access to decline of strategic influence this april twenty seventh and twenty eighth in doubt. a national day of mourning and mass funerals in sri lanka plus the number killed in sunday's suicide attacks rises to three hundred ten. peter dhabi you're watching al-jazeera live from our headquarters here in doha also coming up emergency summits in egypt african leaders discuss the political crises in sudan and libya. mean mars supreme court rejects a final appeal by two voices journalists jailed for their reporting on the running a crisis. plus scientists sounding the alarm over pollution levels in the world's

biggest lake. is a day of remembrance in sri lanka with ceremonies nationwide after sunday's suicide bombings the police have confirmed three hundred ten people were killed that number is expected to rise mass funeral for being held and more than five hundred people remain injured ranging from critical to being in a serious condition. i heard about he was towing and i jumped into the chair and i saw them i don't. know what some of the flow. i don't know what to do. and i was. just told my daughter on the floor. and not only a tight lipped so did. exactly the same next time they faced their.

strengthens of three minutes of silence in memory of those who lost their lives the easter sunday explosions ripped through several churches and hotels targeting worshipers and tourists the police arrested forty suspects we're covering this story from multiple angles and elfin and this is in the capital colombo first let's go to charles stratford. where those funerals are taking place charles so clearly an atmosphere of. people being very somber today remembering and dealing with what's happened. yeah i mean shock and dismay people really struggling to cope with the kind of impact that has had on this community here in a gone by the city series known as the catholic heartland of sri lanka or indeed gone by itself is often described as sri lanka's rome there were at least one

hundred ten people killed in this church during that easter sunday service a suicide bomber here investigation's ongoing for and six busy at work inside the church and it's when he speaks of the people here that literally some of them are. too shocked honest just are struggling to find the words i spoke to a priest here who said that the community had never ever suffered anything like this not. during the twenty six years of the civil war. the stability if you like. he said to the people who were struggling to find forgiveness but he was confident that they would but he said that they would never forget and they are desperate for from the government especially now that we've learned that they were intelligence warnings that they were never really to be

requisite to to prevent these attacks. thanks very much. joins us live from colombo what's the latest on the investigation. so far peter we're hearing that there's been more arrests over the last twenty four hours that number going up to forty a large majority of that number on the integration and questioning with the criminal investigation department the cia the premier's of investigation of the police now within the last twenty four hour or so after we've seen a state of emergency brought in an emergency. extended island wide this is to bring in clauses of prevention of terrorism that gives sweeping and broad ranging powers to the police possibly the military particularly with regards to

arrest detention and questioning of potential suspects and as we know this is a burning need for thirty days as there are concerns that this sort of crisis is not over yet they need to act fast to get to the bottom of it peter does that mean the government and the relevant security authorities are happy and content to go to a place of almost bending the law bending the rules because the pressure they're on to deal with this is pretty great. they're having to deal with a situation where the they have admitted gone on to apologize for the breach for the failings of the government the security apparatus the intelligence about a product as and all basically the failings that has led to more than three hundred

deaths so they'd need to as you mentioned you know take on that pressure and be seen making the best of a bad situation and they have let things happen we've heard the prime minister government spokesman admitting that these warnings were there and nothing was done about it so they are going to have to regroup we've had reports of the f.b.i. interpol have actually offered assistance there are reports of there are teams from both those organizations here to assist with looking at potential international connections all of those perpetrators behind this incident so trying to pull all these strands together the government of sri lanka must get on top of this situation and do it fast peter. thanks very much. we move on as highest court has rejected the final appeal of two reuters journalists imprisoned for breaking an official secrets law they all wallowed 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 remain demanding during a military crackdown scott who has more from. the last appeal for word is journalist. has been rejected by the supreme court in me and maher that coming down on tuesday now they heard the argument from their attorneys just a couple of weeks ago this comes three months after a lower court rejected an appeal they said the sentence would be upheld 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 and 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 of pulitzer prize for international reporting or it is

