mission to teach. week's top stories in today's news on our observers are sacked for syria as u.n. issues its first resolution on the conflict designed to prop up the state the ceasefire. egypt shortens the list of presidential candidates says former mubarak sidekicks are bruited out of the race. it's the final push for france's top job as voters lurch to the extremes with concerns over immigration identity and policy the new. and millions of orthodox christians around the world celebrate the resurrection of christ including ravished easter ceremonies held in moscow made

a few draw. the line from moscow on news to now way with our weekly program this sunday happy easter to anyone who is celebrating orthodox holiday or top story after more than a year of fighting in syria the un's most powerful body has uttered in its first resolution on the conflict a small team of unarmed military observers is being deployed to oversee the fragile cease fire that came into force on thursday or she's going to court i has more now from new york according to russian ambassador to the u.n. to tell you one russian officer will be part of the group heading to syria the resolution that was adopted also calls on all parties in in syria including the opposition to immediately seize all of our violence in all its forms this is what

was a sticking point on friday and why the security council was wasn't able to vote on the resolution friday because according to russia's position the u.s. first drafted resolution made many demands of the syringa. herman's and no explicit demands of the syrian opposition russian ambassador. vitaly churkin said at this critical junction is very very important for all syrian parties including our opposition to comply with the six point peace plan that was laid out by un special envoy kofi annan on this of course also calls for an immediate cease fire and for an inclusive political process in syria in which the opposition groups and the syrian government engage in a dialogue with the russian ambassador said that moscow from the very beginning has been supportive of mr a nonce of peace plan and is only he said through

a balanced approach that the security council was able to reach a consensus on saturday but it was. a draft resolution has been significantly changed it became more balanced instance which represents more. of syria's government needs to be observer mission according to this resolution the un secretary-general ban ki moon will have to report back to the security council on april nineteenth regarding how this resolution is being implemented whether the observers are being granted access throughout syria whether humanitarian officials are being granted access throughout syria if the syrian authorities and the syrian opposition is complying with what the security council is this monitoring mission will eventually grow to a team of two hundred fifty people we should know though that it does say in this

resolution that has said there is a vague reference that if syria does not comply with what this a curate council is asking further measures can be taken and what those further measures are is not clear yet i think at this point all the security council members are hoping. that the armed opposition group and the syrian government do comply with what's being asked and peace is finally stablished in syria well with president assad's reforms apparently underway and parliamentary elections through in may syrians hope the un backed ceasefire will help make change a reality there's a common point to reports. damascus greeted the ceasefire with a sunny day and high spirits residents to parks rather than streets and sprinklers not bullets all that needed they are doing you have this picture perfect morning was laden with fear and uncertainty as them a scenes anxiously awaited news from the north. my biggest wish now is for the ceasefire and tools rule long when you can walk the streets without fear and

conclude least one day without hearing that somebody was killed. that wasn't the case in the rest of the country on thursday or c.d.'s were rocked by three blasts that killed two and injured twenty five hearts though that is in a country that has grown accustomed to a daily death toll exceeding one hundred even that could be seen as a step forward one hundred of them everyone here regardless of religion or politics wants one thing for syria. and the capitals all bizarre business is slow many locals are pressed for money and tourists are few and far between the centuries trade was syria's best antidote to syrian or religious conflicts but it's politics that draw a wedge between syria communities then you leave together you know here in syria. the everyone in the mosque in.

the homes and you know we like the east and west big dam a scene stores that once held syria to war there are fewer opium crusaders some fear that syria may become the target. if you have another morton day western conquest it was again seek to impose its values this time it twenty first century weapons. bludgeoned of the infallible dumbest influence isn't purpose possible for syrian seeing themselves as a nation of great warriors who value a ball or about everything else but a revolutionary violent strain of the country more and more syrians are far more eager to amplify the other part of their cultural heritage that i was of a peace loving peace cherishing nation. and he's true that syria doesn't have a long record of political pluralism the main growing right of the opposition there are efforts to change that nine political parties for

