ration on pro-moscow rebels has resulted in rebels downing two ukrainian helicopters. the u.s. president holds sessions with the german chancellor in washington around putting up a united front against rush over ukraine. radicals suspected of being behind the latest targeting of a suburb of the nigerian capital.

19 dead as a car bomb detonates in busy traffic. this is "france 24." also coming up on the program we will have a fourth round up with the latest on the europa league. we will be looking at the u.s. secretary of state's tour of africa and asking what are the u.s. interests on the continent. two ukrainian helicopters have been shot down during an assault near the rebel held town of slaviansk. kiev confirmed two pilots have died. separatists say one militant was killed. it is the first major operation against rebels who seized government buildings in a dozen cities across southeastern ukraine.

mark thompson has more on events. >> earning barricades on the outskirts of slaviansk after ukrainian forces launched an operation to retake the eastern town from pro-russian militants. the minister posted on facebook the country's troops had reclaimed a number of checkpoints and surrounded what he called the terrorists. it has been confirmed two ukrainian helicopters have been shot down. russian t.v. showed pictures reported to be of an injured pilot they say was on board one of the downed aircraft. >> the helicopter was flying over the city. there was a fight. after that, it was flying over here. it was taken down. one rocket missed it, but it was hit by the second one. >> ukraine says its troops have

been ordered not to fire on buildings which could contain civilians. militants detained 18 of observers -- a team over a week ago. negotiations to free the international observers have only were resulted --have only resulted in one being released. >> pro-russian forces are reported to have seized the control center for the railways in eastern ukraine. a spokesman for the company said militants cut the electricity supply and the trains stopped running. moscow has announced an envoy will travel to southeastern ukraine for talks over the release of monitors being held. a kremlin spokesman also lambasted a military assault by kiev saying it killed off the geneva accord. let's get more by skype from moscow. it did not take long for the kremlin to react to events in

ukraine this friday. >> that is right. they have called the special operation. if. -- the vladimir putin spokesman said this operation is killed off any hope for the geneva agreement. he also said vladimir putin is receiving all the information on the latest developments in ukraine. putin appears to be following developments closely. they insist they continue to take steps toward escalation of the conflict and work towards the release of the observers held in slaviansk. russia spent the special envoy to the area. he is in the region right now. contact with him has been real established. >> vladimir putin warned of consequences against ukraine for

acting against its own citizens. what consequences could flow from today's events? >> that is right. vladimir putin has one of consequences in ukraine. he did not give exact details of what the consequences might entail. the russian foreign ministry said the assault in the region would have catastrophic consequences. all of this talk has made it clear russia may be taking military action in the area. they have 45,000 troops stationed near the border. they have appealed to the separatists for help from russia. so far no military action has been taken yet. >> thank you for updating us from moscow. the u.s. president hosts the german chancellor later for talks on the escalating crisis in ukraine. it is angela merkel's first

visit to washington since the revelation american spies tapped her mobile phone. advancing a trade deal is on the agenda. the pair will hold a joint press conference. >> angela merkel is in the midst of a short trip to washington, under 24 hours. a large part of it will be spent here at the white house in meetings with the u.s. president barack obama. they will be trying to show a united front in terms of what the european union and united states should be doing together against russia and in ukraine. both leaders would say there is a united front in terms of sanctions in place and sanctions that might still come. there are slight differences between the two. there might be bigger differences in the future when it comes to the attention of sectoral sanctions sanctions

that might face whole sectors of the russian economy like the energy sector. germany believes it has more to lose than the united states. this is a meeting between angela merkel and barack obama that would have looked different a year ago. that was before the allegations of nsa spying in germany and more specifically, the spying on the mobile phone of angela merkel. she has wanted to see aagreement put in place between the united states and germany. that will not be the case and not announced here. it is a relationship that has soured somewhat. what you see today will be a move towards getting on with business despite a relationship that has gone a bit south since the first nsa allegations. >> last month, at least 75 died close by and now a suburb of the capital is reeling once more as a car bomb dedicated -- detonated killing at least 19.

the attack comes as the city gets ready to host a major economic conference. >> a nearby police checkpoint was the target. it was here at the bus station that the car bomb exploded a few blocks away. a man jumped out and ran as it blew up. other eyewitnesses recount bashir forst of the deadly blast. -- the sheer force of the deadly blast. no one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. but it is believed to be the work of the islamist militant group. the network has carried out another bomb attack in the same area two weeks ago which killed at least 75. it is the latest in a long running campaign of terror by the group who want to create an islamic state in nigeria.

