the russians and fighting russian separatists ukraine lost crimea it was an excuse by those little green men if you remember the mysterious russian forces that took over ukraine shortly after president yanukovych fled from power back in two thousand and fourteen and i think that ukrainians still tickets still very very anti vladimir putin but they also recognize that russia is their neighbor that brush is not going anywhere and that somehow something needs to be done to try to bring an end to this conflict. petro poroshenko played the nationalism card emphasizing ukrainian this through faith through religion and through language but remember that a lot of ukrainians are russian speaking and this did not resonate well with them but what's interesting is that volodymyr zielinski has one it seems this election not just from. russian speaking ukraine but ukrainians from all across ukraine and

that's really extraordinary when you think about it he hasn't divided the country it seems many ukrainians from all over ukraine have backed him for president thank you robin forrester walk in kiev the news coming out of the runoff election there is that the comedian candidate volodymyr is a lenski has won the runoff well in a landslide quite simply around seventy three percent of the vote that's his headquarters on the right hand side he was on stage earlier celebrating with the media crowding around a little bit more quiet on the other side the headquarters of president petro poroshenko looks like he will be president poroshenko as he has been defeated. quite handsomely in this runoff election in ukraine. the rest of the day's news that come on al-jazeera there is more political uncertainty in mali as attackers target an army post just days after the prime minister resigned. and

a report of my course of a is bringing back our relatives of people who went to the front lines of the syria . hello there we've still got plenty of wet weather over turkey at the moment the satellite picture is showing all that cloud rotating a verse also affecting us in syria and lebanon as well and the whole system is edging its way eastwards and it's bringing in some cool ass so we'll see a fair amount of that still turn wintery that system also you stretches all the way off towards this link of cloud here and it's still with us as we head through cheese day on cheese day you'll also notice that the winds are working their way down from the mediterranean and down towards q eight in the temperatures in kuwait all dropping away as they will in doha as well so for monday then we're looking at quite a good deal of cloud we're also looking at a top temperature of thirty two degrees the winds will pick up during the day they

are likely to pick up a fair amount of dust as well and that will really drag the temperatures down for tuesday so this time will have a maximum of twenty eight and it will still be fairly blustery at times to the south of us well his muscat thirty two degrees will be our maximum temperature and it will be rather humid here down towards the southern parts of africa and there's a good deal of cloud taper to killie have a parts of angola but also for the south as well so we're expecting to see a good deal of cloud over the eastern parts of south africa again during the course of monday so if you shop showers are likely here quite a few rumbles of thunder. up to.

you without zero mind of the situation in sri lanka eight explosions in the country which have killed more than two hundred people and left at least four hundred fifty injured the prime minister said information about the attacks may have been received in advance and that an investigation must look at why adequate precautions were not taken police calling the attacks coordinated the defense minister says

there have been eight suspects arrested and a nationwide curfew is in place also an emergency government meeting has been called and in the last ten minutes also we have seen the. ukrainian it presidential election polls close the exit polls show that followed me at selenski has about seventy three percent of the vote over the incumbent president petro poroshenko a landslide victory it would appear in this presidential runoff in ukraine. sudan now in the military rulers they say former president and his. close associates in jail the head of the transitional military council also says the formation of a joint military civilian council is being considered protest leaders have been calling for an end to military rule in the immediate creation of a civilian government they're expected to choose individuals who will take over the transitional government later on sunday. the military council

political committee has established communication with all political parties they were asked to provide their respective suggested visions and solutions for the transitional period and beyond more than one hundred views have been submitted and currently examined by the political committee within one week from now the military council will return to them with answers and a final conclusion it is agreed that the former ruling national congress party is out of the process most of us center on a civil authority an executive government. following events in a cartoon now maybe you can just spell out for us simply mahmoud what's expected to come who is announcing what we hope in the next half an hour or so. yes there will be a couple announcement in the next hour or two one of them is by the leaders of the protests the association of the news for fresh herbs and also the forces which is

