a rare glimpse of life under the bond ukraine. a city under siege on a just either holding the powerful to account. as we examine the u. s. his role in the world on al jazeera, ah, frauds chooses it's next president of votes, is a deciding between incumbent men or macaroni, who far right candidates, marine la pen. ah, and mcloud, this is al jazeera live it from. there are also coming up ukraine's president renews his call for more powerful weapons. says he says the top us diplomat and defense chief, a jew in cave, but washington has not confirmed his senior crystal. the shock symbol is really

believed easter symbolizes the greatest victory of life. over death, president lensky edge is unity and resilience is orthodox. easter is observed in ukraine and russia driving home. their discontent about high taxes fed up farmers in argentina, right? all the way to the presidential palace or let's begin with the presidential election in france and voters choosing whether to relax president a man or micron or marine le pen leader of the far right. national rally party by late afternoon turn out was just over 63 percent. that is 2 points lower than voting day 5 years ago. it's brenda smith now reporting from parse voters place a stark choice in france. the to presidential candidates are centrist pro european union emanuel macro, 44 year old incumbent cast his vote, and la to k on sunday morning. or they can vote for the far right euro skeptic

marine la pen. it's the 2nd time they've gone had to had in a run off in to 17, a so called republican front helped micron when voters who agreed on little else came together to stop the far right. taking the presidency this year, both candidates want the votes of supporters of far left candidate john luke mellon . shawn he won just one percent less of the vote from the pen in the 1st round. last i said he think she's here at the matters and the fact that we never tried many in the pan. i'm not going to hi, good you for me, there were 2 options. it was either survive in europe with my crohn or leave in france with marian le pen. the choice was crystal clear for me because josh, why i think there is an important choice to be made to day. on the one hand, we have a president, that is what it is. and on the other hand, a woman who does not share the same values of democracy. so we must vote against her brothers before somali, the longer without the will cause you to think everybody can feel that we are in

trouble times are in the world that in france in it's important to remember that if we have our one duty and one rights is the rights micron has struggle to shake off a perception he's aloof, the label president of the rich a stock that's even though data shows or but the poorest 5 percent of french households are better off than they were. 5 years ago. the pan has focused on the rising cost of living, one of the main concerns of french voters. she says she'll prioritize french citizens over immigrants for public housing and jobs. and la pan has played down her promise to ban muslim women from wearing head scarves in public. this is the closest the far right as come to winning power in france. turn out will be important. it's the middle of easter holidays. her many people are away from place where they need to cast their vote. burnett's me al jazeera has led sir crosslegged to pers now natasha butler is there and natasha did turn out important and should

be here in estimates results 1st estimate result and a couple of us yes, we'll get a 1st estimated results in a couple of hours. we'll also know in just a few hours who is going to be the next president of france. it is a really an election in which you have 2 candidates of 2 very different visions of frauds, the pro e u. r centrist, the reformer, emmanuel, macro, and the others. on the other hand, of course, his rival, the far right leader and t, u, anti immigration, marine la penny, really is a battle between 2 candidates that have very little in common. you've. i say, i'd like to talk to her about some of the candidates, potential foreign affairs policy, their death, their reaction on the international stage, not like to bring in our guest now manual to please the president of the institute of international perspectives. in terms of foreign affairs emmanuel, um we know what a macro presidency looks like. we've seen it for 5 years. he is

a believer in multilateralism. what could we expect from a la pen presidency on the international stage? well, actually it would of course be a radical def, directly different presidency. but of course one has to assess that both may not be on the same truck and the minimum icon. it may not be on the following of it's but 1st, but in see, because there'll be the legislative election. and there might be another track track 3 if, if i may say so. so the parliamentary, polite election willing to return will, will determine whether or not it is a centrist or a right. his policy, you mentioned fact to him and uncle is a centrist. that's true. but he mean very, we're not have a majority in the center. you may have to gov, left or right, or a man in open is clearer on the position. she has a more robust and she you rhetoric even though she say that fax, it is no longer on track. but everyone knows that if she wants to transform the pin union, if she wants to change the lisbon treaty, she would be alone on that. and therefore,