news agency their employers 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. as violence around libya's capital tripoli enters week number three the u.n. special envoy for libya has renewed his call for groups to stop the fighting. came as the libyan national army led by a belief i have to slow down its advance on tripoli at least two hundred sixty four people have been killed and thousands more injured since the fighting broke out. early in the year with as i was the task i've been charged with despite its difficulty is to return to negotiations i call for a peaceful solution to stop the war for the reunification of the libyans on a unified resolution to save their country whatever the work of the international community it will need a special libyan will to stop the war. egypt is hosting two emergency meetings of

african leaders to discuss fighting in libya and the political unrest in sudan a coalition of political parties that has suspended talks with the military council for failing to transfer power to a civilian authority mohamed vall has more now from khartoum. women have been i thought the forefront of the march for change in recognition of their old female protesters now the nickname and back it named after the fabled movie queen known for her courage well the little guy named lady that you have lived for thirty years sudanese women have put up the strongest resistance against injustices and violations committed by a despotic racist and aggressive regime they were stripped of basic rights of equality and even the right to live at times they were killed and wounded or sent to jail and crackdowns on anti-government protests that's why we decided to be part of this uprising. and women are only one of the many groups here not to feel united

by a common cause from a distance these masses loop and sound the same on close inspection it's a complete human spectrum of faces and acts on this from the four corners of africa's third largest country. also believe this man is from one of the most marginalized and oppressed communities in the nuke mountains is reminding his people of the many wrongs they've been subjected to and his calling for a free sudan where all enjoy equality and dignity and the same yearning for a better sudan despise this man from the southern regions but no they've all the following the protests gave me a new life and a new spirit after decades of disparate justice that's why i decided to join. people from darfur and the east where rebel groups for the government for years have suddenly found

a more efficient means to achieve their goals. for the first time in the history of this country a movement has brought together all sudanese people if you look at the protest you can say all types of faces from every region and every ethnic group there are old united around the same goal which is to change the regime and create a new sadat and there is no changes have given way to an explosion of public expression aside from the chants and speeches young artists here are using them for a couple of walls on pavement with things celebrating freedom so weak so down in its colors basking in the bliss of this newly found freedom. going after long suppressed dreams we were mostly afraid to take photos or paint outdoors so we face tremendous difficulties in that respect especially protests painting on walls in particular presented a challenge for us i was arrested and harassed because of my support for the

uprising but this is my best way to contribute they tell us uplifting the poor is the goal of these protesters an idea they've represented through a portrait of this homeless boy who collects garbage on the streets radiating with happiness mustafa tells us his plan is to study first and within ten years to become the president of sudan joining us live from khartoum is. this emergency summit talking about sudan what can they try to achieve here. yes peter this seems to be a continuation of the efforts that have been deployed by the african union man has been here two days ago to talk to the different parties to this conflict in sudan he has met with the military council and also with the protesters and the political parties and now we see the summit many african leaders are attending and the effort

they are on the purpose is to encourage the sudanese to go to the negotiation table to avoid conflict to avoid escalation and also to show support of the african union to any peace process any process of transition a peaceful transition in sudan from a military rule to a civilian rule there is a delegation that is going there us at the knees delegation and all the leaders will try to. convince all the parties all the speeches today for consultations to avoid escalation as i said to speed up the process of a transition to a civilian government the african union a little more than a week ago gave an ultimatum to the military council. to transfer power to civilians otherwise sanctions will be imposed on the council and we have seen somewhat of spawn's some compliance but not what has been aspired to here by the

evolution of these they say that the military council is dragging its feet and these procrastinating probably not even willing to hand over power to civilians any time soon and that's why all eyes in sudan here are on this summit hoping that it will achieve something positive for sudan do you think those african union leaders when they get there and they start their discussion will their message to the military in sudan be listen you've got to listen to the signals you've got to go all they be telling them ok you can manage this in a different way. absolutely that's what they are trying to say and to do but we have seen how the our for the position of the african union. underwent some kind of you know change not not a major change but we have seen that hard line position at the beginning sanctions ultimatum and so on what when the when the when the man of the african army came

