recent flooding in iran has affected ten million people they're slowly cleaning out but thousands of homes and roads are repat the reports. everyone we meet invites us inside their homes they want people to understand what they're going through when the first floods came a month ago. says there was no government warning no alert system just talk of the possibility of floods when it happened they read and they may have to run again. to the. water came up two or two and a half meters were worried because there is no dam here after more rain water will come up when there is any rain we just run away. oh my i pray to god not to that to happen again but there's nothing left for us to lose now just our lives. upstream rivers are picking up pace. these waters are headed for iran's western city of pulled. there's been more rain in this part of the country in the last few days and

that is meant that water is once more rushing down the river it's an unwelcome thing for communities that had barely begun to recover. as people watched the skies on the ground there seems to be no end in sight to the work that needs to be done. many people in this neighborhood say the same thing supply trucks only stop at main roads never making it as far as the back alleys where they live everyone else they say is getting more help than them. but back in just a everyone gives. i'm saying this because it's not fat women. that people cannot complain if they do that taking away there is frustration here for those who've lost all their possessions. up the road we meet military units doing the work of getting people back on their feet. members of. islamic revolutionary guard

corps hand in hand with regular army. meat they hand out ration cards clear debris or even wash windows as no one was authorized to speak on camera but one soldier says it can be thankless work the need is great and no matter how much they help he says it doesn't seem to be enough. where modern structures were torn down the river spared monuments of the past. for many people the flood has been the worst experience of their lives and as they prepare for the possibility of more rain in this ancient place there are signs that life moves on the same bus robbi old a zero pulled doctor in lauriston province iran. also to come here in al-jazeera including after the fire concerns are raised on the treasures in other parts of the world. and we'll tell you why thousands in mexico on giving up on the desperate jobs

market stay with us. how there are two areas of security at the moment they're obvious by the satellite picture one's over the black sea and one's over the caspian sea both are producing rain or snow depending on the height above sea level and affecting places like turkey and at that nexus seventy nine crew that's our cold the air is sixteen aleppo in the middle of the rain now is nothing much this is a forecast over the southern caspian bought this time because it's all gone towards afghanistan and it carries all adding to the floods on the ground but the rain that was and turkey has drifted through syria and iraq and that's the position you find it all monday leaving anchoress slightly warmer and tehran slightly cold it's.

potential of rain baghdad misses it all the rain tail destruct way down towards the gulf or mark spark a few showers in bahrain possibly qatar i think not on sunday or more especially monday more likely will see some big shot develop again in western yemen or the southwest and mountains in saudi arabia and the breeze a northerly unsubtly coming together that suggests very likely thunderstorms and fairly dusty weather as well so quite warm thirty three degrees and we got another day or possibly two days of sit substantial showers i think in south africa particularly in the east. sponsored by. people other than the way you all recalled on this trial in fact a few years ago there is place only for one state on the land of israel i do not believe in a two state solution the official story isn't there and. i don't care about the official story visit today he would say what has the media.

to graze in here join me from my guests from around the world and we debate the week's top stories and big issues here on al-jazeera. welcome back top stories this hour the u.n. but government in libya has closed only functioning airport intense fighting that's been reported by forces loyal to war. threatening to push further into the capital . several members of saddam's former ruling party are reported to have been arrested meanwhile the public prosecutor has announced an investigation into former president omar bashir for money laundering. and aid agencies are pleading for help

to deal with floods in iran it's been weeks since widespread damage was course but the continues. the gyptian xah begun voting in a three day referendum that could open the door to president abdel fatah and sisi staying in office until twenty thirty voters are also deciding on whether to allow the president to appoint top judges and to expand the role of the military rights groups for the referendum won't be free. well the proposed changes to the constitution are widely seen as a step towards more autocracy under sisi. as more. president i'll deliver to has c.c. was sworn in last year after winning his second term in office the vote was marred by claims of irregularities a crackdown on activists and potential challengers a few months earlier sisi had said he would not seek a third term by the egyptian leader seems to have changed his mind beginning on

saturday voters will take part in a referendum that could extend cc's term in office by two years and allow him to stand for another six year mandate effectively keeping him in office until twenty thirty the movie's a departure from the two thousand and eleven constitutional declaration that limits presidents to two four year terms egypt has completely eliminated opposition it's an environment of repression and fear people are terrified to to to vote to express dissent just in this in the lead up to this vote more than one hundred twenty people have been arrested for campaigning for the for the no vote sisi rose to prominence after the two thousand and eleven our pricing in two thousand and twelve he was appointed minister of defense by egypt's first democratically elected president mohamed morsi a year later sisi deposed morsi in

