the sarkozy or one will be the next french president as the two front runners go through to the second and decisive round of voting in two weeks time. round one of the french presidential races gone pretty much as expected but the big surprise is actually the voter turnout which is much higher than was predicted to join me for more than a few moments. the un resolved to expand its monitoring mission in syria but despite a unanimous vote in the security council some members are accused of undermining the peace of. bahrain has a controversial formula one grand prix while sending police to brutally crackdown on demonstrators angry at the regime. and thirty minutes the group's global attention joining us charge premiered his own interview show on r.t. this week sparking a range of reaction from praise to mysteria. the

look back at the past seven days top stories and the latest developments this is the weekly on r.t. in france presidential election front runners nicolas sarkozy and his main rival socialist francois on hand look to reach the second round of voting in two weeks time early polls suggest our land won the first round by a small margin as a series following the voting in the french cup. the big surprise is actually the voter turnout earlier before the actual election that the projections was that up to a third of french people will not actually go out and vote but now we're seeing it eighty percent of turnout and that is a big difference indeed we know from the last few weeks of the campaigns of cycles

and a lot of they have been encouraging people to vote throughout all of this it's been about jobs and employment and the economy and this has been the top concern of french people as well as purchasing power which is essentially money in their pockets and this is going to be central to the campaigns of the two who make it to the second round at this point the first of all a lot of nicolas sarkozy will have to certainly more break that into their campaigns much stronger than they have done in the first round and also what they will be having to do is trying to win the of voters from the two sides on equal cycles he will have to win voters for marine le pen and he may have to again appeal to their sentiment he has been doing so is this anti immigration sets a bit for instance but again he has to start talking about jobs but he does have the support of the voters of a centrist francois bayrou but it's not surprising because he may get a prime ministerial position should sarkozy with and now france all along will have to get the voters of john newcombe emotional we know that militia has been calling for revolution a civic insurrection and these are the people who who are very anti capitalist and

liberalism and he will have to win these voters get all the left to support him so the two will go head to head against psychos he says that if it comes out to the debate he still confident but again we see a leader of a larger it may continue on to the second round of all of this a very interesting to see what is going to happen again in the second round the campaign that they're going to put forward it's got to be much stronger to win a very pessimistic french public. in paris and a professor of political science at paris west university says. simply failed his country and whoever gets in power will have his hands full as a person he was extremely arrogant he was perceived as the president of the rich precisely at a time when there's a crisis and also. doesn't have a very clear political line he says one thing one day the opposite the next their. incompetence because you know it's not been able to do very much about the crisis

the president whoever he is and it's likely to be alone will have to face the market and will have to face a very tough situation. if there's a crisis in france which looks a bit like the crisis in greece they would be demonstrations and then france being such a big me within europe that would make a big difference from my point of view they don't understand that there is a systemic crisis and immigration is one part of a systemic crisis but immigration doesn't cause the economic crisis it has become such a problem because a lot of people want to simplify everything and therefore there is. blaming a group of immigrants. whoever becomes france's president faces a whole list of issues and on our website hardly don't come we're asking what you think will be the biggest challenge and some of the results and screen will so for a little less than

a half believe it will be bearing the euro zone's. quarter think kickstarting economy will be the hardest to see that just under a fifth see a challenge in defusing tension over immigrants and finally forty percent think involvement in foreign conflicts will be the biggest problem joy the debate right now costing avoids an orgy called. the un's top border has agreed on a resolution to send three hundred observers to syria to monitor the fragile truce for and also has welcomed the move but washington warned it may take action against him because if it fails to comply with the peace plan report has more from new york once again the united nations security council has unanimously adopted a resolution on syria the most recent one drafted by russia in co-sponsored by eight other countries the resolution calls for and authorizes up to three hundred unarmed u.n. military observers to go to syria and monitor the truce the cease fire that was put

in place april twelfth between damascus and the opposition groups this resolution also calls on the syrian government to meet its responsibilities and pledges calls for in the six point peace plan laid out by a u.n. joint envoy mr kofi annan on russia of course believes that this most recent development in syria is a step in the right direction in the meantime u.s. ambassador to the united nations susan rice left the meeting on saturday not showing as much optimism as russia and many other countries how odd susan rice shipped to her twitter feed to save. it's a plane into of three hundred or three thousand unarmed observers cannot on its own stop assad's quote murderous rampage susan rice said that external pressures