part of the umbrella which is called the forces of the declaration of change and freedom thousands of people are governing now in this city in place more than in the last few days to listen to that declaration they are expected to give a list of names of people they suggest to be a part of the government and of the executive council they have been demanding a civilian transitional presidential council told the country instead of a military council but the understanding now after the statements of the president of the council today of the military council that there is a kind of up between the two sides there is a discussion about a joint council with a presentation from both sides the protesters have been demanding the cost of that is mainly civilian with a limited military representation we have to wait and see whether that's going to be a subject of agreement because there was a week that's been given now to more consultations as part of the collaboration of the announcement of the head of the military council the other announcement will be

a presser that will be given by the. by the head of the military council right after the announcement by the protesters so two successive events that will show how much how close the two sides are getting to the point of agreement or whether that there will be a divergence between them the understanding is that this discussion is going to continue but also is that the protest is going to continue. ok thank you mohammad dahlan culture and we will be back with you later as those events happen. but with us in the studio right now with. who is the founder and president of the sudan policy forum it's nice to have you back with us so from what i'm understanding from what you and i have discussed and what mohamed was just saying there's well it's it's compromise he called it reproach modern military elements civilian elements and it's about who is willing to well is it about who is willing to bend more who will be inserted and who won't be. i think. the whole

process is imbued with some flaws some. flaws i mean the choice of the cabinet a priority here. as a matter of fact there are some behavioral as well as institution and issues when it comes to choosing a prime minister. we know that the priority said this is the is simply identification of goals synchronization no resources and establishment of a communication strategy now when it comes to establishing a communication is through i think it's pretty obvious that the difficulty are arises from the fact that you would they would want to reconcile between direct democracy. which has to deal with the legitimacy of the revolution it is participate in a participatory democracy which has to do with this association of professional

people who signed the declaration of freedom and. so there you do have a serious difficulty because the army is cunningly weak it i mean they they they have already thrown in some spoil a participatory process it is people who are until recently only days or hours before omitted bashir were thrown away those people who are very keen in changing the constitution to allow him and you to him so this out and democratic forces and you've got a missile. you've got the military as you say throwing in these wild cards almost there and you know they clearly don't want to give up too much ground but then you've got this protest movement which has had so much life in it and protesters have achieved so much already and it's hard to see them backing down at this point isn't it but the military has not run out of you know some gimmicks here and there they have already allowed for some religious psycho friends to join in the protest

and that the banner you know democracy is the islamic or an islamic and it's just they are saying it's part of our democratic you know role to be in this sit in so and the fear is some of these people if they feel that they couldn't in a procedure and man a disruptive this whole democratic process they are going to go to to initiate some violence and it is in that violence that they are going to seek some changes and they are going to seek a disruption of the whole process so this this is this is very serious the military is not totally innocent i mean by very sure of their practice profession they are very shrewd in understanding that you know the act of governance is simply just executing that he said he and logic a next step but the problem with the civilians. they know what they want which is

a civilian rule but more important than knowing what you want is understanding how and why it see the how and why is the problem the thinking in ultimate games we wanted and we wanted now but it doesn't with the way it's very difficult we know that if to morrow we are given power we would have serious difficulties executing it in a manner acceptable to the whole population so that's where the difficulties come from and i feel. the we some genuine air force and some open lines of communication the civilians can come to some agreement with the military who are there but see there are media of media of ideologies within the military history itself. from the islamists. and there are these new you know the chairman and the vice chair well they will leave it there for now

hopefully as we say we will hear these news conferences to come and we'll talk to you again about it later thank you. second day of voting in egypt's controversial referendum which could extend president out there and sees these term until the twenty thirty poll happening over three days but rights groups say the referendum won't be free or fair voters are also deciding on whether to allow the president to appoint top judges and to expand the role of the military security has been increased across egypt's. there are reports of an army camp in mali being attacked in the town of which is northeast of the capital the camp was reportedly ambushed and burned to the ground sand the attackers may have killed several soldiers that's after molly's prime minister in government resigned on thursday after protests in bamako earlier this month with threats of more unrest the president is now in talks with the opposition to form a new government nicholas hark reports now from bamako. prayer