we will have the situation in with france would be in the same situation as poland and hungary in regards to be in contradiction article to the values, the erm, the core principle of the european union. and that would be a huge truck, huge a huge agenda to, to, to take all the, because again, france will be against $26.00 or maybe 20 for putting us i, poland, and hunger. second, a difference i think is in regards to germany and he goes to great britain and you got to get bitten because those migration crisis read written is outside of european union boys. johnson is very or some, nagel savage, which is the send as a imminent in mat, in the pen. when it comes to the push that he made in 2006 for the bricks. it therefore, there would be a migration crisis between great britain, france to be honest, france will kick out of the migrant work now staying it, which, which are under the control of the french authority. and she will say,

she would present to witness that will have a new crisis in regard to that. and when it comes to germany, there will be a clear disruption of the linkage, the german franco german dynamics. this is quite clear. she has always said that during the last 5 years, and she has stress that in the last few months when another area in which these 2 candidates have very a different views is nato. we heard some years back, emmanuel, macro described nature is brain dead since then. a with the ukraine crisis. many said western lights has never been so strong that marina pan wants to pull france out of the integrated nato command. what could we expect in the future? i'm not sure if she was in it, she will do that. she said it, but i'm not sure she will for various reasons. first of all, she has a lies inside nato countries. i mentioned 2 of them already. poland, hungary who will not pull out of the major command. so there may be a push present, understood from poland and prime minister victor alba on saying no,

we have to build an island in san nato to be more a deterrence when it comes to the return of the united states inside the you been ization of or the euro, a pillar inside or nato, but she as a by did the fact that france gets must be pulled out of the miniature command for another reason. it's not about nato, it's about united states. it's about the return of the united states in europe. and the smart diplomacy or the we shift when it comes to a european affairs as joe biden. and this is a call different because we are back in my call would be very more delicates or with the job aiden when it comes to the issue of a stronger or more robust, richer letter isn't. which of course married earl append does not. but even if she is opposed to the french policy and say, nato, she will also be opposed in the french policy inside japan in say you been una as well as in, inside the united nation. her body,

or i salon your to appear expert in exactly face. thank you so much indeed for bringing us your expertise on these 2 candidates had have a very different role on the international stage as you heard there and which of the will become the next president in the lease a palace. we will know in a few hours time, i to indeed, natasha thinks that he crane's president is appealing to allies for more powerful weapons and voted med. zalinski says that the u. s. secretaries of state and defense are expected in cave, within hours to discuss the need. the white house is not confirmed this visit to lensky, also again called for meeting with vladimir putin to stop the war. despite saying he doesn't trust the russian leader is warned, that the taunts won't happen. if you crenan soldiers defending the besieged city of marable, or killed nick or even at glare when principal appeal to all leaders. we are not

a country of tragic selfies. we have a real war, so come to us. we will be happy to meet you, but please bring the help we've asked for unless i do not consider the option that our partners will not give us the weapons, they promise. i do not consider this option at all. they have no alternative. we will not provide them with this opportunity. we have no other chance twin back our land. that's enough. and charles trav, who's got more from the city of sloppy ernst denise in ukraine on some of the desperate journeys many civilians have been taking the town of lee man, which is about 20 kilometers and also have a child that we were literally unable to get to today because shelling was so heavy, we did have a speak to civilians coming out of it. they yeah, confirming what we could have saying that they were families sheltering in bunkers . we smoked one person described a crater in the center of town that was believed to be changed from an as strike. we cannot confirm that just as indication of the difficulties that people are

facing here is this, as it will continues. there was a young family that will actually trying to get into lehman. at one stage we said we're where you go and you have the shelley and they said, well, we have no choice. our home is there and we cannot afford to live in denise pro, and that's where they fled to. they played that every once before. and now they were going into it just as it seems, russian forces are making a concerted effort to push towards the city of sloppy and see where we are now. in other areas, we also know is ongoing fighting south east to be in a town called pop sauna, which we understand is half controlled by the russian pools is heavily contested. and as i say, is an indication of the russian army trying to surround savanski here as so for so far, at least the ukrainians, ukrainian forces seem to be keeping, keeping them back. ukraine's president vladimir lensky has called for unity and

