seems to have a resounding victory, but there are allegations of fraud from the opposition. now the report. >> apparently with tears in his eyes, russia opposes strongman

vladimir putin appeared before and as supporters in moscow and declared victory -- russia's strongman. >> we have one in an open and honest struggle. = = have won. >> i promised you we would win and we have. in a cafe not far away, one of his opponents was holding court. a blogger and opposition leader pledging mass protests in the coming weeks and months. >> a substantial number of russian citizens, first of all residents of big cities, do not recognize these elections as legitimate and not recognize vladimir putin. as putin authorities have resorted to an

unprecedented falsification and rigged lections. >> the opposition has held a series of demonstrations in recent months, unprecedented in size. sparked by evidence that the parliamentary election in december had been rigged. this evening they will be the first protests following sunday opposing vote. in the capital of siberia the opposition had been hoping to hold their protest in this central square. in what has become a familiar tactic, the authorities say they cannot because the square is reserved for a rally for the ruling party. courts in the last hour the independent elections watchdog golos has had a number of concerns. >> the campaign could be

characterized as the usual for the last decade in the russian elections. not sufficient competitiveness, state intrusion into the election process, and forced the voting on several occasions. it cannot be called just according to the russian constitution and international standards. >> there's been widespread allegations from the opposition movement that there may have been violations in the election. what will they do now is the question. i am joined by an opposition leader. what is your reaction? >> it was predictable that the

victory would be announced after the first round. the chair of the electoral commission has met with us. >> even independent watchdog conclusions say that vladimir over 50% of the vote. >> it was not free or fair and the results are not credible. it was the undulations of an artificial selection. fraud. >> the electoral commission has said they don't think there are any violations. there's a groundswell of opposition.

can you do now to make your voice heard? >> [unintelligible] only 40% of russians are ready to accept these elections as legal. our protest movement will continue to take place. we have a standing meeting tonight in pushkin square. it will not be in every day. middle-class people are appearing on the streets, the most important part of society which is the driving force of development. political reform is absolutely necessary. that is the message we like to send to mr. putin. >> do you think that you will give a face to the opposition movement?

>> [unintelligible] mr. putin and mr. medvedev have produced legislation for liberalization of the political environment and restoration of elections of regional governments. we continue to press to allow them to build up an exit strategy. if the political course that mr. putin produces continues to take place, i believe that in four years or five years, a revolution would happen. >> back to london. >> thanks very much. international monitors from

europe have said in the last few minutes that there were irregularities in the election and was clearly skewed toward vladimir putin. we will go to them in the next few minutes. to china, the premier has cut china's economic growth target. speaking 3000 delegates in beijing, he also addressed land rights and military spending. he and other senior figures will need to stand down to make way for new generation in the fall. >> his annual report, he has been stressing the need for sustainable economic development during what are difficult times. he spoke about the need to increase domestic demand. in order to do that, he says that his government will invest

in health services and care for the elderly. inflation at 4% is also a government priority. wen has also spoken about improving the monitoring of pollution in the cities. that follows public anger over that issue. this is the time of year when the communist party tries to connect with the public. for many years, wen has been the public face. this will be his last term in government. next year there will be new faces on the stage behind me. >> how big a deal is it that they have cut the growth forecast? >> it's quite important. they would need to have 8% to be able to keep up with a growing population. taking it down to 7.5%, it is

worrisome. if growth slipped below that, then you have a serious problem. what they are trying to do is be balanced economy -- re balance the economy. it hopes to do that. but there are enormous social and structural stress is going on in china with people demanding higher wages, with social tensions in the south particularly with growing union power, worries about the housing market. there are a lot of strains. whether the economy can continue at 7% growth or 8% growth is really a moot point. the commodities trading company is trying to do a deal to take

over xtrata, a mining company. the results are pretty good, but not quite as good as expected. on the other hand, if they did come out with profits of 4.5 billion. one of the interesting worries they have, and this may indicate the troubles within the entire commodity sector, is huge .olatility in cotton cotton dropped again. whether that kind of instability in the price could be reflected in other commodity prices could spark worries in the coming months. >> thanks indeed. now to the press conference. the organization for security and cooperation in europe has been observing russian

parliamentary elections. -- presidential elections. let's listen to its findings. >> although all contestants were able to --, the conditions were skewed in favor of one candidate. only the strictest requirements limited some candidates. only one candidate, the current prime minister, was given a clear advantage with the media. state resources were mobilized at a regional level in his support. the election campaign was characterized by continuing, and obstructed at a large-scale protests over fraud from the 2011 elections. demand for honest elections by citizens and candidate's lead to greater involvement in observation effort to enhance the integrity of the process. observers assessed voting

overall positively on collection day, but the process deteriorated during account due to procedural irregularities. the start of the electoral campaign was marked by a large scale peaceful countrywide protests calling for fair elections. the authorities of loud protest to take place without interference. in response to the protesters, president medvedev try to simplify regulation of political parties and candidates in the future. there was increased focus on election observations. despite the challenge of organizing elections of many people, they took

preparations and it proceeded at efficiently. there was however a general lack of confidence of election officials at all levels. voting was assessed positively overall on election day. however, procedural some limitedsan and instances of illegal activity were observed. the process deteriorated during the count, which was assessed negatively in nearly one-third of the polling stations observed due to procedural irregularities. during the tabulation, observers reported that in some cases the data entry process was poorly organized and black transparency. let me conclude by saying this. the russian presidential elections showed a clear winner

