and so russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov. who have been speaking on the way out of the talks. mr zarif said importantly that there has been significant progress and said that he hopes that the drafting of an agreement can start later on wednesday when the foreign ministers reconvene. sergey lavrov according to the russian wires say there has been significant agreement on all the main principle issues involved in the talks. so in the last few hours in lausanne what appear to be a significant break through. if this is correct, and i think we need to be a little cautious about this. we haven't heard from the americans, the british or the french or the german foreign ministers, there has been no statements from the europeans. if the iranians and russians are taken at their word. there'll be a meeting early in the morning. it is expect if that goes well the foreign ministers will recon reconvene to push forward the process. some signs of positive developments in the talks. >>> a turkish prosecutor taken hostage in a court in yist died after a shoot-out-- istanbul died after a shoot

his comments have been echoed by the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov who indicated that therent on the key issues. simon ma mcgregor wood has the latest from lausanne. >> reporter: the hawks near lausanne have broken up. we had that from a statement from an even u. official. in the last few minutes we have heard very positive statements attributed to the iranian foreign minister and the russian foreign minister sergei love i don't havelavrovwho have speaking on the way on out of the talks, they have said there is significant agreement. and saying they hope a draft can start on wednesday when they reconvene. sergei lavrov is saying at that that there has been significant agreement on all the main principle issues involved in these talks. so in the last few hours in lousanne, what it would appear to be a very significant breakthrough. if this is correct and i think we need to be a little bit cautious about this, we haven't heard from the americans we haven't heard from the british or the french or the german foreign ministers no statements from the europeans. if the iranians and

russia's minister sergey lavrov sold reporters that all aspects of a deal are in place.emen could be an the verge of a collapse. that's according to the united nations high commissioner of human rights and calls the situation alarm, with dozens of civilians kill. over the past few months shia houthi rebels have taken over parts of the country. a coalition of sunni states began a campaign of air strikes, leading to fighting in the conflicts. saudi arabia ground troops clashed with fighters along the borders. they appear to be threatening a fishing route. >> reporter: air strikes target houthi motions in southern yemen. saudi army say forces loyal to the deposed president are advancing to try and capture the seaport city of aden. forces loyal to president abd-rabbu mansour hadi play a crucial role in the military intervention. they are the ones to provide intelligence on houthi fighters seen here trying to set up a checkpoint on the outskirts of aden. moments later, the check point is hit. armed vehicles tanks, missile launchers are struck. there is a houthi presence insid

been solved but there are other sanctions-related issues it's clear the russian foreign minister sergey lavrov said there was broad agreement. i don't think we are there yet. remember they bust their own deadline of the end of the month, so there isn't really a deadline to cross the lines. coming up on the programme... ..arrests in turkey after a prosecutor is killed during an armed siege. plus what the u.s. is proposing from its end from a climate change deal this year. >> we will be able to see change. >> gripping... inspiring... entertaining. no topic off limits. >> 'cause i'm like, "dad, there are hookers in this house". >> exclusive conversations you won't find anywhere else. >> these are very vivid, human stories. >> if you have an agenda with people, you sometimes don't see the truth. >> "talk to al jazeera". only on al jazeera america. around here, we're all about fast. that's why xfinity is perfect for me. with millions of wifi hotspots all over the place - including one right here at the shop - now we can stream all things fast and furious. you've done it again, carlos! ♪ with the fa

russian foreign minister sergey lavrov agrees, and argues that the technology is no cause for alarm. >> i want to mark the antimissile complex s 300 is of a different nature. it is not skinned to attack nor threaten security of any eejon including israel. >> the white house said it today. the nuclear option is on the table, if iran breaks its agreement and tries to build a bomb. if systems are deployed in iran. they may be difficult to strike. at the white house on monday, president obama held two closed door meetings, part of an effort to win support with the interim deal. this assist israeli prime minister binyamin netanyahu keeps up his campaign to kill it. >> iran needs a deal more than anyone. instead of making dangerous concessions to iran now is the time for the international community to reassert and fortify its original demands for a better deal. >> also raising alarms another deal with iran a barter of iranian oil for russian goods. >> it is one that could run into conflict with the regime we have in place against iran and when i say we, the united states and the internatio

sergey lavrov the russian foreign minister left the negotiations, and the french for instance has flown back to paris. talks are under way as we speak. in fact, a fresh meeting in the last half hour is underway between the p5+1. negotiating on behalf of the international community, and iran. and still some key sticking points although we believe they have reached broad areas of agreement. so it continues to go. now, without a deadline so perhaps something that was concentrating, not there any more because they bust through the deadline. >> i wonder what needs to be overdom push it forward now. >> well there are the sticking points, i think that we talked about throughout the time that we have been here in lausanne over the last couple of weeks. we believe that it may include the lifting of sanctions on how they do that. research and development for the nuclear programme, the timeline of a deal. i don't think it's just those specifics - those sticking points that are the problem. in some ways it's what are they going to announce what will be written down in the deal. the u.s. wants a tig

