secretary of state john kerry is in rome to meet with russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov.day talks are taking place at a time when there is anger in moss co over sanctions, new u.s.-sanctions due to the conflict in ukraine. politicians passed a bill for more sanctions against russia as well as the delivery of military hardware to ukraine. the bill still needs to be approved by the white house which has so far been reluctant to give kiev direct military assistance for fear of being drawn into a proxy war with russia. cla claudia joins us live now from rome. claudia, what's the likelihood of these two foreign ministers coming to a consensus? >> reporter: well, first of all, we felt that ukraine, of course, will be high on the agenda but right before entering t the meeting which we believe is still carrying on here behind us in the u.s. embassy in rome as we haven't seen any movement in the past hour, well, lavrov and kerry met briefly. journalists thanked him for accepting the invitation at short notice where he said critical issues and lavrov thanked them for the invitation

schedule of high-level diplomatic meetings, including talks with russian foreign minister sergey lavrov. after days of heated debate and political infighting the senator approved a massive spending bill. trying to protect its publishers is spain - is google going too far? >>> from the strained relationship with russia to the bitter divide between israel and palestinian, u.s. secretary of state john kerry has a lot on his agenda, he met with sergey lavrov, who is raising seriousness about the prospects of u.n. sanctions. >> i'm appreciative of foreign minister sergey lavrov changing his schedule and travelling on short notice to be here. i look forward to our conversations. >> we have more from rome. >> u.s. secretary of state john kerry are and russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov met here in roman sunday, a time when u.s. and russian relations reached a low, particularly after last thurks the u.s. senate -- thursday, the u.s. senate passed a ukraine freedom account bill, proposing to impose sanctions against moscow, and relieves $300 million in hardware to help fight back the partie

but lavrov has a couple of aces up his sleeve. russia needs support in mediat mediating interests in middle east, russia has proposed to take in the bulk of the yeurm um and then ship it back to a nuclear reactorror in iran so it can only be used to produce energy. lavrov could threaten for russia to withdraw from that offer. the next meeting on that particular deal will take place in geneva on wednesday. >> all right, claudio, thanks very much for speaking with us. claudio levanga speaking to us from rome. israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu is set to hold talks, netanyahu warned against palestine's bid for the u.n. urging israel to withdraw from the west bank. >> i will tell the both of them that israel stands to a great extent as a solitary island against the waves of islamic extremism washing over the entire middle east. until now we have successfully stood against the attacks. an statement to force upon us through u.n. resolutions withdraws to the 1967 borders, within a divined time frame of two years. and this will br

today in rome he met with russia's foreign minister, sergey lavrov. on monday he turns the focus to the middle east, where he mets with israeli prime minister binyamin netanyahu >>> intense fighting in anbar province, the iraqi military says it killed at least 100 fighters in the area. fighters on the ground are asking for more arms. japanese prime minister shinzo abe won another term in office. shinzo abe was re-elected, but with low voter turn out. he called a snap election two minutes into his term. >>> two years ago adam lanza shot and killed 20 children and six children inside sandy hook's elementary school. last year, no public events, no memorials. some of the parents are planning to file a lawsuit against bush master, a company that made the gun that lanza used. joining us via skype is a clinical psychologist, a professor of psychologisty in los angeles. we appreciate your time. when things like this happen, these awful mass shootings, conversations pivot to mental health and people who get guns. i want you, with your background, with your tra

kerry thanked lavrov to accept the investigation to discuss critical issues and lavrov thanked kerry for inviting him, hoping they could find an agreement on how to deal with the situation in the middle east in particular so that the situation there does not degrade further. ukraine might have been on the table as well as moscow reacted angily at that bill last thursday inc.ing a statement to the foreign ministry website calling that bill anti--russian and overtly confrontational. john kerry will stay here on rome where he will meetitionis's prime minister benjamin netanyahu, al jazeera, rome. >> much more to come on this newshour, including... >> i am cath ri soy in south sudan where an emergency education plan is helping bring thousands of children back to class. >> we visit a town in yemen hoping to become a symbol of peace. in sport, contrasting fortunate for liverpool and manchester united as they meet in the english premier league. details a little later in this newshour. defense prime minister shaningzo has won, the vote called two years after japan slipped into recession last

