nic robertson is at the vatican with more. we know what the pope is likely to ask or talk to vladimir putin about, nic? >> reporter: we understand that ukraine is likely to be on the agenda and the plight of christians in the middle east. the pope looks to president putin to help secure and aid in helping the christians of the middle east so that will be an important part of this. the pope is so far, refrained from criticizing president putin and rusch over what is happening in kraen ukraine. the pope is trying to be a part of the peace making process and trying to bring an end to the conflict there. that is the pope. undoubtedly that is part of the discussion as well. certainly a lot of people looking at at the situation right now. putin not attended the g-7 and excluded from that and looking for a place in the world stage and is meeting today with the italian prime minister. when he comes to meet the pope that elevates president putin on the world stage. this makes him look back home as if he is doing well but also the pope

our senior correspondent nic robertson is in vienna. good morning, nic. >> reporter: good morning, john. that is the hope that the foreign minister in tehran is back here tomorrow. the deadline clearly cannot be hit, but a hope and aspiration that the gaps can be closed over a couple of days. why are the gaps suddenly opened? you had three months ago an agreement in switzerland that was supposed to provide a stepping stone to the final agreement right now. what happened in the past week the supreme leader of iran declared a new set of red lines for iran which rolled back the agreement. the agreement which said atomic international agency the nuclear watch dog would have access to sites in iran to verify the deal. the supreme leader in iran said that is not on. he said he did not agree to the limits on the iran nuclear research and development part of the deal and issues about sanctions. he wants them lifted immediately. all of these were things that were understood as part of the negotiations three months ago. that is part of the gaps. t

let's turn to nic robertson on the phone from geneva. nic, this injury is affecting his work schedule. >> reporter: absolutely. secretary kerry was brought by helicopter from about 30 miles away from france where he had the biking accident negotiating a curb. we are told to be at university hospital in geneva. the immediate instinct was he wanted to get on the plane and get back home as soon as possible. that was changed. a medical plane was brought in. it appears the doctors here have decided he needed to stay overnight. his surgeon who performed the hip replacement surgery which is in his right hip, which is close, we understand to where the fracture in his right femur has taken place. clearly decided to put a break on diplomatic activities. telling him it appears he is better off staying in the hospital tonight. secretary kerry is obviously the key player in the talks with iran. the deadline for talks with many issues still unresolved like sanctions and inspections systems. the deadline is now 30 days away. secretary kerry's relationsh

i want to turn to correspondent nic robertson who is on the phone from geneva. the secretary of state, nic, has a full plate. a june 30th deadline to reach this nuclear deal. how will this femur factor into the situation? >> reporter: it already factored in. kerry was in the university hospital outside of geneva. clearly atop of the agenda was to get back home and get on the mend. clearly his doctors have had other advice. additional security outside this hospital before they go in. that's abnormal because secretary kerry is here. he is awaiting his doctor to arrive from boston. the talks are now 30 days to the deadline for negotiations with iran. there are many issues unresolved. key among them are inspections and sanctions. secretary kerry's relationship with the iranian foreign minister is key. they both know each other and they both read each other. secretary kerry has a lot of experts to negotiate some of the details and understand what each step means, getting those steps to happen is very much a personal matter between him and the foreign minister and bein

cnn senior international correspondent nic robertson is covering the pope's trip to sarajevo and it looks like quite the turnout, nic. >> well, a huge turnout here, natalie at kosovo stadium. the pope will be here in an hour and a half, two hour's time. delivering an outdoor mass here. 65,000 people expected to gather here. it is going to be a hot day. they have been handing out papal scarves, skcarves, water, paper hats, keep the heat and sun off the people. huge round of applause at the stadium want up when the pope's plane touched down at sarajevo airport. he is being met by various politicians, three members of the bosnian presidency, serb member, crow at member, muslim member all there to meet him as he gets off the plane. he will then be driving into the center of the city to the presidency building. meet a number of politicians there before coming on here to the stadium. but his message today is a very important one for people here wecwe have been talking to people on the street, they're keen and hopeful that the pope might be able to make a difference here. ♪ the pope's message ab

