♪ election day in iran where voter turnout is high in the first poll since international sanctions were lifted. ♪ welcome to al jazeera live from our headquarters in doha and i'm sammy and also ahead. [gunfire] count down to a cessation of hostilities in syria, russia and the arab league reiterate its crucial for the truce to succeed. getting tough on north korea the u.s. and china agree on a draft security council resolution to expand sanctions against kim

jong-un and decision on the world body as they prepare to pick fifa's new president. ♪ voting has begun in iran's first election since the elections from the nuclear deal and turn out is high so far and voters taking part in two polls one for parliament and the other for the assembly of experts and that is the body that gets to choose the country's next supreme leader and andrew simmons reports from tehran. >> iran is used to elections but this is billed as a pole to take islamic revolution into a new era, one that could be more moderate and he believes change is coming. she became the first woman vice president between 1997-2005.

>> the hostages are in our hands. >> reporter: back in 1979 she was the voice of resistance, age 19 spokeswoman for iranian students who held 52 americans hostage for 444 days in the u.s. embassy crisis. she is now serving a third term as vice president, this time under rouhani and she believes the conservative majority in parliament will be overturned. >> i think that the people believe that they can change the course of events. if people had not elected rouhani, if they had not come to the polls 2 1/2 years ago we would have not been successful in for example the nuclear deal and lifting the sanctions. >> reporter: but that all powerful institution standing against moderates and reformists, the guardian council made up of mainly conservatives

and hard liners which vets candidates cut the numbers standing for the parliamentary elections behalf and it also had an affect on the assembly of experts cutting the numbers standing for that body by more than three quarters. most of those disqualified were either reformists or moderate. >> the way that it is actually done i think that is open to a lot of criticism. >> what is your view of it? >> we should be more open in terms of allowing people particularly those who are coming, for example, with strong political credentials in the past or people who are coming for the first time and they don't have that much experience in the political arena. i think that they should be given a chance. >> reporter: even if conservatives did lose control of the iranian parliament the

supreme leader would still hold absolute power with military, judiciary and wide range of islamic institutions andrew simmons. they plan for a conditional ceasefire in syria scheduled to come into effect only saturday and the goal is to have a nationwide cessation of hostilities between the syrian government and opposition and russia's foreign minister sergei fedorov has been meeting ahead of the ab arab lead and says moscow will continue to fight i.s.i.l. with military means. >> translator: international terror have the same position to battle the channels of terrorism of so called islamic fight and fight the ideology of extremists and terrorists. >> and rory challenge following the story from moscow. >> i think russia has a problem here and as it has influence in the middle east it increases

because of its roll in syria, its relationship with many sunni countries in the region has been suffering for those two main reasons. and so russia really is trying to kind of expand and up la and trying to find common values and common things to mend some phrase relationships so there was much talk of common values like order, stability, security in the region and the fight against terrorism as well but we did hear some chiding against russia as well from the secretary-general of the arab league saying russia is a super power, that is something that will play well for vladimir putin but as a super power as he described it russia should be doing more and as a member of the middle east quartet russia should do more to try to resolve the palestinian-israeli conflict. the u.s. president is urging the syrian government and russia to end the civil war and the

conditional ceasefire will help in the fight against i.s.i.l. >> none of us are under any illusions, we are all aware of the many potential pitfalls and there are plenty of reasons for skepticism but history would judge us harshly if we did not do our part in at least trying to end this terrible conflict with diplomacy. >> reporter: davis is head of policy and research at the henry jackson society a foreign policy think tank and says it's unrealistic to think russia to do anything different in this stage of the conflict. >> there is a fantasy and frankly expressed by president obama's unbearable term of the world is watching that is meaningless, absolutely meaningless, what is required is for the world to intervene and in this case the world that supports moderation and the world that supports the kinds of stability we want to see and put it quite rightly there can be no