a graduate student in recent months some of them openly seeking to challenge the dominance of the baath party. we used to have three times whose religion sex and politics at least we can talk about politics now that there is a member of the party of supporters it can boast only fourteen hundred people so far they're still figuring out the details of their political agenda but the first says he's pretty certain of the means it will not use to achieve it but. it's true that the regime has a long way to go to make our political system more inclusive but we also have to agree that using any kind of violence in politics is unacceptable on existed or compromising with your rivals and you can't do that while shooting many here is see if there is any force that can unite syrians these is the opposition the opposition to war. or it's the damascus syria. there are thirty and live from

moscow shortly in the program the whistleblower turned in quick. as two days from now controversial wiki leaks founder julian assange premieres his new interview show right here on. we look ahead for you. that's written post it's eastern influence hawking its arms to japan which is loosening up its military market. but first ten of the twenty three candidates who want to run for egypt's presidency have been banned from taking part in next month's election thousands of islamists rallied in cairo in support of a new law preventing former regime officials from entering the race which has now been rubber stamped by military rulers excluded candidates have forty eight hours to appeal and supporters demonstrating traitorous a sense are expected in the capital among those are the former spy chief of marsa the man and one of the two muslim brotherhood candidates political analysts part

rose and cairo believes the estimates one for control i believe this law is unconstitutional because the supreme constitutional law. and court has to review any legislation that affects the presidential elections the muslim brotherhood were creeping towards grasping all the power in egypt the first the the to overwhelm the civil societies the unions the second phase of this strategic plan is to over the world them. control the legislative authority so they are accelerating the pace in controlling the power in egypt by controlling the mentions or key players in the political scene in egypt. line we want to know who you think benefits from egypt

banning ten candidates in their bid to become president so far at our two dot com thirty seven percent of you say it's the ruling military council slightly fewer believe it's islamists again and almost a quarter don't think anyone will benefit and just a few percent think liberal pro-democracy activists can skew this to their advantage and your home page to add your voice and while you're there take a look at some other stories we've got online for you today. cutting off the rebels rewards cash intended for those who fought against gadhafi is suspended as fraud exposes payouts to the jets all the details of our dot com. and from law breaker to law maker new delhi's voters way up in election lists where every fifth candidate is in the lead criminal or reports are called and on our you tube channel . now the wait is almost over wiki leaks

whistleblower julian assange comes to our two year early next week news show will feature interviews with powerful people from around the world as our correspondent laura smith now explains. the first episode of the show will be broadcast on shoes day april the seven seats about this choose day coming and we and julian together really hoping this is going to be an exclusive new show i can't tell you the name of the first guest you'll have to chew nine yourself to find that out on shoes day but i can tell you that they are all opinion formers some of them dissidents and some of them have never been interviewed before on english language television the first guest is particularly controversial and according to julian in the wake of the interview highly charismatic and find out what that's all about i met with him recently and i talked all about the show how he chose his guests why he decided to do it and of course he spent a lot of time sitting on the other side of the interview his desk and he told me

a bit about his disenchantment really with the mainstream media and why he chose r.t. to broadcast first this show the themes that we're trying to report green card. in the mainstream press. that it was. consider currents gently or not this week coming up for the week in which the first show is going to be broadcast is really a week of anniversaries for him both personal and professional it's going to be five hundred days since the investigation into these allegations of sexual assault by two swedish women began now we've seen that at the request for his extradition go through the courts here in the u.k. right up to the supremes courts and that case finished at the beginning of february that's ten weeks ago now we still don't have a verdict we are expecting it possibly to come next week but there's still no set date that verdict to be handed down and still after five hundred days no charges

have been laid against him but it's also five hundred days since the wiki leaks bank accounts were first frozen so that has made funding for wiki leaks very difficult. and threatening that whistle blowing organization all together and really that's what makes this program so unique the fact that it was conceived of thought of while a soldier is virtually living under house arrest here in britain awaiting this verdict on his extradition because two reasons first of all being on the house arrest for some it's nice to have an occasional visitor and to talk more about the world and. the conversations we were having the court has to work out what works for the people what is going on that's one reason the second reason is that as someone who's given a lot of this before and have been on the receiving end of a very aggressive. i felt i wasn't getting much from him. but

pretty quickly. from it's a principle. absolutely zero point six and i want to have a different sort of proportion of the people. which has been to people from somebody so i think it was also a success and it's one of the side it's all very interesting and important people. because they're not dealing with. this about sort of. political problems and. so you can see the full version of that interview on monday the sixteenth of april and that will be followed hot on the hills by the first episode of the program on shoes day the seventeenth of eight progress still awaiting a verdict on julian assange his extradition but we are quite glad that he's managed to make this program before whatever happens to him happens to him obviously his main fear has always been that he will be extradited from sweden to the u.s.

