>> gathering of the faithful, hundreds of thousands flock to the vatican for an unprecedented ceremony to make two popes into saints. hello, welcome to al jazeera. south korea's prime minister resigns after criticisms of the ferry disaster. >> we're going to be in a stronger position to deter mr. putin when he sees that the world is unified.

>> the u.s. president sends another warning to russia to stop meddling in the east of ukraine. and south africa since aparthe apartheid, how much has things really changed? >> but first hundreds of thousands of people are in st. peter's square in the vatican. there is the scene live as you can see cardinal there is making their way as they prepare to take part of a mass which is due to get under way just about now. well, al jazeera is there in the thick of it in vatican city. he joins us live now, and today is significant and historic, isn't it, jonah, in several

ways. >> it certainly is activityic because two hope popes are being cannoneersed, and that has never happened before. pope francis presiding, but also attended by pope benedict xvi. this will be his most prominent public appearance since as we seek. the opening stages head of moments away, the canon indication ceremony itself. and in a short half hour or so pope francis will declare those two popes saints. on the altar they will be represented by relics of their lifetime. a vial of joh pope john paul iid

of pope john xxiii. to talk more about it, i'm joined by the catholic news agency, andrea, thanks for joining us. give us a sense of pope francis' mission a year or so into his papacy. >> this is the first for pope francis. this is significant, that this is the first canonization of two predecessors. the two predecessors are very important. the first one gave righ rise toe second one. the seconds one gave completion

to the second vatican counse co. so that they mirror. they went to the parishes and the people and at the same time brought the church to a higher level. >> this is not an event without a sinner element of controversy. there have been those who have sped up. >> for john xxiii, they did not want to wait for the second miracle. and for pope john paul ii they didn't want to wait the five

years. so this was in order to avoid any controversy. >> and also debate, isn't there, or perhaps muted in the church about john paul ii's role during his papacy as emerged sexual scandal in the church and that he did not do enough. will that continue beyond his sanctity. >> well, first we need to differentiate, saints can make mistakes. we need more ground, that we should judge john paul ii what

he did during the scandal. at the same time it's possible that the debate will go on, but not for the people who have gathered have already proclaimed john paul ii. >> we'll leave it there. we'll understand the finer points of this service three hours or so. it will be in total. the canon indicatioization willt a half hour. it won't be long until john paul ii and john xxiii are officially proclaimed saints. >> jonah, thank you very much. jonah hull will be keeping us in developments across vatican city during that historic ceremony, which is under way. now to south korea where the prime minister has resigned over the government's handling of the ferry disaster.

at least 187 people are now confirmed dead after the ferry capsized and sank over a week ago. but more than 100 people are still unaccounted for. the cries of the families of those missing still keep him up at night. harry fausett reports from seoul. >> days marked by boundless grief, also anger and rekim nation south korea's prime minister decided to take the fall. >> the right thing for me to do is to take responsibility and resign. on behalf of the government i guess for the many problems for the prevention of the accident to the early handling of the disaster. >> he supervised the multi agency response and it put him in the firing line literally at one point when parents of missing children threw a water

bottle at him and scuffled with him, and once again when his car was prevented from leaving jindo. there is a wider sense of anger and shame as more emerges about the safety violation that led to the needless loss broader questions are being lost about lax regulation and corruption practices in south korea as a whole. against that background president preempted any trial by calling any actions by the crew tantamount to murder. but the outgoing prime minister went further. >> through this accident i have literally felt there have been so many varieties of irregularities that have

conditioned in every corner of our society and practices that have gone wrong. i hope these deep-rooted he was are corrected at this time and this accident never happens again. >> now the u.s. president has held talks with malaysia's prime minister. it's all part of barack obama's week long tour of asia. now malaysia's relationship with the u.s. is stronger than ever. >> we agree to the relations to the partnership. this marks a new phase in our relationship, economy, and more.

>> president obama said that russia should stop encouraging unrest in the ukraine. there will be more sanctions in order to punish moscow. >> the notion that you for us to go forward without the european nations would be the most deterrent, but that is wrong. the most deterrence will be when president putin sees we're solidified. >> now the putin military observers have been detained since friday. the leader of the prosopous

moscow group said he would consider a trade from kiev. that's the situation, let's go live to donestk. several lines of development concerning the team on its way to try to negotiate the release of these monitor who is are being held in slovensk, we. >> reporter: yes, they are still on their way.

they do all it can to have these men released. at the moment you seem to have several groups that are runner around the city, and who are sort of vying for power inside the city. the self proclaimed mayor who is the face of slovensk have called these prisoners, prisoners of war and he said these are spies. now now the negotiations will go, how far they will be successful, you get a feeling this won't be one of those situations that will drag on. >> in exchange for some of their

colleagues who are being held in prison in kiev? >> reporter: we heard again the self proclaim. it will be very difficult for kiev too release these people because it will weaken it even further that it is carrying out anti-terror, and they're calling them terrorists and it will just show another weakness of the government, but maybe there will be international pressure from kiev if there is this kind of swap. >> thank you for giving us the very latest live from donestk. we still have a lot more to come in al jazeera, including challenging the freedom of the president, anpress.

plus underfunded and poorly equipped, pakistan's largest and most volatile city. [ grunting ]

i'm taking off, but, uh, don't worry. i'm gonna leave the tv on for you. and if anything happens, don't forget about the new xfinity my account app. you can troubleshoot technical issues here. if you make an appointment, you can check out the status here. you can pay the bill, too. but don't worry about that right now. okay. how do i look? ♪ thanks. [ male announcer ] troubleshoot, manage appointments, and bill pay from your phone. introducing the xfinity my account app. xfinity watchathon week was the biggest week in televisionhone. history.

but just when you thought it was over... what now? with xfinity on demand you can always watch the latest episodes of tv's hottest shows. good news. like hannibal... chicago fire.... ...and bates motel. the day after they air. xfinity on demand. all the latest episodes. all included with your service. it's like hi-fiving your eyeballs. xfinity...the future of awesome.

