>> welcome back. here are the headlines and putin asksadimir perlman to cancel a resolution allowing him to centered sent to ukraine, a further softening of russia's stance on the country. u.s. secretary of state john kerry is in kurdistan, the latest stop on his diplomatic drive to try and keep iraq from splitting apart. marinefar right leader le pen may have triumphed in the eu elections last month, but she was unable to form an anti-european group in the eu parliament.

also coming up, show me the money -- the work by the father of french impressionism brings and the second-highest price ever brought in for a work by monet in auction. is such a hero in his home country ivory coast, one village has named itself after him and your guided tour of the self-proclaimed -- is coming right up. first, john kerry is in iraq on date two of his surprise visit there. today the u.s. secretary of state is meeting leaders of the autonomous region of kurdistan, speaking to iraqi kurdistan's president. john kerry urged him to work to

keep iraq united. that is after errs on a comments that iraq was in a different era and that kurds would determine their own future. washington has been pushing for the central government to be more inclusive of both the kurds and the sunnis. on tuesday, john kerry had talks with the iraqi prime minister, nouri al-maliki, in baghdad. we are alive and back that for this report. iraqis have sought undertakings for americans, and in strategic spots in the country, we are under direct threat. do not let these ongoing negotiations surrounding our government stands in the way of air strikes. that is what they are seeking. they believe they have received positive messages from the americans about that. they are now pointing at a defined rate in north tikrit which has been taken by jihadist, the third-biggest refinery in the country that

supplies oil to the north, electricity to the north, and most of it now appears to be in jihadist hands. iraqis are saying, now what? >> what else has been happening on the ground? has the isis insurgency been happening elsewhere? >> they have been doing well in western iraq in recent days. over the weekend, they stormed three border crossings and took 800 kilometers of the iraqi-syrian border away from the iraqi military. they pushed for their towards baghdad. they are now in the put did -- position to launch strikes on places like the haditha dam. this is what is getting iraq so alarmed. that is what they want help from the americans now. >> what about these provocative comments from the kurdish president about the kurds determining their own future?

>> there is no doubt that the last 10 days have been truly historic in terms of the the kurdish between north and baghdad. the balance of power has changed. kirkuk,s control something they wanted to do throughout history. there is no way they're getting kirkuk back. enormous potential of their including gas fields. they believe they have a stronger hand because their forces have been protecting the north of the country, whereas iraqi forces have basically capitulated. no surprise that errs on the -- barzani is pressing on his claims. >> as the insurgency led by sunni militant group isis continues, other smaller armed groups are also crawling the country. our correspondent in kirkuk has more from the defensive line of the kurdish forces. the deceptive calm on

defensive lines. the village of bashir is within firing range. leslie, six were killed there. , and there inshir front of us are jihadist forces. these are our forces. >> only days ago, this position, 15 civilian bodies, similarly -- executed, and they were returned to their loved ones. like that this frontline checkpoint, we are only five kilometers from the village of bashir. the push her go say there is fighting on a daily basis. >> we leave the front line without hearing a single gunshot, but on the way back, things get complicated. there is a firefight. >> heads down, heads down. stop, stay here. i will cover you. >> the attack targeted the

ministers' convoy which was taking the same road as us. >> we are in the middle of a fight here. stop, stop, those are our guys up there. doubt, stop, they are hours. >> the kurdish regulars have captured several of them. cover, now time to withdraw. once back at the base, the aggressors turn out to be members of a local militia. the casualties, one dead from the turkmen, two wounded from .he peshmerga the militia leader is questioned later. the militiamen admit to firing first, saying they thought they were shooting at insurgents. do not think they targeted me personally, but the convoy was attacked. i do not think they knew that i was in the convoy.

