london. >> this is al jazeera. this is the news hour live, coming up in the next 60 minutes. don't pressure us with sanctions. as the top diplomate holds crucial talks with vat my putin. >> saudi led forces hours before a proposed cease fire is due to start. a huge after shock killed dozens and brings more panic to earthquakes ravage nepal. also coming up, waytwo

countries declaring they will turn both loads of people away. the latest coming up world defending champion get ready to reel in. we begin the news hour with the u.s. secretary of state is due to speak shortly during his first trip to russia since the crisis began more than a year ago. he is been meeting the russian president in the resort city to discuss several major conflicts. on the subject of ukraine, it is understood mr. kerry was told that it intends to pressure would only lead to a dead end.

>> some fairly long four hour discussions with john kerry before john kerry then went into meetings with vladimir putin. so lav love came out of the discussion and says that yes they had talked about ukraine, that was one of the big topics of this meeting here and i can go through the lines that basically lavrov and kerry agree that there was no alternative really, to a political settlement in ukraine that both sides were saying that the minsk protocols were the

only real solution to what was happening in ukraine. but that russia wants comprehensive constitutional reform. essentially, giving increased powers to the eastern sections of the country that have been brought by civil war. and said that yes russia was ready for cooperation, with the united states. but only on an equal bases where there was no two e, from coming from washington and that russia can't be held responsibility, for the current crisis, in relations with washington, in essence as washington that is at fault for that. >> and do we know when we are likely to hear this news conference? who presume sergei lavrov. >> well, we have been waiting for it for at least two hours now, so obviously vladimir putin and john kerry still

have much to discussion, and there was much to discussion with seeming guy lavrov as well. talking about ukraine but other big thorny issues have been on the table as well. own of them is iran, if you are going to look for a bright spot in the relations at the moment, it is to do with iran, they have been working together, with the p 5 plus 1 group. to get a nuclear deal with iran on the table, that is within striking distance, washington wants to get that properly nailed down by the end of june. and they need russia's help to do so, but it is also rather angry at the moment with russia, because moscow is trying to fast track through the sale of missile defense systems that has displeased washington somewhat, and then there's the big issue of syria as well.

washington believes that the ground in syria has changed somewhat, and that now we have asaad looking weaker than he has been for some time, maybe washington thinks there is now some flexibility in moscow's thinking, maybe moscow can be persuaded to get asaad to come to the negotiating table and try to find a political solution there. but clearly there is much that separates these two. although there is this one area of agreement to do with iran, they are a bigger bigger issues that separate them. >> rory with the latest, rory, thank you. and now let's go to rosalyn jordan, she is at the state department ever the us, rosalyn, these are the highest level talks between russians and the americans in russia itself. so what is the u.s. looking for out of this meeting? why did john kerry travel all the way to sochi.

>> what is the u.s. is looking for cooperation on those issues. syria the iran nuclear talks and to share the u.s.' view that the russians are still destabilizing eastern ukraine again that's the u.s. view one which the russians strongly dispute but this is a very transaction gnat mealing this is not a meeting where you will see major announcements coming out of it. and making certain that countries that have influence where it dud not, are basically on the same page when it comes to trying to reach what the u.s. says is preferable in nearly all cases and that is a political solution, the u.s. believes that a political solution is needed to resolve the tensions in ukraine, that is it is necessary to have political negotiations to end the civil war in syria, and certainly the on going

negotiations in the iran nuclear talks almost go without saying. it is a matter of trying to deal with national security, through diplomacy and not through the military, that said the situation in yemen is also an area where both the u.s. and russia can share common ground, in fact, the u.s. and russia have been talking about how to get the houthis and partisan supportive of the form president to essentially lay down their weapons and to try to establish some space, not just for humanitarian relief, but also to try to establish some sort of process to find a political solution to what has become a civil war. >> obviously the situation.