>> the syrian opposition has lost the town. their last stronghold in the region west of damascus. iran's tv broadcast pictures of dozens of opposition fighters handing themselves over to the syrian authorities. >> the fighters were forced to accept the truce because the supply lines were cut. the area has been sealed off by the syrian army on one side and the lebanese army and militias on the other. >> reporter: it lies along lebanon's borders. fighters with hezbollah with the syrian army together they have taken control of the towns and cities over the past few weeks. the government has consolidated it's control that leads to its stronghold along the coast. the syrian president visits ma

lula, one of the recently recaptured villages. the victory here. >> opposition fighters joining what authorities call the reconciliation process. state media say 500 men surrendered in march alone. >> some are calling those men traitors. but at the same time those fighters have become disillusi disillusioned. they have receive little support and the so-called moderate groups are outnumbered and outgunned by the extremist groups. >> reporter: the government is on the major offensive on the door steps of the capitol have been under heavy bombardment. this major push is seen a majors

before the elections in june. >> officers say they need more resources to deal with the rising levels of violence as they found on control in karachi. [ sirens ] a team of mississippi make it through one of karachi's most--a team of police make it through karachi's most dangerous neighborhood. they approach carefully. but once inside they find who they're looking for these men allegedly belong to a well-known criminal gang. in all six people are arrested. investigators say they discovered arms and narcotics in

their position. the mission is considered a major success. not only for the arrest but because officers face little resistence, and not a single shot was fired. the assistant superintendent of police say often his officers are caught without the right equipment. >> we're facing shortage of protective gear. we lack equipment. >> karachi is it's largest and dangerous city. al-qaeda groups have grown in influence across the city and sectarian attacks are also on the rise. caught in the middle are the police underfunded and poorly equipped, the dangers of the

jobs have cost many lives. so far this year nearly 50 officers have been killed. he still finds it difficult to talk about his youngest brother who had been a police officer for just two years. he was shot dead while on patrol. >> my brother loved working for the police, but more needs to be done to protect officers. it's such a dangerous job. they need better equipment to keep them safe. >> reporter: the government has ordered more safety gear for the police but has not said when it will be issued. while the violence continues to rise more officers will likely lose their lives trying to protect it. al jazeera. >> in ethiopia security forces have rounded up a group of journalists and detained them without a charge. they were arrested on friday and their website has been shut

down. another journalist was arrested on saturday. well, we have more now from the ethiopian town. >> reporter: six of the search journalists are said to be bloggers who have been very critical of government policy and big on social media. the seventh who has been writing for a newspaper. they have been taken from their homes in the middle of the night by armed security and taken to a central president--prison. the government has yet to say what will happen to these journalists, but they might be arraigned in court on monday. this is the not the first time that this ethiopian government has jailed journalists. they are scores of journalists right now serving prison senses ranging between 14 and 27 years

in prison with some of these journalists charged with terrorism. >> al jazeera continues to call for the immediate release of its georgeists being held in egypt. their trial has been adjourned until may 23rd. they have been in jail now for 120 days. they are falsely accused of providing a platform for the outlawed muslim brotherhood. which is now being declared a terrorist organization. the fourth al jazeera journalist in detention has been held without trial since last august. he has been on hunger strike for the last 97 days. al jazeera rejects all the charges. more than 2,000 people have marched in taiwan's capitol taipei to protest against government plans to build a new nuclear reactor. this will be the island's fourth nuclear power plant. they have rejected the demands to stop construction.

in venezuela, thousands of the opponents of the president demanding the arrest of people tarrested in anti-government protests letters year. last year. lack of basic food has brought protests. protesters who held up pro-marijuana posters said that prohibition has led to violence and corruption. they want the right to sell the drug. hundreds of sherpas in nepal risk their lives every year to climb up to the highest mounta mountain. we spoke with a nepalese monk

about how deaths of the sherpas has effected the community. >> the sherpa community has many monks and i look after a district. [ bell ringing ] i not only help the community perform their spiritual ceremonies but those rites that surround bit and death. the tragedy at everest means i have had to perform many funerals. i've known many of the victims and their families for years: the community is devastated as is the country. families have been looking to us for guidance so we have a duty to give them religious guidance for the here and now and the

after life. i think tragedy needs to be remembered by generations to come. perhaps a memorial, religious school or college could be named in their memory. it could help the families to remember them but also help them to move on with their lives. >> and don't forget there is always a lot more on www.aljazeera.com. >> it may sound like something from a si fi movie but now an app for that. what you have to gain from dream control.