for a peaceful future from those celebrating easter in bamako as cathedral mali is without a government after its prime minister and cabinet were forced to step down on thursday following unprecedented demonstration on the streets of the capital. in march a militia group that had received backing from prime minister micah attacked full on the villagers killing one hundred sixty seven people the un peacekeeping operation in mali has more than seventeen thousand soldiers including french british and canadian troops despite that security forces were not deployed until seven hours after the attack and did this shock to the nation among the demonstrators who chanted out with foreign forces and down with the government is law student. and her daughter i said to sleep in a one seat one son of course we are angry i know you are frustrated life is getting worse for us and what happened to the people but goats has to stop it hurts us and

there's no chance we will keep demonstrating. change and security is what president promised when he was re-elected for a second term in disputed elections last august so far his critics say he's failing to deliver his prime minister a former intelligence chief relied on militia men instead of the mali an army to bring back stability but what started out in two thousand and twelve as an armed rebellion in northern mali is now turning into ethnic violence edging closer to the capital. is facing mounting political pressure he's holding emergency talks at the presidential palace but the challenge for president he brought you back mark is not only to find a new prime minister that will resurrect mali's government but one that will be that intent by the opposition the ruling party and the people who are increasingly taking to the streets to get their voices heard. the opposition rejects any

possibility for a unity government and is asking peter to step down that. he stole the election from o.c.d. given the circumstances we should be running the country we are not going to take part in any government run by somebody who robbed us it is an uphill battle for kate and for the million people. with the violence spreading it seems there is no miracle solution in this search for peace some pay the ultimate sacrifice. while others pray for their country to rise again. because hawk al-jazeera bamako. there is some debate among european nations about what to do with women and children have left and i sell in syria but in kosovo the government has decided to bring back more than one hundred of its citizens under schapelle has more on that. far away from battlefields and refugee camps in syria dozens of women are being given a second chance to be part of

a nation they chose to leave along with them more than seventy children who had no say in the matter. as most european nations stall in repatriating their citizens who went off to fight for i sold or at least support myself fighters the semi autonomous region of kosovo has brought back the largest group so far believe you got it it's an important and sensitive open ration was organized in which the government of kosovo with the help of the united states has returned a hundred and ten of its citizens who were in war zones in syria four of whom were fighters fifty two woman and seventy four children including nine lost their parents in the war. the u.s. led coalition says kosovo has set an important example to follow that's after making a name for itself in other ways. with a population under two million the tiny balkan territory produced more i saw fighters per capita than any western country ethnic albanians played some big roles

and i saw recruitment efforts the most notorious of them laughed at him who had jedi was likely killed in a u.s. drone strike in twenty seventeen. dozens of others he inspired have since been jailed or indicted as part of the government's efforts to stamp out support for the group but european countries worry that evidence obtained on the battlefield may not stand up in court and that families of isis fighters could be a security risk so i'm about news that. our aim was clear not only to make sure that our citizens are not part of foreign conflicts but to take concrete measures that the ones who already are in those zones come back to their homes. you have worked for months to make this happen. these children are innocent according to kosovo's government and may have a chance at a normal childhood after all but other european governments will now face greater pressure to take back their children still stuck at camps in syria and schapelle.

running into the headlines now in al-jazeera sri lanka of course where two hundred people have been killed and at least four hundred fifty injured in a series of explosions the prime minister said information about the attacks may have been received in advance and that an investigation must look at why adequate precautions were not taken more from an elephant in colombia. so very much the heart of colombo here i mean this is a sunday night usually there is a sea front over here to my right called the gold face anyone who has visited knows that on a sunday evening this is jam packed it's almost ending only because you have families you know spending the day and enjoying the. enjoying the fun. but it is. quiet here this evening thousands of worshippers turned out to join pope

francis for easter mass in some peter's square where he talked about sri lanka on the sacred holiday which commemorates the resurrection of jesus christ after his crucifixion. dear brothers and sisters i heard with sadness news of the horrendous attacks which on this very day sunday have brought morning to churches and other places intra longer i would like to express my heartfelt closeness to the christian community attacked while gathered in prayer and to all the victims of such cruel acts of violence i entrust to the lord all who so tragically died and i pray for the rooted in all those who suffered because of this tragic event. polling booths a closed counting is underway and ukraine's that runoff election to choose the next president and in fact the president petro poroshenko has just conceded to his opponent vuln selenski who according to the exit polls has around seventy three percent of the votes the winner will serve a five year. and it's the second day of voting in egypt's controversial referendum