nic robertson, cnn, london. >> so where are we now?with more on the upcoming talks, let's bring in our guest, the research director at national iranian american council and he is live forness vienna. thank you for joining us. >> good to have you with us sir. here is a question many people are asking on this june 30th deadline we have heard from some top officials saying they could slip past the deadline. what do you think? >> the deadline is not sacred. it is ideal. if they need more time to get a good deal done that's a win-win from both side then that's exactly what they will will do. i think the target date is around july 9th or 10th. that's when congress comes back into session. if there is no deal by that date then the reveal period extend from 30 days to of 60 days. that adds a layer of complication that neither side wants. >> that report that we just saw from nic robertson, it looks like iran stepping back somewhat from things that were already decided on o p. we know that supreme leader has been making some comments perhaps not

nic robertson is in vienna with the latest. >> reporter: good morning, john. that is the question of the moment. is the extension days or could it drag out longer. what we saw, secretary kerry meeting with the iranian foreign minister. the meetings lasted about five hours. we saw the british foreign secretary come here to join the talks. the german foreign minister and head of foreign policy of the european union and deputies from the foreign ministry of china and russia. it was a full-court press on with the iranian delegation. what it came to was the iranian delegation heading back to tehran and he is due back here tomorrow. what seems to be the difference and what appears to be the gaps here hearing from the diplomats is iran's supreme leader set out new conditions and headlines that iran wasn't willing to accept. these seem to rollback agreements made in talks three months ago in switzerland. now the atomic international agency shouldn't have access to all of iran's sites to verify the agreement. he wants united states and u.n. sanctions lifted immediately

i want to bring in cnn's nic robertson robertson. nic, walk us through the back tracking. the nuclear technology. what is this glitch and how could it derail things here? >> reporter: the glitch surfaced over a week ago when iran's supreme leader said he would not go along with what was agreed in switzerland. the luzan agreement. it will break out and make a weapon faster. he also says he wanted immediate lifting of sanctions. many different sanctions and countries and it is likely that may end up being agreed in a phased approach. and he is also said and this is perhaps the most controversial thing that the international atomic agency the nuclear watchdog that will enforce the compliance by inspecting nuclear sites and other sites in iran, the sue peoplepreme leader said those sites are off limits. he is due to meet with secretary kerry in a few minutes. what he says will be the biggest clue. secretary kerry and others have been clear. everything they agreed in switzerland stands and holds. iranians cannot hold it back. they are saying we can get agreement. until they hea

now to nic robertson in geneva.as supposed to be talking about the iranian nuclear negotiations. how will this affect those negotiations nic? >> well there's still a lot of things to be resolved in these talks. access to sites inside iran. how sanctions will be applied. could they be reapplied? how quickly? so a lot of details. when secretary kerry goes into these talks always with a team of experts who can get into the real details, the nitty-gritty. but pushing the talks along always is his relationship with iranian foreign minister zarif. and in any type of negotiation that personal relationship where the leaders of each two teams know each other, they know how far they can push each other, they know where there may be a little more wiggle room they read the body language read their faces in the one-on-one conversations. this is where secretary kerry's absence, if it proves to be an absence later this month, as we're led to believe that this type of injury sustained can take a lot of rehab, that his position woul

that is where nic robertson is right now for us. c, the weather is why so many of these smuggling ships are out right now. it is calm seas. people are trying to make the best of it. >> reporter: they really are. this wave of migrants crossing the mediterranean almost 6,000 people. that is the biggest wave of migrants in a single week this year. if you look at the statistics from the italian coast guard and human refugee, they are putting the numbers to about 100,000 so far this year. that's double the number by the same period last year. this weekend, really with the good weather and calm seas, it is encouraging a lot of the migrants or people making them pay to be put upon boats to get into europe. the "h.m.s." war ship that is expected to bring over 1,000 people here in a few hours, when they were picking people up from the sea, they were picking people up from rubber dinghys. it seems that the people that are putting these migrants out to sea are callus enough to do it in numbers and in vessels that are not capable of essentially

our senior correspondent nic robertson has the latest. porter: john good morning. the flood of migrants doesn't stop. we heard from the italian coast guard, they are responding to a distress call. two wooden boats off the libyan coast. they are sending a coast guard vessel there to investigate. if it is wooden boats, there could be many hundreds aboard the boats. that could be as much as 1,000 migrants that are going to rescue. coming ashore in the next hour or so another 447 migrants that the coast guard and merchant cargo ship picked up yesterday from rubber dinghys. they are designed to carry about 20 people. these, 447 people picked up from four rubber dinghys. more than 100 per dinghy. they were safe. they are coming ashore. while we were here yesterday talking to the captain of the british ship who brought the 1,100 ashore, he is back out at sea. he said if he did not do that yesterday, he was sure many would have drowned. the weather was changing overnight. they clearly keep coming. >> keep coming. such a dangerous journey. nic robe