resilience during an address marketing orthodox easter sunday. subdued celebrations have been held across the country. the church leaders were asked not to gather too many people together and play in case they became a target. lexi o'brien has his he has an horde, rochelle oregon one miss in the shadow of war. ukraine's president turned to a building signifying peace caves 1000 year old st. sophia cathedral, the setting for his latest video message marking orthodox easter sunday or on will yours. christina crystal, his show symbol is louis, believe easter symbolizes the greatest victory of life over death. each of us is asking god, only one thing. every one says the same words, the words of a great and united, rare, great lord to save you. crane. oh, sunday also marks 2 months since russian forces invaded ukrainian authorities urged those celebrating the christian festival to follow services on line. but some still

made their way to church for easter blessings. oh, this is boucher outside cave town that scene some of the worst violence of this conflict and other parts of the country artillery fire could be heard as easter services were held. ukraine had joined to the un and pushing for an east, a truce, but with no success is saunter severe to nearby, the sun is shining, and the sky is clear. but there's no peace in my soul. i very, very much once ukraine to have liberty love and hope or years that the book is so clear. others in the eastern city of separation were too nervous to stay for meth. that one is a horror of so we didn't enter the church, we did everything quickly. we received our blessings from the priest and we are now on our way home. the conflict has divided the orthodox church. the russian patriarch and ally of president vladimir putin, his throne,

his support behind the war and used his sermons to justify it. that's angered church leaders in ukraine and alice across the orthodox faith. it's spiritual leader. his pushed for an end to the fighting, calling it an indescribable human tragedy. rushes annexation of crimea led to a part of ukraine's clergy splitting from the moscow lead branch in 2018. there are fears the war could further rupture. the wider church. president of a lot of me as lensky urged ukrainians not to let anger overwhelm them. vilegas out as a wooden you. today's great holiday gives us the great hope and belief that light will win over darkness. good will win over evil life a will win over data, so therefore ukraine will win. inevitably ga, mailed to me. oh, a prayer for peace and hope heard and felt across ukraine. alixia brian al jazeera

phil hey there and out 0. the international monetary, fun warns of what it calls a massive sent back to the global economy. why severe floods in south africa reviving concerns that neighboring countries on doing enough to combat climate change? ah, the journey has begun. the faithful world copies on its way to catherine book. your travel package today. i know the season should be coming to an end of the ready season indonesia. but just the time being we got an increase in the likelihood of activities, sumatra and java, and probably on the western side of borneo on saturday in particular. a moss. it was wet recently in cambodia that looks a little bit dry, but the showers are increasing in the philippines and we are watching the rain heading up out of sumatra into proper the bay of bengal. but the seas, the re,

would be bit early, were to be the case here in east asia, but it looks like it's developing. we've had some significant, raining western japan. there'll be more during monday and eastern china. it's hot soon. all hot and dryer than you might expect in beijing at 29, and even hong kong up at 30. but the rain itself is the thing to watch because it's pulsing through south korea, then towards hong shoe and hawkeye. do. now you might expect is an a month times a little early to see the season, right? it looks like that already developing. so expect some significant down pause in southern china in the next few days and then weeks. whereas is quite dry and it is raining, corolla rose shep beyond go and quite a lot in sri lanka, the northern plains remain hot, dry and dusty and the still a chance of was who big thunderstorms in the northeast of india, but not many official airline of the journey oh

sure. ready where ever you go in the world, one airline goes to make it feel exceptional. katara always going places to go with ah, again, you're watching out 0 reminder about top stories this hour and both contenders for the next president of france of voted, along with millions of their supporters as he bids for a 2nd term president,

a man or background cost his ballot in the to k at far i challenge emory in the pen cause her balance in northern france to a voter turnout by 5 pm was just over 63 percent. 2 points less than 5 years ago. ukraine's president is asking allies for more weapons ahead of a meeting with top us officials for domains. zalinski says you are secretaries of state and defense are expected in cave on sunday. washington has not confirmed this army commanders in marley, so at least 6 soldiers have been killed in 3 separate attacks. 20 security force personnel were injured. as annette and identified gunmen targeted military bases with bomb laden vehicles, marley has been repeatedly attack since fighters linked to al qaeda seized at territory in the north 10 years ago. a similar attack happened around the same time and neighboring burkina. faso 5 soldiers were among 10 people killed when an armed group attacked a military unit. now, jerry's president says the nation is in shock at the killing of at least $100.00

