>> bbc world news is presented by kcet, los angeles. funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. the newman's own foundation. the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. and union bank.

>> union bank offers you unique insight and expertise in a wide range of industries. what can we do for you? >> and now bbc world news. >> are attacks on the pope comparable to anti-semitism? a sermon from his personal preacher defending him. president obama vows to increase the pressure on iran but will china help? a teenage widow of a militant is identified as one of the moscow a suicide bombers. welcome to bbc world news.

coming up later. how a lebanese television fortune teller ended up on death row in saudi arabia. >> ignition sequence start. >> time to say goodbye, nasa prepares to launch what will be one of the last space shuttle missions. it seems more fuel might have been added to the controversy surrounding the catholic church. pope benedict's personal preacher has compared criticism of the pontiff to the most shameful anti-semitism. in his sermon, rev raniero

cantalamessa quoted from a letter by a jewish friend. had a vatican spokesman says that this does not represent the official position of the church. >> this is one of the catholic church is most holy days. the good friday service led by pope benedict. some feel he might have taken the moment to address the sex scandals involving priests. also the accusations that he has been party to covering them up. instead, the defense came from his personal preacher. his personal preacher quoted from a letter he received from a jewish friend equating the criticism to anti-semitism. >> i will share a part of this. he says "i am following with

indignation the attacks against the church, the pope, and all of the faithful by the whole world. the use of stereotypes reminds me of the more shameful aspects of anti-semitism." >> likening the accusations of the pope to the persecution of jewish people what is the strongest defense so far. -- amounts to the strongest defense so far. people watching the vatican think that this might not to be seen as a prepared by the jewish people because there's no comparison in the suffering. >> i am not sure that the jewish people will like this. they have resisted attempts to compare their suffering to someone else's. >> in germany, catholics also gathered to mark the death of christ on the cross.

the day was used to express more anguish about the abuse scandals. an archbishop says that catholic hearts are filled with pain, phil, pain. he says that clerics have avoided helping victims by a wrongly intended desire to protect the reputation of the church. the pope has one more opportunity to speak on the abuse on easter sunday. the victims say that the issue must be addressed. the vatican believes the pope has no case to answer. he is part of the cleanup, not the cover-up. >> the pace of diplomacy is intensifying and so is the pressure on iran. the u.s. president would like to enlist a unified international community to stop iranian nuclear ambitions. he was speaking in an interview after a rare one hour phone call with the chinese president,

hu jintao. >> he is trying to win chinese support for tougher sanctions. >> president barack obama made clear to iran that the pressure will continue. >> we don't take any options off the table and we will continue to increase the pressure and examine how they respond. we will do so with a unified international community. >> the tough words are not new but washington has new reasons to sound confident in its desire>> we see a growing awareness on the part of many countries including china as to the consequences of a nuclear armed iran to regional and global stability and to the oil supply. we think that there will be a consensus reached as to the best way forward.

>> sends president obama visited beijing last year, relations with china have been rocky. the two leaders spent an hour talking on thursday. president hu jintao is coming to washington for a nuclear summit. these are positive signs for the obama administration. is china really ready to back sanctions? they have said nothing in public. they are being courted by the iranians. the chief iranian nuclear negotiator travels to beijing, a sign that perhaps that tehran is worried about the changing chinese position. but>> our chinese friends say that it is a problem and it can be solved through negotiations. some countries should give up their incorrect actions

pressuring intersections. this will be ineffective. >> washington would like everyone on board for the new sanctions because it sends a strong message. the price to pay for china's support might be a watered-down u.n. resolution. individual countries can impose their own sanctions against iran. first, the discussions at the u.n. actually have to start. >> what is the opinion in beijing? is president obama making progress in getting them on board? >> there is no indication coming from the chinese side but he would not expect that. what is interesting is that he did place this hour-long conversation to the chinese president. he made the call while on air force one.