but let's go to nic robertson in st. peter's square. what does the pope hope to achieve in his meeting with mr. putin and how aware would he be of the symbolism that comes after mr. putin's rejection at the g-7 summit looking for an ally here? >> there are certainly those who will read the visit to italy at this time, coming to the milan expo, taking the opportunity of russia national day to coordinate the timing. but it falls right after the g-7 meeting that he is excluded from. this trip gives him a big platform on the european and world stage and that only sort of elevated when he meets the pope. there are issues of common interests between the two. the pope will be as he always does, is look for peace. ukraine undoubtedly on the agenda but also the plight of christians in the middle east will be on the agenda. and the pope will look at president putin and will at what he has said in the past about how strongly he feels about the russian orthodox church, his christian beliefs himself and the fact that many of the christians in the mi

cnn's nic robertson reports. >> reporter: this was always going to be a finely balanced meeting.ope francis, a man of peace. president putin, increasingly isolated amidst accusations of isolation and aggressive in ukraine. the last time the pope described ukraine he described the conflict there as fratricide drawing criticism from the catholics who felt let down by the pontiff. outside the vatican ukrainians came to press the pope for condemnation of russia. >> to proclaim every time the truth and have to no the truth. >> reporter: what they got was this. a vatican statement saying there must be a commitment to a sincere and great effort to achieve peace and they agree the importance of building a climate of dialogue and that all parties commit themselves to implement the minsk accords. the deep subtext of this meeting, the pope's desire to unite all christians, catholic and orthodox. putin increasingly influential with many of the world's more than 225 million people on the eastern side of christianity's great schism almost a millenia ago. most pressing now the plight of all chr

nic robertson live in vienna. we appreciate that. >>> before we go we want to update you on the breaking news at this hour. indonesian military saying at least 11 people are dead after one of its c-130 aircrafts has crashed. it took place in medan in northern sumatra. the video is where we are getting the first glimpse of the devastation. >> the plane took off from an air force base in medan. it crashed shortly after takeoff. we are going to continue to follow this story throughout the day and bring you updates as soon as we get them. >> you have been watching "cnn newsroom." i'm errol barnett. >> and i'm zain asher. stay with us "early start" is up next in the united states. >> for the rest of you, another edition of "cnn newsroom" begins after this break. have a great day. every day people fall, from a simple misstep, to tripping over a rug, to just losing their balance. and not being able to get up from a fall can have serious lifetime consequences. being prepared is important. philips lifeline with autoalert i

nic robertson, cnn, augusta, italy. >> we'll take a very short break here. still to come.ar face to millions of american children, lavar burton has taken his popular reading show on the road. >> a behind the scenes look at "reading rainbow" shooting internationally here in israel. you're watching cnn. >>> you are back with us, our pedram javahari joins us from the weather center. we are talking monsoonal rains in india. much needed after the heat wave that killed so many people. >> the month of may, the fifth deadliest month for any month in the world in recorded history when it comes to heat. you take a look at numbers, we have touched on previous heat waves around the world. of course, 2003, 71,000 fatality. number five, 2,300 fatalitiefat. all most every single one in the month of may. pushing up to fourth all time. excessive heat. longevity of the heat. look at numbers, past 12 months our planet has been the hottest in recorded history. take a look at all that. monsoonal rain needed to bring the temperature down. current positioning. 600 kilometers south of where it sh

cnn's nic robertson is live with the latest. good morning, nic. >> reporter: good morning, john.y kerry is sitting down with the foreign minister of iran. they have been in the meeting for an hour and of all of the meetings held over the months and years, perhaps this is the key one. sariff coming back to vienna with the iran atomic agency and the brother of the president when it comes to negotiating here. the key question is has sariff come back with a changed plan? the red lines that were put in place a week ago by the iran supreme leader seemed to rollback what was put in place in switzerland. we heard from officials last night saying they believe that plan made in switzerland is the path to get agreement. they believe it can be done but they don't know if it will be done. of course the context of the meeting happening right now is one to say whether or not there is a real chance of getting it done. so much ground has been covered, but what we heard from iran's supreme leader last week seemed to rollback agreements on where and how many sanctions would be lifted and if they co

