world to bring you more. documentaries and life. a state of emergency in sri lanka as funerals were held for some of the three hundred ten people killed in sunday's bomb attacks. and unwelcome to al-jazeera life for my headquarters in doha with me it has been purana also ahead highest court rejects the final appeal by two journalists jailed for breaking an official secrets law. and military leaders in sudan the protesters to remove barricades but demonstrators say they go nowhere until there's a civilian government. and scientists sound the alarm of the pollution levels in the world's largest and oldest leg.

sri lanka is observing a day of national mourning as the death toll from sunday's suicide bombings rises to three hundred and ten mass funerals are being held in the capital colombo where one church and three luxury hotels were attacked people have been praying outside churches that were bombed the nation has observed three minutes of silence in memory of those killed a limited state of emergency has come into effect across the country let's go now to our correspondent in alpha and issues joining us live from the capital manila you've been with people who've been praying outside the church in colombo also as they observe those three minutes of silence as the government once again revive the death toll to three hundred and ten now. that's right elizabeth as this day of national mourning dawned here and on tuesday

in sri lanka you can see behind me a giant national flag flying at half mast people are remembering all those killed in this tragedy we were just outside this in anthony's church just down the road at eight thirty local time when there was local people who were living close by who came together candles said prayers to remember those killed today somber task of burying the dead out in the gumbo over fifty barrios that we're hearing are others in the around the capital so things have beginning to sink in as a country also comes into a state of immediate emergency after the state of emergency was brought into effect at midnight on monday basically giving the police the wider powers of arrest attention questioning we detail

a yet to come out at to exactly what those powers are but a state of emergency nonetheless elizabeth said to her can see right now as the investigation continues and as we're seeing the death toll rise sotto has the number of people arrested. that's right elizabeth we're hearing reports and now the number of arrested has gone up to forty this started with just nine on the day but as the authorities close in as well as continue to interrogate to question those that they have in their custody obviously lines of questioning lines of investigations zeroing in on more and more people of that might have been involved in these massive effort the targeted the well coordinated attacks six suicide bomb attacks at least from what

we're hearing officially from the government analyst who said there were seven suicide bombers two who carried out those six attacks plus of the explosions around the city of colombo and in other places that this really needs grid reaction in order for the authorities to bring in and round up whoever has been involved or been part of this operation so the need to act fast to wrap up and round of these people and then show we have no more incidents of this nature elizabeth when al thank you very much for that for now that is the alpha and as well the latest live and colombo thank you. we're going to move on to other news now myanmar's highest court has rejected the final opinion of two voices journalists imprisoned for breaking an official secrets law while law and who have spent more than sixteen months in detention they were arrested in twenty seventeen while working on an investigation into the killing of ten men during

a military crackdown scott highclere has more from bangkok remove the last appeal for reuters journalists wallowing has been rejected by the supreme court in myanmar that coming down on tuesday now they heard the argument from their attorneys just a couple of weeks ago. comes three months after a lower court rejected an appeal they said the sentence would be of held that also coming down from the supreme court on tuesday and that was their last appeal possibility now what happened since the verdict came down in september sentencing these two gentlemen to seven years behind bars international outcry over the sentencing and also just the process particularly as myanmar marches its way toward democracy a lot of criticism for that and also just last week the investigation the two gentlemen working on one a pulitzer prize for international reporting or it is news agency there are players coming out almost immediately after this decision by the supreme court saying that

they will continue to fight for their journalist behind bars and that they are part of a police set up well let's get more on this we're joined by benjamin independent southeast asia analyst and former researcher at amnesty international and he's also joining us from bangkok which is walking always good to have you with us on al-jazeera picking up on what scott said a police officer himself testified in the trial that he was aware of a police set up against these two journalists was this trial a setup. yes i mean when you look at the bare facts of this case even absent of context you have two journalists who had accurately reported on an incident that the government had found embarrassing to itself who were handed sensitive classified documents by two police officers for the sole purpose of been framing those reporters and again sort of punishing them for the for the accurate reporting think it done that's going enough and then when you insert the context