the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov struck a defiant note saying that russia will be able to weatherhe current crisis. >> it is geopolitics. some people think that sanctions are a sign of weakness, a sign of irritation, which is not the best for the politician. but i can assure you that russia will not only survived, but come out stronger out of this. we have been in what -- much worse situations in our history and every time we are getting out of the six much stronger. >> sergei lavrov interviewed by our mark perlman. it is an important special day for pope francis today. he is turning 78. thousands of tango dancers have turned out to celebrate the post-birthday. they are in c peters square at the -- st. peter's square at the moment. tell us more about this unusual birthday celebration for the pope. >> exactly, you have this group of dancers who are learning tango -- or practicing tango, and they decided at first it would be small. and then a thought, ok, we will get together and perform something from -- for the pope. he said in an interview that he really likes tango. they thought

before and during that very short briefing with the media, lavrov sdz he was looking forward also to talk about the middle east to make sure that russia and the united states work together to make sure -- in order to make sure that the situation doesn't fall into disarray even further. >> claudio, what's on the agenda, then, for john kerry and benjamin netanyahu? >> reporter: well, kerry and netanyahu are expected to meet on monday, tomorrow. now, we do expect netanyahu to talk about -- and kerry to talk about the growing sentiment, especially in europe, in favor of the -- of a state of palestine to be recognized by a series of countries in europe as well as the united states. of course, netanyahu will make sure that the united states will continue to use the veto against the proposal and against the pendency of the united nations, which seems to be going forwards in direction. netanyahu said clearly he's going to talk to kerry about that and talk about the prime minister about that to make sure that he still has this support by the united nations in italy and the european countries

one, from lavrov and one for myself. lavrov yesterday said you had a satellite in the plane watching what was happening with the malaysian airline, which obviously is a major milestone in the ukrainian conflict. why are not you sharing the results with europe? russia has been asking for this for a very long time. it's a very important point. secondly, in the forefront for all of us right now, my question is very simple. when you heard the russian economy, and by the way, i have been surprised by observing that you do want to hurt the economy and the people rather than the regime. and you've just described why, because you want the people to rebel, which is called regime change, but when you hurt the russian economy, do you harm or help the ukrainian economy? thank you. >> andre, first to your point with regard to u.s. intelligence at the time of the malaysian airliner's tragic shootdown first, just to say to you that just to remind you that secretary kerry on, i believe it was july 21st, it was the saturday after the sho

. >> i'm grateful for foreign minister lavrov changing his schedule. >> more from claudio lavango. >> met here on rome on sunday, at a time when u.s. and russia relations, after last thursday the u.s. senate passed a ukraine freedom act bill in which it impose ed or proposed to impose new sanctions against moscow and releaves 300 million in hardware to to help ukraine to help turn back separatists in the crimea district. calling that overtly confrontational message and saying that those are antirussian sanctions and saying that russia will not be intimidated in giving up its interest and tolerating interference in its internal affairs. lavrov has a few aces up his sleeve, in particular, he may threaten to withdraw from a de deal, by the iranian nuclear program to convert into fuel rods so iran can only use that to produce energy. it may not be a coincidence that the next meeting to discuss that deal will take place in geneva next wednesday. >> our claudio lavongo in rome. >>> opec says it will not try to drive up plunging oil prices. the price of crude dropped to below $62 a barrel, t

kerry met with russian foreign minister sergey lavrov, who is raising concerns about the prospects of new sanctions. >> we have a number of issues to talk about. i'm appreciative of foreign minister sergey lavrov changes his schedule, travelling on short notice to be here, i look forward to our conversation. >> we have more from rome on the meeting. >> reporter: secretary of state john kerry and russia's foreign minister met here in rome on sunday. at a time when u.s. and russian relations reached a low. particularly after last thursday, the u.s. senate passed a ukraine freedom account bill, in which it proposed to impose new sanctions against moscow, and release $300 million in hardware to help ukraine to fight back in the southern region of crimea. the russians didn't appreciate the bill, and put out strong words in the russian foreign minister's website, calling it an overly confrontational message, saying they are anti-russian, and that russia would not be intimidated into giving up its interest in internal affairs. russia will use strong words with kerry, but he has a few aces up

this echoed what sergei lavrov, russia's foreign minister said tuesday. he said this was a counterproductive decision that would heat up the confrontation or likely to increase tensions between russia and the west. moscow has been concerned about nato expansion to the east. >> for more on the talks in minsk, let's bring in our international affairs editor. it seems that things are tense with the latest move by ukraine towards nato. the talks are still set to take place. >> getting the parties back -- russia, ukraine, pro-russian separatists as well as the osce. getting them back to the table has been a little bit like pulling teeth. the minsk ceasefire, in name only back in september it was the prelude to continued war killing and bloodletting through the east. the disconnect between what is going to be going on today in minsk with the parties trying to address vital issues and what has been happening on the ground could not be more stark. that said, in the past 2 weeks since december 9 there has been in place, the russian and ukrainian president have agr