which could extend president. term until twenty thirty that poll happening over three days voters are also deciding on whether to allow the president to appoint judges and to expand the role of the military we're expecting developments out of sudan in the next hour or so we'll bring those to you live when they happen in the meantime today's edition of inside story. sri lanka under attack hundreds killed and injured in north nader's attacks on churches and hotels what does it mean for this country that is still recovering from a long civil war this is inside story. hello

and welcome to the program i'm richelle carey easter sunday turned into a cena death and destruction churches and luxury hotels were targeted in at least eight coordinated blasts hundreds of people were killed many as they attended christian services the police say the first six explosions happened in one way to war came hours later they took place in the heart of the capital colombo and city seven a combo and but he coloe a curfew has been imposed in major social media networks blocked the attacks are the worst since the south asian countries civil war ended in two thousand and nine as prime minister has vowed to take severe action against those responsible and the

fernandes reports of one of the churches attacked and colombo. tragic scenes outside the locations hit by multiple explosions here on easter sunday in sri lanka just behind me this in anthony's church which had been packed with believers during the easter sunday mass and now many of them lying in body bags basically stretched out outside the church there have been some heart wrenching scenes as loved ones tried to find out where missing family members are there were at least two women who came clutching their mobile phones with pictures giving them to workers who are bringing the bodies out to try and say please can you see if this person is among the dead because we can't find them anywhere else these kind of scenes repeated in the two other churches also hit by the explosions here in sri lanka and also the hotel was the scene of the carnage all the three explosions in the top

colombo targeting the restaurants obviously busy on easter sunday at brunch where many of the guests ended up getting injured and there were quite a few feet tallit is now the government has imposed an immediate police curfew island wide that curfew initially was due to kick in for six pm to six am but given the situation where we heard more explosions being reported the government brought in that curfew brought it with immediate effect we're also hearing that in the columbus of of of demagoguery there was an explosion in a housing complex details still very sketchy but apparently law enforcement authorities were checking out a tip off from one of the flats when there had been an explosion a report of a possible shootout and reports that three police personnel were killed in that explosion so the authorities still trying to get

a handle on the situation try. and find out what is going on still very much uncertainty going on we're hearing from the education ministry that schools which were on break and due to reopen on monday will remove inclosed for a further two days we're hearing that universities it will be likewise the main international airport urging passengers to basically leave at least four hours before their flights so as far as we've heard the authorities trying to find out what has happened what has transpired who's behind it been a finance for inside story. on our panel now joining us from colombo on skype shihan pereira executive director of the national peace council a sherry longa from london charulata hogg associate fellow of the asia pacific program at chatham house and visiting michael de palma

a fellow at the brilliant institute i'm from oxford going to tellico researcher at the on of our institute of human rights and legal director of verity research in sri lanka welcome to all of you to the program and i'm sorry it's under these these circumstances this is the worst violence that sri lanka has seen since going through a torrid terrible civil war so having said that. how do you think sri lankans are process and what is happening i think we are doing things with this sense of this believe this is totally unexpected for ten years experience no wild and no wind and so this no terrorism of this here our terrorism in any sense you know we. have been to this country has been so free you can go into a hotel without any check are you when then you going to the airport there is

hardly any safer. of course i think that was we were to relax perhaps but that you know where reflected the lack of social tension and anger of communities against each other because we had you know we're up to the end of the war has been the accommodation and a sense of freedom and goodwill which has now completely been shattered by what has happened. ok tara you're your take on this as well how how shocking will this be to sherlock and. i think i think john is absolutely right he's got his finger on the pulse it's come as a massive shock to both people within and outside completely unexpected it's also interesting that you know it seems almost disconnected from the narrative in sri lanka and the discourse in sri lanka there

has been tension around religion certainly and the muslim minority have come under attack a lot since two thousand and twelve they have been attacks on the christian community as well but an attack a very coordinated attack of this scale including on tourism sorceror for a double pronged attack on two institutions the incisions of the state which target foreign nationals as well in terms of the tourism because it's going to have a massive impact on the economy and the second in terms of religious sites is is quite unexpected an unprecedented you brought up a lot of good points that we're going to come back to in this discussion the first i just want to start with as well how how shocking to the system is this this happening on on a on a christian holiday how shocking to the system will this be to share long guns. are