if you talk to policy analyst they would say no, and that is because the situation in ukraine, the russian take over of crimea, the on going fighting in and donetsk along the eastern border. in the past couple of weeks we have heard more talk of a potential new round of sanctions. if the russians and those separatist fighters do not observe the minsk to cease fire, that was agreed upon, back in february. so again a very transactional relationship. a very transactional meeting it is not something that is a what are uponger of betting relations to come. >> roz jordan with the latest

from the state department. we are expecting the u.s. secretary of state. and the foreign secretary sergei lavrov. as soon as it happens. the u.s. says warned iran against staging what is described as stunts which could threaten the saudi proposed cease fire. the five day humanitarian truce is set to take effect in under two hours. iranian warships are expected to accompany a cargo ship pound for the ship which is controlled be i the houthis rebels.

the houthiss are reported to have shelled with where p air strikes have also targeted a history call castle. the castle has been used as a base by the houthis. the coalition attacked east. they controlled media says dozens of people were killed in the attack on monday night. and the united nations is also urged all parties in the yemen conflict to observe the cease fire so aid agencies can deliver vital supplies. more now who can join us from the saudi capitol. so this cease fire meant to kick off in what two hours from now, and yet we have pretty much seen violence almost to the run up to it, how likely is it that the cease fire will start and be respected? i have to say that many people are concerned act

whether the cease fire will hold if it starts from now. i think this explains why the united nations envoy is -- is trying to pin down with the houthis detailed of that cease fire. but the problem that we have in yemen is that it is a civil war, and you have houthis backed by portions loyal to the president fighting toes loyal to the president who is in exile here, in saudi arabia. now, in two hours from now before two hours from now top generals have to talk and reach out to every single fighter across the country to observe the cease fire, and i think this is going to be an extremely delicate situation, taking into account in adan for example factions are only separated by a few blocks tension is really mounting in the area.

you have been telling us how great the need is of the people of yemen for this aid. >> we have two issues here. first of all the saudis and the saudi led coalition, say they don't want to see the houthis take advantage of the cease fire to redeploy troops. rearm themselves and try to push towards places like adan. and they say if they spot any troops movement, they will use air strikes to put an end to that. the houthis on the other hand, say that they are definitely going to maintain their position and they are very defiant. they describe what is an aggression, and they say they are determined to dwight to the end. but on the other hand, you have an international sentiments which is now saying that it is enough is

enough and they would like to see a cease fire, they would like to see aid getting into those areas. you have thousands and thousands stranded in places to be able to deliver and ship supplies you have to have a genuine cease fire where there's no fighting across the country so there is a concern also shared by the international community. >> yo will be keeping an eye out on developments there for the moment. live for us thank you. a lot more to. co including. the forgotten tragedy of those rescues at sea. some of the migrants stuck in italy. also. another day of chaos in the

capitol as protests against the president enter a third week. and coming up in sport, one of america's sports biggest stars fights to clear his name after being found guilty of cheating. in nepal has gone missing. in the latest tremor. andrew simmons reports now from the capitol. reliving a nightmare just when people had begun. crush injuries head injuries

and some of the medical staff are in shock as well. me one wants to be inside a building when what follows is half a dozen aftershocks. is a man who is running an orphanage filled with children. i try to jump out of the building and i got hurt. >> this is one of the landslides caused by the after shock, it is in the north of the country. an area that only recently been cleared after previous landslides remarkably no one was hurt. parliament was in session when the quake struck, after a few seconds of disbelief deputies starting running outside the panic with people trying to get through on cell phones to relatives and friends to tell them they are alive.

this place is dangerous we have to leave. >> people have become scared in their minds. they don't know how they will live eat and work, going into a building we don't know what will happen. >> search teams found themselves trying to save lives again dozens of collapsed buildings many more in the rural areas to the east of katmandu, near the epicenter. as if one major earthquake wasn't enough, this was a family home, and another american search team is now deploying and this was a 19 story apartment block. now, totally destroyed. >> there is a high level of fear, in h some f cases sheer terror that exists now. many people are threing the capitol. but they will find little comfort out of the city. well, let's go live now to cat man do.