are additional we needed to solve the problem in syria the u.s. ambassador also said that washington and its allies are preparing for action that will be required if assad says to slaughter ambassador churkin said that these efforts that are trying to put pressure on an already stressful situation does not help bring peace and security to syria they missed an opportunity it was a signal to the opposition they kept criticizing the government saying nothing about what they expect the opposition which is in fact outlined very clearly in the security council resolution which they themselves had just voted for under all those provisions of a boom and gloom threats of various blends which are being patched those are where those things are not productive i think they have distracting from the implementation of the core pheromone plan and from the political efforts of the security council and they may give a ground for some extremists to believe. their cause is

a still has some prospect for for taking over the political process we are not naive even though the security council voted unanimously some members of the security council some important members of the international community still think can come from their own stores a syrian government and as richardson says the syrian government will be primarily responsible for the safety and security of the u.n. unarmed observers that will be deployed from syria they will be deployed once the u.n. secretary general ban ki-moon feels that it's safe enough for the observers to go and there has been enough to satiate of violence this resolution the most recent one i talked it also underscores that the syrian government and the opposition group both have to put their weapons out weapons down and begin engaging in dialogue. we're reporting this is the weekly life here marty still to come

extremism on the show norway's confessed mass murder and his bravery uses a court room to promote his ideas and his views are far from unique kidney riposte we hear a little later. another scandal from nato forces in afghanistan this new photo shows american soldiers posing with the corpses of afghans that story in a few minutes here on r.t. . but first bahrain's controversial formula one grand primo to race has gone ahead without incident but there have been furious rallies against the country's regime outside the race track demonstrators have clashed with security forces over the past week as police responded with tear gas and rubber bullets protests intensified on saturday after the body of a man shot dead was discovered on a rooftop security forces have set up checkpoints and brought armored vehicles to control and possible protests reports that ten female activists to the modern

freedom for political prisoners have been arrested author and middle east expert atomic ali explained to me earlier why political changes in bahrain are not in western interests. demonstrations and anger just on the eve of passover and clearly security will set a very high level. police and security officials have been called in to help and former senior scotland police chief john yates warned that les brown supply munition would be used interesting way to defend democracy in the west affectedly is low police speech and proceeded to get rid of so ruler because he's one of the i mean you know just compare what is going on in bahrain to other parts of the arab world where the west sees governments as their opponents and we have been here our word the way the west reacts and this just shows up the blatant. in relation to the

human rights somebody yusuke human rights of the human rights march to get their own wits strategically. is of key importance who you might have sleeves. so we have here in the arab world no group chairs display or global standards yet it. files relating to the trial of the region muscular and his play vick will be classified for sixty years the judges say the documents could be harmful to the public and will be kept secret until twenty seven the decision came up to basics televised trial viewed across the world he's admitted to killing seventy seven people in a bomb and gun attack last year with knives criminal guilt claiming he was protecting norway from being taken over by muslims but also gave the step by step account of exactly how he massacred his victims kenny had to dehumanise himself to become a mass killer if i'm guilty brady could face a maximum twenty one year prison sentence if the judges decide he is insane to be

sent for indefinite psychiatric treatment we journalists says brave because partly succeeded in using his trial to promote extremism. the big paradox concerning this case is that. because the outset made this is planned more he wrote manifest and published it were outlined his plan in this plan was to do an outrageous criminal act and then use the court proceedings later advocate is around the world and in that sense. one might say that he has succeeded in that in the court case he has a monster this called an numerous of witnesses extremist witnesses both from the extremist right side and islamic extremists to sort of. build under this notion that he has that there is a war a clash of civilizations and there's been a debate and some of the witnesses have been called and have actually refused to do

it because they don't want to be part of this propaganda that he is using the court case to promote all the way if you want even more stories had online and go to marty dot com there you'll find still in the fight. u.s. presidential hopeful and congressman ron paul shows no sign of slowing down and he's relying on he's hoping bank balance to keep him in the republican race. at a massive explosion of a chemical plant in japan kills one worker and in just over a dozen witnesses say the windows one hundred houses near a shopping mall video on you tube channel. went you know the sunday show premiered on our t.v. this week the media reaction was global from praise to hysteria the response was anything but indifferent he's got a car has been gauging opinions across the atlantic. for most american media juliana songes guilty without charge reckless traitor and

a threat to our national security interests sleazeball me and julian assange who is bent on damaging america how did this guy just land his own t.v. show the implication is assad is a russian agent whose anti-american mission is now out in the open for all to see and the accusations kept flying as the whistleblowers very own show premiered on tuesday but i saw it coming because truly. compatible. didn't include the record of the. interview with. terrible radicals. i think that's the sort of it's a pretty. card. with her actually look at how the store was where we were we have complete control of the guests of his first show was the head of hezbollah designated by the us as a terrorist organization it was not starlost first interview with international

