biala gassed at frankfurt airport city managed by from a bought. this is jane w. news live from berlin pope francis delivers a message of unity on the 2nd day of his historic visit to iraq to meet the country's top she experienced grand ayatollah ali sistani at his home before moving on to host an interfaith meeting the pontiff hopes to encourage iraq's muslim and christian communities to work together for the peace also coming up more on rest in

myanmar as security forces fired tear gas and stun grenades at protesters this week saw the deadliest day since the military career began and the u.n. is urging action against the violence. past all it seems newquay and e.u. trying tensions threaten to undermine the brics a deal and there are fears it could disrupt the delicate balance of pace on the island of ireland. i'm rebecca ritter's welcome to the program it's day 2 of pope francis as historic visit to iraq his aiming to rally the country's minority christian community whose numbers have dropped significantly after years of war and persecution the pope began the day in the holy city of najaf way he had a private meeting with one of iraq's most powerful figures in shia islam the grand ayatollah ali sistani. a meeting that was months and then making every

detail carefully planned after a photo op the 2 men spoke privately for 40 minutes the ayatollah reportedly telling the pope he also believes christians should be able to live in peace in iraq and enjoy the same rights as other iraqis it's a powerful statement from sistan he who rarely makes his opinions known when he does shiites in iraq and around the world take note. later the pope arrived in the ancient city of moore known as the birthplace of abraham the biblical patriarch revered by christians muslims and jews a fitting place for an interfaith meeting where francis underscored his message for . peace does not demand the winners or losers but rather brothers and sisters who for all the misunderstandings and hurts of the past are journeying from

conflict to unity. in praying for peace in the middle east the pope singled out syria ravaged by a decade of civil war and he condemned religious extremists who use terrorism to achieve their aims. on sunday pope francis will see firsthand the destruction left behind by the terrorist islamic state when he visits the group's former stronghold in the northern iraqi city of mosul. i'm joined now by journalist owen holdaway who's in iraq following the pope's visit oh and the pope has met with the grand ayatollah ali sistani why is that meeting so significant i think because of the way starting actually within. a lot he's essentially the head of the largest beaten into the shia community of iraq i think the fact that they're doing

a dialogue between the 2 of them is extremely important was the lead also sustain itself very reclusive and rarely get political or public statements so i think the fact that both also leads raids that need you know being 11 united iraq and all iraqis bridge regardless bait on of what should live together in peace i think that really emphasizes when he has it and not quite within the country and also within the right what have the glitz what about non christians how are they reacting to the pope's visit. i mean very much so i mean i think they're very very happy the fact that they showcase a different side of iraq iraq tends to be thought of you know this as a very sectarian country with a lot of conflict between the different ethnic groups and a view that sunni shia kurd is eat what i would never however i think the showcasing of the fact the pope in his 1st trip to come to to to a foreign country that before or since that since the pandemic shows that you know that rock rock is is is isn't is not not not it not no not the kind of violent

violent or the country that it's always it's always perceived to be and it what can we expect for the rest of the pope's visit rest of today and in the next 2 days. well you went to the city of berkeley video which is quite symbolic as well because that's the founding place of all with all the 3 major religions abrahamic abraham supposed birthplace of that he said to then hold mass within it back in baghdad the following that he is then going to come up to be aware of where i'm at carney at the moment and then go into mosul and this is some very stark sights there and then also head to the town of kalak auch where you groups that was it church that was significantly attacked by isis when when they when they when they control the area and then finally culminates its trip being in a holding a marketing and opening and putting the event at this at the football stadium here now this is obviously a historic and

a very big fair step but what kind of pie realistically a change as far as interfaith dialogue goes in the country. i mean he's not going to be able to disarm all the major groups and age militias and he's certainly not going to be able to stop some of the violence that some sites see that still operate in certain areas of this country and you know here and beyond the u.s. bases we see attack voices shia militias so he's not going to be able to and that i think the message that came out the meeting that strong it does show that you know that more and that are on the cultural level on the communitarian level maybe not on the political level but there is a unity between the different different sects and different different groups within this country and so it's a very powerful message so i think it's that is putting forward for the country and that what that itself will also have but a strong political weight it's the leet against the different political leaders who may want to use you still may want to go down the sectarian route are identified on

hold the way speaking to us from in iraq thank you very much sir. now as a u.n. special envoy there has called for a robust international response after this week's violence against protesters she made the remarks during a closed door meeting of the u.n. security council in new york but the council's unlikely to pass a resolution on myanmar because of china and russia has veto wielding seats more than 50 people have been killed over the past 7 days as protesters keep up their calls for a return to democracy. the march for democracy perseverance in me and maher despite brutal crackdowns by the military authorities. demonstrations are regularly dispersed by tear gas the violence has escalated in the last week with police making mass arrests and adopting more lethal force. with radio free asia published

this c.c.t.v. footage it allegedly shows authorities beating up medical volunteers in yangon on wednesday the broadcaster says they were then taken to prison the video follows reports that police opened fire on medical workers in the city where several protesters died. self-styled front line protesters keep the demonstrations going they quit themselves with shields helmets and gas masks and it's their job to assist anyone injured. their routine or cruel to those who died in the revolution had families of the original where they had their whole lives ahead of the joy of some of them were younger than me it makes me very angry but we can't do anything so we're protesting peacefully and have to fight until the end goal here goldberg. was.