i want to get straight to nick rob nic robertson for the latest.rious. >> reporter: it was. this was an attack it appears, designed to upset the vote on a new defense minister inside afghanistan. so the taliban who have claimed responsibility for this taking an opportunity to strike at a time when everyone is watching what is happening and afghanistan's government taking the opportunity to try to send a message. you might be voting for a new defense minister but we're still on the attack. we can strike in the capital. what happened they drove a car laden with a suicide bomb to try to break through the outer security to get into the parliament building. of course it's heavily fortified. there were six gunmen attackers on foot. they weren't able to get into the main parliament building. the partment air mtparliamentarians were evacuated. the gunmen got into another building where they set off explosives. 31 civilians, we are told -- flun of the parliamentarians none of the lawmakers, 31 civilians injured in that attack. the taliban have attacked rece

nic robertson reports. >> reporter: barely 24 hours earlier, these migrants were plucked from the seare than 1100 saved by the british navy from certain death off the coast of libya. >> i have no doubt with heightened winds and heightened sea states that the 1100 plus people we picked up yesterday might not be here today. >> reporter: now safely stepping ashore in italy. part of the biggest wave of mediterranean migrants in a single weekend this year, close to 6,000. ten were pregnant women. >> there is one happy story. one woman's water broke as she was being recovered. so i took the decision to fly her ashore. and she gave birth to a little boy. >> reporter: first health screening and immigration processing. many escaping war in syria. others from kenya, either openyeah, libya, mauly, nigeria even pakistan. this ship, one of several from european navies ramping up rescue efforts, italians, germans, spanish, swedish and independent operators struggling to keep pace with the exodus. >> ram don is coming up. that might have an impact. with you don't know. the best thing we can do is ma

nic robertson explains. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: no room for error. gaza team in training.to punish a slip. isn't this dangerous? >> yes, yes it is dangerous. you want to do it. >> reporter: abdullah, 19 years old, university student. son of a doctor. what do your parents say to you? yes? >> what are you doing. >> reporter: ten years, nothing stopped him and the others yet. do you look danger because you grew up in gaza or what? >> yes, i think you grow up in gaza, difficult situation. i love danger the i love to be free. >> reporter: why not play futbol and be normal? >> no, i like danger. >> reporter: a death-defying sport demanding courage and strength in equal measure. >> i think when i do it. i feel free. like flying in the air, in the sky. freedom like, like -- >> reporter: he says he speaks for the whole 12-man team. >> we don't feel like about fighting. we just care about practice. >> reporter: all this began when israeli troops pulled out of gaza in 2005. since then they have been running, jumping. tumbling. somersaulting ever since. now the pressure is on. trainin

nic robertson, cnn, gaza. >> now some of the other stories we are following. u.s.ors could vote any day on a compromised bill to renew expired patriot act. >> gridlock and politics blocked the renewal of the domestic spying program. now the u.s. president is pushing for quick action. our white house correspondent has more from washington. >> people here in town think i'm making a huge mistake. some of them i think secretly want there to be an attack on the united states so they can blame it on me. >> reporter: kentucky's two senate republicans at odd. >> the senate will been order. >> reporter: over alug parlowins of the patriot act to lapse. >> that would mean disarming completely arbitrarily based on a cam pan of disinformation in the face of growing, aggressive, and sophisticated threats. that is a totally unacceptable outcome. >> reporter: but that is what happened last night. the programs expired. senator rand paul blocked even an extension of them. he opposes the bill passed by the house that puts the data collection in the hand of the phone companies. saying

our senior international correspondent nic robertson is joining us now from italy in front of one of migrant ships. what's the latest over there, nic? seems like tens of thousands of people are trying to flee north africa for italy and elsewhere in europe as we speak. >> wolf if you compare this time this year to this time last year it's almost double the number of migrants that have come across the mediterranean. close to 100,000. as we look they're still coming off down that gangplank there off the hms "bulwark." that's a british naval assault ship that rescued close to 1200 migrants. i talked to the captain earlier, you can see a couple more men coming off there. i talked to the captain earlier, he told me he felt sure if he hadn't taken his vessel there to these tiny rubber inflated dingies that he felt sure the migrants would be dead today. if we look in this direction here you can see the migrants lining up there. they get screening, medical screening and then they get processed by the immigration services here in italy. on board this ship there have been air trayians egyptians