channel in six years the reason why him could be found in the interview itself the united states is. staring into us as well when we want to be able to tell people that one of us is terrorism or is that small organizations. but the one that people listen to hyper mohajir for example if it wasn't just a trial. at the very least the defendant should have an opportunity to defend themselves some say in the court of public opinion as presented by the us mainstream media there is a tendency to simplify issues often at the expense of the full picture somebody agrees or doesn't agree with hezbollah's ideas or all their ideas ideology or their theology american people hear the voice of hezbollah rather than simply have them demonize. targeted as a crow care is but the purpose of demonizing somebody like not to rob or nelson mandela who was considered

a terrorist until nine hundred eighty eight is not really to stop terrorist ideas from infiltrating but for the american people to only hear one side of a debate only hear one side of an argument julian assange is now under house arrest in the u.k. fighting extradition to sweden where he may well be extradited to the united states u.s. prosecutors reportedly have a secret indictment ready for a sign was made public thousands of leaked documents with embarrassing details relating to the wars in iraq and afghanistan as well as other issues in the u.s. has been under fire from capitol hill the white house and the media and we've got to apprehend mr assad's the founder of wiki leaks and bring him to justice as a trial lawyer of the espionage act because if we don't this will keep happening the dead man can't leaks that this guy is a traitor a treasonous and he has broken every law the united states the guy ought to be and i'm not for the death penalty so of them not for the death i don't want to do it

illegally shoot the son of a what about freedom of information cherished as a core principle of democracy almost like leading and letting genie out of the bottle mr assad's has the internet and the governments and everyone else at their own game because he's gone to a place where others have not been before and he's introduced to types of information the range of information that previously were not available if one views the need here as a court of public opinion then julian assange is someone who presents to the jury that is that he was arguments i didn't voice this which they almost never hear on main stream media and it's up to the us to form an opinion but what many find ironic is that our forces under attack by the u.s. government and the media for practicing tool for expand the freedom of information that america preaches around the globe i'm going to start our reporting from washington michel. in the second edition of q.

and a sunday show is coming your way on choose day at fifteen thirty moscow time or eleven thirty g.m.t. here on earth in this time he'll be speaking to professor lavoisier jackies a philosopher and left wing commentator and david horovitz a conservative writer and campaigner will be discussing global politics and whether we keep leaks was guilty of treason. a lot weaker than another scandal for nato forces in afghanistan the latest uproar is over new photos showing american soldiers smiling and posing with corpses of afghans said to have been suicide bombers the white house is condemning the actions of the troops but maintains it's just another isolated incident some ninety war activists believe despite the afghan war being hugely unpopular it's just too profitable to cut short. there is no popular support for this war in the us nor in the u.k. nor in any allied country to be honest i think the statistics now show that over seventy percent of the u.k.

population want our troops out the figure is rising in the us sixty two percent last week want to see an end to the war but the people who benefit from the war but happy to let this run along just as long as possible and those who benefit obviously the the global elites the bankers those in the military industrial complex so them having a prolonged conflict is just it's money in the bank really the us actually what they're planning is to have a substantial military presence until twenty twenty four and i think that the russians and the chinese. don't favor that all the thirty thousand troops that are due to still remain there after two thousand and fourteen are completely lost conveniently located right along the proposed oil pipeline. i think that the russians will obviously benefit from the oil pipeline in their own exports but it's likely that the strings that are attached to the aid that's got the support coming will ensure that the majority of u.s. troops become the troops will be out by twenty or so in. russia and china have

begun their first of a joint naval exercises that taking place in the yellow sea near the korean peninsula two dozen vessels and thousands of sailors are involved in the war games both sides seem to exchange experience as they focus on air defense submarine warfare and search and rescue tactics renewables will run for six days because while tension on the korean peninsula is escalating with the u.s. shifting more military attention to the asia pacific region washington says it's aiming to counter potential threats from regional powers like china. here with our team still to come this hour. the head of the orthodox church leads a service that's been in defense of the base joint bank of the job very shortly. but first the controversial anti counterfeiting trade agreement or actor as it's known has been dealt a heavy blow as the second largest group in the european parliament has announced it won't support its pact supporter and are among many europeans east stateside