>> whether a misunderstanding or deliberate attack, the peshmerga s decisive response improved the turkmen center towards them. >> from now on there will be good coordination and no suspicion. we are brothers. there is no difference between us. i hope you will understand there is nothing to make a fuss about here. >> even if it was the most serious incident of its kind, it was by no means the first. the kurdish commander wants to restore order to his territory. >> unorganized, do not have uniforms, have different weapons, and no leader. from now on, there is no question of seeing them in the streets at our backs. >> by seizing kirkuk things to the collapse of the iraqi army, the kurdish of achieved a dream. but in the chaos of iraq, they must now prove they can hold the ground. rush'sher softening of stance on ukraine, russian president vladimir putin has asked the average ever of

parliament to cancel a resolution allowing him to send troops into ukraine. for more on that decision, let's bring in the guardian correspondent in moscow. real sign of change from the kremlin and russian president vladimir putin? >> i think it is certainly a pretty significant move. this resolution at the upper house of the russian parliament which allows brush at the use of troops in ukraine came into force back in march after the annexation of crimea rate. over the last few months, people in kiev have been looking anxiously at the ukrainian-russian border. they have been thinking an invasion can come at any moment. in the last couple of days, we have seen to drug three things happen which suggest that -- seen two of three things happen which suggest that behind closed doors, president poroshenko and vladimir putin and the kremlin have come to some kind of

agreement. yesterday there was an unexpected negotiation and between president poroshenko and the russian ambassador and separatist leaders. and now we see this statement from luton which effectively rules out any russian invasion into ukraine. >> what about the situation in donetsk and eastern ukraine? is the kremlin even really in control of all the pro-russian separatists that are there on the ground? can they stop it? >> that is the really big question. certainly some of the separatist leaders who are russian citizens and have suspected links to russian intelligence, and some of those agreements night that they would hold to the cease-fire. there are now also it's of groups, parallel -- they all agreed to the cease-fire, and there are all sorts of groups now. the question is exactly what happens now, what can the ukrainian's offer them? and they offer everybody amnesty? do some of them go to russia?

some people think they are so far into this now that they have nothing to do but keep fighting. as a really big questions. we will have to see what kiev and moscow offers in the coming days and weeks. >> what might have pushed vladimir putin to do this about-face? is it the threat again of new sanctions from the u.s.? a well, it is a bit of guessing game exactly what is going on inside vladimir putin's head. it was suggested he never wanted to get involved in eastern ukraine and crimea was enough. he knew that taken on this messy region actually going full out for an invasion are annexation would be in our mislead expensive. he merely wanted to create an instability there. another school of thought suggests that the invasion and annexation was at one point on the table and these sanctions, which at the moment are only but u.s.ndividuals, and eu threatened sectorial

that there sanctions was an escalation. that would really affect the russian economy. that quite likely played a role as well. >> thank you for the report from moscow. in france, far right leader marine le pen triumphed in the european union elections last month, but her bid to form an anti-european group in the eu parliament has come up empty. le pen was unable to form an official partnership for her national front group with six other nations, as required in the eu parliament, meaning the 24 national front mep's will lose out on the added money and influence given to a seven-nation group. to try and understand more about how this came about, i will bring in our eu editor. marine le pen seemed so confident a few weeks ago that she would get this organization together, yet that did not happen. what happened question mark such a major setback. >> you are right, it is a major political setback for le pen. one month ago, shortly after a

triumphant european elections, marine le pen held a much-publicized press conference in brussels from along with four the gentle allies, parties from italy, belgium, netherlands, an austrian. at the time, she sounded very confident. she told us it would be a matter of days, maybe weeks to form an alliance. there is a golden rule and the european parliament, if you want to form a political group, you need 25 mep's. the french alone almost have 25 mep's, from seven different countries. that is where she failed to attract two more countries to alliance with the countries i mentioned earlier. it is a political setback. it is also, of course, in terms of credibility, and major blow to marine le pen. there is also a financial aspect of a because a failure to form a political group means she will

not be able to qualify for eu funds, money she would have liked to use to advertise their political movement across europe. and also a political price, if you do not have a group, you cannot claim the presidency of key allegations and committees within the european parliament. father, the pen's former leader of the national front, has been a bit of a thorn in his daughter's side recently. a few weeks ago he made comments that were widely perceived as anti-semitic. was that the final nail in the coffin of her quest to form this group in the parliament? >> i would not say was the final nail, but certainly it did not help. it certainly turned a number of far right parties from scandinavia, and we're being told also from eastern europe. it was a major problem for a main ally from the done each -- from the dutch anti-islam freedom party. he is very pro-israel. be part of that.