nic robertson has his story. >> reporter: summer has come to gaza again.ith his friend, montasa in the green, appears to be enjoying it. liberating and launching a fishing boat. splashing in the waves. smiles aplenty. but all is not as the it seems. ten months ago on this same beach, this was montasa. bloodied by an israeli shell. his closest brother and three cousin had been playing futbol with were killed. can you show us the places that you got hurt when the bombs fell? he is quiet. points to his elbow. says his back hurts too. but it is not just his body in pain, his mind too. >> do you remember that day? what do you remember happening that day? he can't speak about it. struggles even to concentrate. his father ehab tells me the attack changed his son. he is angry, can't sleep, has nightmares. the doctor gave him pills to calm him down he says, but no one here can make him better. at his family's graveyard overlooking the sea, ehab shows me where his son and grandson, montasa's brother and cousin killed in at take are buried. for six generations, the b

joining me now is cnn senior international correspondent, nic robertson. ly. so nic, you are at a point where some migrants are being taken. what are you seeing what is their condition and what are their storieses as to why they make this desperate journey? >> reporter: yeah frederica, the people have just arrived on this boat literally in the last half an hour or so. the women, the first to come off, just coming off right now. we haven't had anopportunity to talk to them but we do know that this boat the "nv phoenix" independent rescue boat operating here in the mediterranean, picked them up on saturday there are 372 migrants aboard this vessel 366 from eritrea, five from ethiopia, one from sudan. vast majority coming from eritrea eritrea. we are seeing a few children coming off. one lady was carried off and put in a wheelchair but nobody appears to be in a desperate medical condition. italian authorities, the british, the spanish, the swedish, all out there in the mediterranean sea today continuing to rescue people are concerned that this wave of migrants

joining us from sarajevo is nic robertson. this is the first papal visit since pope john paul ii visited. that was in 1997. circumstances were much different then, weren't they. >> reporter: they certainly were. i mean, the pope's message today -- and he stressed this -- he met with the politicians here and lot of his message was for the politicians, that they need to do better for the people of the country. so many people here, all those 60,000-plus, so many attending believe politicians here are still too nationalist, that there is corruption croneyism, the economy is suffering, unemployment about 40%. and what the pope came here to do today was to talk to the politicians. there's a three-member presidency one croatian one serbian, one muslim from inside the country of bosnia. hi message of them was you need to do better for the people of the country. he quoted from the gospel at the mass "blessed be the peacemaker peacemakers, not the people who preach peace, because you can be hypocritical and duplicitous when you do this.

nic robertson tells us why it's no longer clear just what kind of deal iran might be willing to accept. . >> reporter: barely five hourings of meetings. u.s. secretary of state john kerry and the foreign minister's nuclear negotiations are on pause. zarif heading back to tehran. gaps even in this final phase too big to bridge quickly. each delegations arriving at the talks venue expressing concerns. >> they're going to be tough. it has always been tough. but not impossible. >> reporter: britain's foreign minister. >> we still have major differences of interpretation in detailing what was agreed. and there's going to have to be some give and take. >> reporter: three months ago at talks in switzerland, zarif agreed an outline agreement including, iran will be required to grant access to the iaea to invest suspicious sites or allegations of covert enrichment facilities anywhere in the country and agreeing to withhold nuclear research for ten to 12 years but iraq'sn's supreme leader issued new red lines, effectively rolling back zarif's commitment. arriving at the talks now, the french for

we have nic robertson with the latest for us. the latest flood of people desperate to leave their home countries and get to europe. putting pressure on the european nations to save them from the ocean and figure out what to do with them. >> reporter: absolutely. a huge problem. this weekend alone, as you say, close to 6,000. this is the biggest single wave of migrants in a single weekend so far this year. what the italian coast guard and international aid agencies are seeing almost a doubling of the number of people crossing over the mediterranean and trying to get into europe this year compared to last year. the total for this year so far is close to 100,000. by this time last year it was only 50,000. it gives you an idea of the magnitude of the problem. the ship that is expected to dock here ten pregnant women, and many children on board as well. these people came from libya and egypt and north africa and nigeria and pakistan. they are all coming here the big surge this weekend, because the weather is good and the seas are rela

we have nic robertson live with more. nic? >> reporter: good morning. there are ten pregnant women aboard that ship. what happened this week the biggest wave of migrant flooding across the mediterranean occurred putting the italian coast guard close to 6,000 people picked up. the italian navy spanish navy british navy swedish and germans involved as well bringing them to multiple ports. we are in sicily they are bringing them to mainland italy as well. people will come off the boat processed by red cross officials, health processing before they are handed over to immigration officials here. but, this wave of migrants that are coming across a great concern. the reason officials believe it is happening in big numbers is because it's good weather, calm seas. the staggering statistics so far this year really tell you the biggest story. almost 100,000 migrants have come across the see. so many crossing from libya. this is double the number last year. there are syrians, egyptians, pakistanis people from nigeria as well. this is becoming a very very big issue