hundreds of mourners attended the funeral of. 25 year old r. carmo he was one of many who died on wednesday. he was my eldest son. he got shot while he was trying to save his friend who was also shot. in. the work to police a shot right at his heart without remorse you know what i feel so angry that they're suppressing us again like they did under military rule they're destroying our ally for their own sakes you know to do you know you know their own down and out you know all of. the revolution must prevail the mourners chant together. for let's turn now to some

other stories making news around the world indian farmers have blocked a 6 lane highway outside delhi to mark the 100th day of protests against the deregulation of agriculture markets the farmer say laws imposed last september hurt them by opening the sector up to private players several rounds of negotiations between pharma leaders and the government have so far failed. in poland a bus carrying dozens of ukrainian citizens has crashed killing at least 5 and injuring dozens more the bus careened off the road in the south east of the country near the ukrainian border there was no immediate cause given for the accident. german supermarket chain l d has begun selling coronavirus home testing kits long queues formed outside some stores as supplies quickly sold out home test kits are expected to go on sale at other major chains and drug stores in the coming days. the european union has promised a legal action after the british government extended

a grace period for checks on food imports to northern ireland it's a move that brussels says breaches the term of the brics a divorce tale the u.k. says it's taking steps to fix the trade issues but there are growing fears that this latest fork in the road over breck's a trade could threaten pace. these trucks carry goods from england scotland and wales on to ships that cross the irish sea to northern ireland here in belfast products arriving from the rest of britain are subject to import rules from the e.u. under brakes or to northern ireland has remained part of the e.u. single market for goods checks aren't fully applied yet but the u.k. has decided to extend this transition period for some products without asking the e.u. 1st that's illegal brussels says and undermines the brig's that deal the european commission will respond to these developments in accordance with the legal means established by the withdrawal agreement. but britain the says breaks that supply

checks are causing huge disruption a delay it says will give businesses more time to get used to the new rules. where taking some temporary technical measures to ensure that there are no barriers in the in the irish sea org to make sure that things flow freely from g b to n.i. and that's what you'd expect the tensions aren't just affecting trade paramilitary groups on happy with the breaks a disruption have temporarily abandoned to northern ireland historic 998 peace deal known as the good friday agreement the group say they're not planning a return to violence but it's heightening fears that northern ireland's delicate balance of peace is being destabilized. in tokyo antia lympics protesters have hit the streets in the capital calling for the games to be

canceled the march started from the national stadium where the games opening ceremony is due to be held and went through the city protesters held banners and shouted slogans denouncing plans to hold the olympics and paralympics due to start in july this year they say it's too reckless to hold the games during the pandemic . fine munich later today host bursa dortmund in one of the bonus league his biggest fixtures in past years the 2 titans have been closer in the standings than they are now late late is binah facing a dortmund side at risk of missing out on next season's champions league. one of the biggest thing is biggest attractions also features the league's top strikers byron's robert levin go ski and do it with elin khalid both scored a goal with a mate earlier this season but it was buyers. that left the pitch with 3 pointers. for the speedo. it is fair game against dortmund is always

special for us that's been shown in recent years the games are on a high level civil new go byron haven't lost a dog man in the bundesliga since 2018 and dog men are in need of a win now more than ever with champions the contention hanging in the balance dortmund will need to bring their a game. we just have to hold on to the things that we do well and except there will be phases where we have to suffer and that's simply part of football when you play in munich and emissions but that doesn't mean that you can't be brave and still be dangerous we've shown that in the past and be a good sized in the forgotten height. a few seasons back captain marco royce netted 2 goals in dortmund's last win over buyers in the league. but that was endorsement . for them to get one step closer to the champions league will need to defeat buyers in munich dortmund last visit didn't go so well in 2019. byron

barry dortmund for me. here watching data to news that's all from us from now but up next is our report a series has to change that i'm back with more headlines at the top of the hour and don't forget as always our web site com i'm rebecca richest in bell and thanks very much for watching. international women's day we're making women invisible own room. their voices to protest especially now because the sentiment is exacerbating inequality.

shootings in women more fighting for self-determined life in demanding change.