what we understand, what has been released, is that what president obama spoke about was the need for the two sides to work together to ensure that iran meets its u.n. obligations. president obama is saying to china that it is important that you are on the side of the rest of the security council working to stop iran developing nuclear weapons. and that you are not left isolated. that might be gaining some traction. china does not want to be left out and isolated. if push comes to shove, they will be on board. >> the u.s. is taking a new approach to airline security. they replaced rules that came into effect after the attempted

bombing on christmas day. authorities will rely on intelligence based targeting. they will search individual travel records against current intelligence. american employers put 162,000 jobs up in march. temporary government posts and played a big role. 50,000 people were taken on to help with the u.s. census. unemployment remains at 9.7% for the third month in a row. three german soldiers have been killed in northern afghanistan. that news broke as the german minister ride for a three day visit. 39 soldiers have been killed since 2002. the deployment is still unpopular with large parts of the german public. police in russia suspect a 17- year-old is one of the suicide bombers who blew herself up on the metro.

she was the widow of a leading militant killed by security forces. 40 people died in the attack on two underground stations in russia. >> staring defiantly into the camera lens, this 17-year-old is the suspected suicide bomber behind the first attack on the metro on monday. dzhennet abdurakhmanova has been linked to the explosion. 20 people were killed in that attack and a further 19 in a separate explosion 14 minutes later. her identity has not been confirmed by russian police but her image of bears a strong resemblance to the remains of one of the suicide bombers. two further suicide bombings took place in dagestan on thursday.

this is where the two women responsible for the terrorist attacks on monday are understood to have traveled from. many funerals were held yesterday but people are continuing to lay flowers at the stations. >> israel has threatened to intensify air strikes on the gaza strip. friday saw a wave of air attacks. israel says this was a response to hamas rocket attacks. >> ambulances on route to the site of last night's air raids. palestinians say that there were 10 airstrikes altogether. over the past year, this has been relatively rare.

over the night, the hospitals were taking in wounded. three children were wounded. the israelis said that they were targeting weapons and manufacturing site. the palestinians dispute this. they say that a dairy was hit as well as manufacturing areas. >> this is an escalation of aggression. we call on the international community to intervene. >> israel says they are not the one provoking violence. last week, two soldiers died along with two palestinian gunmen after the army staged a brief incursion into gaza. they said that they were trying to stop militants attempting to lay bombs along the border. a week before, a missile hit this farm and it killed a worker. >> if we deal with this rain of rockets, then gaza will not be

quiet. >> this is the most intense of violence since the three week conflict a year ago. 1400 palestinians died along with 13 israelis the recent violence does not mean that we are on the cusp of a war. there are too many sources of tension, too many trips across the region. -- triggers across the region. that makes the job of solving the wider conflict all the more difficult and pressing. >> still to come.

a turkish pot singer has set a speed record without a scene where his story was going. -- without seeing where his ferrari was going. >> elections in iraq were not conclusive. >> followers of sadr come in to give their voice on who will be the next prime minister. there is also the current prime minister maliki who was on the roster.

these people were clear that they did not want maliki. >> he brought us nothing but grief and broken promises. he is all lies. he failed. >> he is hated here because he broke the power of the sadr militia. racine little support for the secular candidate eat their among these religious people. -- there seemed little support for the secular candidate either. some say that they have added another name, an mp from within their ranks. if he came out ahead, that would complicate the picture. no blocks and gained enough blocks to create a government on their own. what will happen here is very

important. the separatist movement is the biggest element in a broader coalition which has a swing vote and this will decide which of the other blocs will remain in power. the world will be watching very closely to see what comes out of this referendum. the man that they end up naming could be the next prime minister of iraq. >> the latest headlines. there has been a furious reaction from jewish groups from comments from the vatican attacks on the pope in the wake of the sex abuse scandal are comparable to anti-semitism. increasing pressure on iran, president obama is looking for support from china on sanctions. a lebanese man sentenced to death in saudi arabia for sorcery has been given a temporary reprieve. he presented a television program featuring predictions was arrested in may, 2008, by the religious police while he was on a pilgrimage.

>> his television program is broadcast throughout the middle east. he used it to tell the fortunes of his callers. the program was transmitted from route that was available on satellite throughout the region. -- transmitted from a route to routefrom beruit. some countries regard this as un-islamic. when he made the pilgrimage to saudi arabia, the authorities took the opportunity to arrest him. his family was upset when he was subsequently sentenced to death for witchcraft. >> we pleaded with many lawmakers and they gave us promises. the next day, they would not even remember our names.

ali hussain sabat is my brother and i believe him. if i believed my brother was an infidel, i would have told saudi arabia at it is ok to execute him. but he is a muslim. >> his lawyers say he was tricked into a confession with a promise to return home. >> we begged the king of saudi arabia to let him come back to his family. >> human rights protesters held this demonstration near the saudi arabian embassy in beirut. they have called on saudi arabia to stop executions. despite being spared now, it is not clear if he will be freed.