namely that the reporters were investigating the massacre of ten range of civilians by security forces who themselves were only given ten year prison sentences for their crimes the case becomes truly infuriating these journalists are now coming up behind bars for seven years only three years less than the security officers that killed ten civilians is the way that this child has been carried out does that not make things even more embarrassing for the government of myanmar especially given the massive and to national a trial and trust and this trial. yes certainly when the police officer came forward and and explained to journalists to the international community that that that the case had been essentially a set up you would think that it would lead to considerable embarrassment on the part of the of the government and specifically on the part of state councilor on song suchi who was for many years myanmar's most famous political prisoner and yet

she herself and the government at large to some it shown itself rather above embarrassments incapable of rivera's mentor shame in the face of this she has been silent not only with respect to this case but also with respect to the much larger context namely the genocide against the hinges that the journalists are reporting on the journalists of course what for what he says and want to have said that they want to keep fighting this case but what ave options now that you know the highest court has rejected their final opinion. appealing to the supreme court was a smart move if for no other reason that it kept the case in the public eye at the attention of the international community in the media etc but at this point the most they could hope for some sort of hardened those are not unprecedented in myanmar and again on song suchi herself was the beneficiary at times of martin's she doesn't concede that there are any political prisoners in the country despite having been one herself and yet potentially they would receive a pardon in the coming years one can only hope because that really is their last

hope life here but does want to thank you very much for your time on this we do appreciate abettors benjamin's unlocking live and bangkok thank you. to saddam now with the military council has one protest as against blocking roads on capital said meaning that it may take action to remove them that demonstrators have been outside the army headquarters for more than two weeks to take down their barricades a coalition of political parties has suspended talks with the military council for failing to transfer power to a civilian authority saddam's military latests and working towards forming a civilian government as soon as possible gonna give the how the you know our views offered by the groups including the forces of the declared a sin for freedom of expression a full of pitch should tism and national interests this made us at the incisional military consul more optimistic that's an imminent political solution based on consensus is possible have

a morgan has this update from the. the coalition of the declaration of freedom and change which includes twenty two political parties and the sudanese professional association the body that has been spearheading calls for protests in sudan for the past four months have said that the military council is not keen to hand over parts of civilian government they've also said that they don't want the council to include anybody from the former government and from the former ruling party in the upcoming transitional government when that is formed the coalition suspended talks with the government and with that with the military council on sunday saying that less the council says it is ready to hand over power and recognize the fact that it's time to hand over power to a civilian government then they are not going to continue talks obviously the military council as we've heard from them say that they want all political parties to be in consensus when that transitional government is being formed and not just a single coalition and meanwhile this is all happening where thousands of protesters continue to gather in front of the army headquarters despite the council saying that the barricades that the place there should be removed those barricades

are still there and protesters are saying that the barricades represent their resistance to any force that is going to try to disperse the sit in there saying that they will not move and they will not remove their barricades until an independent professional government is formed of course at the moment the political parties and the sudanese professional association as well as the military council are yet to decide how that transitional government would look like and how it would be formed so it looks like the sit in front of the army headquarters is not going to come to an end anytime soon. still ahead on the bulletin fears of a global wise and oil prices as the u.s. says it will sanction all countries buying oil from iran and a new prime minister takes charge and money but people are growing impatient violence and an economic crisis.

hello there there's still plenty of active weather over parts of the middle east at the moment the latest swirling mass of clouds here making its way through parts of iraq and into iran giving some of us some heavy rain and even some snow in places as well that system will work its way eastwards as we head through the day on tuesday and things behind it will dry up so aleppo there will get to around twenty degrees in the sunshine the showers though they're here making their way eastwards we're also see more wet weather over parts of afghanistan welcome rain here we do need more in the way of what weather but that's extending all the way further north as well here in doha the winds will say strong over the next few days and that will ensure the temperatures aren't quite as high as they have been so a maximum of around twenty eight degrees but it will feel the need to wait cooler than that if you were out in that wind for this now this humid in muscat a top temperature here of around thirty two and dropping to thirty as we head through the next few days i mean further towards the south we've got plenty of

showers here some of the wettest of the weather is in the southern parts of south africa very heavy downpours around the coast some of the worst of that will begin to move away as we head into wednesday and then there will be more draw weather around but it won't be completely dry i think we'll still see some showers particularly over this region in the northeast some of it will be quite heavy. counting the cost it's been called trajan of course while russian banks moved on grae is picking up a. populist governments threatening the independence of central banks and end of the runway project is. counting the cost. i really still liberated as a journalist was. going to the truth. that's what this job. is