over 1500 people have died this year as a result of their attacks. >> renewed warnings south sudan's conflict could ascend into genocide. they come from the u.s. secretary of state. he has arrived in the fledgling state. john kerry made renewed threats of sanctions and raised hopes more peacekeeping forces could be deployed to halt the bloodshed. he was speaking on thursday after holding talks with foreign ministers from ethiopia, uganda, and kenya. >> there are very disturbing indicators of the kind of ethnic tribal, targeted, nationalistic killings taking place that raise serious questions. were they to continue in the way they have been going could present a serious challenge to

the international community with respect to the question of genocide. it is our hope that could be avoided. >> just coming in on the newswire more recent comments by john kerry speaking in south sudan. he says the south sudanese president has committed to take steps towards ending violence in the fledgling state. more as we get it. at least five libyan soldiers have been killed in clashes with gunmen in the eastern city of benghazi. military sources say spyros sparked early friday when armed men stormed police headquarters. unit of special forces intervened two percent out of the building. fighting broke out in several parts of the city. syrian government aircraft have struck a busy market in aleppo killing at least 33. activists say it is the latest deadly aerial assaults on rebel held districts targeting mainly civilians. >> they rush to pick up a body

laying in the rubble in what remains of the market. this amateur video shows the aftermath of an attack by the forces of bashir assad. according to a human rights group, 33 civilians were killed in the strike. a strike condemned by the opposition. >> the international community must take immediate measures to protect civilians from airstrikes and neutralize the regime's aircraft showering neighborhoods with death every day while the entire world watches. >> this is the second attack on the rebel held district in two days using a barrel bomb, improvised packs of explosives dropped from a helicopter and rarely delivered with accuracy. on wednesday, a strike killed at least 18, mainly children. assad's forces have rain barrel

bombs on the area. it suggests the government is stepping up its offensive ahead of the presidential election in june. >> scores of people have been hurt in south korea's capital after a subway train hit another train. a city official said injuries were minor. a local news agency reported the moving train ran into the back of another stopped due to mechanical problems. an investigation has been launched. it is suspected a failure in the distance control system may have been to blame. following the decision this week to scale back the costly search operation in the indian ocean australia is set to host a meeting with will and china on missing flight mh370. the gathering aims to determine the way forward for the search for the malaysia airlines plane.

no debris has been recovered. 2/3 of passengers on board were chinese. the irish republican leader gerry adams has been a second night in police custody. they continued to question him over the murder of the mother of 10 who was kidnapped and killed in 1972. her body was secretly buried. >> her body was recovered here in the republic of ireland in 2003 more than 30 years after she was abducted from her home and murdered by the ira. the 37-year-old mother of 10 was wrongfully accused of being a british informer. her son says he knew some of those who abducted her but had been warned to stay silent. >> some of these people we know. the last ac was two themwo -- the

last i seen was two women holding my mother by the arm. >> the ira finally admitted murdering her and several others people who work killed and buried by irish republicans during the trouble. at that time, gerry adams was the leader of the political wing but he always denied involvement in the murders. adams reinvented himself as a northern ireland peacemaker and is a popular politician in the irish parliament. her daughter welcomed his arrest. >> he thinks he is untouchable. he thinks he is a great man. we have to remember what he'd done to this country. >> many of his former irate colleagues condemn -- ira colleagues condemn the timing of the arrest as politically motivated. >> i view this arrest as a deliberate attempt to influence

the outcome of the election due to take place in three weeks. >> david cameron denied the allegation. underwater, gerry adams must be charged or freed by friday night unless police seek a judicial extension to his interrogation. >> celebrity magazines and the tabloid press have gone into overdrive after the confirmation george clooney got engaged. he popped the question to the human rights lawyer. the engagement has been well-received in lebanon where citizens are more conditioned to bad news. >> for over 20 years, he has been hollywood's most eligible bachelor. now actor george clooney is firmly off the market. after dating a string of models waitresses and even a wrestler he's engaged to be married to this woman, an accomplished

human rights lawyer who defended julian assange and the former ukrainian prime minister. it is match the tablets have hailed as unlikely. the residence and her father's hometown are not surprised given the allure of lebanese women. >> this confirms lebanese women are not just in people's minds but also in their hearts, and in the heart of celebrities. it is an honor for lebanon and her for that is where she comes from. >> other residents of her father's village were not quite so enthused of foreigners snapping up the local women. >> i don't have a problem with it. but it is difficult to accept she's getting married to a foreigner and someone not from her religion. >> while religious incompatibility may bother some, for others, the alliance may prove the solution to finding

world peace. >> this engagement provides lots of things for lebanon. it may end sectarianism and create love between people, and we will start to love each other. >> it is a marriage that maybe the dream -- bring the dream of peace to the middle east but shatters the dreams of single women. >> an assault on pro-moscow rebels has resulted in rebels downing tw kring and helicopters. the u.s. president holds discussions with the german chancellor in washington. radicals suspected of being behind the latest targeting of a suburb of the nigerian capital. 19 dead as a car bomb detonates in busy traffic.

