back on the highway linking to tripoli to the city. it is the third and final day of voting in egypt's controversial referendum which could extend president up the term in office until twenty thirty the official results are expected to be announced on tuesday but rights groups say the referendum what to be free or fair if approved the changes could allow the president to appoint top judges and expand the role of the powerful military there is heavy security across egypt mom of the last three is associate professor of media and cultural studies at the institute for graduate studies and he says these amendments further entrench dictatorship. there is very little opposition in egypt the egyptian government has done a very good job of consolidating power over the last six years they've eliminated opposition parties they've shut down opposition media just in the lead up to this vote they've shut down thirty four thousand websites belonging to dissidents who are trying to organize

a ball to live void campaign they also arrested political figures about one hundred twenty of them in the lead up they banned a protest that was scheduled so the really is no space for dissent in egypt at the moment and i think you know a lot of analysts are predicting that it's really a matter of time before there is another sort of protest movement another another uprising there are sixty thousand nonviolent political prisoners in egypt many of them are in jail for expressing the kinds of opinions that you just that you just mentioned unfortunately egypt took a step forward with the revolution and then and then took about two or three steps backwards and particularly since two thousand and thirteen and these amendments further entrench military dictatorship in egypt and i think you can expect even more repression and power consolidation unfortunately still ahead on the bulletin of regional security talks on the agenda of the pot funny pot minister meets every

ounce president. what next for ukraine now that march seventh action to form a committee and as president. hello again we're here across parts of north asia we are going to be seeing the weather started to terry rate as the system is coming out of parts of china so over the next few days we do have this low pressure here that is going to be making its way towards the northeast so nice conditions in japan here on tuesday particular up here towards the north where i'm going to see mostly sunny. editions but here is that area of disturbed weather passing or shanghai bring a rare very heavy rain there with a temperature of about twenty nine degrees as we go from tuesday to wednesday that system does make its way over the korean peninsula as well as into southern japan and some of these showers could be heavy at times where we are going to see some possibly localized flooding in the higher elevations up towards and die though it

is going to be a cloudy day temps are not too bad at twenty and tokyo some rain showers as we go towards wednesday evening where across parts of china temperatures are quite warm we'll see temperatures into the low thirty's in some locations some rain showers making their way over here towards the east but the temperatures here for food show thirty three degrees is going to be a high here on tuesday but hong kong the rain is going to be to the north of you but we do expect to see some you would conditions with the temps are there of about thirty degrees as well and from manila we are looking at your temperatures rising temperatures of thirty five degrees as we go towards tuesday and possibly up to thirty six by the time we get to wednesday. in syria citizens are collecting evidence i know your particular shot of crimes committed against civilians please move out of syria and then six hundred thousand pages of material so that one day they can bring the assad regime to justice it

puts a human face on the charges it's a dead human face but it's a human tricks syria witnesses for the prosecution on al-jazeera. what have you what i've gone on to the andes on top stories. sri lanka's president says he lost foreign assistance attract international links to sunday's bomb attacks the government has also declared a nationwide emergency to give police and military extensive powers to detain and interrogate anyone without. at least two hundred ninety people were killed in

sunday's attacks so don's military council has ordered people to stop blocking roads and police do their jobs the warning comes as protests to say they'll suspend talks with the council that deposed president omar al bashir earlier this month and egypt the voting in a third and final day of a referendum to change the constitution if approved the proposals could allow the president to stay in power until twenty thirty results are expected on tuesday. iran's president hassan rouhani has revealed the development of a joint border force with pockets he made the announcement after talking to pakistan's prime minister and. for a two day visit have been discussing trade and border security relations between the countries neighboring countries have been strained and recent months well let's get more on this our correspondent same bus is joining us live from a joint force one of the series of measures announced by the iranian president saying and the sign of a strengthening relations now. absolutely

iran's president hassan rouhani characterized this visit by the pakistani prime minister it was a turning point in their relationship and there was a bold agenda set forth among them of course this rapid reaction force to respond to violence that's been happening on both sides of their shared border on the pakistan side is the baluchistan province on the iranian side it's just on baluchistan province and in the last few months since the start of this year there have been attacks on armed forces of both countries and both countries have said that the other is not doing enough to contain the armed forces operating from their soil and so. this was really a moment where those tensions were put to bed in some way now this rapid reaction force what exactly does it mean what exactly will that entail does it mean that both nations will have the opportunity to carry out hot pursuit of armed fighters if they need to across each other's borders we don't know those details as yet but the fact that this is happening at all the fact that they've carried out in this

cooperative way the fact that they set out a very ambitious economic agenda as well all of these things point to a kind of changing dynamic between these two countries it's not a bilateral relationship that makes the headlines on a daily basis so the handshake the warm smiles exchanged between the leaders of pakistan and iran certainly indicate that the two are trying to not just men fences but change the dynamic of their relationship among some of the things that they discussed were a lot of economic cooperation iran's leader has pledged to ship a gas along a pipeline to pakistan to help out with pakistan's electricity shortage by providing them electricity again pakistan is a country that she's rolling power cuts on a regular basis rouhani announced a barter system to exchange goods expanding cooperation at each other's major ports cooperating on resolving the problems in afghanistan to try to enable peace between the two countries and imran khan said the same thing about india and about iran saying that once there is peace with india he kind of predicted