do we have any more information about this helicopter that has been reported missing? bades out of the airport, it is a joint task force between the air force and that rene core, and the army. now this helicopter was being deployed for search and rescue after this tremor, when it has gone missing. that's all the information we have so far, but we have confirmed that this helicopter is missing. >> what can you tell us about this after shock. >> the chinese, the indians

and nepal, they have all the resources here because of that it has been moving a lot better. we are getting aid to these areas. because of that presence, and having those resources we are already seeing a much greater response to this. >> with the latest there thank you. take a look now rat our other main headlines. at least six people have been killed and 22 injuries in a car bomb attack. the explosion happened near the square in the city center. the blast appears to have targeted shia visitors to a popular shrine nearby. in a separate attack, two mortar atalks killing at least four people and injuries six others.

they say it was hit by a barrel bomb dropped by fourses and that most of the dead were civilians. and a blogger has been hacked to death by a masked gain who was himself murdered in february. >> and international organization for migration has called on southeast asian governments to find and rescue hundreds of migrants believed to be stranded at sea and risk of death.

around 2,000 people have reached malaysia in the fast two days. in a moment, we will tear from our correspondent. first, this report from malaysia. so they patrol looking for illegal fisherman, people smuggling goods as well as people smuggling human. now, their job is being incredibly important. after the arrival of more than 1,000 migrants from bangladesh. you are seeing more and more people coming here via sea are you concerned about this. >> yes very concerned.

especially after the monsoon season. we also monitor the situation in myanmar, once there's -- there's more people coming. >> so we are getting reports that the authorities over there have said that if they see any more boats commenting into their waters they will give them food and fuel, and send them in malaysia's direction, what is your response to this. >> we have to consider we cannot allow them to enter but we will still give them food and provisions and send them on the way. >> so the maritime agency here is on alert.

no boats are welcome here, in indonesian, they have pushed back one boat yesterday back out of the waters and gave them directions to malaysia. what happened is that the military saw the boat and they said there is a lot of people on that boat, and said there were even screams coming from the boat. it was a very bad situation. and they gave the people some water and food, some medication, and some fuel because these people among to make it ashore, it is different than in the past because since 2009, indonesian has been accepting boats oand they were all accepted and happened over to

the u. n.h.r. so this is a different policy right now. >> well a complicated and heartbreaking story. for more on this we are joined with spokesperson for the international organization for migration. thank you for joining us, you called on the southeast government to find and rescue these migrants. just to recap before you indonesian says these people wanted to go to malaysia, that's why they gave them food water medicine, what is your reaction to that. >> well, we understand there may be 8,000 migrants at sea the important point is they have been completely exploded by what started out as smugglers they have ben extorted of all the money they have, they have been left without water so i think the imperative here is the humanitarian one.

i think that's what our main course is at the moment, as it is in the mediterranean and we can see no difference in the approach. of course the irony is many -- and some asian countries and maybe that's the way we should go about it. you are of course aing these governments to act but is there anything we can be done to pressure them? from a legal point of view, is there an pressure that can be put on them. >> i think the most important pressure is moral pressure. whether it's on the union or governments around the word. at the end of the day no government can tolerate seeing oen the screens on the video screens people dying and i think that's what is going to make the difference. these are unfortunate people, they are victims themselves.

they have simply been leaving their homeland in search of work. maybe they are termed irregular migrants but at the end of the day they are looking for work, their crime is a pretty minor one, and they don't deserve to day unaided on the high seas. they think they will be rescues -- when it comes to this issue in this region, does that hold true, or do actions like the ones taken by the indonesian government act as a deterrent. >> the government has been looking at people for a long time. and indeed, this policy of push arm as or push backs is not new.

it is not the issue they gave them water and medicine, and fuel from what we understand, and those that have come ashore are being given treatment, so i think the big point here is we need a humanitarian imperative, these people have committed no crime. most importantly the gross exploitation by the smuggler. to make them suffer fourthser hardly the way. >> as you observe the situation here, are you finding that perhapses with the increase this migration, there's also a hardens of the stance of whichever country is meant to be the receiving country? when that happens you get the reaction looking at it on their television, and driving to ex-treatments. on the other hand you get people that wish to leave.