nic robertson, cbs, bradford-- cnn, bradford england. >> the couple was hand over at a truce villagee dmz, demilitarized zone. north korea said the two entered territory may 11th. the south korean unification ministry said the couple had gone nis missing between north korea and china. four other south korean citizens are known to be held by the north. >>> terrifying night for a group of students celebrating a friend's birthday. the latest on a balcony collapse after this short break. >>> coming up people in texas are on alert as tropical storm bill brings more heavy rain and possible flooding to the state. stay with us here on cnn. so you're a small business expert from at&t? yeah, give me a problem and i've got the solution. well, we have 30 years of customer records. our cloud can keep them safe and accessible anywhere. my drivers don't have time to fill out forms. tablets. keep them all digital. we're looking to double our deliveries. our fleet apps will find the fastest route. oh, and your boysenberry apple scones smell about done. ahh, you're good. i like to bake. with at&t get

cnn's national correspondent nic robertson is live in geneva with the latest. >> reporter: we understandtary kerry was negotiating a cush when he broke his right femur fracture close to a former hip replacement in his right hip. what we understand at the moment is he was due to go to the talks there with the prime minister. with the king. he's had to can sell that. he was then due on tuesday to go to paris, where very important tools of the coalition to build the fight aisis. he initially said he'd like to attend by remote. the doctors are taking the lead. the doctor from boston like in over here dennis burke on his way here it's not uncommon for us here. we have covered secretary kerry, a few months ago, march, we saw him take cycle rides. taking a break from the talks. it's a very unfortunate accident. it may have a long lasting impact.- this sort of injury takes a long time to recover. secretary kerry key in the iran negotiations substantial issues on sanctions, access the sites 30 days now to go into the talks. secretary kerry's relationship with the iranian foreign minister has been

nic robertson is live in london with more for you. hi, nic. >> reporter: hi, carol.bility for that attack. you can see how close they came to injuring parliament members there. the lawmakers were voting on a vote of confidence for the new defense minister and this was really a message by the taliban. you're voting for a defense minister we're out on the streets of kabul. we can attack you where we want to. the attack however, not injuring any of the lawmakers, but in the ensuing gun battle following because there were six taliban suicide attackers with rocket-propelled grenades ak-47s, and the fight they had with security forces two civilians were killed a woman and a child. 28 others injured, including 9 women and children. typically the taliban have been targeting soft targets in kabul. this was a harder target much more security and perhaps that's one of the reasons why they were pushed back and not able to get into where the lawmakers were meeting inside the parliament, carol. >> all right, nick robl robertson. thank you so much. >>> i know the words greek debt c

nic robertson is live in italy with the latest on what is seemingly an epidemic. >> reporter: it is. this wave we are seeing right now, it is the biggest wave in a single weekend this year. look at the numbers overall. about 100,000 migrants picked up in the mediterranean. compare it to the same time last year 50,000 half the number. we know the british will be docking here in the next couple hours. it began the rescue in the early hours sunday morning off the coast of libya. they were called to a boat in distress. when they got there, 15 vessels were in distress. a couple big helicopters were involved in the recovery mission as well. but, the vessel that is the people were in staggering when you learn the details. some of them were inflatable rubber dinghies. they were inflatable rubber dinghies designed for perhaps 20 people. in some cases had close to 100 people on board. you can only imagine, whoever puts them out to sea in vessels like that it's a very callous act. for the efforts of the british, jerman italian, swedish, their fate could be far worse. on board that british ship

cnn senior international correspondent nic robertson is at the vatican with more.not along ago, g-8 but russia excluded from that meeting. >> reporter: it burnishes his position in russia and that is critical to president putin who doesn't want to seem to be diminished in any way despite the fact that he is. but there are things in this to gain for the pope as well. the pope his message is always of peace. we are expecting ukraine and the plight of christians in the middle east to be on the agenda here between the two of them. the pope so far, is actually, you know been criticized by catholics, 45 million in ukraine, for not being more outspoken against president putin and kremlin for their positions and actions in ukraine and crimea and actually in crimea. what they have been saying is when the pope recently talked about ukraine. is there a hope among the ukraine catholics the pope will take a tougher line with president putin but the pope likes to maintain neutrality so he can be a builder of peace to make peace, if you will. the pope wants to ignite christians a