worlds apart we choose to look for common ground. the kremlin reveals. work for possible talks between. the european commission president sweeps all the continents of the year award. as a mistake in not interfering in the u.k. twenty sixteen that referendum. russia mourns the victims. plane crash which killed forty one. twelve year old.

live from our international news center in moscow this is r.t. good to have your company my name's union o'neil we will get to those headlines stories in just a moment but some breaking news to start with from france where an armed man is reportedly holding six people hostage in a shop near the southern city of toulouse quite near the port there the luser report police have confirmed an operation is currently underway the perimeter is secured in the region local media have been saying the suspect has requested a negotiator and has threatened to kill if the demand is not met also seeing some lines coming from a local newspaper saying local business model we have been asked to shut our shutters to stay in doors well we will keep you off the date developments through

from. meeting face to face the u.s. secretary of state mike pump a. you could be set for talks with russia's president vladimir putin that's according to the kremlin spokes person who said the proposed talks could be held in the next few weeks or tease. as more of a possible step forward and u.s. russia relations. i'm eating between the russian president and the u.s. secretary of state a mike pompeo may happen as early as this month in may washington's top diplomat plans to meet with the russian foreign minister sergey lavrov and the resort says he and now the kremlin says a parallel meeting with the president could take place there too now this will be pumped first visit to russia as the u.s. secretary of state lavrov did however just to meet with him at the arctic summit and fenlon sound that meeting showed that the two countries are still struggling to

find common ground on a range of issues not only on van as well but the use of the arctic as well were concerned about russia's claim over the international waters of the northern sea route including its newly announced plans to connected with china's maritime silk road. in the northern sea route moscow already illegally demands other nations request permission to pass the u.s. secretary of state also added that partly in response to russia's so-called destabilizing activities they are hosting military exercises and rebuilding their eyes braker fleet now moscow believes that there are no grounds for any conflicts in the arctic region and also adds that it remains open for international cooperation. the move of the sea route is a russian national transport on three we is that coastal states acting in full compliance with international law all responsible for the safe operation over this

route just as canadians are responsible for the functioning of the northwest passage. and the past several months diplomacy seems to still prevail in the relations between the two countries both sides were seen in contact more often than usual with the u.s. and the russian president recent telephone conversation that lasted over an hour an example of that so it does seem that the timing. for the u.s. secretary of state's if that's it at least follows this new trend as moscow and washington continue to be at loggerheads over a number of global issues well we heard from the director of the oxford crisis research institute who told us the u.s. doesn't actually stand to benefit much from the controversy of the arctic roots issue i find it difficult to see one might pose made such a big issue of this question because it seems to me that potentially creates more

trouble than it benefits the united states after all it's unlikely that it's going to change either the climate changes which make this route open more likely to be open and also the chinese russian policy it could be a bargaining chip or it could be that the americans are saying well it's throw down a gauntlet in fact we're not really so concerned so that we can say to the russians and by extension the chinese if you can see if we can see this to you you should give us some help somewhere else in a different part of the world. junker has been named the european leader of the year by international news channel euro news out the european business summit well it's perhaps the most until it awards ceremony on the calendar but that does not stops younker from enjoying his momentary europe correspondent peter all over brought me up the dates with the reaction earlier. well in picking up his award at the bash in brussels the president of the european commission was full of jokes he was well very happy to receive the water of course but that it had come so

late in his career that it was almost at the point of autopsy he also went on to praise the work that the european commission had been doing under his leadership of course saying that the fact you've been given a sward meant they've clearly done a good job booked not everybody was pleased to see received this gong the exit newspaper in the united kingdom the sun well they poked light at the so ward and also the rumor that mr young is partial to a brandy or two also the british m.p. kevin holland araik described it as an april fool's joke but he's never been a shrinking violet and he's certainly provided us with plenty of entertainment through the years especially while he's been in charge of the european commission.