i will take the next boat, so an unmanaged process leads to the chaos we are seeing and we have been calling on government to help us help manage their process, because kit be in the benefits of countries. they have labor shortages and they do have labor shortages in malaysia, and they need hardworking people doe spite unemployment, they have shortages for the care home workers and the hospital workers. so the idea there's no need doesn't really cut ice. there is a huge need, and this migrant who frankly make the world go around. sir, thank you so much for having joins us here. since the beginning of the year since effort powerful earthquakes in libya some don't intend to stay in

italy, but what happens to those who do? well, before we bring you that report, let's go straight live to sochi where we can see john kerry the u.s. secretary of state the russian foreign minister there. let's listen in to what they have to say. >> initially it was meeting to the president. and then we had communications. the negotiations took place during the celebrations of cooperations of second world war victory.

and we took part in the ceremony near the monument of victims of the war. we have discussed all top questions from the agenda. and addressed issue of international security. our strategic goal to support stability in the word. we have discussed issues of ukraine. between the united states and russia. when it comes to the conflict

we stressed we need to solve this in a peaceful way in accordance with strict require heches of the agreement. on the 12 of february. and of course, the cease fire. followed. the constitutional row form that will take into account the local elections. results. and canceling the economic blockade of the eastern regions. we have agreed that we will

use influence both russian federation and the united states in order to look for political solutions. and for the agreement. we have agreed also to work on syria. so we can implement agreements on 2012. we have discussed the issues of isis. the military formations and influenced in it's original syria, and outside of the

region as well. we will unite forces of the ones. of influence with key countries. and the result is conflict according to the international law. regarding the irhinian program. lebanon and our countries and the region from afghan zahn. were a position of russia and united states.

that have developed in recent years. as a result of this meeting. we defend each other better. and have long term dialogs and cooperation in various areas. a lot of key issues worldwide depending -- we also hope for cooperation.

before the president. first we need the cooperation based on equality of both parties. and common interests. well, thank you very much. i greatly appreciate your comments just now and i agree with your summary of today. i was particularly glad to be here in sochi and i want to start by thanking president putin, and the foreign minister for hosting our discussions here today. sergei and i talked pretty lengthily but we rarely have

the chance to be able to speak as honestly as we did today, as uninterrupted as it was today, and there are a number of very critical issues that president obama wanted me to share with president putin and the foreign minister just know, that we have just in the last days celebrated the 70th anniversary of d.d. day. the day that the united states russia, and our allies defeated the scourge. and earlier today we had the privilege of defending the war memorial was more than 4,000 of the millions of courageous and soviets who died in the world war ii are

buried. and it is a very beautiful memorial. and i was very moved by the young children who were there taking part in the ceremony. and i think sergei and i both thought it was a very powerful reminder of the sacrifices that we shared to bring about a safer world and our what our nations can accomplish, when our people are working together toward as same goal. obviously in the midst of a challenging time. and here in sochi today, i was privileged to spend many hours with the foreign minister, and with president putin, discussing a number of global issues of which both of our cubs are very interested in i am grateful to president putin for the significant amount of time that he made available to this discussion.

for his directness, and for his very detailed explanations of russians position with respect to some of these challenges and in the ways that he believed that we have an ability to work constructively together in order to solve these problems. i think the fact that leaps out at me, certainly from this day's discussions which is precisely what we hear in the first place is that there is no substitute talking directly to key decision making. particularly, during a period that is as complex and fast moving as this is. to start with, where russia and the united states, and our other p five plus one partners are working very hard through the nuclear

investigations we are now. cooing into the last six weeks of negotiations and we all understand the unity has been key to bringing us where we are today it is also going to be the key to completing a good deal and to our being confident that that deal will be able to be well implemented. the united states and russia remain closely aligned in this effort, as do the rest of our p five plus one allies and friends. we also discussed today the real and present danger of isil as many call it, and while russia is not a formal member of a global coalition to counter isil, it is a very important partner in the global effort against violent

