so i cannot see reports of fresh elling in syria as u.n. observers are sent to enter the water on country after a security council resolution grants them passage. cardle under attack the presidential palace western embassies and nato bases all hit by a large scale taliban onslaught today militants plain which would probably ation for u.s. soldiers massacring afghan civilians and burnings of the qur'an. and the two main challenges for the french presidency rally last minute support ahead of next sunday's ballot with many politicians using immigration and terrorism fears to sway votes. plus it's the biggest holiday for millions of all for dr kristi and sue

celebrating easter sunday the day they believe marks the resurrection of jesus christ. clover a woman. eight pm here in moscow you are watching r t and the weekly our roundup of the day's news at the top stories of the past week with me kevin now in the first damascus says it will respond to increased attacks from armed gangs as reports of more violence come out of syria that's ahead of the arrival of the first group of u.n. monitors to the country the security council adopted a resolution on the conflict. as the latest 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 by the security council was wasn't able to vote on a resolution friday because according to russia's position. the u.s. first drafted resolution i made many demands of the syrian government and no explicit demands of the syrian opposition or russian ambassador to the un 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 guy a log the russian ambassador said that moscow from the very beginning has been

supportive of mr our knowledge of peace plan and is only he said through. balanced approach that the security council was able to reach a consensus on saturday with. russia and a number of others members a draft resolution has been significantly changed and it became more balanced instance or to present realities more. of syria's government. 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 resolution is being implemented whether the observers are being granted access throughout. area where humanitarian officials are being granted access throughout syria if the syrian authorities and the syrian opposition is complying with what the security council is asked its 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 the security council is asking further measures can be taken what those further measures are is not clear yet i think at this point all 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 established in syria report there our correspondent in new york will probably ask a correspondent for asia times he told us he believes that the rebels unconditional backers of the greatest obstacles to the peace of it in syria they are being assisted by foreign powers pick up a special forces are very forces speak by the house of south by sheiks truly of sunni sheikhs trim iraq or sunni sheiks from the gulf and they are salafi jihad is in the middle with an al qaida or strains of ok adequate action in

we also have british and french special forces on the ground the apply articles the un security council so it's crazy because you are trying to implement you in play and where you have two members of the un security council who are the opposition they are fighting the government alongside the opposition so obviously how can you prove guarantees to the government that this is going to stop this is in fact only normal school over story because there is a shadow war going on for months you need to store. the taliban has launched a series of coordinated attacks across the afghan capital today including an assault on the presidential palace the afghan parliament a nato headquarters most of the targets are in the city's diplomatic district and western embassies residences under fire the scale of casualties isn't yet kit clear but police say at least two militants have been killed and five were wounded in these attacks the military airport in jalalabad in east of the country was also hit

while violence is also a report in two other provinces the taliban says the attacks were retaliation for the actions of u.s. troops and burning of the qur'an in the recent massacre of seventeen afghan civilians well let's talk about this developing story to these the middle east expert and former afghan correspondent stephen is on the line from india there hi thanks for being on the program what is the scale of these attacks do you think tell us about the security and intelligence failures in this case the fact that even the very heart of the capital doesn't appear to be safe from this kind of devastating assault we've witnessed today. well. in the. threads under afraid we have to leave the interview there. we can't hear you so there's a problem in the sky. these are still trying to approach

a little bit later deployed for a party there sorry about that technical problems as you can hear with a line to india this is r t coming up the let's see what we got ahead for you still show premieres an exclusive interviews big story coming your way next week sneak peek into our t.v. show featuring the world's most famous whistleblower julian signs that launches next week more than a little bit later. we're trying get out to the pope in just a minute but to this talk to someone else no by a completely different story ten of the twenty three candidates in egypt's presidential election have been barred from standing in next month's poll excluded candidates have a right to appeal and supporters demonstrations are expected in the capital the list of those banned from the poll includes the mubarak era intelligence chief almost a layman and key islamist. political efforts to joins us on the phone from cairo thanks for being on the program the muslim brotherhood another islamists were backing this law the former regime officials from running for the top job but now

we see that they themselves are actually barred from the race how does this all being perceived by the egyptian public. well you have to understand first that those who are. from running for presidential elections have already been very controversial their candidacy has been received controversially in cairo and all of egypt in amman was barak's the chief support for throughout the revolution has a very. violent drug called the chief of intelligence he scares most of the difference unfortunately he's he's been allowed to run as a tactical game to scare the muslim brotherhood's candidate from running it was more of a tactical move also to the crush of people who fall softer you know figures such as. before was full of the minister for affairs under mubarak stime

over fifteen years ago was the arab league the head of the arab league for over ten years also you've got. just just just moving all of it through these candidates were leading contenders here in the political picture how much chaos is actually going to cause in political terms the fact that they now looks a bit konstam. well it's only the truth it's nothing short of a circus here however the running mates that were burned such as how the chopper almost alone while causing a lot of tensions on the ground so egyptians are receiving this gladly however the tensions continue because of those appeals. until those appeals settle will have less tension was seen on the on for the presidential candidates.