agreements in general thousands demonstrated against it saying it would give major corporations president to control over their personal data over the creation is due this summer in the european parliament political commentator luke samuel says the treaty exposes undemocratic decision making. the real problem with that specifically is how it shows that you're opinion it's effectively allowed to do politics without any reference to national populaces so the fact is that this is a piece of you know it's a trade agreement that will. be gracious on european countries to make law in certain ways but it still is europe it's european law making effect to be part proxy and what it shows is that the european union have affectively created institutions and procedures which have prevented these kind of agreements coming under any kind of democratic scrutiny whatsoever that's the real problem it's true

that countries have signed up to it but no point have national populaces had any say whatsoever in the provisions of this agreement so that's a really troubling aspect of it but it's fundamentally antidemocratic. man with head in britain and the largest spy center in the world targeted and even siege by protesters for almost three decades a complex u.k. and the u.s. one of those the communications of dozens of other countries there are fears its operations could lead to a new kind of international power again there's reports. it's a little piece of america in the middle of the yorkshire dales it might look like some kind of pin park but it's actually a spy based and part of the early warning system for the ever expanding u.s. missile defense shield he's a part of this huge kind of. gripping. and it surfaces you get from places like that which is connected to is the american military base paedo base in menwith hill

since the nineteen sixty's growing all the time until the site now comprises thirty three of those goals like structures inside each one a satellite dish which collects information for us satellites but also intercepts the communications of other countries that information is then fed back to the u.s. and used in what they call intelligence led warfare which includes rationed drone attacks. to keep up with new forms of warfare billions of dollars have been invested in menwith hill over the last ten years it's enabled the base to remain a vital component to the global u.s. surveillance network men with talk to steve schofield reckons the inner workings of around a hundred countries are closely monitored here something he dubs an unprecedented level of intervention the u.k.'s providing a facility here it's involved in drone attacks that we know from independent

assessment by killing and injuring thousands of civilians these are acts of war and normally when we have lots of people parliament shoot. people. involved in those who were not being informed were kept entirely in the dark about this isn't news to locals they've been coming up here to protest weekly for decades but now their cause has drawn the attention of a global movement occupy helen alexander is from occupy leeds and sees a common cause in men with hell consider its implications on our on our individual civil liberties the fact that they can listen to all of our phone calls they can intercept our emails you know this whistleblower evidence is testimonials that will back up their claims that what goes on there is not only political espionage but commercial espionage it's a far cry from the land of the free rhetorics the u.s. is famous for and critics see menwith hill as a symbol of that hypocrisy and of europe kowtow it to us power but we're seeing is

americans developing a new form of imperialism this isn't about protection of democracy if you look at the pattern of. body my distaste over the past twenty years it's all about ensuring they have access to oil and other buy from the. resources in africa in the persian gulf and we've got to challenge that we really have to start challenging force through it because the next is probably the attack on iran. with the us is expansion plans for the ballistic missile defense shield up to twenty twenty five and with menwith hill already part of the early warning system this poking of america's nose into other people's backyards is still king fears it could be the trigger to a new arms race nora smith r.t. them with hill. the seventy thousand orthodox believers have gathered at moscow's main cathedral for a service in the fence of the faith that follows

a number of high profile cases of vandalism of churches and sacred objects over the past few months his art is jake a great. but we can see and indeed the thousands of people who've congregate here at moscow's main cathedral christ the savior they're being led game for section by patriarch kirill now this perceived here's a number of hours of mass prayer and also a list she service that was given this summer has been replicated around the country as a whole at some of the key centers of the also dogs church in russia some its main cathedrals and really set him to drum up support for the faith has been coming under some criticism of laces be facing some troubling times its leaders among them patriarch kirill say they come under attack from an anti christian campaign and either have been attacks made on numbers our number of church properties around the

country what taking place at a creature of the present are where the front doors the entrance was set ablaze it's also some of the religious symbols sacred symbols have also been attacked among them annoyed two of the virgin mary and a crucifix some of those who are held up high by patriarch kirill here today among those crowds that have gathered now release some of this resentment to the church on as being of events it took place in fair break that's when pussy riot a punk room with a very much protest message took to crisis a view cathedral there they tug seize their song at present elect that amir also at a truck hero and he said support for blood amir who simply you know was outcry among the faithful gatherers that when using such a sacred place for their demonstration there's also been a lot of condemnation since from human rights groups who don't like how the church

handled this saga and how it came down safely when it came to pussy riot. they could greaves. reporting there coming up is a special report about one of the most magical and well hidden places on the congo the ice caves in russia first i'll be back with the headlines in just a few moments.

down the official antti up location kewaunee phone the i pod touch from the i q sampson. cianci life on the go. video on demand on cheese minefield costs. are a sense for us.