confront these issues, come up with a roadmap that makes sense, and we will confront if they challenge their own citizens on the issue of human rights, you will hear us loudly and clearly. very good discussion there with u.s. secretary of state john kerry on what next for cuban/u.s. relations. now, japan is commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of world war ii with services around the country. earlier, emperor akihito expressed deep remorse over the conflict. prime minister shinzo abe offered profound grief for the millions killed and remorse for his country s participation, but mr. abe said future japanese generations shouldn t need to keep apologizing. of course, many young soldiers paid the ultimate sacrifice during world war ii, but a bond has been formed between the family of an american airman shot down over tokyo and a japanese man. he has fulfilled his father s final wish, and as will ripley now reports, it is now a mission
this would be the first actual substantive meeting between these two presidents. they ve made history by being in a conference room together and, of course, there was a meeting between foreign minister bruno rodriguez and secretary of state john kerry on thursday night. you have a succession of events here in panama of changing the course of u.s./cuban relations, putting the perpetual hostility of the past in the past and opening the door to as obama himself has said a new era, a new beginning in u.s./cuban relations. what would they be talking about? this isn t the first time we ve seen them in each other s company. recall during the nelson mandela funeral, they actually shook hands then and that was quite seismic. give us an idea if you could, what would their dialog be? how much would they be talking about the future or the plans, the vision that the two of them see for a better u.s./cuba
the strikes started again. guess what started in the suburbs of damascus and other places? the intensified military action against the free syrian army. so who wins in all this? who wins in all this? i can tell you it s a blow to the morale of the free syrian army and our friends in the region, our befuddled [ inaudible ] cannot help but encourage the iranians when it comes to the nuclear weapons issue. one last question for you, sir. former senator, now secretary john kerry is a good friend of yours, he s over there right now. assad saying today that this threat of force by the u.s. has to be taken off the table. putin has said similar things. it s obviously what the russians are going to be pushing john kerry on. what s your message to him on that issue? my message is don t do it. by the way, the israelis have struck weapons places where
of the conflict in syria. i m sure you know that there is a very real possibility that none of this will work out, especially since the russians want the u.s. to remove the threat of force from syria as these negotiations take place. syrian leader bashar al assad who the u.s. accuses of using poison gas on his own people, well, he echoed the russian position today. translator: i want to clearly express to everyone that these mechanisms will not be carried out unilaterally. this does not mean that syria will sign these documents, carry out the conditions and that s it. this bilateral process is based first of all on the united states stopping its policy of threatening syria. also, to the degree that the russian proposal is accepted. the united nations says that it has received a document from syria saying it wants to join the international treaty banning chemical weapons. secretary kerry will be in geneva through tomorrow for the negotiations with russia. relations have been cold
first it was wildfires, now it s flash floods sweeping away cars, washing out roads. what s next, a plague of locusts? good afternoon. i m jake tapper. welcome to the lead. we ll begin with the world lead. secretary of state john kerry is in geneva meeting with his counterpart, russian foreign minister sergey lavrov. their summit is crucial in determining whether the u.s. should buy into russia s plan to strip syria of its chemical weapons and also in determining just how serious the russians are about carrying this all out. this is not a game. it has to be real. it has to be comprehensive. it has to be verifiable. it has to be credible. and finally, there ought to be consequences. if it doesn t take place. i m convinced that our american colleagues as president obama stated are firmly convinced that we should follow the peaceful way of resolution