going to have you with us on al-jazeera these are our top stories funerals are being held in sri lanka where the death toll from sunday's suicide bombings is risen to three hundred and ten people observed three minutes of silence in memory of those killed a limited state of emergency has come into effect across the country myanmar's highest court has rejected the final appeal of two journalists imprisoned for breaking in official secrets or wallow in and who were arrested and twenty seventeen while working on an investigation into the killing of ten men during a military crackdown and saddam's military council has walked protesters against blocking roads in khartoum signaling that it may take action to remove

a coalition of political parties has suspended talks with the military council for failing to transfer power to a civilian authority. the u.s. is demanding all countries stop buying a body an oil or face sanctions iran exports a little more than a million barrels a day with the majority on. to china india south korea and japan washington announced last year that it would impose sanctions on any country importing oil from iran but it offered waivers to some key trading partners secretary of state to my pompei are now says that those waivers wanted to be renewed when they expire next month south korea has since reacted to the announcement saying that negotiations with the us to extend the waiver are under way pompei also said the united arab emirates and saudi arabia will ensure sufficient supplies of oil but they are has appeared to contradict that saying that it won't immediately step up output rather than jordan has more from washington. the u.s.

says its efforts to impose a worldwide embargo on iranian oil is already working in the last eleven months the trumpet ministration says iran has lost about ten billion dollars in oil revenue all this says washington to punish the han for what it calls the government's quote aligned ways the trumpet ministration and our allies are determined to sustain and expand the maximum economic pressure campaign against iran to end the regimes destabilizing activity threatening the united states our partners and allies and security in the middle east these demands are not just coming from the united states government and many of our allies and partners they are similar to what we hear from the iranian people themselves the u.s. imposed oil sanctions on iran in may two thousand and eighteen after it withdrew from what president donald trump called the ineffective iran nuclear deal the u.s. wanted to cut off iran's ability to support hezbollah and who the fighters as well

as send aid to governments in syria and venezuela last fall when oil supplies were tight the u.s. gave several countries permission to wrap up their existing iranian oil purchases by no later than may second but now the u.s. says supplies are plentiful and so the five countries still importing iranian crude china india turkey japan and south korea no longer have a reason to keep buying from terre han to conduct these transactions one almost always nice to participate in the financial markets and we intend to enforce the sanctions we don't lay out sanctions that we don't have any intention of encouraging countries to cooperate with analysts say it's important to look at the impact sanctions could have on ties between the u.s. and other countries for example how sanctions could derail current chinese american trade talks but analysts say it's just as important to consider why the white house considers saudi arabia in the. arab emirates and not other oil producing nations

key to making the iranian pargo work i think that actually feeds into this narrative of this very close relationship that the president trump has with the saudi royal family and of course the united states is again this is the president who looks at issues from a transactional standpoint state department officials won't say just how soon after may third that the u.s. will impose sanctions on countries still buying oil from iran but they are adamant they say the only way to get iran to change its behavior is by imposing an embargo and the only way to make certain that the embargo works is to impose sanctions on other countries even if those countries happen to be the u.s. as friends rosalyn jordan al-jazeera the state department and all the bride has more on south korea's reaction to the u.s. pressure to cut head on soul of any. as a country which imports one hundred percent of its oil south korea last month was

the second biggest importer in asia of iranian oil products in particular specialty products called condensate now the u.s. has said that countries have had sufficient time to find alternative sources other than iran but south korea argues that it has been difficult finding an alternative condensate source at the same quality and price south korea has been in continuing talks with the u.s. and the business community here has been lobbying for an extension now of course south korea is already involved with the u.s. in dealing with another country with nuclear ambitions and with sanctions and that is of course north korea south korea has been edging to try to get an easing of those sanctions so it can continue into a korean dialogue but as a faithful u.s. ally south korea finds itself in a difficult position with north korea as with iran and in both cases it does find