sergei lavrov has reiterated calls for peace talks. >> petro poroshenko was unusually optimistic, giving rise to hope that the cease-fire might hold. >> today is the first 24 hours for seven months when we do not have, when we had a real cease-fire in ukraine. you cannot imagine how important it is for me. this is the first time i do not have lives lovst or eight wounded ukrainian soldier. and we do not have any lost or wounded citizens. >> thursday, rebels had withdrawn weaponry from the frontlines, part of a truce. >> once the people's republic is ready to further such acts to bring peace local people -- [indiscernible] >> elsewhere, the cease-fire is looking shaky. at donetsk airport, there were bursts of gunfire. with each side pointing the finger at the other. >> the enemy tried to provoke us, firing at opposition. i did not give the order to fire back. they ended up coming down. >> ukraine and the last blame russia for stoking the conflict. moscow has denied this. leaders are to meet with both sides for peace talks a date for which has yet to be named. >> italy has been hit with a

secretary of state met with russian foreign minister sergey lavrov to discuss the prospect of sanctions and possible military aid to ukraine. japanese prime minister shinzo abe won a landslide victory for another term in office. voters are not so enthusiastic. and the $1.1 trillion spending bill is awaiting president obama's sit. all that ahead on al jazeera america in this this this. >> it themselves equip and train people to document abuses. the renowned musician reflects on a life event that infliences his work now. >> i was bullied by a group of kids. they took my clothes out and these were people i thought were my

one, from lavrov and one for myself. lavrov yesterday said you had a satellite in the plane watching what was happening with the malaysian airline, which obviously is a major milestone in the ukrainian conflict. why are not you sharing the results with europe? russia has been asking for this for a very long time. it's a very important point. secondly, in the forefront for all of us right now, my question is very simple. when you heard the russian economy, and by the way, i have been surprised by observing that you do want to hurt the economy and the people rather than the regime. and you've just described why, because you want the people to rebel, which is called regime change, but when you hurt the russian economy, do you harm or help the ukrainian economy? thank you. >> andre, first to your point with regard to u.s. intelligence at the time of the malaysian airliner's tragic shootdown, first, just to say to you that just to remind you that secretary kerry on, i believe it was july 21st, it was the saturday after the sh

. >> when you bring up bombs, sergey lavrov, the foreign minister said they may put nuclear weapons into crimea. >> exactly. that's a warning. that crimea is no longer denuclearized zone. it could be a nuclear power. do we want nuclear weapons right there in the backyard of ukraine, of europe, but also close to the black sea. there are other products. people should take that - politicians should take it into consideration. >> it's a significant economy. if it does collapse, and russia gults. there could be international consequences. an important story. we'll keep watching it. thanks for coming in. >> time to see what is trending on al jazeera's website. let's go back to washington d.c. and check in with harmeli aregawi. >> a cleveland browns player is getting love for the way he defended his decision to protest on the field. andrew hawkins wore a t-shirt that said "justice for tamir rice and eric garner" both ohio residents killed by police, crawford was 22, rice 12. the president responded to the move saying "it's pathetic when athletes think they know the law. the browns organization

. >>> russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov has warned that a new american law authorizing furtherand european sanctions coupled with falling oil prices have thrust the russian economy into a crisis. >>> cyber crime is an increasing concern for many. we've seen it even in the wake of the recent hacking at sony. but some are falling prey to much more personal and targeted attacks. often on social media sites. they end up as victims of online blackmail. a number of the criminal gangs behind these operations are based in countries like the philippines. angus crawford has been to find out more. he sent this special report. >> reporter: from these slums, a new crime is emerging. targeting men thousands of miles away on the other side of the world. they call it sextortion. really it's online blackmail. scammers can make hundreds of dollars a day. access to the internet is cheap and easy in the philippines, and this crime is now happening on an industrial scale. officers from the country's cyber crime unit raid a call center. they find young people working in shifts, targeting victims usi

lavrov a couple days ago made more conciliatory remarks about the possibility of a settlement in ukraineabout the outlines for this settlement, the ceasefire is doing a little better in southeastern ukraine. so there are small glimmers that something might work out there, and obviously if there were to be an agreement and a ceasefire that holds, then some of these sanctions might be removed, but we have not heard those words from the president himself, and i have to say, his popularity is still pretty high. it may not be 85%. it may be slightly under 80%, but so far he has not run into popular response to this, popular opposition to this. but i think you can see in what's happening in the major cities like moscow with the panic buying, with people sending all their money abroad if they can. but in those crucial areas, in those cities, people are scratching their heads, and the former finance minister who is very well respected in the west, he himself has said today, they really have to come to grips with their own domestic economic problems if they're to come out of this. >> brown: is th