things going to be very shocking because and it is shocking because it is unprecedented in terms of the scale of the world and the sheer geographic nature of the violence that would happen across the island although we might include the eastern province and also in colombo and places like new goma so the sheer scale of sophistical. of the coordinated attacks i think it's going to be very shocking having said that i agree that there has been a lot of religious tension and conflict in the last six or seven years particularly targeting the muslim community christian churches have been under attack for a very long time but nothing really compares to this particular speed of attacks and i do agree that it seems disconnected to the tensions that exist in the country

this seems to be something entirely different an entirely new so you both brought up that point i want jay's take on that jay what do you think are there local tensions and there's always you know local tensions that that find their way into a country what does this feel like to you. both said that the scenes disconnected to to the atmosphere in sherlock and what way. because you know the internet and interreligious tension in the days there has been but if it is local and largely look at those small scale incidents with the muslims it has been a little larger but not of this is just diabolical in nature. and now. the inference is. that maybe the international. terror has come to sri lanka and also that the government has been remiss in

permitting this by relaxing security by not giving the media and the police the powers they need and that therefore the government is to blame for these international terror to come into town but what i find it hard to figure out is why issued an international terror group want to strike three not god what is the benefit in it for them so. i say this because several of the attackers that have been identified appear to be some recent bombs suicide bombers i can't i'm going to let me stop you for just a moment just to be clear with our viewers we know at the time of this conversation this is a rapidly developing story at the time of this conversation we do know that there have been some arrests but we don't have a lot of details on those people for now just to be clear with our viewers we don't have a full picture now but but to your point you're saying that if this was some sort

of international attack you're saying that that just seems odd to you to inflict on sharia law as that we're saying. exactly what is the motivation detection unca. because we can assure that the tension between sudan cut the tension between that would be that. is not of that level to warrant some international attention from international terror groups on the strike should i think of that's what i can't understand so therefore my thinking is more already into two words. the sri lankan system itself of that something between sri lanka is what has brought forth this monster. to you what are the questions you're asking yourself about about who and why and the aftermath that this. absolutely i think i would agree with michael panelists that this is searchers sort of punch in the gut and goes against all our. you know understanding of what was and what is

happening in sri lanka i think for me the most. they did many issues one this attack has happened a month before a very momentous event in the issue lankan history which is on the eighteenth of me twenty nine hundred next month will be ten years which marks the end of a very. bloody conflict and my question is does an event like this come in the we of. preventing people from a collective grieving that they are very much they have a right to you know already there are tensions in the north and east the north particularly is extreme be militarized and there's a lot of pressure on the tamil community the root causes which actually lead to this sort of decade long insurgency and civil war have not been fully resolved

will this add another layer to to the state responses and with the state then be justified in adopting its previous and ongoing authoritarian approach in terms of using emergency legislation and rather draconian practices to to get to the bottom of this and that's one of the questions that i'm nervous about what does it mean for people in sri lanka to have something so horrible happen to them in terms of their civil liberties in terms of their political rights and their rights to expression and assembly and and a collective mourning that needs to happen so that's my first question and all. what it means in terms of community relationships ok i want to pick up on the point you said about civil liberties and that's actually something i wanted to discuss in the in the aftermath of horrible things like this it is not uncommon for some

governments some countries to. take a really hard line with people's civil liberties they say in the interest of getting to the bottom of what happened because people obviously want to know what happened they want there to be justice but do you have similar concerns about. people retaining their civil liberties and maybe the government going too far. i do have those concerns particularly because we have a legacy of a very strong emergency powers being exercised by the government and also counter-terrorism legislation that has been used not only to target criminal elements but also those who oppose the state political voices particularly but i think it is too soon to speculate as to really what the government's response is going to be beyond really focusing on the perpetrators that have been apprehended

right now i think there's going to be a lot of fear and paranoia that envelops the country and you can expect the government to respond to that in some some fashion i think civil liberties are certainly at risk particularly freedom of expression and freedom of political opinion that is critical of the state we already have a situation where curfew has been declared and there's also some news that social media channels have been blocked however i want to emphasize that these are responses that may also be necessary in the short term and i don't want to speculate as to whether they'll be long term implications for civil liberties in general ok having said that i do think that the community that might be associated with this particular attack will face prejudice and we need to be careful as a society as we move forward that we don't let that prejudice really take control