itself seemingly at the difficult end of u.s. sanctions policy question has begun in the third and largest phase of india's staggered general election prime minister noda in the morning washington has home stager that are already is a thing for a second term in office the election is seen as a referendum on has five year of all he's taken on a nationalist approach to when the majority of hinder votes and projected to a strong stand against neighboring pakistan polls are now almost half way through five hundred forty three seats in the lower house of parliament. the u.s. is offering a reward of up to ten million dollars for information that could allow to disrupt funding for lebanon's hezbollah the state department specifically names three lebanese businessmen and as examples of k. fonda's of the party's armed wing has bought the received support from iran but the u.s. has labeled a state sponsor of terrorism in previous years hizbullah has generated about one

billion dollars annually through direct financial support from iran international businesses and investments donor networks and money laundering activities the group uses these funds as support its mine activities throughout the world which includes the development of militias to syria in the support of assad dictatorship. and to yemen in support of the rand line who rebels ugandan plays have a rest of pop star turned politician bobby why after shutting down one of his concerts and firing tear gas at his fans please pull the m.p. from his car and. speak to fans about the cancelled show one is a well known critic of long time president seventy and authorities have frequently stopped him from performing. the president of mali has named a new prime minister after the government resigned last week former finance minister say reform a new government in the coming days and he's under pressure to improve security as

the country faces a rise in violence let us talk reports from the capital bamako. twelve year old feels like he's being spun a tale every day adults tell him his school will reopen tomorrow he's here at the same story for almost a year but schools have remained closed with striking teachers demanding to be paid . it's. just seriously their words that really count when things really matter to us this. year mr well the last lesson on keeping promises is still on the blackboard mr good day waits to hear from the newly appointed prime minister hoping that he will keep his word and make education a priority because there may be enough funds for the one billion dollars a year u.n. peacekeeping operation in mali but not enough to pay mr two hundred dollars monthly salary. the government doesn't care about schools this is a setback for the future of young people if we cannot invest in young people then

the future of our country of mali is in jeopardy. former finance minister forty one year old. newly appointed prime minister after the government was forced to step down last week following a mass demonstration on the streets of of mostly young people they're unhappy with the state's inability to keep money in safe from attacks the price of basic necessities are shot up by twenty percent strikes affect the education justice in transport system crippling the capital while bomb i go is one of the fastest growing cities in africa it's also one of the youngest with half of all of mali and under the seat and so the challenge for this new prime minister is to form a government that will be accepted by all and address grievances of this young population. is the young municipal councillor on monday. the mean attacked his town killing scores of soldiers it took hours before

reinforcements arrived. but it's not that i feel betrayed by or government the state is absent there is no police. no prisons to reassure the population and make us feel like we are part of mali with a new prime minister these government is at a crossroads waiting for the state to deliver the promise is made at stake is the country's future because hawke al jazeera about micro. washing has ended in egypt's constitutional referendum which could extend president. term in office until twenty thirty the official results are expected to be announced on tuesday but rights groups said the referendum won't be free all fair if approved the changes could allow the president to appoint top judges and expand the role of the powerful military well that he had found me as an associate professor of political science at long island university and she says egypt's economy has suffered on the c.c.

. since the military coup of two thousand and thirteen and then president elect we have seen egypt degraded economically where the cost of living has increased where upwards of sixty percent of population is a poverty and so economically has not been successful in terms of security even though the military isn't is in sinai with all the u.s. military aid and buying arms from france sisi has not been able to eliminate twelve hundred fighters isis fighters from sinai so in terms of securing the state and growing the state economically all of his schemes including the expansion of the suez canal has not led to the growth that he has promised and sourcing that he's not carrying out to saying that president needs to be in power and extend his term limits so that he can be successful goes against the notion of what a democratic process is all about it's about being voted in and then out of office not being voted in and then being removed and so essentially what egypt is doing just unprecedented in its history is crystallizing formal author terry military

rule. an earthquake has struck the northern philippines killing at least eleven people and injuring sixty alba's the magnitude six point three quake hit northwest of the capital ramallah in buildings and knocking out power officials in the town of four x. a three bodies have been pulled from a collapsed building and rescuers are continuing to search for victims. space x. has suffered a serious setback in this effort to launch lesser astronauts and all that this year over the weekend the dragon crew capsule that through to the international space station was engulfed in smoke and flames on engine test and space x. as it was testing the dragon's abort thrusters at cape canaveral in florida when saturday's accident occurred the company's as the test area was clear and no one was injured. now scientists are alarmed at russian government plans to allow increased levels of pollution into the world's largest lake lake baikal contains