a military coup and eventually became president while consider dating his grip on power his government has a rusted thousands of activists and opponents many facing death penalties the trials were widely condemned by human rights groups as a travesty. over the last few years a predominantly loyal parliament has introduced a series of reforms expanding the militarist influence the referendum is also asking people to vote for a provision that declares the military the guardian and protector of the state the opposition is calling for boycott our dream and hope to have a president elected once every two turns i can to an end but since his will is not without challenges he faces armed groups in the sinai peninsula who have launched attacks against security forces and international calls for political reforms but the general turned politician seems defiant he's launching mega projects across the

country and hoping to be able to fix an economy in tatters and win the trust of the people. in the spring some breaking news here there are reports of multiple explosions in sri lanka one blast is reported to have happened in a church in the capital colombo another is believed to have happened in. his joins us on the phone now from colombo meltzer what more do we know about these multiple explosions. so far basically the locations that we're hearing the sites of these explosions are a number of catholic churches one in colombo one third colombo which is strongly dominated by the christian population where hearing that these explosions have brought quite a lot of damage local television reporting that there's been

a large number of casualties but in addition to the explosions at the hearing occurred at the churches there's also reports of some form of explosion in some locations in the heart of colombo now the. general sort of reaction in colombo is there is almost disbelief in the morning obviously many of the christian churches were having their easter sunday services and it's not something that anyone expected colombo has been that it comes along has been come on really as the of the years and years of a bloody civil war we've had almost ten years now of complete everyone is trying to figure out what exactly has happened report still sketchy we're still waiting to see official reaction from the authorities in the police as

to what exactly has gone on. all right simon overland as incremental thank you very much someone else just bringing us up to date on these multiple blasts of happened in the capital outside the capital in trying to bring you more on that of course as we get it out of there are now two teenagers have been arrested in northern ireland over the killing of a journalist police are warning of what they call a new breed of terrorist training the region's peace. the murder of larry mckay has been a shocking reminder here of what life was like during thirty years of violence between irish republican and pro british communities while the signing of the good friday agreement twenty one years ago brought peace there is still a lot of frustration in what remains the poorest part of northern ireland whereas in music that doesn't going to get us anywhere killing more innocent people doesn't really get us anywhere. it's just to play senseless. can justify even if you don't agree with

a agreement nason justifies technically or mickey's i say oh it wasn't. riots began on this pro irish estate in london derry on thursday as police raided homes looking they say the patch will bombs and other weapons the might be used in a march planned for easter monday lire was hit by someone who fired a gun apparently randomly towards a crowd of onlookers the twenty nine year old journalist had been named as one of the thirty under thirty in media by forbes magazine and had signed a two book deal to write about the conflict in northern ireland it has shocked people who thought they were on shock about a local politician a man mccown lives in an area with the highest unemployment in the u.k. almost half of working age adults in derry don't have a job young people who are living in poor circumstances and they're not getting any better they can't see any future in which there's a decent job for they are angry at the situation and which they know growing up in this it's understandable in the inevitable that some of them are going to see an

outlet for their anger and frustrations and taking up the cause was to find the syria historically and worst of they've see it has been abandoned by their elders police officers here say they've noticed a palpable change in the community as people of a cooperation following the murder the police also say they're dealing with what they're calling a new breed of terrorist two years ago in northern ireland power sharing of ministration between pro british and pro irish parties broke down and that's left a power vacuum which groups opposed to peace could be trying to take advantage of. bernard smith al-jazeera dairy. police in southern mexico have intercepted a group of migrants making their way to the united states hundreds of them were sent to an immigration center. that's according to witnesses there was no blood money reports. and this truth in southern mexico people find any way they can to

escape the police. many have been travelling for weeks or months some by foot some with children or in such the better life in the united states military leaders having a joke witnesses say people have been forced on to police buses and taken to an immigration center almost one hundred kilometers in the direction they came from god i'm going over the mother look at emma we just want protection we don't want to write we just want protection the police say they're here to help actually be amazing we're going to call the women and children in the buses so they continue on their way but not by walking because they're hurting themselves and we can't allow them to walk anymore because several have been hurt and they're carrying children that are not many escaped with their children and press on with their journey to the u.s. . president donald trump is not giving them a woman welcome he's starting to close the border unless mexico stops people from