claude young cool stepped down as european commission president on november the first there's a lot to go on between now and then he certainly ruffled a fair few feathers on the brakes at supporting side of the divide in the united kingdom during breaks that negotiations on tuesday he got a little bit further saying that he deeply regretted that him self in the european union hadn't got more involved in the break that referendum campaign back in two

thousand and sixteen then prime minister asked me not to interfere in the referendum campaign it was a mistake not to intervene and not to interfere because we would have been the only ones to destroy the lies that were circulated around i was wrong to be silent as an important moment those comments of course i'm sure will go down really well with those breaks that supporting any peace that are going to be standing in european elections they never thought they were going to have to take part in in just a few weeks time at the end of the month. russia is mourning the deaths of the forty one people who lost their lives after an flawed flight crush landed in moscow on sunday the national carrier sukhoi superjet galt's into difficult shortly after taking off and was forced to return to share a matter of her port the plane hit the runway hard and burst into flames on said bunce the along the tarmac it was spain quickly consumed by the fire most of those

who died were from the northwestern russian city the flight was bound for. so she was very luxurious. a very nice picture ship does what you can for me to eat you wish to. reduce it still. if you took those three removes but it's you. who would still need them but you could be sure of it to. put you through something to give each of us. must. shoot you if. this is even to good to learn to do it. to. some of the survivors have returned to more about stooping with their families and i've been recovering the harling details of the crush recalling the bravery of the

crew in particular a flight attendant must seem moisey have been hailed a hero trying to open the rear exit door in order to evacuate passengers trapped at the back of the plate. to visit the head of the. damage that i do like a dream which began in our school last to dump until that day. at the if the name was a very simple and simple and goal oriented person that he was always ready to take it see that's exactly what you showed on that day. on building boom. he was expected to be at the front of the plane but he switched

places with the stewardess perhaps he expected something bad would happen he took the. heat himself. is they don't side the aircraft and the surviving people along the way to go around who is inhaling smoke and then lost consciousness. look at his face he always smiled always he would conflict he was the kindest person he is looking out for the full two but he can't. and i constantly. you go shit out of noriko it's the stories of some of the other people who lost their lives on sunday. this is i'll be now a business woman and single mother she was returning from a business trip back two more months back to her ten year old son she was raising

on her own somewhere in the same boarding queue will be in a huge gagne and twelve year old sofia the surgeon had been giving his daughter and escape from their gloomy northern home town to enjoy a few days in the warmth of the moscow sun now that tiana welcomed albina you've given the sophia and all other passengers on board the flight attendant was getting ready for yet another takeoff now three minutes past six in the evening the aircraft lifted into the skies from sheremetyevo airport a few minutes later than the first seventeen minutes of the flight went smoothly passengers in the seats belts fastened the super jet ascended approaching a storm and then everything went from ok to bad then then straight to hell literally in a flash to call from the boat to hit the plane and apparently lightning strike hits

the jet now more than aircraft have safety systems to protect themselves from situ . nations exactly like these but this time the lightning sends all communication systems on board of line the pilots send a distress signal make a u. turn and head back to moscow apparently they go in almost blind with limited communications they can barely get any aid from the ground they aim for an emergency landing on one of the runways but the aircraft is too heavy minutes ago we've had been filled to the brim and the pilots decided not to dump access fuel there's no definitive answer to why but the most likely theory so far is they didn't want to risk circling around a bustling aerial hub with only sporadic contact with the ground so weighty jets wheels slam into the runway and bounce right off it another attempt and the plane

crash lands its tail hits the tarmac with such force it ruptures the tanks and all that fuel instantly catches fire and as the blazing jet slides along the runway the passengers helpless. the jet finally comes to a stop and the evacuation kicks off by that moment the fire had already devoured the back and the middle emergency exits so there's only one way forward from the nose of the jet. the flight attendant helps people through and down the chutes those who can walk those who can't and are passed out she literally shoves out of the door herself i'm alive only thinks to the stewardesses the girls stood there in

the smoke it was dark extremely hot but they pulled people out in hell. them get down the chute now by tiana helped a total of thirty seven people survive the mayhem. you've gainey and sophia were not among them. the bride to be yet. sandia once a happy wife and mother in an instant is widowed and left childless for her tragedy has come calling again she had already lost a nice alina in a school shooting last year and now it's her husband and daughter and the unconditional hero she may have survived herself but she's still to make it through the day after day after day of survivor's guilt haunted by the forty one