people at the, at an in legal oil refinery. officials in your imo state said the explosion on saturday night burnt victims beyond recognition. illegal tapping of oil pipelines is common in southern nigeria, where there is high unemployment. at least 12 people have died and another 10 am missing. after 4 boats carrying a $120.00 migrants and refugees sank niche in his ear. the coast guard rescued at least 98 people off the coast of his fax. it's become a departure point for people seeking a better life in europe. the coast guard and all the japan says 10 people, all confirmed dead after a sightseeing boat went missing in bad weather. helicopters and patrol boats are continuing to search the coast of mckayden island for the 16 others. you were on board. the crew sent out a distress call on saturday, saying the boat was sinking high winds and waves had been reported in the water. temperature hovers around 2 degrees. government safety inspectors are investigating

the vessel owners. argentinian farmers have blocked roads in the capital in protest against export taxes on agricultural products. they have to pay levies of up to 33 percent on exports of soybeans and grains. but the worried that the governments could raise them even higher for his abode reports now from one as ours. and then come on site elicit he of when a site is tractors from across the country came to identify as capital to protest against the government of alberto, for madness. and that he millis travelled from the province of santa fe. he explained why he and others like him are at risk, not acquittals. he lives on it. we cannot produce like this. all of us end up renting or forms because small scale farmers end up renting their lantern international corporations who can afford to bear the enormous tax burden. we have food prices are rising worldwide driven up by the war in ukraine. this has put

argentinian producers and alert farmers say, taxes, export, taxis, drought and exchange rate controls are hurting their capacity to produce and fear the government could increase taxes even more. thousands of people accompanied the farmers to the center of a city to protest against the administration of i'll read it off. i remember they say they tired of the inflation rate. it was close to 7 percent last month, end of their difficulties. they pay every month. they're saying that they got an it has no economic land, and they will grow chrissy and the risk is implemented by the administration hurting argentina's productive sector. last march, the government increased export taxes and soybean flour, annoy, seeking to control local prices and stabilize the price of wheat to what it was before ukraine's conflict. it also says farmers are overreacting and there are no plans to increase export taxes again, at least for now we'll get an

o 2 other than c on it. we have an increased export taxes under producers. so their marching just in case their margin against the project it on know, i imagine the could happen. so we have no doubt this is a political demonstration that the has to do with of inches than defend and the right of the farmers looking basically, journalists like my be along on he say the situation in flames. already long running tensions between the government and the agricultural sector, number handy or is there a taylor as the farming sectors in a strange situation? because like most countries in the world where they produce more food than they consume does a chance to make profit. argentina has a surplus of food and it could export more grain. milken meat pots and argentina's case, the bitter prices, dont always benefit the farmer. well just as the constant trouble between producers and the government. and that's why farmers thou to continue with their demands. they say government assistance would help them to produce more, something they say would benefit argentina's economy and the whole world police,

i will as a seat at one side of the both the international monetary fund and the world bank group have met for the past week to consider the global consequences of the war in ukraine. they've also been discussing what's called the debt distress of many low income countries. vicky price from the center for economics and business research says pi inflation was being predicted even before the war. and ukraine seen good prices on prices and freight charges for transporting anything from anywhere around the world going up very significantly. and that had been leading those people to downgrade the forecast anyway, so i was expected, it would happen. but the interesting thing is it happened with a vengeance. if you like, in the sense that they had to add to the impact of the warranty ukraine. and additionally, of course, they did this huge uncertainty as to how long the warranty crane will last and what will happen after it goes why the world bank has already analyses this $170000000000.00 support fund. that is

a crisis fund because they had something quite similar during the cobra crisis, but they've got this one now which is going to be some slowly building up over the next year or so for the poor countries which are indeed going to fall into serious debt crashes, those countries that do not have the sort of luxury of being major, a food producers or food export just they are the ones that are suffering quite significantly. so the world bank is worried that something like 60 percent of the countries are looking at are going to be falling into serious debt issues and they're going to have to step in how long this will last is the real question. because on the food side, you know, want to see what is happening with 30 lies a cost going up significantly. farmers are not going to use, specializes as much as they would have done, otherwise they're not going to put down, you know, the crop. so they would have done otherwise. so the problems with good security may last a lot longer than those for energy security. vaccines under wayne's lavinia. and