future for syria under assad and inconceivable to say the people who have been butchered by this man in hundreds of thousands that is has a solution that includes him in the future but the problem is we are not sufficiently standing up to this iranian assad russian access to make it crystal clear this will not happen and if you do it and continue down this path we will stop it if need be militarily and needs to happen here and that is the kind of situation which one can begin to talk about an end to the fighting on the basis of the strength that we have to bring to bear in that particular war to conclude it in a way that is accessible. >> reporter: shia cleric is leading a large rally in baghdad and several thousands turned out to hear him speak and demonstrators calling for reforms to combat corruption and also demanding a cabinet reshuffle and criticizing the security situation and the armed group i.s.i.l. still controls

parts of the country. two journalists in turkey have been freed from prison after a top court ruled their detention was a rights violation and the pair were arrested for publishing photos and an article on the alleged transportation of weapons from turkey into syria. they have been in jail since november but they will still face trial on terrorism and espionage charges. a palestinian activist and journalist has ended his three-month long hunger strike and he went on hunger strike after he was detained by israeli forces and held without final charge, under a deal with israel he will remain in custody until may and with the so called administrative detention will not be renewed after that. all right joining us live from west jerusalem and looking through the legal speak there and what does this mean he is going to be released? >> in short sammy yes he will be

however not right away. mohamed who has been hunger striking now for 94 days a hunger strike which he ended around an hour ago he effectively will be held in israeli detention at the medical facility that he has been treated in northern israel for the past few months and he has been told that he will be treated by palestinian israeli doctors until he is well enough, if he does recover well enough before may 21st which is his unconditional release date he will be sent to a prison in israel where he will serve the duration of his stay. now i should also mention that mohamed, his ordeal as we have been saying has been going on for several months now and, in fact, a few days after he was taken into so called administrative detention however a few weeks ago the israeli supreme court ruled to suspend his administrative detention but that wasn't enough for he to continue the hunger strike

because he said that he was being held without charge and he has never been told by the israelis why he was being held and that is why he wanted a release unconditionally and seems he has not been given that release unconditionally however he has found agreement that will see him released by the 21st of may so seems to be some sort of midway ground for him but of course very crucial because he has as the doctors are saying was very close to death. >> this case attracted a lot of attention, any explanation given for why a journalist was held so long without trial and charge and what the implications are for the so called administrative detention policy? >> well, let's start with administrative detention policy and is very controversial and human rights organization describe it illegal under international law and administrative detention effectively is in prison without charge and maybe indefinitely

and according to israelis he was taken into custody for what they described as media insightment, that through his work as a journalist in the occupied west bank that he was in some ways inciting and the background of all of this sammy there has been months and months of unrest in the palestinian hard harding territories for more than 200 palestinians and cracking down on any voice which has been seen as again using the words they describe as incitement. but again it would appear that whatever the allegations that were brought against him whether publically stated or not, the israelis have decided to release him because of his hunger strike which has attracted so much attention. >> all right thanks so much. and still to come on the show day nine of fight night and u.s. republican rivals take part in a

heated exchange ahead of super tuesday plus. >> i'm rob reynolds in the heart of california's pistashio country and looking to see if new exports from iran will drive farmers here nuts. ♪

♪ thanks for watching and here is a quick reminder of our top stories now iran's president rouhani says the high voter turnout in the first election since international sanctions and earlier he cast his vote to

elect members of parliament and cleric for the assembly of experts and u.s.-russia plan for a conditional ceasefire in syria scheduled to come in effect saturday and russian foreign minister sergei fedorov is meeting the head of the leak and sergei fedorov says they will continue to fight i.s.i.l. and palestinian journalist ended his hunger strike after 94 days and he was protesting against his arrest by israeli forces and the fact that he was held without trial or charge and the deal made with israeli authorities will allow him to be released in may. the u.s. and china are joining forces diplomatically against north korea and agreed on a draft resolution that would expand u.n. sanctions and it's the toughest in two decades and follows the yang weapons test and rocket launch last month and harry faucet has more from seoul. >> reporter: u.s. said a deal had been done with china to seek

strong sanctions against north korea. >> in response the nuclear test and subsequent for scribbled missile launch they drafted u.n. security resolution that if adopted without break new ground and represent the strongest set of sanctions imposed by the security council in more than two decades. >> reporter: sanctions would include a series of first mandating all countries to inspect all north korean cargo, prohibiting all sales of conventional weapons including small arms to north korea and braining aviation fuel including rocket fuel and limiting his ability to export cole and minerals which say account for 40% of north korea's export revenues and the north korean border says some of that is already happening with ships denying entry and cole drying up and a draft to let exports