she couldn't help. the plane's black boxes have been recovered and an investigation into the crusher's on going the jet has been removed from the runway . let's bring your reminder of our breaking news this hour from france where an armed man is reportedly holding five people hostage in a shop near the southern city of toulouse a police operation is currently under way the perimeter is secured their local media say the suspect has requested negotiator and has threatened to kill one theory currently being reported is that it's a robbery gone wrong the french authorities are not treating the instant as a terror attack this time we'll keep right on top of this story right throughout the hour.

so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy. let it be an arms race. very dramatic. only. very. time to sit down and talk. international memorial awards twenty nine now open for entry. professionals are eligible whether you're a freelance journalist. or a part of the global news. published works and video.

minutes into the program. foreign nationals two hundred. the move is part of a wider government crackdown following the tragic events of the easter sunday bombings which left two hundred. people dead a state of emergency has been imposed on troops given sweeping powers to arrest. part of an immigration system overhaul. considering the current situation in the country we have reviewed the visa system and taken a decision to tighten visa restrictions for religious teaches of those who were

sent out about two hundred ways lamb it preaches there are religious institutions which have been getting in foreign preaches for decades we have no issues with them but there are some which mushrooms recently we will pay more attention to them yet two weeks ago tragedy struck when a series of coordinated bombs shook on easter sunday eight explosions targeted busy churches and luxury hotels here's how it all unfolded. i. was thinking we heard a loud bang and we fainted on that's all i remember we heard

a loud explosion and everything collapsed we managed to protect the children but when i came here i found out that my son in law and my son had died. and i wish to express my heartfelt solidarity with the christian community affected one it was a prayer and with all the victims of such cruel violence. well clashes between christians and muslims have erupted in the time it hit hardest by the bombings on sunday dozens of muslim owned shops vehicles homes were attacked in gumbo at least three people were injured and several arrests were made extra security forces have been drafted in other curfew imposed there the government has

called on people to unite during the crisis has offered compensation to those who lost property in clashes well to discuss the latest move into lanka we're joined by south asia politics security expert. and independent journalist mark summers good to have you on the program gentlemen i'm andrew let's start with you a lot of the focus since the tragedy has been about islamic radicalization in particular the spread over it the government had to act here didn't they. yes of course one minute if you look at it there can be two different explanations you can find fault in the government by expelling those who posted their visa amid the radical islam is it there's nothing one could do about it but the second one is more problematic all kind of

a lot of security and so on that has to do with the involvement of the islamic state so let's not forget that the silicon president mr susannah authored warmings . islamic state in fact. the to leave his country alone so what is big says just in this particular context is that the threat. is there it could be ongoing for this character to do something let's also talk about the kind of islamic radicalism that is the moment. you know most of the preachers have been basic but let. what we have said is that coming to the island of the salafi sect of militant islam of islamic state is a part of course that is why it is rattling lankan government at the moment and one would imagine that it is going to have a very hardline approach could be looted in court coming weeks months or years to

come martin the when you look into the details about who is essentially being kicked out here sure i can government claims that it's those that are those expelled overstayed their visas that's the reason that's the official reason given without in mind why is this then being viewed primarily as a religious issue. well i think obviously the reviews religious issues here but you've got to think in terms of the geopolitics of what's going on in the world if there were outside forces behind what went on here and i think the sri lankan government already indicated that they do suspect outside forces these people doing this annoyance ali homegrown the question there has to be which outside forces. in lebanon which is a newspaper associated really with his blog have suggested that they've got to communicate to the saudi embassy in colombo giving them prior warning of the attacks and selling them not to go anywhere near churches some days before the