a very positive future where pakistan could be a trade corridor for iran to get to indian markets something that rouhani is administration has been working towards for some time so a great deal of ambition between the two countries that could signal a new dynamic duo if you will in the region and at a time saying when we are expecting the u.s. to put even more pressure on iran and. to sell oil to a rather. allowed to can't buy oil from iran. exactly exactly we've been hearing reports from early this morning that the united states is going to announce the waivers that were put into place when it when it established to reestablish the oil and banking sanctions on iran a country some of iran's best oil clients were given waivers for approximately six months this was back in november we've been expecting those waivers to expire next

month and we are expecting to hear from the u.s. that those waivers will not be extended now we've also simultaneously heard reports that suggest that iran is not without its friends one of its biggest clients china came out and said we'll continue to buy oil and iraq most importantly one of iran's other very strong neighbors iraq has said that it has no other option other than dealing with iran as one of its closest allies one of its neighboring countries and one of its most important economic partners so despite these threats of not a lot of waivers we've heard from the oil ministry in the last little while and they've said that the american attempt to reduce iranian oil sales to zero simply will not work and there seems to be some sort of truth to those statements coming out of tehran today zain thank you very much for that and now that is the all the nations live and thank you and a saying just said china says it will continue buying iranian oil despite threats

of sanctions from the u.s. katrina has more from beijing. china's foreign ministry spokesperson lu khan told reporters today the china consistently opposes any unilateral sanctions from the u.s. on iran and that any trade it has of the run is in accordance with the law now beijing's ties to terror are very strong while other countries across europe and asia have backed away from their relationship with the country china sea and so have only strengthened it iran is one of the major participants in its belton road initiative and oil is a very big part of this relationship china is the biggest buyer of a rainy and for oil now china along with a few other countries received a waiver from the u.s. to continue buying oil until the beginning of may but unlike other countries such as italy or greece china has not significantly reduced its own purchase of raining or oil and every year it's estimated to buy about fifty billion dollars worth of iranian or now china has

a huge energy demands and it really needs at this oil its own supplies of oil i think drilling in recent years and because of this it's unlikely that they will heed any warnings from washington to stop purchasing iranian crude oil now what this is likely to do is further strain the relationship between washington and beijing and that's not a good thing because these two countries a currently locked in intensive discussions trying to end trade tensions trying to end a tit for tat escalation entire of search began since last year and these any tensions could also endanger any cooperation when it comes to denuclearize ation on the korean peninsula they jim is pyongyang's main ally and beijing supported any talks between the u.s. and north korea when it comes to really ending the development of nuclear weapons is crucial. in actor and comedian for a lot of his the landscape has won the presidential election by a landslide the political novice the estimated to have received around seventy five

percent of the vote as rival try to polish and co has conceded defeat robin forced to walk over ports from kiev. having played the role of president in a t.v. show below to meet zelinsky is now on course to make that role a reality winning an overwhelming majority of votes cost on sunday. thank you to my parents for their support and for living through all of this thanks to my team for their strength and stamina has my wife heard all of the things that was said about me in this campaign and perhaps she would never have married me faced with defeat president petro poroshenko was magnanimous but he will continue to play a role in ukrainian politics the ukrainians dear ukrainians i want to underline that the new president will face strong opposition very strong but i want to say that the country our ukraine which is the best in the world well only benefit from

it. poroshenko painted zelinsky as naive and did experienced dangerous for a country at war with russia with questionable links to an unsavory oligarch. but zelinsky patrice himself as a simple guy who had come to break the oligarchic system a corrupt system many ukrainians believe poroshenko as a wealthy businessman belonged to it was either a protest vote or a genuine belief that a comedian might make a worthy commander in chief a martyr just maybe it is time maybe those who think differently i am majority. choice is very simple either or either hope or a like with zelinsky is hope but you must mean we want change. flood to meet zielinski i fictional president now it seems the president elect.

fiction has become fact. zillion ski and his team consider break this election victory but defeating corruption. and ending the war with russia is going to prove harder word in english. he may be funny but ukrainians have shown little patience the president's failed to deliver first you walk. here. fane leave them there in a mcdonald's call for an end to violent rushing in northern ireland following the murder of journalist a key the head of the irish republican party made the comments during easter rising commemorations in belfast twenty nine year old the key was shot and killed while observing rioting in london various creggan a state on thursday night. is cast time now for these groups that masquerades as republicans to pack up and pack it in. their activities and to let the

people get on with the work of building a new united ireland that's right and that we all want an army and that will be a tribute to our patriots day and to all who die the ireland in which leave mickey should have lived. he was president or trump or his supporters are again attacking the special counsel investigation led by robert muller trauma's personal attorney rudy giuliani says of reporters full of lies and distortion according to the special counsel's report russia and to feel in the twenty sixteen election in a sweeping and systematic manner the document also details the president's attempts to allegedly stop the investigation. now five that makes of american tribes are joining forces to find plans to reduce world in the areas and the state of utah the government's proposals could see ancestral land opened up to mining and environmentalists say it's a dangerous land grab that threatens the very idea of conservation and together