crossing it's not just border closure there's a threat to these people taking this head on he saw a video posted online shows members of the u.s. group armed with semiautomatic rifles arresting migrants at the us mexico border people also from recruit kidnappings and trafficking but for many turning back home is no option. and you know we're being killed off slowly what our mothers gentle been doing all you claim for our lives are children who are the most important in our lives a woman fighting for our children is capable of anything. in the city of a squint mostly honduran migrants are waiting to request legal status so they can continue their journey safely through mexico and the moment you can better that i mean right i know they're crossing here in mexico is very complicated. it puts one's life at risk and we are obliged to do this because a hung jury there's no work there are no toss. when president andras men who are

the pezzo plethora took office he promised more humane treatment for microphones and issued thousands of year long humanitarian zones as. but the government is now accused of resorting to tougher tactics. to say you know what i love now the fire of. paris has raised questions about the safety of renovation projects istanbul is home to many architectural treasures but there are fears some restoration of works could be putting historic buildings in risk the barker reports. turkey's cultural capital is built on the lehrer pull their history . istanbul is a modern city that in some places literally weaves through the foundations of the past. the balance aqueduct was built by the romans in the fourth century to bring water to the city is one of many ancient body images here earmarked for restoration a large number of projects are undertaken expertly by highly trained craftsman but

many people are concerned that some repairs are below standard such as the restoration of the two thousand year old object the castle has what it used to look like here it is now a complete rebuild rather than a sensitive restoration the finished projects be compared in the turkish media to the cartoon character sponge bob square pants. stumbles historic skylines in georgia for centuries preservationists a calling from proved to renovation standards so that it in jewels for centuries more. restoration works have been conducted over and over but they're often not based on any understanding of the heritage of the building or its preservation but on imitation. that received some attempts to restore all buildings have led to their near destruction in twenty ten a massive fire broke out of the nineteenth century height of passion railway

station as it was being renovated there were quite simply so many old buildings here in istanbul that the ancient and the new jostle for space this is to quell the may. avenue that runs through the heart of istanbul eighteenth and nineteenth century buildings. by fast food restaurants and shop fronts if the world was one country. capital words attributed to french polian bonaparte today sprawling metropolis needs room to grow but striking a delicate balance between the past and the president is clearly proving no easy task. is stumble. for the headlines here on al-jazeera there are reports of multiple explosions in sri lanka one blast is reported to happen in

a church in the capital colombo another is believed happened in the casualties have been reported at the easter sunday services has more now from the capital. we look usually. a number of catholic churches one in colombo one said a number which is strongly dominated by the christian population we're hearing the believe explosion and got quite a lot of damage local television reporter who did be a large number of casualties but in addition to the explosions that we hadn't occurred at the churches. or if you. look in the heart of colombo the un backed government in libya has closed tripoli is only functioning airport with tens fighting has been reported near by. forces loyal to the warlord. threatening to push further into the capital he began an

offensive to take tripoli three weeks ago. saddam where several senior members of the former ruling party are reported to have been arrested thousands of demonstrators are keeping up the pressure on the ruling military transitional council. they want inquiries into abuses by the former regime a public prosecutor says the ex-president omar bashir is being investigated for money laundering. at least seven people have been killed in a gunfight in the afghan capital kabul attackers stormed the heavily guarded communications ministry after detonating a bomb at the entrance of the taliban have denied responsibility for the attack. egyptians are voted in the first day of the referendum that could open the door to president abdel fattah el-sisi staying in office until twenty thirty voters are also deciding on whether to allow the president to appoint top judges and to expand the role of the military fifty five million people are legible to take part but rights groups expressed concerns the referendum wouldn't be free or fair. friend

jealous protesters of rallied for the twenty third consecutive week more than twenty thousand people marched towards a central square in paris police fired tear gas and water cannon and arrested more than one hundred people but those are the headlines the news continues on al-jazeera after up from the stage and done so much better. thank you. on up front today we'll speak with the award winning bangladeshi photojournalist an activist shot at all of on his recent imprisonment and the political climate of the prime minister. but first it's the biggest crisis of our time climate change but how do we tackle it or is it too late.

climate change is ravaging our planet last year thousands of deaths were linked to heat waves and wildfires while millions of people were impacted by floods and typhoons scientists say time is running out to save civilization as we know it so what will it take for politicians in the public to tackle what is perhaps the greatest crisis of our time and just confronting climate change requires confronting our economic system taking on capitalism or is it all too little too late joining me to discuss all this and more a panel of experts from new york james hansen the world renowned climate scientist and former director of the masses got institute for space studies from l.a. vosh climate activist and co-founder of the sunrise movement that's grabbed headlines by okupe on u.s.