sergey lavrov says moscow is going to respond as the actions come. what will they respond to. >> moscow will respond the foreign minister said that crimea is going to become nuclear zone, which should not have been the case. now when crimea technically goes to russia. you had a piece of transnistria. that's another opportunity, there are other marts in moldova. >> complicated. >> complicated, but an opportunity. there are other parts saying "we want to be russian", and we shouldn't forget there are other parts of ukraine and other places that vladimir putin says "you know what, you are not listening to me, you are not having conversation with me, i have no other choice but to go and claim my russian interest." >> like in crimea. >> absolutely. >> thank you for joining us. >>> critics wrote off president obama as a lame duck after midterm elections, then he made diplomatic history, announcing plans to normalize relations with cuba. that and a look at jed bush's bid for the oval office in "the week ahead." coming after the break. don't go anywhere. >>

reactions from both sides of the aisle >>> secretary of state john kerry is slated to me with sergey lavrov in rome. it could be tense as the u.s. congress approved economic sanctions against russia, and gave the go ahead for sending military aid to israel. it approved ammunition and troops to kiev. it's up to president obama to sign or veto the measure. the iraqi army says it killed 100 i.s.i.l. fighters. this as yilar say it cap-- i.s.i.l. says it captured a village close ramadi. >> reporter: in the latest attack i.s.i.l. detonated a humvee. on the road from the provincial capital to the border point. they've managed to seize hundreds of humvees. the u.s. armored vehicle - given to the army, seized by i.s.i.l. when it took over large parts of the country. iraqi officials as well as tribal officials trying to battle i.s.i.l. say there's not much it can do. they do not have the weapons or the ammunitions to fight against the attacks. that's what they are calling for. in some of the towns taken over by i.s.i.l., officials said police had to retreat because they do not have enough ammunition,

but there is the possibly after kerry and lavrov met earlier this week that he might say something that leads us further down the road on the reduction of tensions and involves that cease-fire. so we are waited with bated breath to hear exactly what the president will say when he rolls into this press conference within the next few minutes. >> and, of course, russia's reevent move to move the ruble and support the banks has been welcome by investors. but there is talk that russian president putin will perhaps review his cabinet and make changes medvedev's name has been thrown around. what are you hearing on that front? >> at different times, there have been moments when the president appears to have lost confidence in his prime minister. but in spite of that, we haven't seen prime minister medvedev removed from office. there are those here on the ground who think there will have to be a scapegoat for this rapid decline we've seen in recent years. the question is who will it be? the finance minister? the prime minister himself? when it comes down to it, if you look at why the ruble has d

russians tried as best we could, many, many meetings between kerry and the russian foreign minister lavrovto sort of chart a way forward together. this is very much different. there is a russian initiative. it's not even clear that it's going to be consistent with the various items of the geneva communique. that remains to be seen and there's been no date set. how do you connect that to a freeze in aleppo? not immediately clear where they connect. they've not necessarily mutually exclusive, but the one doesn't lead to the other, freeze leading to moscow talks, or moscow talks leading to a freeze. they might, but they might not. i was very struck that the iranians reminded stefan's deputying with the egyptian diplomat, ramzi ramzi that they, too, have a different proposal for talks between the syrian opposition and the syrian government. the proposal is basically bashar al assad would stay. there would be changes to his cabinet, including the prime minister that the opposition could, more or less, give approval to a new sunni prime minister with enhanced authorities. don't know what other p

but also, lavrov the foreign minister said in front of the cameras crimea will be nuclear zone right russia and wants to bomb somebody. >> sarah, there are some who will argue he has to get conservative here, he has to make appeasement with the international community and russia doesn't have the resources for what sarah's suggesting. >> well, this is really a -- >> nina is suggesting. >> there is not much to do. he's brought on sanctions by the use of force in ukraine and he's absorbing crimea and costing a lot of money. so the international community's not feeling very fondly towards mr. putin. really, our hearts have to go out to the russian consume who are's just seen a huge hit to the pocketbook. >> sarah, walk us through the mentality here. you're right that the international community is not as fond of putin as it was of yeltsin in the 1998 financial crisis and unlikely to get much support. in fact, he is getting sanctions. who's he going to listen to? will he listen to the public that supported him going into crimea and perhaps support him doing something else abroad, this las