comments have been echoed by the russian foreign minister sergey lavrov who indicated there was agreement on key issues. our diplomatic editor james bays is in lausanne. even though they say there's key agreement. the deadline goes into today. what do we expect to see today? >> well they were up for a lot of the night. they were up negotiating. the foreign ministers themselves, until the early hours, and the talks are gettinged underway as we speak now, in the next few minutes. back around the table. the foreign ministers hammering out the details. i have to say some of the other delegations believe there's more work to do. that that may have been a little premature. they are continuing their efforts around the table here to come up with some sort of agreement. i can tell you the u.s. obviously keen agreement, because it wanted this deadline to come up with something to show to the u.s. congress to fight off sanctions that senators want to impose on iran. and to show the safety in this process. the late at night, while talks were underway. at one point there was a video conference, a secu

. >> reporter: russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov says the european union unfairly backdated the charges, applying recent regulations to old gas contracts. gazprom says it's all unfounded, the obeys the law where it operates and hopes it can be resolved at an intergotal level, and has 10 weeks to respond to the charges, and can appeal in the courts. if it's unsuccessful in all of that it's looking at huge fines, running into billions and billions of dollars. the european union is taking a gamble. russia's main export is fossil fuels, and if you go after the companies that are responsible for those exports, then in effect you are going after the russian stayed itself. >> a london delayeder accused of -- trader accused of wiping a million off the wall street shares may be extradited to the u.s. he has had his passport confiscated and grand bail at $8 million. >> making his first court appearance at westminster management court nav i'meda singh was told he faced a full extradition hearing in august and was released on bail of $8 million. the 36-year-old financial trader is charged i

a joint conference between sergey lavrov and chinese counterpart. these are two countries involved at u.n. level in the conflict. what are they offering at the moment? >> we understand that the russians are pushing for a ceasefire or halt in the hostilities to allow for aid to get in. as we have been saying it is difficult to reach. what is significant here is so far it may appear they are not off the same him sheet and the chine he is had a statement -- chinese made a statement where they are asking for sides to adhere to the same resolutions and restore norm ate and law to -- normality and law. which means they may be in support of abd-rabbu mansour hadi, which may be contri to russia and backed the houthis. >>> the pakistani prime minister sharif is calling on iran to get involved in the debate on security in yemen, and has been addressing parliament whether to join a military captain against the houthis. the saudi arabia asked for help including aircraft and soldiers. nicole johnson with this report from islamabad >>> for over a week the governm

. >>> russia's foreign minister thomas love -- sergey lavrov to put an end to the fighting. they are hosting talks to the government and some opposition figures. the main group is boycotting the meeting. rory challands has more. >> for the first two days of 4-day talks the opposition groups discussed things among themselves. the government's representative turned up on wednesday when he did, he was handed a document formulates by the opposition and it includes discussions of humanitarian issues and fights against terrorism. it doesn't discuss the fate of bashar al-assad, syria's leader. that is important. remember, the syrian national coalition, the main opposition group in syria has been boycotting the talks, seeing the removal of bashar al-assad as a main precondition for any kind of negotiations. but the landscape for syria's oppositon groups shifted since the war began nearly five years ago. recently we have seen the rise of islamic state, and this replaced bashar al-assad as the main bogey man in the region for the western government. we have detected a noticeable softe

then we had comments on the russian services presumably as sergei lavrov left. and more or less agreement on all key issues. so two very senior crucial participants coming out of the talks saying that things suddenly have started to go much better and there was a prospect when they would reconvene. they've broken for now, but the news seems to be very positive. >> simon mcgregor wood in lausanne, thank you. a few hours president obama got an update on the talks from secretary of state john kerry and other members of the u.s. delegation. any agreement to curb iran's nuclear program could have a major impact on u.s. policy in the middle east. mike viqueira explains why some of america's closest allies in the region are nervous about the deal. >> there would be no talks after the march 31st deadline. >> we're at a point where they need to make a decision. >> the delay prolonged anxiety among america's closest allies in the region, worried that the administration is putting a deal with iran before their security. saudi arabia is wary of iran gaining influence in the