congressional offices and here in the studio washee c.e.o. of the global ngo christian aid thank you all for joining me on upfront james let me start with you you've been dealing with the science behind all of this stuff that decades how long do we have to tackle climate change before it becomes too late we hear a lot these days about there being just twelve years to turn things around. well there's no such arbitrary number we've reached a timeline we should be phasing downy missions now and if we do that we can still get a little bit warmer than we are now and then temperature can begin to decline but that requires that we phase our fossil fuels on the timescale of the next several decades and we're not taking the actions to do that you a new generation of millenniums say that you see the challenge of climate change as your world war two do you actually believe that result just a way of trying to get people to take it will seriously if you do believe that how

do you win this new world war i mean people are dying right now and that's what we have to grapple with that the climate crisis is already upon us there are three thousand americans that have perished in the last year because of hurricane maria we have seen wildfires absolutely raise the entire cities to the ground in a matter of minutes parts of our coastline are losing more than a football field of land a minute so the climate crisis is upon us and that is just with one degree of warming that we have seen so far and scientists are telling us that if we don't stop it at one point five or zero or two degrees we are going to reach a tipping point a point of no return so right now we're we're saying to ourselves as young people like what is the world that we're going to have to live in in a few decades if we don't do something right now amanda you're the c.e.o. of a global development and a lot of this conversation happening here in the west is about the west what impact

is climate change having already on the ground across the rest of the world especially the developing world a place like sub-saharan africa what does climate change look like to the poor who having to live through that well let me paint a picture for you and i think you're right to see that the conversations are happening here in the west but actually the impact of climate change. and is already being felt by communities in sub-saharan africa and other parts of asia i was in ethiopia recently i was in south or more which is on the border with south sudan in a place called one of the women there said to me amanda it's getting hotter and hotter and the horses and getting closer and closer to each other our crops. our lifestyle is dying and we need to find other ways of survival in terms of income sources that's the real lived experience and impact of climate change and you know where the tragedy is the tragedy is that these communities are the ones

that have contributed their lists to climate change as as we know it they haven't benefited at all from. the use and abuse and exploitation overall as a few words ok james alison you were there in front of congress in one thousand nine hundred eight you know sounding the alarm bell calling for action pointing out what the science was saying did you think that you know all these decades later we'd still be having these conversations and do you recognize that the reason we're having these conversations is a lot to do with the economic impact but fighting climate change will require the economic change that it will require the resistance to that change well you know the problem is caused by carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels so what we have to do is raise the price of these fossil fuels but we have to do it in a way that the public is able to deal with the increasing price of fossil fuels and

make the changes needed to move to other sources of energy and then the economy can work for us but so far the fossil fuel industry has been able to lobby the government and keep us that's what has to change virtually in terms of what has to be done your a prominent advocate of what's. been called the green new deal this ultra ambitious ten year mobilization plan to get the us to zero emissions zero greenhouse gas emissions and also create millions of new green jobs in the process a lot of people say that's just not realistic you're not going to get the american public on board for that. i don't think that that's true and i think what the green new deal is about is actually exactly all the things that you mentioned getting off of fossil fuels of stopping the climate crisis but tying that to the creation of tens of millions of good paying jobs actually boosting and vitalizing our economy in this process of supplement change that well and. james let me bring in

a member then general to get a mandarin james response green new deal your larry remember i think we definitely need some kind of marshall plan. for fighting climate the climate crisis it is an emergency. where i like this conversation is that science is giving us new information about the fact that the economic model that we're on is the wrong model because it is fossil fuel driven and so for me i don't think that is just a question of tinkering with the current economic model we actually have to look at alternatives and i don't believe that we don't have the know how and the knowledge as you say we can't tackle climate change as we tackle capitalism that's what i'm saying the whole process of economic development and how the west developed was an economic foundation that is actually hardwired to serve fuel at the

explanation and expense of the planet and people and unfortunately the technology and some of the knowledge is sitting in the west and it's about power and it's about wealth and unless we see such a time when the west itself is being one heavily impacted on by climate change i think that we're still going to see is slow movement this shift. to find that is nonsense we need a real deal which understands how economics works and what we need to do in order to move. and that requires in addition to this rising carbon fee with the distribution to the public we also have to have the technologies we have to help the developing countries the western world burned the carbon budget for the whole world now we've got a problem and we're going to have to help those countries that want to raise their

standards of living to match ours and so there it's a big problem but it's a solvable problem you and james out of the both agree on the scale of the challenge but he thinks he'll solution is levinson's. dad well i would say that i don't think that simply putting a price on carbon is going to be enough in this moment i think if it were thirty years ago that might have been enough and even after the most recent i.p.c.c. report the u.n. climate report that came out last fall said that we need to make our own precedent of changes to every part of our economy and our society to stop this crisis so i don't think that that's going to be enough i think we need to also however we need to know and entering into consider james that amount that. you know it's not enough but it's the underline policy that's required to make the price of fossil fuels honest otherwise people will keep burning them the same way that we did in the west