. there hasn't been anything yet but he. is to get the maximum the facts of. the source. true it's for. the reason. we want to say. something because. there is some breaking news this hour here on our team coming out of the afghan capital reports that it's been struck by at least a dozen large explosions in what seems to be a coordinated attack on a diplomatic area there are reports of it on twitter coming in about the residence of a british diplomat being hit in fact rockets were reportedly fired also at the afghan parliament and the russian embassy in kabul witnesses are saying that a rocket propelled grenade has hit the british ambassador's residence which i which

i mentioned there and smoke also seen rising from the german embassy again breaking news coming out of kabul afghanistan we are going to track this story a series of explosions reported in the diplomatic area and it is said the british ambassador's residence has been hit as well as the russian u.s. and british embassies we have live pictures actually coming out. ok afraid those aren't live being pointed back there but again we are tracking this breaking news coming out of afghanistan so stay with r.c. for the latest from kabul. north korea is celebrating a century since the birth of its late wartime leader kim il sung his grandson in current role there kim john on made his first public speech praising the country's military might in calling for even more results but what he didn't mention was friday's found long range rocket mission klang says it was supposed to put

a satellite in orbit but fell into the sea moments after a blast off the launch violated un resolutions and sparked a wave of global condemnation america has even suspended two hundred million dollars worth of food aid to north korea is x. part tim bell says kang wants peace but can't afford to show weakness so a part of a negotiating ploy. on the one. thing will make some concessions to the same time they have to stand up for what they regard as a sovereign right russia. and china are quite right to point out every country has the right to launch satellites through. peaceful space exploration. violates international law and it's not quite correct thirdly it's violating the united nations sanctions but we you know. concerned

there is a lot of tension around. the country from john young young young is desperate to get an economic back and ease sanctions. well a bitter battle for french votes is intensifying as presidential rivals nicolas sarkozy and francois hollande hold some day rallies in paris where the election is just a week away and with immigration and identity taking center stage that's our silly oh look so whether france is witnessing a seismic shift to the right and she immigration and to euro antiglobalization and advocates of protectionism. all in the name of the french state and national identity there is not a single french person now one european who does not know that i am

a sworn enemy of the european single currency buskers its radical islam as a direct consequence of mass immigration of the left and the right imposed on us for decades if not no. to visually on the fringes of france's national politics the rhetoric of today's far right may no longer be as far off for its citizens as it once was opinion polls suggest the presidential candidate marine le pen of the ultra right wing national front party is third with potentially ten million votes its biggest support base ever there is no police or from france so we french. doesn't bother anyone but. we don't want. to play to england so we built one of the different communities but. together. and i don't think. it's globalization destroyed.

enter the pen with her calls for economic patriotism prioritizing france over europe its native citizens over others and giving the french back their jobs. and center right incumbent nicolas sarkozy stands accused of jumping on the far right bandwagon some say for the ballot sake. our integration system is getting worse and worse why because we have too many foreigners in our territory threatening to withdraw from the shang and border from the agreements by no coincidence at a time when europe is seeing an influx of refugees fleeing conflicts in north africa and the middle east this is a free gift so we will have to see the what we do is. knows pretty well that he was elected in two thousand and seven only because he was able to catch it as a nation of no situation is quite

a state some say that what was once a protest vote is now a more permanent part of the french political spectrum so. there is certainly a part of the electorate who vote for the reasons of dissent but i think it must now be recognised even if it's difficult to accept that the vote for the national front is increasingly a vote of support the increasing problem is the right wing rhetoric in france especially the lead up to the presidential elections it's clear what's more difficult to decipher is whether the growth support for the right reflects the direction of the french a cycle of values i stated or is simply a knee jerk reaction to everything the french see wrong in their country. that's are so you're artsy paris. for millions of orthodox christians in russia and around the world it's easter sunday across russia so people gathered overnight in churches to take part in eastern vigil tomorrow worshippers believe is the resurrection of jesus christ artist on barton was christ the savior cathedral where the main