what's expected to be a type parliamentary election, the right wing populous party, prime minister, a young as young chap as cast his bonnet. and he's been criticized for restricting immediate freedom and civil liberties. during the pandemic, the challenger is renewable energy. businessman robert gallop from the freedom movement party, pitney bowes. jess, they'll be no clear winner. and a coalition government is expected. molina is ours. it shares see is in the capitol or louisiana, where the more on the election is. you look, a civilian society at the moment is very much divided. it radicalized and polarized . so civilians are today choosing between 2 different paths, 2 different versions of their future. one version, the says future of their future is cooperation within european institutions and the other one is more in venice for supporting young within the european union. this is the choice between the young as the answer for menyon democratic party or robert, goal of freedom movement party, young xian shuffle, indian nationalist,

he seeking his 4th term as for the union. prime minister yansa is a veteran politician, 3 decades in full union, fully fixed. he's a very much controversial politician. he's a strong ally of gary and prime minister victor or one. and just like orbit is criticized for autocratic. done, this is an autocratic government. on the other side, we have it all ready to go over something completely different, different story, his businessman manager, he had this with indian state power company for 3 months ago. he decided to enter politics, as he explained because he wants to leave a free and open society. he formed a freedom movement party. unlike young shock, he doesn't want to talk about the dollar g left in the right division. he wants to talk about the economy, about energy, green transformation, green politics, about sustainable development, about health care system, about building new apartments for young slovenia. the 1st commercial flight from

yemen in 6 years has been postponed. the croft to do to fly from sana to jordan, didn't receive operating permit to the pilots couldn't take off the any government blame toothy rebels for shutting ticket sales outlet spells and said tickets were only sold to passengers with passports issued by the hoofs. devastating floods recently in south africa have highlighted concerns about climate change and where that may bring countries doing enough to combat the threat. millions of africans has suffered both floods and drought. and the last 6 months alone, me to mila. as more from johannesburg, unimaginable destruction homes and lives destroyed or lost as floods ravaged, parts of quizzes, natal province in recent weeks. and in the aftermath, beaches streets aligned with debris and pollution. at least 443 people were killed in the flats described as the worst and 60 years. when 2 months worth of rain fell

in just 48 hours, causing mud and lance lights. we needs to increase our investment employment adaptation measures to better safeguard communities against the effects of climate change. the government is calling such natural disasters the new normal, attributing it mostly to climate change, but environment experts say the devastation may not have been as bad if the government had done more. here in the township of alexander into hannah's by thousands of people live. 1 alongside riverbanks and phone areas, while the have been local and global, that is to reduce the effects of climate change. many of those promises have not been kept. it's, let's say countries like south africa needs to build better houses, road and drainage and transport systems to adapt to climate change. and key people say x would say africa's west indian ocean region is vulnerable to extreme weather

shocks. parts of madagascar recently been hit by intense tropical psych loans, while south east of the island drought decimated crops, killed animals and displays thousands of people, causing widespread food shortages. drought has to ravaged parts of zambia, zimbabwe and south africa. in fountain, madagascar, for example, you have 1.5 to 2000000 people who suffered acute hunger because of drought issues. you have ah, or what a 1000000 carcasses are from lice livestock heard us, et cetera. and now with the storms are that we have seen about 3 very significant storms happening in causal natal in the space of about 7 years. and who has suffered the most. it is really the poor and vulnerable who have one

lea, a dangerous places to put up their houses seem. we are going to continue to see this frame to happening are all across the african continent. it's estimated it will cost billions of dollars to fix the damage caused by the latest gliding in south africa and environmental groups. a severe weather has killed half a 1000000 people in southern africa. in the last 6 months alone. for me to mila al jazeera johannesburg, south africa. ah, so this is al jazeera, these are the top stories in both contenders and the french presidential elections have voted along with millions of their supporters, as he bid for a 2nd term. president mental micron cause his ballot in the to k, all right, challenger marine append cast her ballots in northern france as well. a voter turnout so far as just over 63 percent to.