because people are energy they're going to raise your standard of living they need energy and we need to make the price of fossil fuels include their cost to society that's the underlying requirement but there is you acknowledge a development also and i just quickly touch because james talked about much ng but you know the developing world wants to much the development of the west there just under a billion people without electricity without access to electricity in the world. and this is not something that you know is going to happen overnight just by being bit by bit different days resting from fossil fuels i think we have to do more than just a day's rest a little bit i think we have to stop we actually have to stop because the emergency is people are dying on a daily basis i can't overemphasize that enough let me ask you this question in your travels especially for places like africa do you see an alliance of government

or leaders that can work to tackle this problem even if the white house is currently filled with a person who doesn't want to take this seriously of pulling the u.s. out of paris who. for the chinese hoax even without road block that is the us president are there enough governments with the willpower of our political to actually take this seriously and get action done even if they have to do go around the united states well you know leaders common goal climate change is not going to come and go unless we do something about it i think that if you look for example at the african development bank what they have done is they've got as strategy and they've raised their ambition in terms of war targets or voice of looking at clean energy sustainable clean energy and looking at greed you know many greens to reach the communities in africa so in terms of an alliance i think there are enough people there's enough momentum that we're having but can i just say that we need

a bigger groundswell. of community is yes of the private sector so james you've been campaigning on this issue for a long time people now take it will seriously when you look at the current president of the united states how much damage is he doing to your cause to your argument to spreading the the scientific facts and figures what role is he playing in undermining all of this well you know it's now he's made it easier for us to file our lawsuits we have lawsuits against trump and beginning to have them against the fossil fuel industry and he's just made it much clearer so i think the case in court is now ironclad so i expect to see some wins in the very near future let me end with the last word you're twenty five years old i believe this is only going to get more serious over the course of your lifetime how does your generation in particular avoid paralysis on this avoid the prospect that it's all doom and

gloom where we're finished there's nothing we can do we want of the just give up. well i would say the only antidote to grief and despair is action and bringing young people into the political process to make our voices heard and to ensure that this political class the establishment right now does not leave our generation to bear the brunt of impending disaster throughout our history the greatest transformational societal change that has occurred has been because tons of young people stood up and said enough is enough. james among the will have to be the thank you all for joining me on outfront. the u.s. military says it's doing it from job to violent groups across africa but over ten years off the u.s. africa command first began operations is that really the case produce a cure and already has this week's reality check we hear a lot about the u.s.

in the middle east but you know where it has an imperial scale military presence fighting on forever war front and anti terror operations most of us know nothing about. africa i didn't know there was a thousand troops in the u.s. africa command for africa on has received billions of dollars over the past decade to train foreign militaries and counter terrorism tactics and put in a joint operations it's popped up around fifteen mostly unofficial bases from morocco to mozambique and has been fighting in at least thirteen countries including what some call africa's afghanistan so mali headed out for calm insists the special operators of the fantastic job across to come but are they really as u.s. military presence has dramatically increased in africa so have terror related attacks going from forty one to nearly twenty five hundred twenty seventeen with reports saying u.s. strategy has only strengthen the hands of radical groups and the violence extends even beyond terrorists in the fight against boko haram u.s.

trained and backed nigerian forces have stormed suffocated tortured. extrajudicial executed eight thousand people in fact over a dozen u.s. trained militaries have been accused of human rights abuses from operating secret torture prisons to shooting at women and children and the us once i admitted they failed to train in values and ethics is it any wonder the majority of african countries resisted afrikaans creation partly why its headquarters were put in europe even recently thousands have gone eons protested the u.s. military saying it's become a curse everywhere they are mauritania ended a u.s. military program because they were never comfortable with what they signed up for and tribal leaders in u.s. bases are not good for the terrorists even an afrikaans sponsored study said the u.s. has largely failed to achieve its goals in response the pentagon said they would scale back some operations just not ones like the largest air force construction project of all time as

a former ally for competition put it once you start these things it's hard to turn up. for more than three decades award winning photographer been documenting government abuse and humanitarian crises around the world last year he was arrested while covering protests in his home country of bangladesh and now faces up to fourteen years in prison on charges of spreading propaganda and false information against the government his arrest provoked a worldwide demand for his release and earned him a place among time magazine's people of the year should be the law in this case is a test for democracy in a country many say is sliding towards authoritarianism he joins me now. thanks for joining me on the front of the last august you were covering the student protests in dhaka which started over a lack of road safety i believe and then you gave an interview to this channel al jazeera english what happened next. sitting up but this uploading pictures