le pen tried to distance itself from her father, but i think it was too late. it was a reminder of the roots of her very party. it also shows, i believe, that the far right is highly fermented. i mentioned the differences between the anti-islam and the very liberal party and the conservative party. the hope of marine le pen was to form an alliance with a new polish party, the polish congress of the new right. the problem is that it's a leader is highly controversial and made a number of sexist and homophobic remarks. you see the far right is very powerful in the parliament come of it it is very fragmented. the big winner is the man who formed a political group and he has not cooperated too closely with le pen. >> thank you for that. let's take a look at our

headlines for you now. in a further softening of russia's stance on ukraine, resident vladimir putin has asked the upper chamber of parliament to cancel a resolution allowing him to send troops into ukraine. u.s. secretary of state john kerry is in kurdistan, the latest stop on his diplomatic drive to try and keep iraq from splitting apart. and french far right leader marine le pen may have triumphed in the european union elections last month, but she is unable to form an anti-european group in the eu parliament. all right, time to take a look at what is grabbing headlines around the world. the media has a lot of focus on three al jazeera journalists sentenced up to 10 years in jail. in egypt, we have more. >> this has sparked outrage in the international community, especially the journalist community. a lot of papers are outraged and condemning this sentence in

egypt. let's look at the front page of the guardian. it says -- jailed reporters pay a price for egypt's back down on dissent. in that photo -- and that photo, peter greste, australian journalist, sentenced to seven years. observers at the trial say it was marked by a clear lack of evidence. in the editorial, the guardian does not mince its words. this is the sentencing was an appalling miscarriage of justice. it is obvious what the court was doing. it was determined to make an example of these journalists. there could be no clearer evidence than in egyptian society is still in a state of civil war. >> how has the egyptian press been reacting to this verdict? >> uphold an article from a pro-muslim brotherhood paper him and it is outraged. it says there is no logical way to explain how these journalists were sentenced like this for doing their jobs. this verdict is proof of a serious decline in egypt's justice system, and it is a slap

in the face for freedom of the press. this article says a sickly what this shows is that egypt is in a very dark chapter of its history. >> let's move on to the u.s. for the new york times is reporting on growing dissatisfaction over u.s. president barack obama's foreign-policy. >> this is a poll that was done by the new york times and cbs, and this is dissatisfaction has shot up among both republicans and democrats in the past month. 58% of americans disapprove of the way that obama is handling foreign-policy. that is a 10-point jumper last month, the highest level since 2009.took office in 52% of the people in this poll say it is proved over how obama is dealing with the current violence in iraq. it is a big issue that was asked in this poll. on that topic, i pulled out a cartoon from china which is critical of the way obama is reacting to the violence in react -- in iraq. in iraq,- no new war

and obama is saying i cannot hear you. another cartoon from the washington post, it comes to the defense of obama by saying he is not the only one to blame here. you can see republicans and democrats playing the blame game, basically saying "i told you so" over the situation in iraq. the resent terry and divide is not between sunnis and shiites in iraq, it is between republicans and democrats, according to this cartoon. >> here in france, at left-leaning paper focusing on a series of sensitive issues. >> the government has had a lot on its plate recently. there was the railway straight, , all these things. they said the government has done a pretty good job because there is a dream team at the top. it says the new method of that , well, their new method is working, it says.