>> and crew has blasted off from kazakhstan to go to the international space station. the russians will be the last groups carrying people to the space station. the u.s. has decided to discontinue their space shuttle. nasa workers are reeling from the news in washington that president obama canceled the successor to the shuttle program. >> in the final days, the shuttle stands alone against the florida sky. it is being readied for one of four remaining missions from the kennedy space center to the international space station. it's a destination, 240 miles above the earth. >> ignition sequence.

>> the drama of the launch as thrilled people for decades. there are many spectators. this is a reminder of the apollo program where people would stand on the beaches for miles. >> when people come here, they are still captured by the magic of a large rocket leaving the earth. in the early days, everything shut down. seeing it live was magic. this was much more magical when it was done for the first time 40 years ago. >> some hope that the life of the shuttle will be extended. many people say that maybe there will be a few more.

>> i don't think so. it is time to move on. it is incredibly important for nasa to get to the point where we can explore again. >> in the meantime, he is facing fury over the scrapping of the shuttle's successor. >> i was prepared to rollout the vision and plan of the president. -- i was insufficiently prepared to lay out the groundwork and plan of the president. >> people feel bewildered and betrayed. >> i feel terrible. >> why? >> we will be going into the dark ages. the chinese will be going into space. we will be seeing their flag on the moon. >> this takes us out of the leadership role in the space program.

we cannot give that to anyone. >> these men have made space their life. the next generation would like to know how they will make a different. -- how they will make a living. we are coming to the end of an era. the economic impact is all around us. the community has lived off of the shuttle. now it is about to lose about nine and a half thousand jobs in the space industry and about 20,000 more in the supporting firms. we found that the mood was fragile. >> it will be like a ghost town. >> there will be an economic downturn. >> at one time, this was full of tours, -- stores. >> the president of the chamber

of commerce is looking for new business. >> we have been the leaders in the space race for so long that it is easy to forget to be hungry. we have to be hungry. we have to be hungry for new business. >> we have been here 27 years. >> the only way is forward. she has stripe on selling shrimp to hungry customers, she this looking forward to selling the beauty of the area to tourists. >> we have not had a very good job in marketing because we have not had to. >> it is difficult to say goodbye to the shuttle. the message from the white house is that it is time to move on. >> try and be with us on monday and we have a very moving interview with the head of nasa.

a turkish musician has set a speed record for driving with an unaccompanied blind person. >> he is better known for making records than breaking them. the pop singer is a household name in turkey. he is also blind. as he steps out onto a runway on the east of the country accompanied by his wife, his sights were focused on setting the fastest driving speed record by a visually and appeared person. he sets off with an anxious team looking on. closely followed by a former rally driver.

as he accelerates, he received some verbal instructions through an ear piece in his helmet. he helps them to hold a steady course and his nurse until he essentially he reaches his goal of achieving a top speed of 184 miles per hour and smashing the previous record. drained and happy, he lets his achievement sit in. his relieved supporters rushed to congratulate him. >> i don't think that there are any words to describe this feeling. i am so happy. this was really hard. known for his sense of humor and his tireless work, he can now

count on having one new fans with his courage. >> john forsythe has died at the age of 92. he is best known for his role in "dynasty." he also played a the unseen voice of charlie and "charlie's angels." >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. the newman's own foundation. the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. and union bank.

>> union bank offers you unique insight and expertise in a wide range of industries. what can we do for you? >> i'm julia stiles. >> i'm kevin bacon. >> i'm kim cattrall. >> hi, i'm ken burns. >> i'm lili taylor. >> i'm henry louis gates jr., and public broadcasting is my source for news about the world. >> for intelligent conversation. >> for election coverage you can count on. >> for conversations beyond the sound bites. >> a commitment to journalism. >> for deciding who to vote for. >> i'm kerri washington, and public broadcasting is my source for intelligent connections to my community. >> bbc world news was presented by kcet, los angeles.