the doorbell running. went to the door i was alone in the house. people came around the back they'd of this been lurking on the side and grabbed me . you know i know what happens in black with a sally's offices or they were in plain clothes and they didn't introduce themselves but i could work out what was going on and really about point my interest was in making sure that someone knew that this was happening to me so i resisted i screamed eventually i got taken in to a van waiting downstairs handcuffed blindfolded. and taken away. i was in i didn't know where i was taken to but one month i got there i was interrogated tortured and the thing although you know they tortured you yes they beat you the i was hit i was bleeding i was blindfolded so i couldn't see what was

actually being done and blood was dripping down from my face from my nose and mouth on to my clothes. and i was also you know they they threatened me with porter boarding they told me but he had a lot worse they talked about pins they threatened that they would. it would get a lot worse and that my partner would all together earlier this year and head to head i interviewed cal rizvi a close advisor to the prime minister of bangladesh as senior he not only claimed to be completely unaware of any harm that you suffered in detention he also said you were jailed for quote spreading disinformation which was inciting violence he accused of spreading false stories of rape which led to riots what do you say to him i was documenting things as they were happening and now i don't own a time machine so. incitement is something that happens after an event i was

recording the event and there's clear documentation of the thing having gone on for quite some time before i was recording it. there is nothing absolutely that i said or did which had anything to do with making statements myself i reported what was going on that is what a journalist does any journalese a fabricated charge implications against you and gov rizvi the prime minister the visors defended your arrest in detention he says he's your friend izzy well i do know the guy and we have met in situations. i sort of have a different definition of friends but. also they say a neighboring country india is a friend and i can see what that relationship is between our countries so i'd be wary of those friends and what's your relationship like with the prime minister of bangladesh you have seen him who has called you quote mentally sick what is it about you that bothers us so much why are you such

a threat to do things i don't know i mean i i speak out i protest i'm very upfront about what i say that shouldn't be a threat to any government but obviously this is a government that feels threatened by it. i think also. i'm not the only one. professor yunus was vilified before. chief justice was moved away i think i am i was another thorn on the path and there was an election coming up i was saying things which were the truth and therefore on politics the timing was bad for you i guess today you're free on bail but facing up to fourteen years in prison over violations of what human rights groups of called a repressive digital security law which gives the bangladeshi police the power to monitor people's online activities and arrest critics without warrants i believe it's been used more than twelve hundred times in recent years you're currently challenging the legality of the lore i believe in in the high court explain to our

viewers what you think is at stake not only for yourself but also for other bangladeshi citizen journalists if you lose your case. it's about freedom of expression and certainly about is the mainstay if and any democracy where the democracy exists in bangor they should not itself is in question but i think if we lose this case then it will be a very very poor signal for journalists and people at large do you believe bangladesh is still a democracy functioning democracy not in the way it operates officially you describe it's an autocracy by any means it has been for some time i mean while it is true that things are particularly bad now but all the way through i mean i left bangladesh when i was in one hundred seventy two a free country i came back to find a military dictator there was an election we tried to bring down the general but elections didn't lead to

a democratic process and none of the political parties we've had have practiced democracy since that. would say she won a landslide victory in december's elections in bangladesh now she's been accused of vote rigging she's been accused of violations of electoral law but at the same time it's undeniable that she's hugely popular and mother this you surely you would concede that point and she probably would have still won even if she didn't allegedly cheat it's not a problem for people like yourself that you're a critic of hers but you're in a minority in your own country i don't believe i'm a minority at all. in fact it is true that she has a following but since this is a rest i get stopped in the streets people hug me their tears in their eyes tell me you've said what needed to be said but no one was speaking out. this it's a turbulent place out there and i think there's a lid on it which keeps it the way it is is that lead related to the economy because a lot of us supporters constantly point out during her ten consecutive years as prime minister per capita income in bangladesh has tripled the economy's grown life

expectancy in bangladesh is now higher than in india and pakistan would you at least concede that on the economic front if not on the political front she has delivered for people. i think bangladesh is somewhere that's on the undeniably true i think it's done well despite the government on big not because of interest but more importantly i think the real people who make bangladesh prosper are migrant workers or garment workers or farmers in the field on the other hand you have bangladesh having the largest growth of rich people in the world today and over the last eleven years over eighty three billion dollars have been sent out of the country this wealth benefits a few people it's generated by some people it's used and abused by others your perhaps the most acclaimed photo journalist your work has been published all over the world you've trained hundreds of young photographers as well in the long run what role do you think your work play in safeguarding democracy promoting civil