. >> russian's foreign minister sergei lavrov said that the european union has unfairly back dated these charges and it helps to resolve in an inter governmental level. it has ten weeks to respond to the charges. it can, of course, appeal to the courts. if unsuccessful its running into huge fines. the european union is taking a big gamble in doing this. as. well knows russia's main export is fossil fuels and if go after the companies that are responsible for those exports then in effect you're going after the russian state itself. >> that was roy challands reporting there. now corruption charges, hundreds rallied against what they say is a witch-hunt aimed at the former leadership. the economic development minister during his brother's presidency. he's accused of financial irregularities in a poverty alleveiation program run by his brother's presidency. >>> protesters in hong kong say that beijing-backed proposals will not allow for free elections. >> it has deeply divided people of hong kong. it shut down parts of the city including here in the financial district. now today those protes

. >> the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov was also upbeat as he headed out of the hotel in the early morning hours. he and the french foreign ministers are no longer participating in the negotiations. on wednesday morning there was a greater degree of portion from the u.k. foreign minister warning there is morning work to do. >> there is morning work to do, some detail and technical but there is more work to do. we're on it now and we'll continue at it. >> agreement has continued on wednesday and secretary of state john kerry met one-on-one with his iranian counterpart with the sense that talks are entering their final crucial hours. it seems on balance the sides are going to fall short on the kind of agreement they really wanted to achieve here. the you iranian deputy minister said that there are key differences on things like sanctions and iran's right to research and development of key nuclear technologies. >> james bays caught up with the iranian foreign minister as he took one of his regular walks and the lake in lausanne. >> how are things going? >> we're trying. we're do

. >> the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov was also upbeat as he headed out of the hotel in the early hours. he and the chinese and french foreign ministers are no longer participating directly in the negotiations. on wednesday morning there was a greater degree of caution from the french foreign minister and warning there is difficult work to do. >> we have a broad framework of understanding, but there are key issues that need to be worked through. some of them are quite detailled and technical. so there is quite a bit of work to do. we're on it now and we'll keep going at it. >> negotiations to conclude some kind of framework agreement has continued on wednesday and secretary of state john kerry made one-on-one with his iranian counterpart with the sense that talks are entering their final crucial hours. it seems that on balance the sides are going to fall short on the kind of agreement they really wanted to achieve here. the iranian deputy foreign minister speaking to his media indicate that the said are now working towards the release of some kind of press statement for wedn

. >> reporter: russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov left the talks yesterday saying he would only return if there were progress. tonight he came back. in this final phase, the u.s. and iran are leaning heavily on their nuclear experts. energy secretary ernest moniz, and iran's nuclear chef ak bar al is a leahy, both from m.i.t. but it may take more than two nuclear physicists to solve these problems. what kind of nuclear research will iran be allowed after the first ten years of an agreement? will the u.n. sanctions be lifted in june as iran demands or just suspended so they can be slapped back on if iran cheats? john kerry doesn't give up easily. but if he doesn't get a nuclear deal, he has made his mark here. a local restaurant has named a pizza after him. arugula, chicken, onion and bacon to go. even if there is a deal tomorrow, the u.s. will not get the specific commitments, all of the specific commitments that it once hoped to get from iran. that will make it harder for critics who fear the administration is making too many concessions just to get a deal. lester? >> andrea mi

sergey lavrov said they are moving closer to talks with bashar al assad. >> we are turning to our top story, the iran nuclear deal and the new comments by that the country's supreme leader. for more only, let's talk to an iranian author and journalist based in london. thank you for being with us. we have now the comments coming from iran's two main leaders the supreme leader saying that a bad deal is something that they would just walk away from, better than no deal at all and then we have the president saying sanctions have to be lifted as soon as the agreement is signed. is this a sign, then, of iran trying to posture here and perhaps a negotiating ploy? >> i think what we are hearing both from the united states, as well as iran has got two purposes number one to calm the situation number two position themselves for as you have negotiations that will come at the end of june. i think we should expect the comments to be heard of. i am supporting the negotiators but there is no way to congratulate me at this stage because we have nothing concrete therefore be i think he is just reflect

we know that sergei lavrov and secretary of state john kerry were having a discussion with each other before the announcement was made about this missile system. if lavrov and kerry were talking about this, then obviously it had some sort of awareness that there wasn't an awareness in washington, and this was not going to happen. if they didn't talk about this, then that's going to annoy john kerry considerably. so yes i think the united states will be thinking that this has been conducted probably within an indecent amount of haste considering delicacy of the situation going on are iran right now. >> thank you. polls are closed on the first day of voting in sudan's election. it was morninged by a low voter turnout in parts of the country. almost all of the opposition parties boycott the vote. catherine soi reports. >> this is what the first day of voting in khartoum looked like. for most of the day electorals had nothing to do but wait. i highlightithe highlight of this polling station was the arrival of president al bashir. >> i believe it's very important to vote. it unifies people