twenty percent of the planet's freshwater a step vastly reports russian government leaders say they can better protect the lake by increasing fermented levels of waste. the fragile line between water and ice marks the entrance to the world's largest and deepest lake when the ice melts the water is so clear that fish and fresh water to seal skin be spotted with oxygen one and a half kilometers down near the bottom made by karl has a unique ecosystem found nowhere else on the planet but human activity on its six hundred thirty six kilometers long shores has increased and so has blue sion every year more than one and a half million tourists visit the baikal natural park which lacks a proper sewage system to deal with their waste. gouldman has lived here for nineteen years he recalls how not long ago he would drink water from the leak without boiling or filtering it. before i would go to another village and i would

see one or two birds now i can see twenty or thirty if not more if there are tourists on every bird who need to go to the toilet i don't think disposing of it in the right way it all goes into the lake therefore it's not recommended to drink water an area water treatment plants around the lake are outdated or broken the ministry for natural resources sas it wants to build twenty one new ones but to make the plan feasible the amount of harmful waste discharge into the lake needs to be increased greenpeace's among environmental groups concerned at the potential harm to the lake so are some russian scientists. we sorry the norms they are proposing are unacceptable and they should review them according to the latest technologies there is only one why do you still need to build clean in the cities but better ones researches are trying to find out why sponges unique to baikal are dying at an alarming rate and if a large amount of value and wheat

a change in the fragile ecosystem russia's government didn't respond to our request for comment but the website of the ministry of natural resources says the new wastewater standard is based on scientific research and by colors better protected than any other lake in the world people were drinking this water straight from the lake just a few years ago but drinking this now would definitely make you sick scientists fear that what is known as the world's cleanest lake and its largest freshwater reserve is rapidly losing its value for humankind. scientists say it's not too late to do under tight they say while water by the shores is polluted water deep into the lake remains as pure as it was millions of years ago urging the government to invest in better technology so the levels of harmful substances don't need to be raised not only for russia's future but to preserve one of the planet's important

sources of water stop bassam al-jazeera lake baikal russia. much more news on our website at al-jazeera dot com. hello again elizabeth prominent are with the headlines on al-jazeera last funerals are being held in sri lanka where the death toll from sunday's suicide bombings has increased to three hundred and ten people observe three minutes of silence in memory of those killed a limited state of emergency has come into effect across the country and forty people have been arrested but often and as has this update from colombo. as this deal of national mourning dawned here and on tuesday in sri lanka you can see behind me a giant national flag flying at half mast people are remembering all those killed in this tragedy we were just outside this in anthony's church just down the road at

eight thirty local time when there was local people who were living close by who came together candles said prayers to remember those killed today the task of burying the dead out in the gumball over fifty barriers that we're hearing . in the around the capital. now miles highest court has rejected the final appeal of two voices journalists imprisoned for breaking an official secrets law while law and choice were arrested in twenty seventeen while working on an investigation into the killing of ten men during a military crackdown. so dan's military council has protested against a blocking roads and signaling that it may take action to remove a coalition of political parties has suspended talks with the military council for failing to transfer power to civilian authority the u.s.

is demanding all countries stop buying iranian oil or face sanctions a six month exemption for iran's biggest customers like china india south korea and turkey will expire in may and won't be renewed beijing and ankara have both criticize what they call washington's unilateral decision the united nations says tens of thousands of people have been forced from their homes as fighting around the capital tripoli enters its third week explosions and shelling continued on monday as troops aligned with the un recognized government targeted warlord khalifa haftar as forces african leaders will meet in cairo for an emergency summit on tuesday to discuss the conflict well those are the headlines on al-jazeera counting the cost is coming up next thank you for watching. dreams have turned out to be disappointing. if anyone called me to say he'd leave each of them i'd advise him not to come three young north africans tell the story of how europe

is not all they hoped it would be. al jazeera world welcome to italy. a lot has a seeker this is counting the cost on al-jazeera your weekly look at the world of business and economics this week russia's international investment banker is moving it to hungary it's been called frozen horse and find out what all bonds thinking and why the west is concerned also this week as the global economy slows populous governments are threatening the independence of central banks. india's second largest airline runs out of money yoffe does jet airways have a future.