govern ports. few landscapes in the western united states are as dramatic as those in utah walking through the geological masterpiece known as the valley of the gods is simply or inspiring this state is famed for its parks trails and wide wild places it's also where past lives are on it an ancient history is accessible to all the whole areas is dotted with a lot of ancestral sites angelo back again trace his roots to both the navajo and hoopy tribes and says places like the bears is national monument a vital it's about healing not just ourselves but the historical trauma that we've experienced how can we heal that from our indigenous peoples here with you the visitors of our land how do we heal that divide and that's what we're trying to do with this landscape but the protections given to both buress and grand staircase escalante monuments would drastically reduce by president trump more than

a year ago both areas are now open to mining and mineral extraction with the action i'm taking today we will not only give back your voice over the use of this land we will also reste or your access and your enjoyment public lands will once again be for public use conservationists fear it's just a massive lying grab with grave consequences republicans say they're simply correcting government overreach so look at the beautiful color everywhere. fantastic places many visiting buress national monuments it's a betrayal of native american culture they have seen their vision of the way life is best lived essentially trampled on. and this is just one more boot on the neck you know know it's wrong who does the

part belong to and it belongs to us the american people and she says and you need to be protecting it. frys tribes in the region of no joined together to fight the changes but he say they're still living with the harmful legacy of previous mining operations poisoning the water the soil and they're affecting us and these are places right next to a lot of our communities and that's environmental racism we can't allow that to happen in this day and age a scholar once wrote that national parks and monuments with the best idea this country ever had but at the moment is a grand staircase escalante stand at a vital crossroads what could follow is years of legal wrangling but the stakes couldn't be higher not only for the native tribes that call this place home but also for wilderness areas across the united states and gallacher al-jazeera needles overlook utah.

and again on the problem in doha with the headlines on al jazeera. president says he'll ask for foreign assistance to track international links to sunday's bomb attacks a nationwide emergency is due to come into effect from midnight local time on monday which will give police and the military extensive powers to detain and interrogate anyone without a court order at least two hundred ninety people were killed in the attacks and in the last hour police have defused a bomb near a church which was attacked on sunday in an alpha mandas has moved from colombo. the detection of eighty seven basically detonators no explosive detonators found at the main private bus terminal again a short distance from here in the heart of the city and now these are things that people have sort of begun to take note of and began to wonder whether where at the end of this period of terror of fear and wondering if they are

safe police in algeria have arrested five billionaires as part of an antiques. eruption investigation those arrested are said to be close to former president of the disease with a frica the former prime minister and the current finance minister have also been ordered to appear in court in connection with an investigation into the misuse of public money so dance for the free council has ordered people to stop blocking roads and that police do their jobs the warning comes as which has to say they'll suspend talks with the council that deposed president of the shooter earlier this month. egypt's sins of voting the third and final day of a referendum to change the constitution if approved the proposals the president to stay in power until twenty thirty results are expected on tuesday. iran's president hassan rouhani has announced the development of a joint border force with pakistan he made the announcement after talking to

pakistan's prime minister imraan khan who's in iran for a two day visit. well those are the headlines on the al-jazeera inside story is coming up next thank you very much for watching. 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 cities of new 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 from 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 demo to go to there was an explosion in a housing complex 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 fly. and 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 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 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 and from oxford young going to tellico researcher at the one 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 tour a 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 the sense of believe we do that this is totally unexpected for ten years experience nor weiland nor winds of this scale not terrorism of this here or terrorism in any sense in a in a way and we have to and this country has been so free you can go into hotels without any check are you go and then you go into the airport there is hardly any chair. of course i think that but we were to relax perhaps but that you know where it reflected the lack of social tension and anger of community that against each other

because we had you know we opted the end of the war has been an accommodation and a sense of freedom and goodwill which is now completely being shattered by what has happened. to your your take on this as well how how shocking will this be to charlatans. 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 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 have come under attack a lot since two thousand and twelve they have been attacks on the christian

community as well but an attack of a coordinated attack of this scale including on tourism so citified a double pronged attack on two institutions that this institution to the state. foreign nationals is where you have 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 and 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 behind 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 along and. i think it's going to be very shocking because and it is shocking because it is unprecedented in terms of the scale of the violence and the sheer geographic

nature of the violence that happen across the island although we particularly in the eastern province and also in colombo and places like new goma so the sheer scale of sophistication of the coordinated attacks i think is 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 christin churches have been under attack for a very long time but nothing really compares to this particular spate 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 this that jay what do you think are there local tensions and there's always you know global 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 largely look at those milk 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 the but what i find 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 so we said bombs suicide bombers i don'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 and 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 in part what is the motivation detection own car. because we can assure that the tension between sudan cut the tension

between the evidence is is not of that level to warrant some international attention from international terrorist groups on the strike sri lanka and that's what i can understand so that home my thinking is more oriented towards. the sri lankan system and so that something between sri lanka is what has brought forth this monster. jared do 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 such a sort of bunch of the got and goes against all our. you know understanding of of what 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 a 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 press.