they have managed to iron out the dysfunction that hollande had with the previous prime minister. it seems like the government cannot put in place any reform. in the editorial, they look at what has changed. clearer, moreot coherent, and forward-thinking of the top. a lot of that has to do the fact that the prime minister is an action man, whereas the past prime minister was more of a procrastinator. two years after his election, it seems like francois hollande finally seems to be fitting into his presidential suit. this business papers as hollande is planning on cashing in on all of this, this good run, to prove his presidential -- to improve his presidential image. it points out that even though hollande might be patting himself on the back, it will take time before public opinion changes. >> the washington post is focusing on the rise of the use of drones in the united states. >> this is a fascinating article

that is part of a series in the washington post. basically, it says that drones are said to become a widespread reality in american aerospace and because of that, is spent a year investigating the safety records of drones in the united states and also abroad. this is part three of the series. it is called "near misses your co it is both scary and fascinating. basically, those encounters and near collisions between civilian aircraft, so everyday airplanes, and these drones is increasing. there have been 15 cases of near misses over the past two years. atthank you for that look the press. sports news now, a historic match in the world cup. 4-1 win.

mexico booked their six consecutive appearance. a 3-1 when there for the talented croatia side. streets of the host country to celebrate the thrashing of cameroon. they put on a show. scoring twice. there were wild scenes of jubilation across the country for the group a winners. france hopes their team will give them further reason to celebrate as they progress in the tournament. the netherlands narrowly beat chili. they will go back to the iberian peninsula after condemning australia to a third defeat in three matches in brazil.

italy have been preparing for their deciding group d match with your grade. will it be enough to send them through over their opponents? to achieve that, they will have to improve on their performance to defeat costa rica. they are for an improved effort. hope that you see a different italy, one that won against england. not the one that lost against costa rica. it will be a different match, as every game is. we certainly hope to impose ourselves and to win the match in style because we have all the chances to succeed. my team plays for a draw, and we are certainly not to do that in this game. uruguay have players at a high caliber who proved in their win over england that they have the key to unlock any defense. [indiscernible]

do knowl forwards or how to attack like few players know how to pure they have a feeling for what they're doing, and we need to really give them our best attention. to the knockout rounds would represent improvements on italy's 2010 in africa and south africa when they finished bottom of their group without winning again. france faced ecuador on wednesday, knowing that a draw will send them through and seal a top spot. they had a counterattacking football in the opening matches, scoring eight times. and a score against switzerland, saying his place is not during two. -- is not guaranteed. >> we are not guaranteed to make it to the knockout phase, not just yet. and, of course, i always want to play in every game.

the coach knows that i do. but the coach will make his decision, and he will put together the most balanced and truck -- and strongest possible team, but everyone wants to play. the choice is up to him at the end of the day. it is a wonderful stadium that has been revamped, and it is still a wonderful place to go. it is truly extraordinary to get a chance to play a game there, especially during the world cup. it does not get any better than this. >> the french will lay for the first time and this tournament at the stadium if they can continuously repeat their opening performances, they could find themselves back in rio for the final. someone will not be taking over as the french manager, and they said it would mark a new era of football with a women's coach.

she decided not to honor her commitment. the reasons remain unclear. he was surprised by the decision. wimbledon men's champion andy murray opened proceedings on centre court with a winner. swiftb seed off to a start. eberdych against hanescu. no problems for second seed li na in the women's. azarenka sweeping past another player. and venus williams always -- also through to round two. italy,tages winning and and not racing in the tour de france next month. his contract is up at the evening of the year.

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>> hello, i'm john cleese, and i hope you will join me for a unique experience: "global spirit," the first internal travel series, with fantastic conversations and film segments exploring the most urgent, existential, philosophical, and spiritual issues of the 21st century. so, settle back, take a slow, deep breath, as we join our trusted guide and host, phil cousineau, on this fascinating episode of "global spirit," the first internal travel series.