>> sergey lavrov is the russian foreign minister and says the european union is unfairly back dating these charges according to lavrov the eu has applied recent legislation to old gas contracts. gazprom itself says these are unfounded allegations that it always sticks to the law wherever it operates and it hopes that this issue can be resolved at in intergovernmental level. the company has 10 weeks to respond to the charges. it can also of course appeal this in court. if it's unsuccessful in all of that then big fines could well be on the cards for gazprom running into billions and billions of dollars. >> doesn't this risk making relations between the eu and russia even worse? >> one of the interesting things about this is that these charges haven't just suddenly been reached by the european union. they decided that they wanted to do this last summer, but they never did. it was basically shelved for a while and has only actually been revealed properly right now. now why did this happen? well there are many who think that tell the last summer, relations between the eu and russia was s

. >> russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov said that the european union has unfaired back dated that'sharges that what it's doing is applying recent regulations to old gas contracts. they say that it is all unfounded and obeys the laws wherever it operates and hopes that it can be resolved at an inter governmental level. it has ten weeks to respond to the charges. it can, of course, appeal to the courts. if it's unsuccessful its looking at huge fines running into billions and billions of dollars. now the european union is taking a big gamble in doing this. as it well knows russia's main export is fossil fuels and if you go after the companies that are responsible for those experts then in effect you're going after the russian state itself. >> russian opposition parties have formed a coalition to if field candidates in regional elections later this year. they have pledged to contest next year's parliamentary elections, too with the party of progress working with the party. he says there are barriers to overcome but he's sure they'll be able to attract support. >> it has come into being

the early hours of this morning there were some expressions of optimistic from javaz zariv and sergey lavrov, there was some momentum behind the process and we were hoping that by the end of the day atoday, wednesday we could get an expression of framework of understanding. that's not going to happen. when mr. zariv spoke to our colleague james bays, a sense that other powers are trying to put them under power. something he said to the iranian media on that issue our friends referring to the international powers need to decide whether they want to be with iran based on respect or based on pressure. i think that was a clear opportunity that mr. zariv took to come out here and say listen, these talks are not going well and not our fault pushing back on what he felt was undue pressure from the western powers. mr.steinmeier said new proposes are on the table and everyone is prepared to stay at least until tomorrow thursday. >> mike viqueria joins us now from washington and mike, secretary of state john kerry is staying in switzerland at least through tomorrow morning. what's the white house sayi

: we have been expecting a deal for the last three days, so surrogate lover of left the day -- sergey lavrov left before the deal, then he left, he came back, then he left again. another way back yesterday and returned late last night so you can try to read into the various maneuvers of the various diplomats, how they are looking, secretary of state john kerry, he went in and came out two minutes later, he wished he had time for it and he looked absolutely exhausted, which is hardly surprising because they have been working so hard on this agreement. but let's not forget this is not even halfway. the real details, the rail real hard work begins over the next three months to work on the technical details to create a definitive deal, which they have to reach by june 30, which is when the interim sanctions bill with iran is due to expire, the end of june 30. cory: peter cook and washington, d.c. your take. peter: my take is let's wait to see exactly what we hear not only from the europe in union and the iranian foreign minister, javad zarif, but we have heard little to nothing about the u.s. po

defending the sale, russian foreign minister sergei lavrov said the system is purely defensive and suggested it's all the more needed in light of the ongoing military campaign in yemen led by iran's rival, saudi arabia. >> i want to stress that the s300 is a defense missile system, purely defensive. it is not designed for attacks and will not put at risk the security of it original state, including israel. before iran, taking into a very intense situation in the region around it, modern or thai -- antiaircraft is needed. proof of this is the whirring development around yemen and the development of a military situation around this country. amy: lavrov also added that russia could use the money from the $800 million sale as it continues to face western-led sanctions. in washington, white house press secretary josh earnest said the u.s. has raised concerns with russia about the deal, as well as over another proposal for an oil-for-food type bartering program. >> the united states has previously made known our objections to that sale. i understand secretary kerry had an opportunity to raise thes

russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov left there week saying he would only return if there was a serious chance of a deal. he did, but we still haven't seen anything formalize yet. what's being set this morning? >> reporter: lavrov left the talks and is on a preplanned visit to tajikistan where he will meet his tajik counterparts. the russian foreign minister not going back to talks unless there's serious chance of a final agreement. he ended his last visit on a positive note saying that a framework agreement has essentially been agreed between the foreign ministers and is waiting for it to be set down on paper. from a russian point of view at least officially, the nuts and bolts of this agreement to prevent iran from continuing with its uranium enrichment program is essential oh the table. it's just as always the detail which appears to be preventing the two sides from coming together and putting this down on paper. the two main -- some the main sticking points include the pace at which sanctions should be lifted. iran has crippled its economy as a result of of the u.n., e.u., and u.s.