service was led by patriarch area for easter services in the russian orthodox tradition are designed to be both lawn services but also very beautiful services stylized markings of the key moments in the story of christ's death and his resurrection on the third day a key moment in the service is the east of vigil where the priests walk in a circle around the church holding candles and they also change their outfits three times during the service from black which represents lent through the purple which represents the passions that christ went through and on to one which represents the resurrection itself. the holy fire has also arrived here in moscow this easter as it has done since the eleventh century when it first made that journey from the church of the holy sepulcher in jerusalem the story surrounding the fire

is that a light shines through the roof of the church of the holy sepulcher every easter in jerusalem and somehow manages to light two candles one of which is brought to moscow and is then taken around to merely orthodox church is a very special symbolic moment for the russian orthodox church easter the russian orthodox church also comes at the end of great legs seven weeks of fasting no beat and no dairy products but at the end it is time to bring out some special foods with a special connection to easter what is coolidge a cake of the sweet and filled with raisins. another is named after easter in the russian language. it's a sweet dessert. also designed to be a celebration after the long weeks of fasting and also that universal symbol of

easter eggs many are paid to their office and shared with probably members and all are taken to priests. with holy water and they'll be shared around by orthodox families the world over as will list phrase in thirty thousand russian orthodox churches and their communities around the world traditional russian orthodox greeting will be said at easter christ has risen and it will be answered with another reply the traditional russian orthodox reply indeed he has risen. there are likely to be more western weapons in the far east as japan opens up its military market with britain vying for trade prime minister david cameron by the charts this week joining america building up an asian pacific influence and that won't sit well with china as ivor bennett reports. selling weapons is quickly becoming what britain does best prime minister david cameron unashamedly touting the u.k.'s military hardware only he calls it flying the flag for britain it's

seeking to become only the second country other than america to trade arms with japan not only big business but the chance for a crucial foothold in what's clearly the place to be its must be perfectly predictable result of being shifting the focus of american attention in the attention of much of the world to the asia pacific region as china obviously continues to be an economic powerhouse and and even india and other countries in the region for him to actually become more economically dominant i think with that const he attended attention from the militaries of the u.s. and will be u.k. and other countries america's recently announced plans to station two thousand the remains in australia hoping to exert influence in the region china says it isn't theirs to meddle in and britain could soon join them part of its defense deal with japan could see a british hunter submarine deployed in china's backyard complete with missiles and

all the physical presence the british government claims is needed these geopolitics are relevant but i think that's even more reason for the u.k. to be going out there to engage with what is one of the few allies in the region with over thirty executives from the u.k.'s highly profitable arms industry this isn't the first time david cameron's been criticized for turning an overseas trip into a traveling sales pitch cameron was left red faced last year when on the same trip he went from praising democratic uprisings in cairo to flogging weapons in queue wait prime minister david cameron has been forced to defend his party weapons manufacturers saying it's perfectly responsible and respectable but this is a region that's highly sensitive to any kind of military maneuver and tensions are the most. meant a particularly high piece certainly one i know. and you do not have the resources to work your respective military strains.

so the. more i know of course is to count on the united states more strategically and more foreign power was into the region so as to have a go to challenge. the pressure of the international community on china until now britain and america have had to make do with exerting their influence on the region from afar but with the talk of physical presence there the theories could upset the balance are that when it see the. sort of check in on that breaking news this hour in the afghan capital it's been struck by at least at least a dozen large explosions and what seems to be a coordinated attack on the diplomatic area there are reports that the taliban has claimed responsibility and this all reports were that rockets were fired at the

afghan parliament and the russet embassy in kabul witnesses also said a rocket propelled grenade has head the british ambassador's residence so obviously this is an attack on the green zone where there hasn't been an attack there for quite some time smoke was also seen river rising from the german embassy and a turkish base on the outskirts of kabul is also thought to be under attack from the order of fire turkish and greek forces are responding with heavy caliber machine gun fire people on twitter writing basically that it looks like there is a battle taking place in the afghan capital capital again the taliban has said that it is behind these attacks we're following developments across the story trying to get our arabic service correspondent on the line for you to bring you the latest as soon as we can on what's happening. and the afghan capital. earns like a short break here on earth and i'll be back with a recap of our top stories hopefully we'll have more on that breaking news stay

with us. if. something the law is beneath. thousands of meters of ice to rock. the love of.