through if they are for livelihood purposes and wooly wording and leaves china seeking to return for talks. >> translator: we have to go through negotiations as in the case of the issue and it has produced a comprehensive agreement. >> reporter: just last october beijing cents one of its highest ranking officials to join kim jong-un at a parade and a thaw of resent tensions and the decision to press on with rocket test and launch has refrozen the relationship, extra push coming from the u.s. south korean talks about deploying a u.s. missile system known as fad on the korean peninsula. >> south korea and taking sanctions against north korea and impacting security of fad being deployed to the peninsula and relationship with the south and taking under a very difficult period. >> reporter: not the first time

sanctions have been imposed and most recently in 2013 the talk then as now was of their unprecedented toughness. >> the resolution tabled today will take the u.n. sanctions imposed on north korea to the next level. >> reporter: three years later there is a sense of familiarity to this and north korea made the pursuit of nuclear weapons an unshakeable authority and arms controls to freeze the nuclear program where it is rather than trying to roll it back to external pressure and increasing that pressure is the plan and testing north korea resistance again harry faucet al jazeera, seoul. fifa delegates are in switzerland to elect a new five and five vying for the top job and hoping to rebuild the damaged reputation and the vote comes amid allegations of corruption and arrest of official and the banning of the

current president sepp blatter and we have more from zurich. >> we know as expected fifa has approved reforms it needed to approve the reforms they were in a really tight spot and have to show the u.s. and swiss authorities and watching world they are trying to change a new, cleaner fifa but then of course the crucial issue of who is going to be the front man, the man man and even that the president will technically have less powers after hours of voting later today is that man going to be seen as the right man and shake who is the favorite and issues and allegations around human rights and his involvement in bahrain and he is definitely the man most likely to win so that is something that they are watching well and will be considered. as for the 207 voting nations they just want the person who is going to look best after the finances of fifa and talk about what happened before because

they were not that unhappy with how things were under sepp blatter but the public was unhappy so we should see who that vote in the favorite shake and it will take a long process later in the day. >> going to the polls and voting underway in a general election to pick a new parliament and total of 157 seats in contention and barker reports from dublin. >> reporter: elect 157 deputies and 40 different constituencies here in ireland and one of the smallest countries in the eu but what happens here is likely to send ripples across the continent after years of austerity and an economy on the up and no party has been able to form a government on its own and last five years it has been run by a coalition of the labor party and hoping to capitalize on improvements to the economy in this year's election and also

hoping to gain ground after they lost a tremendous amount of seats in the election back in 2011 and as republican party and the forward party and smaller parties like the socialist and social democrats and other smaller independent parties were also expected to play a key role in the difficult process of coalition building. a judge approved the clearance of part of a refugee camp in northern france nicknamed the jungle and hope to asylum seekers to reach britain just across the channel and we report from cali. >> reporter: the refugee from iraq has been in the jungle camp here for nearly a month and helping here at the food tent means he stays warm and busy and have been given the green light to clear them out and will not use force in the library as well as places of worship will be left if place but he says he has had enough of being moved on and

decided to apply for asylum in france. >> translator: i can't keep changing my home all the time and going to register for asylum on friday. i'd like to bring my wife and four children from iraq so we can live in peace and my children can also. >> reporter: but many others here see the eviction as another hurdle to clear and determined to reach britain where they have friends or family. >> i'm waiting here four months and i want to go to munich but now it's finished and i don't know where to go, i don't know. >> translator: there are places for refugees in france and in germany but people here have strong reasons for going to england and have family there and don't want to stay here. >> reporter: the government insists it has a better solution to offer the migrants. >> translator: i can't confirm with the help of organizations

as we have been doing previously on an area about four hectors we will be able to offer a decent shelter of migrants here and most importantly we will be able to get them out of the hands of traffickers. >> behind the trees over there is the southern part of what they call the jungle camp and the authorities here in cali would like everyone living over there to move into a new accommodation center not far away, it is made up of heated containers and it's safer and cleaner there but for many of the refugees and it's a small move to make psychologically it's a great leap. and aid organizations say there are far more people here than can stay in the container park or other reception centers. >> translator: france is telling the migrants they can either live in a container or temporary shelter and going to prompt people to set up revised camps all over like ten years ago and they will not be enough space for them in shelters provided by the government.