. >> russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov said syria's opposition and the west are moving closer to holding talks with syria's president bashar al-assad. russia is hosting talks with the syrian government and some other opposition groups. some groups are boycotting the meeting. more from moscow. rory challands is there for us. the talks have been behind closed doors. do we know about what is going on. >> well they've been going on for four days, starting on monday. what we understand is for the first two days of the talk it was the various opposition groups talking among themselves. the government's representative bashar al-assad - sorry, bassar al-jafari joined the talks on wednesday. what were the opposition groups doing for the first two days. they were coming up with a document which they handed now to the government's representative. that document talks about things like humanitarian issues we understand, and as they put it the fight against terror: what we believe it does not mention is the fate of syria's leader bashar al-assad. and it is of course worth remembering, as you s

foreign minister sergei lavrov said the framework nuclear agreement means there's no reason to withhold. fighting in ukraine between government troops and russian- backed rebels is escalating again, after more than a month of relative peace. european observers report new violence around the rebel stronghold of donetsk, including nearly 1,200 explosions on sunday alone. more than 6,000 people have died since the clashes first broke out more than a year ago. the italian coast guard rescued 144 migrants off libya today. they're the latest in a new surge of people trying to cross the mediterranean sea. many of the rescued were taken to sicily. officials say they were on dozens of rickety boats that sailed from north africa in recent weeks, as weather conditions improved. in barcelona today, the european union's foreign policy chief expressed concern. >> the official numbers of the people rescued at sea over the weekend by the, in this case, the italian authorities, were 5,600 people over the weekend. and this tells us of an emergency that we have to tackle together for the sake of saving li

"the warning comes on the heels of a visit by russia's foreign minister, sergei lavrov to cuba nicaraguad nicaragua. under discussion weapons sales access to ports and air bases and potential construction of russian military bases, recalling the soviet actions in cuba that caused a nuclear crisis a half century ago. >> they are trying to be more and more relevant in the worldwide, but if they are able to be relevant here in this region i think what they would like to be able to demonstrate as proof is that the united states is weak. >> reporter: the most pressing concern may be in nicaragua, whose marxist president daniel orring at the gas was the leader of the san dan niece ta revolution that controlled the country in the early 1980s and who remains a sharp critic of u.s. influence in the region. nick wag wa rants russian-made mig fighter jets, which it says will be used to fight drug traffickers and are purely defensive. any such sale could create a military imbalance in the region and spark an arms race among latin american nations. the topic of russian influence is likely to be raise

>> well so far we've had reaction from sergey lavrov, the russian foreign minister and from gas prom itself. it is basically reusing recent legislation to and applying those to old gas contracts that in essence it's unfairly back dating these charges. gazprom understands this is unfounded, that it adheres to the laws in all the countries in which it operates and that it hopes that there will be some kind of resolution for this at an intergovernmental level. it has 10 weeks to respond to these charges. it can appeal them in the court. if it's unsuccessful in all of that then it is likely to be hilt with a 10% fine on all of its revenues in the countries in which these infringements allegedly took place. now this is a big gamble for the european union, of course, because it knows as much as anyone that russia is a pet troll station. if you hit against russia's exporting companies like this, you are hitting against the russian government itself. >> what about the nations supplied by russia, any possibility of some kick back there? >> well, the nations where this has all been taking plac

he said he would recommend iran -- lauren -- russian foreign minister sergei lavrov said he would recommendran during the shanghai cooperation organization if the nuclear deal is successful. what would the implications of this be and how would iran and the fco partners benefit? dr. mousavian: iran is already participating on all shanghai's high-level meetings. and if iran is members, it would create more opportunities for asian cooperation between iran and china, iran and south asia -- iran and central asia, iran and calcutta, and even iran and india. this would have more impact on iran economical relations with asia. mr. pratt: just as a general for the panel, we have about 16, 17 minutes to go. it is a broad one. it is, what will the u.s. congress do? which is us going to sort of the filling a lot of air, but if anybody would like to comment on that. [laughter] over the next three months. >> hi. mom. dr. sullivan: well, the u.s. congress will do what the u.s. congress does. which is debate this issue and take partisan viewpoints and try to work it through. there is an election year coming