next it is time for our press review. nick joins me in studio. you will start off with the international papers and nigeria. >> we have seen a bomb attack in nigeria. that attack took place where there was another attack on the 14th of april. the country is reeling from the abduction of 234 schoolgirls on the 14th of april. they were captured then and are still held. "the tribune" is looking at the facts of the rescue operation. there are four battalions being deployed, including surveillance helicopters, in the northeast where the schoolgirls were taken. controls are being beefed up at the borders. we have night vision technology being used to see if the girls

are being used at night. maybe the abductors are trying to move them in nigeria or possibly a broad. there is an emotional level running high in nigeria, not enough being done. >> is there more on the locals reaction? >> let's look at the most likely -- widely read paper in nigeria. it has a piece about what the truth is about the schoolgirls. chibok is the village in the northeast where they were taken. it says this is a great national crisis confronting the islamist group blamed for the events and many others. the criticism in the pieces for the first lady. she's not doing enough, it is argued, to promote action on all fronts. the argument is there has to be a concerted effort at all levels. the plea is we need to fight for

the country's soul to deal with the crisis. one of the comments emerging in the press is if the kidnapping of schoolgirls had taken place in any other country, there would have been massive outrage and coverage from the media worldwide. >> let's switch to the ukrainian crisis. you have been looking at the u.s. press. >> i turned to the business pages of "the wall street journal" to see about sanctions against putin and moscow. what i heard and read was the quote anti-sanctions -- " anti-sanctions." i was surprised by that. edward says to get the bright people from russia to move over to the united states. the russian economy would be hammered and the american economy would gain from that. let's look another -- at another

piece in the american press. "forbes" is saying the cost of the annex would cost up to 10% of the russian budget. if you wanted to annex the whole of eastern ukraine, that would cost up to 115 billion euros. that money is needed for the russian economy. >> what is in the french press this friday? >> the main story is about the crisis with radical islam in france. you can see the headline. this is about the 285 jihadists french fighters on the ground in syria at the moment. the interview in the paper is with the air t terrorist -- antiterrorist judge.

he is saying france has got the strategy wrong. there are at least 285 people fighting. but to approach the issue by getting the course to prevent them from going is too much for the justice system. there needs to be a community based approach across france to address the question of radical islam and communities around the country. i thought, are you looking to get out of your day tojob? the judges making the point it needs to be a different -- deeper effort to prevent people from fighting. this friday is world no pants day. a great day for people in social media. you can have fun with it. i saw this story. if you look closely at the picture, you see a pair of jeans. that is in fact body paint.

the woman is walking through the center of the town in the north of france completely naked apart from her top and g-string. she walked through the town. a video was made. it has gone viral on youtube with nearly one million hits on world no pants day. nice and sexy and very french. >> absolutely. thank you for that review of the press. next, your sports roundup. >> they will face off on may 14 in turin. in first-day semifinals, he scored a 94th minute header. they look set to go through.

the match saw three players sent off. they held often there -- they held onto their first leg advantage. >> the key to the match was the unity of the team. the team was able to defend well. we knew who we had in front of us. the whole team was at the top level. this is a more than deserved final. today the team played the way it had to. we knew how important it was to defend against a team like them. we are happy with what we have done and what has happened to the team. we have other big matches and have to prepare for a good final. >> in these last two games, they have corrected more chances than we did. we cannot be bitter. we can only congratulate them for the great match they played. i truly believe we deserved to reach the final.

>> top seed tomas berdych dropped only five games to qualify for the quarterfinals of the open. he has only played one tournament since being forced to withdraw from miami six weeks ago. berdych won the first set and second, finishing the match after 75 minutes. he faces mayer in the last eight. kschuster to the semifinals of the portugal open. she came back to take it 6-4. the canadian fell apart as she dominated the second set. twice a grand slam champion, she clearly is enjoying the clay court season.

she faces elena vesnina next. they have taken first blood in the first leg of the final. they will be disappointed not to be heading to russia with a bigger lead. g

he world reaches a milestone. the global population will be a staggering $7 billion people. so i think today is