>> reporter: charities say the french government should do much more to help the many children and teenagers here in particular. however quickly they clear this part of the hungel a lasting solution still seems out of reach. barber with al jazeera. jamaica party led by homs nearly won election and won 33 of 63 seats with almost all votes counted according to the electoral website and took 30 seats. in the u.s. republican presidential hopefuls have taken part in heated exchanges in the last televised debate before a crucial series of elections and 12 states and territory will hold primaries and caucus votes next week on what is known as super tuesday and allen fisher reports from houston, texas. >> reporter: for the city's official contest just days away this was a key debate. >> we are going to secure the

border. >> rubio on attack and frontrunner donald trump the target and in a border state immigration the first topic. >> were you the first to be fined for hiring projects to work on your projects illegal. >> i hired people and you have not hired anybody. >> reporter: and trump was taunted by texas senator cruz who said he couldn't win a presidential election. >> we can't risk another four years of these failed obama policies by nominateing someone who loses to hillary clinton in november. >> reporter: rubio went after donald trump from the first moments of debate and knows he has to stop momentum if he has a chance of winning nomination and he attacked the positions he holds now and trump has a lead in most of the states that will vote on super tuesday and remains the favorite to secure the republican nomination. there was a discussion on the economy, on the battle against i.s.i.l. and the middle east.

>> so badly watching you don't know what is happening. >> reporter: debate where few will remember details on policy but will remember anger and trump said he wasn't surprised to be the target of so many debates. >> he had no choice to being a aggressive and he is losing even though he never shows up. >> reporter: attack in previous debates and not hurting him in the polls and waiting for the meltdown the moment his campaign falls apart and it has not happened and no one worked out how to beat him, allen fisher at the republican debate in houston. sanctions on iran lifted the country is eager to expand trade and boost economy, one of iran's tastyist exports is a big seller abroad but for some u.s. growers that is proving hard to swallow and rob reynolds reports from los angeles. >> reporter: the pistashio

trees in san juaquin are bear but soon will have clusters of nuttiness. >> they will have clusters and can have 2-25 nuts on them. >> reporter: what you are seeing here looks good. >> very good. >> reporter: after years of punishing drought brian blackwell forecasts a bumper crop. >> we have 115% of the normal snow pack, excellent year for the nuts. >> reporter: 1.2 million hectors of trees california is worth 1.3 billion but politics are complicating things for growers and facing stiff competition from half a world away and iran is the world's number one country, the u.s. is in second place. now most of the economic and trade sanctions have been lifted, iranians are free to

export their pistashios to many parts of the world and in many parts of the world people seem to thing that iran's pistashios are better and in fresno, california they say iranian competition in the export market is fierce. >> iran has taken control of certain markets worldwide, china would be a good example because of their proximity to china they are able to ship there at a cost much more competitive than what we would be able to sell into that same marketplace. >> reporter: he is confident iranian pistashios won't put a dent in the u.s. domestic market due to high tariffs saying iran unfairly subsidizes its growers but one part of california people go nutty for the nuts and

so many people of decent live in this section of los angeles, it's nickname tyrrangelos and they are more expensive and he says it's a matter of taste. >> they are the best in the world in taste and only one problem with that if you start eating you have to finish it. >> reporter: and that is the story in a nutshell, rob reynolds, al jazeera, los angeles. >> a young boy from afghanistan received a special gift from futbol-messi and five-year-old made headlines and wearing a plastic bag as a homemade argentina shirt and pictures wearing the shirt went viral and eventually seen by the player themselves and he is the proud owner of an argentina jersey

from the player of the year and the federation is in talks with representatives about a possible meeting between the two. you can get more on that on our website al jazeera.com. ground shook between the porous county, a devastating earthquake in more than 200 years. aid groups descended. billions poured in. what happened since may shock you. tonight, a special edition of "on target". haiti or shaky ground.