extremism. and countering violent extremism, is a first order priority for both russia and the united states. no one should doubt reaching groups like dash extends far beyond the particular region in this operation and that it effects every single one of us. the united states, russia, and the rest of the world. s with are in unity with respect to our commitment to continue to push back against dash, and ultimately, to drive dash out of syria and to eliminate it as a threat. few the geneva communique to the removal of syria's chemical weapons i would emphasize if we achieve what happens with russia and the united states work together it is clearly possible to make real progress and make

important things happen. and sergei just referenced that in his comments, myself, and it is that confidence and our ability to be able to make the difference there is an urgent need we glee, for that same kind of cooperation that brought about the remule of weapons from syria that has darktized our cooperation on the ground, and the same kind of efforts that is now necessary on other challenges that we face together. thank you. in addition, the threat of violent extremism continues to grow. and as we have said many

times, the united states believes that syria will never be at peace until there is a political solution, a political transition in syria. what we need is that political outcome. and the negotiated by and for syrians. and supported by external powered. so today we discussed at some length, how the united states and russia might work together on this, in the days ahead, foreign minister lavrov and i agree to exam specific concepts. to continue that conversation, in the coming weeks with increased focus and purpose. we also discussed other regional issues. yemen, and president obama's

upcoming summit with the g.c.c. countries. and of course, we did spend time on ukraine as sergei has mentioned. i reiterated the view that the minsk agreements the prescription. path to peace, and those agreements must be fully implemented. the soon tear better. i must say we found a fair amount of agreement even as sergei has disclosed. that we continue to disagree on certain components of the walk up to it or certain facts but we are both in significant agreement on the most important issue of all. which is lit be resolved be i the full implementation of miles per hoursing and we both all of us and other friends and allies have responsibilities do undertake in order to effect that

implementation. if and when minsk is fully implemented it is clear that the u.s. and e.u. sanctions can begin to be rolled back. but i also made clear our deep concerns regarding the situation on the ground. continues perceived violation of cease fire. and that the donetsk airporten cos arming training command and control of separate forces. and we believe that this fighting the fighting that is taking place as a result of this on any side, whoever has instigated it, that it is gone on for too long. and today i underscores the steps that the united states hopes to see taken by the parties in the coming days and weeks. we really believe that a

genuine cease fire needs to be undertaken. i think sergei and president putin agreed. that that is important, as well as the withdrawal of weapons the the demilitarization and monitoring by the o.s.c.e., second, there needs to be a real discussion within the minsk political working groups regarding the path to elections elections that can be monitoring properly, and conformed to the ukrainian constitution as is set out. and also regarding the decentralization that is important the decentralization status that is important for that region. we also believe that the humanitarian access needs to gain gather freedom of movement. and important very much to the ukrainian and the u.n. agencies.

and finally the inspection of the i.r. -- i.c.r.c. of cargo that traveled into ukraine including include humanitarians cargo. all of them would make a real difference to the quality of life and they would give all of you confidence that we need that minsk is going to be fully implemented and that the coming flick can come to an end with that full implementation. obviously i want to leave time for questions but i want to again say thank you to russia. to foreign minister lavrov, for his very generous welcome here today. this was an important visit and an important time.

and woe didn't come here with expectation that we were going to define a specific path forward. or have a major break through, we came here purposefully, to have a very full and open dialog with russias leaders. the kind of dialog that is essential in the many challenges that we face today, and i am particularly grateful, and i want to express my appreciation to president putin for the very significant and serious conversation that he enganged in for the very significant amount of time, that he committed to this discussion. and for the willingness to engang in this discuss at a time when the exchange of views could not be more important. so we thank them for talking

through these issues face to face. as we try to come together and find workable solutions to very important issues to all of us. thank you. what is the real truth here? is are both sides violating the terms of the minsk agreement, or is it just one side, or some sides of it? what exactly are you going to

do to reign this in and get it to compliance on syria you said you agree to build up and exam new concepts on the political transition plan. what are those and how are you going to address the concern of new chemical weapons use. did you ask the russians to hold off on the transfer of the missle system? and the minister, if you did what is the russian response to that? thank you. >> i will begin with the last first. i think it is known that we have concerned of the 300. but it is also known this is

that has been a transfer that was five years ago in the making and was contemplated in the u.n. resolution. as a transfer that was permissible. and judgement being broken. it is a question of timing and our judgement. as well as impact but we have already talked about it previously, and we did not go into it today. with respect to the issue of violations etc., my sense is, matt, we have had that conversation today. we have talked about the perceptions of violations what is important is now to make sure that both sides are making the choices to move forward in implements the agreement. in it's full measure.