but candidates from islamist parties have been ahead in the polls have been ahead of the polls are ahead of the polls and the muslim brotherhood as well as good a strong voice in parliament what future awaits egypt if the islamists become increasingly powerful as they appear to be doing. i remember when we were first and . we're not here this is not a revolution we're here as a gyptian and once things settle down we'll definitely run for parliament and we will not get over thirty five percent maximum of the parliament and this is this was more of a promise than just the statement what we've seen is that they actually began with seventy percent and then said it will be twenty five and then they said it will be thirty five what we've seen is that with the broad coalition of salafist it's reached over seventy percent of parliament now that's for the upper house as well as the lower house now they also feel that. their leading muslim brotherhood

candidates for presidency the feeling for presidency because the military council refused that the majority in parliament for a new government headed by sort of shopping so they wanted to protect their interest in and get a grip over the country's government so this did not materialize and that's why the actually feel that that they had no intention to the presidency and of course they want to protect their interests now and then and this this this monopoly here's where i was going to say and i was the politics play out there in the big question is when is it actually going to happen egypt's military canceled promised full over to civilian rule point there are fears it will try to hold on to its influence how much of a valid concern is the military will still be in power six months and. or is so true we have to understand there's a deep militarized state here for over sixty years the military has been grueling this country anyone from. heads the governors the mayors all retired military

terms the heads of most of the government institutions. all military retired generals so there's a deep state and it's in this spot the tentacles are have a strong grip over the country so it's not easy to see the root there's those tentacles now the concern is with the article twenty eight from burbeck liberation the constitution that division that was a result of the nineteenth of march referendum has said that no one can. file a lawsuit against the results of the elections the results announced by the head of . the committee the elections committee is not cannot be revoked so even if someone wins the head of this committee can announce someone else and he cannot revoke it so this was a polluted to rigging elections this is what most pro democratic activists are

concerned all of them as well as the muslim brotherhood so if the military decides to back someone like i want to send a man around. they could easily you know rig elections fall in their favor and have more control over the next few years. through the presidency. no good political activists on the line from cairo much appreciated or from politics in egypt let's turn to politics in france now with the french just a week away from choosing their next president the two main rivals are rushing to secure a last minute supporters they hold rallies in paris socialist candidate. had in the polls and president sarkozy's joined the charge in the right to sway voters to the southeast city reports growing immigration and fear of terrorism that many french politicians are banking on. anti immigration anti euro

antiglobalization and advocates of protectionism. all in the name of the french state and national identity there is not a single french per cent not one european who does not know that i'm a sworn enemy of the european single currency buskers it's radical islam as a direct consequence of mass immigration that the left and the right imposed on us for decades it is not know. traditionally 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 potency or frankly griffin for us. so we french. doesn't bother anyone but.

we don't want. to play to england so we don't. have different communities that people gather grew up as a neighbor and. globalization destroyed the state and. enter the pen with her calls for economic patriotism prioritizing france over europe its native citizens over others of 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 free agreement 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 break a leg so we will have to seeing if he is re-elected what he will do is.

sarkozy knows pretty well that he was elected in two thousand and seven only because he was able to catch. up to the national front and no the situation is quite the same 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 him if it's difficult to accept that the vote for the national front is increasingly a vote of support for the increasing prominence of 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 growing support for the right reflects the direction the fungicide of values has taken or is simply a knee jerk reaction to everything the french see wrong in their country. that's are so your arty paris. oh the talk show is on everyone's lips and it premiers

right here on r t on choose day we're told by wiki leaks founder julian assange is coming face to face with newsmakers in a program which he's filmed while under house arrest in the united kingdom or a smith takes a look at what to expect from next tuesday. the first episode of the show will be broadcast on tuesday april seventeenth so that's this tuesday coming and we are doing together really hoping this is going to be an exclusive new show and i can't tell you the name of the first guest will have to chew nine yourselves to find that out on tuesday but i can tell you that they are all opinion formers some of the ndis isn't 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 as desk and he told me a bit about his disenchantment really with the mainstream media and why he chose to broadcast first this show of trying to record of not being covered. in the mainstream proves. it works. for kurtz gently or not this week coming up the week in which the first show is going to be broadcast is really a week of anniversary 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 which in 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 for that verdict to be handed down and still after five hundred days no charges have been laid against him 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 i really got so what makes this program so unique the fact that it was conceived of thought of while. living under house arrest here in britain awaiting this verdict on his extradition there's two reasons first of all being on the house so much for so long it's nice to have an occasional visitor but i'm going to worry more about the world and. the conversations we're having a quite interesting moment i'm sure other people are going to go that's what the second reason is that as someone who's given a lot of interviews before and it's been on the receiving end of a very aggressive problems i found that i wasn't giving much away.