of the narrative in the aftermath of this violence. you make some good point so ok i want to i want to come back to you and saying you know we can't really read too much right now into the government's response it's literally just happened a few hours ago but nevertheless that this government has been in conflict for october or november or december of last year serious conflict do you have confidence that politicians can work together in the best interests of sharia law against it to figure this out on to deal with it or do you see that this could descend into politics and and appealing to people's worst instincts. yes you have your current for the last several months the government has been facing conflicts within it. was a coalition government and in fact it is because the president has gone from one party and from another party and travelling to work together as a result of this government seen as somewhat weak government. in which there are

many voices but that is also a reason why this government has been good for our democracy and for a sense of freedom might be that is that this government. is the evil of this government when i heard of the of these mass violence and atrocities taking place. that quick and that was there were several such incidents then the deal was with someone wanted to go to someone else on the table but this is happened recently where our prime minister was sent by the president. so there is a precedent for this i would have i would hope not because but we are i'm also mindful that we are heading towards elections the elections that you presidential elections in six months so what's happening now will have a bearing on those elections and already people are talking i hear voices saying that if the government because this government has been too soft on security this

government has been on that one too hard on the military and on the security forces looking for accountability and looking for accountability because of international pressure is listening too much to the international community is looking too much into human rights is looking too much into possible war crimes it has to be more like it's the military and police and therefore what we need is a stronger government so i'm i'm concerned about the survival of this government i would i would hope that this government can overcome this problem that they will do enough fact finding find out who is behind this city and take the necessary action according to the rule of law ok. let's talk about the christian community which was clearly targeted the christian community and in sri lanka is made up of multiple ethnic groups can you tell us what their place is and and as you have said i think

at the same think they have been increasingly coming under attack in the last couple of years. yes i mean i think in some it's important to also keep in mind the unique place the christian community has played all through the years of the civil war and in a way they've been this sort of a.d.'s of which is near. the different ethnic groups together so you have time in hindus in term in christians and the christian community has sort of in each of this the province's affected by the conflict they have believed very positive rudy in terms of. you know bringing being being a source of comfort for affected communities in bringing humanitarian intervention in plain view of a useful rule of interlocutors in the very sort of fumbling

transitional justice process so there is a very special pleas that the christian community does or keep and whilst as we've discussed before that there have been attacks on christian sites and individuals prominent leaders have also come under attack it doesn't mean that there is the tension as a group you know they're not demonized as a group either politically or socially so it's really quite bizarre on some level and almost you know something that's in comprehensible to understand why such a. such an attack would be perpetrated against this community and on their sites so yes. it adds to the mystery of making sense of these attacks on is. laid out a really nice picture of the role that the christian community has i'm sure iraq

and the things that they do for other people do you see the rest of the country rallying behind them now that this this. horrible thing is happen to their churches on the holiest day of the year for christians. i think there will be solidarity behind the christian community i think it's already been shown from what i've gathered on social media to some extent i do think that the christian community has been targeted in a sort of unprecedented manner in these attacks it begs the question as to why any attacker would be motivated to pick on this particular minority group because christians as you will know it is a minority group in sri lanka. so i think nor local narrative can actually explain the motivation behind these attacks and i also mention it's hard to imagine a global narrative or global behind these attacks so i think we need to

explore other alternatives and try to make sense of this particular attack and ask the question as to where the christians intrude in some way instrumental in a sort of regional context and i think that is what i would like to explore in terms of some of the reasons as to why here and now we're seeing christians intrude longer attacked at this level. john i i asked i've been asked this last question and i asked it last for a reason because a loss of life is clearly the most important thing but this was brought up in the conversation because it matters as well tourism people love to go to sherlock it's a beautiful beautiful country and it seems clear that hitting the hotels has to be some sort of a met at the tourism and the economy what would you say to someone who now feels scared. well i told my children who