and i had a brief conversation with president yesterday. i will have a further conversation with him to debrief him with respect to the meetings hered too. and i urge him as i urge the russians today everybody who had any control over anybody needs to take every step possible to fully implement minsk and clearly that means including preventing any breeches whatsoever with respect to the cease fire. we talked today about the movement of heavy weapons we talks about the need to particularly as i talked about a moment ago hopefully that is a cease fire that might be able to be negotiated in full. i certainly called attention to the fact, that which even side is responsible for firing the first shot, there

is not yet a full implementation of the cease fire that was contemplated, and we need to work harder in order to try to see that be put into full effect. we are going to engang with all parties in an effort to try to encouraging that to happen. i will tell you that both the president, president putin and foreign minister lavrov, reiterated their desire to see minsk fully implemented and we talks about ways in which we may be able to accelerate that, and break down some of the mistrust of both sides which has prevented that from happening. with respect to syria i won't go into any details about the conversation except to say that we both understand and fully accept the degree to which the situation in syria is

increasingly not only unsustainable, but dangerous for the region. we both agree that the rise of dash, within syria and the increased efforts of other extremist groups threatens not only the asaad regime itself, but threatens the region as a consequence. and that it is even more urgent for all of us to find willing partners who are prepared to do what is necessary to be able to implement the principles of geneva, which is a transition to a government that can be secular, maintain the institutions of the state and transition to peace and stability protecting all of the minorities and all of the people of syria simultaneously. that's the goal. and we intend to redouble our efforts jointly in order to try to reach it.

on the c.w. we talked about exchanging specific information. regarding the current situation. which we will do. and subsequent to that we will see what our mutual observations are about that information. and what steps may be appropriate. >> yes. >> on my behalf, i was like to say the following. i agree with john. that cease fire violations violations regarding took place from both sides. we have a common criteria.

despite the fact that the regular rate uses the submission. but the government will make appropriate conclusions to follow his agreements. despite such accusations. we have discussed also the monitoring for the cease fire. and that we would request from the president the officers are working a couple of dozens of russians. they have working relationships. and there's a mechanism to

monitor violations and get rid of them. to december-inch gang washing parties. and while preparing the working group meeting. we have authorization. and the minsk agreements we would like to see removal of all weaponry.

these documents was nearly signed by representatives. and we would like our working group to consider these documents as it is meeting. these documents would be implements the risk would be lowers. the risks will be lowered and it will help to move. i agree with my colleague working to find ways to up implement minsk agreement and the key -- principles is to resolve all issues with dialog.

woe have also worked together to stimulate dialog from syria. two years ago we discussed this with the government of syria. and we would like to see the representation of various opposition groups in dialog with the syrian government. that also includes certain immigration groups. that are not part of the negotiation at the moment.

we would like to invite all opposition groups to the table. without exception we also have been meeting with the syrian government, such meetings are very useful. unfortunately. national coalition doesn't come to our meeting. twice. and thus we will start negotiations new. we are convinced that the united states that that the dialog of the representative.

but it is very important that external players who have influenced should play by the geneva rules. and u.n. should continue to work with various syrians infractions. i think that we will continue on with the united states in the direction and we will facilitate this process. when it comes to poisonous chemical weapons in syria.

the hope that recall parties will follow the agreements regarding chemical weapons and will refrain from using chemical weapons as a tool of political pressure. that's about it. question for mr. kerry. you mentions that the minsk agreement is the best way forward. but we can hear milita