pretty quickly to just. sort of because it's a principle seems so people don't take it out of context and i want to have a different sort of people. that approach has been difficult and sometimes i think it was also a success you can't. really be sorry it's all very interesting of course. because they're not dealing with. something with somebody that's on the handsomest . and gone through. so you can see the full version of that interview on monday the sixteenth of april and that will be followed hot on the heels by the first episode of the program on shoes day the seventeenth of april we're still awaiting a verdict on joining us on 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 good morning t.v. . he's to get the maximum effect of. the full source. you for. your wisdom on we. we want to trip is it. something. goes much anticipation about this new series here on r t it's on the air here them from next week on the show also available online at r.t. dot com from us now to talk about online r.t. dot com few other stories you've got lined up there for you today as well if you get a minute to go to where the of president of the roots releases two political prisoners were according to day one of former presidential candidate as he bows to pressure from threatening more sanctions are the words against the regime. from president

obama's visit to colombia has been overshadowed by a prostitution scandal involving u.s. secret service agents they recalled now all the details on and much more t.v. dot com. also making headlines around the world there's been a major jailbreak in northwest pakistan which borders volatile tribal areas nearly four hundred inmates escaped prison last insurgent stormed that prison with guns and grenades on sunday morning some of the prisoners are al qaeda linked militants on death row the taliban says it carried out the raid that killed israel's refused entry to dozens of activists who arrived in tel aviv as part of international campaign welcome to palestine the organizers say the fly it was intended to quote challenge the israeli siege of the occupied territories reports suggest several foreigners were arrested along with four israelis organizers say they planned peaceful activities like planting trees in the west bank and they've criticised

israel for overreacting. north korea's new leader has made his first public speech is the nation marks one hundred years since the birth of expand the kill so grab some kid john praised the country's military might and called for even a small. so what he didn't mention was friday's failed rocket launch as it was trying to put a satellite in the war but the u.n. suspects it was a cover for a ban on a long range ballistic missile that washington suspended two hundred million dollars worth of food a bridge because of. the first time in fifteen months around is held talks with major world powers over its nuclear program the meeting was held as positive and constructive for the second valid because the nations due to be held next month in baghdad five plus one group ultimately hopes to persuade iran to stop the rain even richmond something to rand so far refused to do around insists its nuclear ambitions are peaceful but western nations suspect it could be seeking nuclear

weapons. german nobel laureates going for grass has denounced israel for banning him from entering the country saying the move reminded him of similar steps by dictatorial governments grass is no longer welcome in israel after it published a poem calling its nuclear program a threat to world peace and criticizing israel stance towards iran israel's interior minister has explained that his country can ban any form a nazi from entering data for all the vittles he served in the buff and s.s. in the final years of world war two but televisa politicians have also denounced grass's poem as anti semitic political consultants who haven't asked told us israel he thinks is trying an atomic diversion tactic. israel the government of israel has always used this argument of whenever you see something that is anti israel you're supposed to be and semitic this is the kind of argument that you use when you do not want to get big issue and the issue here is

israel is a nuclear bomb it is not signatory to do nonproliferation treaty and it infuses controls by the international atomic energy agency exactly what it is demanding of iran which is a signatory to the n.p.t. treaty so actually what is happening here is indeed the issue is the fact that israel has a nuclear arsenal which is refusing to have control by international institutions here in russia as easter sunday millions of orthodox christians around the world marking their biggest holiday believed to be the day of the resurrection of jesus christ russia's main church christ the savior cathedral held a special overnight vigil led by the patriarch cutting steinbach was there. easter services in the russian orthodox tradition are designed to be both long 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 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 to purple which represents the passions of christ went through them all into one which represents the resurrection itself. the holy fire has also arrived here in this easter as it has done since the eleventh century when it first made that journey from the church of the holy. 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 i'm somehow manages to light candles wall of which is brought to moscow and is then taken around to many orthodox churches

a very special symbolic moment for the russian orthodox church easter the russian orthodox church also comes at the end of great lead seven weeks of fasting no meat 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 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 painted and often shared with family members and all are taken to priests at easter to bless. with holy water and will be shared around by orthodox families the world over as will list sprays in thirty thousand russian

orthodox churches and their communities around the world as additional russian orthodox greeting will be said at easter christ has risen and it will be understood with another reply that for additional russian orthodox reply indeed it has risen. well just to let you know i did say we'd try and get your guest to deepak. on the line from india we lost the top of the program to talk a bit more about that says series of what looks like coordinated attacks in the afghan capital the taliban say they've done it unfortunately couldn't get a hold of them but we've got much more coverage of this the biggest story the day one of them anyway throughout the course of the evening on r.t. also coming up in his first t.v. interview since being taken off death row where. shares next with us his experience of life behind bars politics and much more so for headlines on r.t. .

zoot suit good luck or a tour to mccurdy was to build the world's most sophisticated robots which on fleet leave doesn't give a darn about anything. to teach creation why it should care about humans. this is why you should care only on the odds.