are very boring them so then go on to go to school i said that this problem will not and that it is it is an event it is and you saw it when it is being done for a purpose but that is not within our country there is nothing to sustain this the people don't want this are our elites don't want this someone wants it it's true but that can be put to us that can be stopped because the society as a whole doesn't want us there not in this continent. charo deal with that. yes absolutely i think this ocean fabric and the many forward lines in sri lanka which which cause simmering tensions through the country but i often sort of living through decades of civil war and. equally i mean to a degree of course this is unprecedented but they have been brutal attacks in the

past and i think for those of us who who have been to see associated with sri lanka the central bank attack the many assassinations you know did they they will live in public memory and nobody wants a repeat of that i think people have said no to violence so i think something like this is not likely to find support or all have resonance with people if anything i think it could become a binding force the the issues to guard against that it is not when you plead to it against a particular community and the government also does it is on when you plead to it to ensure a change in the political system and all the fears that there do exist about the current government didn't come true all right that will be the final word on this discussion thank you to all of you for joining me appreciate it very much to him pereira. hog and going to tell again thank you and thank you for watching you

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crimes committed against civilians we've moved out of syria six hundred thousand pages of material so that one day they can bring the outside regime to justice it puts a human face on the charges it's a dead human face but it's a huge interest in syria witnesses for the prosecution on al jazeera. new yorkers are very receptive to al-jazeera because it is such an international city they're very interested in that global perspective that al jazeera provides. technology. leading the way in the digital revolution. making a difference in the unlikeliest of places. this week tackling sexual health things that africa and engineering social change in london inspiring young people to come to do so because they sold it to the same man for all taking. the final episode of life while the baths on al-jazeera. conservation is helping

kick the stove to recover its snow leopard population to see the results i traveled up to the remote nature reserve of saudi chaat at touch. traps have identified a healthy population of up to twenty snowed up it's just the technology improves we're finding all these ways in which our guesses are are getting corrected and the latest evidence suggests that more cats than previously acknowledged but the slope of trust believes it's premature to downgrade the cats on the international based of threatened species. this is al jazeera.

santa maria and this is the news hour from al-jazeera. the shock and the agony in sri lanka at least two hundred people were killed hundreds more injured in multiple attacks across the country should i could police have arrested several suspects as the prime minister of feels the government was warms of an imminent attack and all the news the head of sudan's transitional council says a joint civilian military government is being considered as the protest movement is jus to announce who it wants to run the country. i maryam namazie and london with the top stories from year at the including i television comedian claims victory in ukraine's election as exit polls show london

is a landscape landslide win over the incumbent president petro poroshenko. sunday evening now in sri lanka where more than two hundred people have been killed in multiple attacks on several churches and luxury hotels it happened on the morning of a system that one of the most important days of the year for christians sri lanka's defense minister says police have now arrested several suspects and a nationwide curfew is in place these were coordinated attacks they targeted worshipers cheering church services marking easter as well as those prominent hotels in the capital and at least four hundred fifty people were injured in the attacks thirty two foreigners are believed to be among those killed should. because prime minister is running promising and he has called those behind the attacks

terrorists at that but i am requesting all the people of sri lanka to be calm and help the investigation process without falling prey to the tourists if any group or to risk group is trying to break the stability of the country in this moment we are going to who goes attempts by taking international support we've also heard from the cardinal archbishop of colombo who had a very strong reaction to the attacks comparing the attackers to animals. i also like builds the government. for a very. strong inquiry and find no police response will be and these acts and punish them mercilessly because only any murders can be it like. we will be getting the latest from an elf or nando's shortly who has been reporting live all day from colombo we're going to start the news hour though with this recap of how things unfolded from warburton many. one blast so violent

it ripped through the roof of this church in the heart of the capital. the floor covered in remains of the roof void and a lot was this video posted online shows the moment of the blast was sundance's charges popular with locals and foreign tourists after the explosion shock and disbelief. and i was i heard the explosion and then the roof fell on us we took the children and ran out from the rear door but when i came to the hospital i saw my brother in law and son on the ground. three separate churches bombed on easter sunday one of the major celebrations in the christian calendar but it wasn't just christians targeted so were many other people and tourists as part of a much wider operation they are the casualties we build them for that we