with an absolute majority. avoiding a second round. but electoral competition lack of fairness and an impartial referee was missing. due to increased citizen awareness and involvement, elections were better managed and more seriously observed, but structural improvement and not yet -- thanks very much. >> there was a pretty clear statement at that although the elections were efficiently organized in russia -- 110 million voters, but there was a lack of confidence in the independence of the election officials at all levels and the process deteriorated. they said that the data entry

process like transparency. there was apparently a clear winner, avoiding a second round in the election. this process did lack of fairness. basically, the body saying the presidential elections in russia were clearly skewed towards vladimir putin. we will continue to bring you the main lines as they emerged from moscow. you are watching bbc world news. in the loop's advance against al-shabab rebels -- ethiop's advance. iran's nuclear program is set to dominate talks between barack obama and the israeli prime minister later today. president obama has used an address to influential pro- israel lobby group to pledge his support for israel but has warned against talk of war.

>> for the sake of security of israel, america, and the world, now was not the time to let our increased letsink in can to sustain the broad international coalition we have built. now's the time to heed the time this advice from teddy roosevelt. speaks softly. carry a big stick. >> the israeli president earlier said that iran was a danger to the world. suspected of trying to develop nuclear weapons. iran denies the claim. this is bbc world news. supporters of vladimir putin have been celebrating his return to the kremlin following sunday's presidential election. international monitors for an organization for security and cooperation in europe say their

work for the electoral irregularities but the campaign was clearly skewed. gunman in iraq disguised as police have killed at least 25 members of the security forces in attacks on checkpoints and homes in the town of haditha. the gunman killed police guards at several checkpoints before dawn this morning. now more about the attacks. >> they started at 2:00 in the morning in the town of haditha in western iraq, 300 kilometers northwest of baghdad. he attackers apparently had two main goals. the house of a retired colonel in the iraqi ministry of interior. the second was of a captain in the same ministry. both men were kidnapped and found dead. and then also among the targets were police checkpoints in the

city. the total death toll was 27 people killed including at 3 of the attackers. the attackers were traveling with the ministry of interior suv and wearing the uniform of the special forces of the ministry of interior, which raise question marks about the possibility of insurgents getting such equipment. >> thank you. in recent months the somalian group al-shabab has been weakened. our journalist was there following this. >> a rare chance to go deep inside somalia. a flight to a town which until a few days ago was a key al-shabab

stronghold. landing, it is immediately clear who controls baidoa now, ethiopian soldiers with firepower. the visit was organized by the ethiopian army, keen to show that its winning the war against al-shabab. a look inside what was the islamist militants bas space. images of a war that has drawn in foreign fighters from across the world. the weaponry of the al qaeda- linked militants. some of these were captured and others abandoned as ethiopia and and somali troops advanced across the country. >> [unintelligible] [unintelligible]

>> a key ally of the west, this is ethiopia's second military offensive in recent years to stop islamists from controlling somalia. three years ago somalis were celebrating on the streets as the ethiopian army left. now those soldiers are back. the challenge is to ensure this incursion does not become as unpopular as the last incursion, but it's not seen as a foreign military invasion. on the streets, many businesses have remained close, partly because the battle may not be over. no one knows how long the ethiopians will stay. so there is a fear al-shabab could return. in the presence of ethiopian officials, somali elders said they were grateful for the help in tackling the militants. islamist fighters

would be welcome back home if they came in peace. the ingredients of terror. al-shabab has promised bloodshed. the militants are weekend, but not finished -- weakened. >> the first world leader accused over their role in the global financial crisis, the trial has opened. the former is licelandic prime minister geir haarde. he denies the charges, calling them politically motivated. we will speak to an economic consultant. thanks for joining us. the former prime minister has denied these accusations,

believing there's no basis for them. what is your view of the fact this trial is taking place? >> it is now fair to try one person. many people likely caused the collapse in iceland. this was an international collapse. the collapse of lehman brothers. it is hard to see what he would be able to do to prevent the collapse with the banks. the shareholders and bankers probably would be seeking compensation. >> but the parliament in your country voted in september 2010 that he was the only person who should be tried on these charges related to the collapse of day iceland bank. this led through diplomaticsrows

with the netherlands. >> it's good to have some kind of truth and reconciliation committee to go through this. there are many other people involved. members of the banking community and alistair darling are not standing trial. >> you do need the buck to stop somewhere. he stands accused of negligence. it is a serious charge. should he not have the chance to defend himself and for him to go on trial and justice to be done? >> i guess in general the people in knights landing are divided but probably curious to find out what happens behind the curtains.

-- people in iceland aare divided. the consequences [unintelligible] people would probably get 99 cents on the dollar from the estate. we were able to prevent mortality is that were evident. >> thanks for joining us. some spectacular pictures from argentina where a large portion of the ice wall crashed into lake argentina in the south of the country. years this occurs.

much more ahead website, bbc.com/news. thanks for watching. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding for this presentation was made possible by -- the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, newman's own foundation, and union bank. at union bank our relationship managers use their expertise in global finance to guide you through the business strategies and opportunities of international commerce. we put our extended global network to work for wide range of companies, from small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you?

>> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet los angeles.