actual attack took place not i'm not saying that we can be certain that that's what's happened i'm just saying that that's so that's the sort of thing swirling around and of course the sri lankan government is trying to get involved in the chinese one belt one road initiative the basically opening their ports to chinese and for investments some people don't like that particular the indians research analysis with the indian army who are also linked to the tunnel soldiers who were defeated in the civil war that ended not so long ago the sri lankan government obviously has to be as the previous contributor said it's got to be extremely alert to all of these potential. but on the other hand i would also suggest that if you want to react blame everybody for the actions of a few then you want she play into the hands of the extremists who are trying to create conflicts in certain communities against each other that's pretty clearly what their agenda. of the six hundred expelled or third were islamic clerics

i put it to you that the sri lankan government has acted fast and decisively and a lot of other nations around the world might be looking on thinking you know what i wish we had done this route branch anybody that is spreading hate let's let's get in get them back to the countries where they come from because they're not native to sure like. the government must be a product of. this of course i mean it is not a little longer that is experiencing this particular thing that we also have this trade and you know have been there is a big debate going on at the moment whether to allow the the have the right to come back to their place of origin later britain belgium france netherlands of what have you i think one lord of the undertaking of the government here and there

is a kind of elemental for conservative thinking that one can read into space sadly when countries trying to suck down explores expelling are refugees and the kind of like here but in the larger interest of the national security i think what the government is doing cannot be condemned these days and also we have to realize that muslims in for learn how hard very peaceful coexistence with me is so if you're talking about getting rid of the bad up one can't. so what i would suggest is that yes we have to wait and see it can be problematic it can be controversial ok but in the new. one cannot find fault in ok actually you have to realize that the government is on some of the same time talking about. ok martin just to expound on the point ten percent of his population is muslim fear of us two whenever some think huge that this happens

a lot of people lose their lives is there there can be a knee jerk reaction driven by fear could it give rise to increased tensions considering the history of you know we all know the history of ethnic struggle in sri lanka in particular. well i mean this is a judgment call for the government in sri lanka they must decide what the appropriate action is if they're working with people that of overstayed their visas and that's a perfectly legitimate reason to remove them isn't it and i think that the intelligence services in sri lanka need to take think very carefully about who is behind this look at the technicalities of what was blown up because it seems to me a pretty sophisticated operation not run by a few are matters that was very you know a very big death toll and so on that suggests to me that somebody some professional level organization was involved in this. given some speculations about who this might be i'm just suggesting that the sri lankan authorities needs bearing this in mind and of course those who are destabilizing sri lanka by doing this want an

overreaction because they basically don't want to be a stable peaceful country engaged in. its development because there's the there are forces at work in the world who do not want to see that to happen you know the indians are very hostile to the chinese a sort of very relatively friendly to the chinese and to the pakistanis there's a potential for something to be a bit cooked up from that end the saudis basically have been supporting extremism all over the world for many years with the support of the west in syria and elsewhere which we could we could spread the blame around but i think the main thing is not to overreact because of course we see the purpose of this is to is to create chaos and tension i'm a little too. what should colombo do you know because they're on the edge of a power aren't they that could go off at any time we're really seeing tensions between christians and muslims how did it go about turning a terrible situation into

a stable one. well the fact is that the government is trying approaching it from a very courses point of view but the same time what we need to worry about is the anger the frustration on the ground what happened in the room war was a reflection of that particular anger so what this incident has given is radicalized a lot of christians common people on the ground and they think that they can undermine this particular community and let's not forget that there is a kind of long history of coming now let me contract in finland and somalia so the government is trying its best not to give it to come another caller on the literacy among the christians as well with the colombo mr malcolm rosemead has already said that we are all brothers and sisters and we are all in it together but what i would

. imagine at the same time is that there are a grievance is very wrong on the ground and the christians may not be in a scenario to control themselves in the foreseeable future the reflection of that was the rest of the camel we have just said we are less than forty eight hours back martin you can tell the last thirty seconds to you. well i generally agree with the nervousness of your of the guest calm nerves are definitely what's required in situations like this it's a great tragedy but we've seen many such tragedies around the world and of course sri lankan suffered enormously in the past thirty years for this kind of conflict and it's extremely upsetting and of fortunate for them that they're now being dragged dragged into the skull of conflict thank you both you're telling.