transported them to their national hospital and then we have been advised to come to their shangrila bombs also rips through five star hotels. in the heart of the capital and all close together are the shangri-la cinnamon grand prix hotels and the centonze the shrine church st sebastian church no gumbo and zion church in batticaloa were targeted also the tropical in hotel in the suburb of to have ella the eighth explosion was intimate to go killing a number of security personnel the police had descended from the apartment block there looking for suspects several were taken away for question names. missy dewey my rock i would like to express my condolences to the families of victims and those injured in the attacks that took place we will take stern actions against all those who are responsible regardless of their stature

a nationwide curfew is in place and social media sites shut down. this is the largest coordinated string of attacks in sri lanka in recent years and so far no one has claimed responsibility i. hundreds of injured people are being treated in hospital friends and families of some victims came to this hospital in colombo to find out what has happened to them with many people dead and widespread damage people here are asking who did this and why i was sure about a manly al-jazeera. just after eleven thirty pm in colombia right now here's mel fanatism. just put it simply what an extraordinary day. it's been an unbelievable one come over with people still trying to come to terms with what unfolded here in sri lanka this easter sunday right from mid-morning it

was shock after shock as we heard that a number of churches had been targeted during easter sunday services explosion ripping through their congregations that had gone to celebrate one of the coverlet catholic calendars most important ok asians subsequent to that it also transpired that there was a series of explosions in three of the top hotels in colombo basically five star hotels where many many tourists gather now these had also been a very sort of picked individually it was the restaurants of these three mean that had been targeted obviously a busy sunday morning easter brunch and we saw the results when you look at the death toll talk of two hundred seven people killed in terms of the numbers so far and out of that thirty five tourists obviously those are many of them from those

three tourists so as that unfolded people were trying to come to terms with what exactly was going on sri lankans haven't seen this scale of attacks this kind of organization off or off city for years it's been ten years this me since the end of the war that the government waged with the tamil tigers who were fighting for a separate state of very bloody conflict where we had suicide bomb attacks and a number of heated maskil sort of bombs but for the last ten years it's been relatively peaceful we haven't seen anything of this magnitude come out so very much disbelief and then later on as the morning progress we had two other explosions in colombo suburbs one of them reports indicated that the police was following a lead it led to a housing complain. yes where there was an explosion we also heard reports of an exchange of fire we've seen that the local t.v.

has carried some pictures of a couple of people that have been apprehended at this location taken in for questioning and according to the state defense minister seven people arrested so far so now a police curfew in place throughout the island until further notice while people are trying to take stock and the authorities try and figure out as soon as possible what exactly happened and who is behind it. as we say an extraordinary day in sri lanka thank you michel fernandez also joining us from colombo muhammad ali somebody who is a senior lawyer at the president's council he is also a sri lankan muslim community leader thank you for your time and it's late in the evening now but tank me back to earlier in the day tell me about well what it was like when you first heard about this news you know thank you very much it was one of the that the us wants said it is in life the bush shot these this kind of this magnitude. we have not seen for

a long long period of of course we have grown up this kind of terror for about thirty five thirty years but during that arse twenty years or so. they let you come you have good peaceful coexistence on and off there had been dumped already. violence judy we had a good calm and peaceful environment and we couldn't do was just all. be all but certainly you said what happened. i tack a new christians in church on easter sunday it is so very targeted so very obvious what has been done here what do you make of what could be a religious angle to this attack i know that what hotels attacked as well but there does seem to be a religious edge almost to it. yeah you really don't know about the

investigation so. that that be going to be senseless. i think that anybody would do all these kind of blood. and go to money and who any any don't race or religion because if you all funnel any faith. dick out something use the magnet to that nature but it's. very sad that christians and catholics up warner brothers and sisters straight on get excited and relationship to each and most of us looking to get. everything one must have been good at that. other than all on and off that some isolated incidents of violence and extremism but this comes as a huge shock but clearly in this that it goes. on on a day that today easter sunday and the churches and definitely yes he's

kind of foghat tacked on that. investigations are only going. to look at these including the positions that are being bit of any council and not the anything and. of course that despite being tight really appreciate the approach beach. can act. and what do you make of the government response so far there's two things that just about for me one was the decision to. ban social media usage very quickly and the other is the prime minister saying in the last couple of hours that he believes them was actually some warning on this yeah i mean the first bite and i think the betting this will show the media i learned from that last year strike getting yet a dent in the us much and government didn't get back.