society in a country like bangladesh which you say the autocracy others say is very best sliding towards autocracy what role do you think your own workplace i think there are two aspects one is and shoring accountability and transparency which is required in any system one of my concerns is that the institutions that should hold any state in in place have been gradually eroded and destroyed therefore we work on three areas media education and culture to exert pressure upon the polish political space of politicians get out get away with what they've done so far to be fair it's not just this treaty i think pretty much all the regions we've had in the past have played the same role it's just it's at a level today which we've never had before. and you're traveling abroad right now you're on bail but you don't have to leave the country is in the u.s. visiting mexico what is your message when you're out of bangladesh not just to your

supporters but to foreign governments international groups who look at other issues as a successful economy look at she has seen as an ally in various walks of life what's your message to them i think i need to point out to foreign governments that the role they're playing in being poly with blind dictators it's hugely problematic they talk about freedom and democracy i don't believe they go anywhere beyond working for self interest and it's very problematic that they will put up with applying dictator when their needs are. delivering on their own they're delivering on the war on terror which is problematic itself. but the fact that you don't place much faith in international efforts to try and check what's happening at home in your country i don't believe there is such a thing as morality in international politics last time you came on this channel and did an interview you were arrested and then beat some kind of surprised to see

you back on this channel you're a brave man are you worried what's going to happen to you when you return to bangladesh after this interview i'm wary as one needs to be but i'm the citizen of an independent state and my constitution gives me rights i'm going to exercise those rights and it's someone else's problem that they have problems with that she has a lot of thank you for joining me on up front but to be here that's our show up front will be back next week. major. to be serious no not you responding six continents across the globe. al-jazeera is correspondents live and bringing the stories they tell me i have. nothing but good news now but. let's are still.

we're at the mercy of the russian camp for palestinian breath of al-jazeera food in world news. this was wrong to teach children away from the appearance and heard them into a school against their will there was no mother no father figures they put is in the big player and we sort of look after ourselves i don't remember the children's names but i'll never forget the kind it is dark secret on al-jazeera. at least eighty people are injured in six bomb attacks in sri lanka with targets including easter sunday church services of tourists hotels.

along down jordan this is al jazeera live from coming up. fighting in libya closes tripoli is the only functioning at port as forces loyal to war without me for half time advance on the capital. protesters in saddam keep up their calls for change as several top members of the former ruling party are reported to have been arrested. it's just took a senseless and grief across the political divide in northern mali i'm a journalist in the key to. manner held by police over her killing. so we begin to some breaking news out of sri lanka reports of six bomb attacks at churches and hotels one blast happened at a church in the capital colombo another is believed to have hit and easter sunday

service in a gumbo and also have reports that two hotel resorts were also targeted well al jazeera has been else unarmed and joins us on the phone now from colombo so what are the latest details you've been hearing about these multiple explosions. narron the information so far is that the scale of the explosion have been quite significant we're hearing from the national hospital the biggest state hospital that more than one hundred sixty casualties have been brought in so far there are local reports in the media that more than twenty five people have been killed in the explosion there are two reports of casualties be brought in various words are transferred from the depiction into the national courts bitter and the local media there is a lot of traffic online on social media there are people that are circulating

pictures of the attack there are some video clips that are happening and it is very much early stages in terms of finding out what exactly has happened but that's what we're hearing so far not just the churches but also a number of five star hotels as many as three of the hotels are reported to have been targeted by these explosions karen michel just give us a sense where exactly these hotels and churches are in the capital and when the gumbo winds in relation to the capital. in terms of the bulk oh the majority of the explosions that and we're talking around the heart of colombo it's very much not just the commercial heart but where you have all many of the five star hotels all sort of doctor there on a seafront esplin need even the semantic his church the site of one of the large explosions we're hearing bordering basically back coastal bettered all within

a radius of a few kilometers and this is what we're hearing as has occurred now the police seems to have cordoned off the area people obviously there are hundreds of people not just those who had gone to those churches for instance on the services people who would also flocked around as soon as these things occurred they hitting the police and vising all the bystanders everyone sort of. crowding around the areas to be clear doing that cordon it off because one of the local media stations has just reported that it may be the possibility of for the explosions that might be more explosive devices begin the premises and they have basically asked people to clear the area and taking steps to make sure that you know the meaning my casualties. and know at this point do we have any idea as to who is

likely to be behind these attacks. that's the sort of concerning thing that i mean at this stage it's an open ended in terms of there are no obvious suspects sri lanka even two thousand and nineteen marks ten years since the end of a very brutal conflict with the tamil tigers there was a time in this country a few years ago when the moment you had an explosion it was the obvious thing it was a terrorist attack it was a time of. such a long time since the end of the war going to this nation of the tigers it doesn't seem logical to assume that this is terrorist related however we do not know but also that it has got a violent past we had a number of militant insurgency where there was a lot of violence the political scenario has not been the nicest thing when you

look at political rivalries so it is very open ended people have no idea what think at this stage yes or no i mean there are some reports that suggest this is the first time the churches have been attacked in sri lanka what more can you tell us about that. sri lanka in recent years there have been some targeting of churches now that's been on different and you had this backlash of sort of nationalistic stream is kind of targeting some of the conversions in churches this is not only in sri lanka it's been seen in other parts of the world but a few years ago we did have for example evangelical churches being attacked but this just seems to go way beyond that because this scale of the explosion the pictures of the scene underneath the church the one in colombo where literally the roof is blown out it's just a massive explosion as well as we've seen the targeting of all these five star

hotels so if even if that in might the spectrum within the specter of possibility it just seems to be from more organized. knowledge of scale than anything we've seen before. phenomenal for the time being thank you very much for that let's cross of we can to dean joins us now from the capital colombo he's a journalist who's been following this story very closely you were just talking to him an elephant and as our reporter in colombo she says this looks it appears to be a pretty coordinated attack what are you hearing there. yes actually can you hear me at all. or not clearly ok what have you been hearing what are you hearing and seeing in terms of these attacks it seems a pretty coordinated thing six explosions are reported in a column when it comes to. yes we can hear you keep getting.

reported. five of them in colombo the capital city. and then. just goes for the international airport. churches and netty in five star hotels and around over one hundred people have been admitted to hospital for treatment and there have been. around going to cash it is reported and has there been any response yet from the government from security officials. sorry i can't hear your culture has there been any response from the government from security officials. for you have the obviously issued a statement regarding the explosions in. london colombo and london they got. there have been nor the ship statement regarding explosions and i said what is in colombo. and just bring us up to date as she can if you can about the casualty

figures we were hearing that it was something in the region of about one hundred sixty yes or by three point eight five. that's the number of dead but in terms of the number of injured what are you hearing that's not the exact number but up to now it's all looking to. and where they taking i mean obviously if there are six different locations or quite a number of people who are injured and are casualties where are they talking about by up in the kitchens are incredibly sore all the injured people are being taken to a number national hospital. yes and what about what about the hotels that reportedly have been attacked as well do we know when exactly does entertains that you're doing what they're still. sorry as she could have said that again. there have been touch it even her tears that still and i just got reports from. being a. part of it yeah and can you tell us where these hotels

are which had tells they all you want the names yes please if we can just as much detail on a smart metering being a man in a grant and i'm. and then shangri-la remember and then think medical all within one hundred meters radius ok all right i'll be in for the time being we'll leave it there let's cross back if we can to our reporter in colombo minal fernandez we were just talking to. a d.m. there he's a journalist and he's been giving us some updates but just bring us up to date on what you've been hearing in terms of the latest casualty figures because the numbers seem to be varying in terms of that those injured and those have been killed. that's right daryn obviously is a very early stages as this kind of crisis unfolds in colombo in sri lanka the work we do know in terms of reports quoting hospital sources is that where they

tally to that hearing that there are over twenty five twenty five deaths but in terms of the casualties we still don't know one of the reasons for the multiple numbers coming in is because with many of these locations that are so many that there are still casualties being driven into do you mean national hospital which is keeping all of these people so it keeps going up so you do have breaking news updates on local media people who are sort of passing on information on social media so there are differing reports not conflict the reports but obviously a range of different numbers we are hearing one official report from one of the t.v. stations again citing hospital sources which says there are over one hundred eighty casualties we did hear from the person just a short while ago who said four hundred casualties again this is citing reports

that are unfolding given the scale of these multiple explosions aaron yeah i'm an l so we know that some of the attacks took place in churches some took place in hotels this seem to be very kootenay ted as you were saying earlier on very coordinated and it's very nature. that's right which is why i mean right now there's literally shock waves going through the population in this country we haven't seen anything of this scale on each of the years and in terms of the really you saw these attacks on forward it all started occurring sort of me but morning right in the middle of easter sunday services that was the first we heard the two explosions in the churches and subsequently the rest of them all followed very closely we didn't we didn't an hour or the hour and

a hump we found these record breaking that all these multiple occasions had had the explosion and basically the casualty numbers were building so it does seem which is why when we spoke earlier talking of you know who might be behind it what is likely to be the cause.