here and helped those consultations we have seen a toning down of that strong language against the military council at a certain stage praise the role of the military in stability in the country maintaining stability and providing law and order protecting law and order in the country and this is this is something that we have seen many times happening many times before in africa when a coup takes place the african it takes a strong starts and then they begin to deal with the coup leaders and then the leaders change themselves into elected leaders any kind of process of fixing elections and so on and it becomes a reality in that country so there is also criticism about the way in which african the african union leaders deal with the situation as there is a level of skepticism and pessimism here in sudan but at the end of the day they will not be able to do much with respect to how things are taking place in sudan

thanks so much. kostin egypt's constitutional referendum which could extend the president abdel fattah el-sisi office until twenty thirty the official results jus on saturday human rights groups say the referendum is neither free or fair if approved the changes would allow the president to appoint top judges and expand the role of the military. laws when you still to come for you here on al-jazeera including these two more on what to expect in the third largest face of india's general election. hello there the weather is changing for us across europe have been glorious in the northwest but we've had a lot of weather in the south and that's now pushing its way further northwards we'll see those showers creep their way over parts of france across italy as well

on tuesday and then gradually will see things go downhill for the northwestern parts as well so a maximum temperature in london just of seventeen degrees and it will be rather wet and gray as well we're also see a few showers over parts of denmark that will be working the way to norway and sweden say things turning a bit so good here the northeast though should be fine moscow will have a warm day with a temperature of around twenty one degrees for the other side of the mediterranean where you can see the winds here working their way out through libya picking up a lot of sand and dust if they do say so rather murky here under that cloud we're also seeing a fair amount more cloud to make its way into morocco with a lot of rain so a wet day there in robots and that system then would his way eastwards the temperatures in algiers will be dropping as well so wednesday won't get any higher than around seventeen for the central belt of africa where here there's lots of showers currently but we've plenty more as we head through the next few days and heavy ones into born but also around that coast of west africa it is looking rather soviet times the showers will be heavy.

nothing to help you. fight especially. when.

mornings being held in the big. three people who were killed. in libya. one of the stories. breaking in the. gun in the biggest phase of india's. general election the prime minister narendra modi voted in his home state. somebody is aiming for a second term in office the election is seen as a referendum on his five year rule. from the northeastern state of.

these are just a few of the tens of millions of people voting in several parts of india on tuesday including prime minister narendra modi in this third phase of india's seven phase election. though it may be the last time almost four million people can cast their vote that's because their names don't appear on the national register of citizens it's a list created to distinguish between indian citizens and illegal migrants from other countries how much of the focus has been on. been in this region for centuries they and their families but in recent decades illegal migrants have also come from bangladesh now the government is cracking down the rights groups say issues such as documents and missing papers qualifying a large number of actual citizens they accuse the government of targeting bengalis in order to get votes from local groups but those same groups accuse both the government and opposition of playing politics with the issue they say the land and resources of this region. now anyone whose name is not on the register can appeal

to a legal tribunals but if they fail they face possible imprisonment and even eventual deportation. the philippines has been hit by a second earthquake this time on the island no casualties have been reported yet so rescuers continue to pull victims from the rubble that was caused by the first earthquake that hit the island of luzon on monday a six point three magnitude tremor killed fifteen people and injured dozens. the united states is demanding all countries stop buying iranian oil or face sanctions rose jordan has more now from washington announcement. 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 maligned 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 eight hundred 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 needs 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 untie speech when 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 united arab emirates and not other oil producing nations key to making the iranian embargo work i think that actually feeds into this narrative of this very close relationship that the president trump hassle with the saudi royal family and of course the united states 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. its friends rosalyn jordan al jazeera the state department. the new prime minister of mali is under pressure to stop attacks by sites is linked to al qaida as well as coming into ethnic come breast the former finance minister. is forming a new government the previous one resigned last week calling widespread anger about the massacre of villages nicholas hawke has that story from the capital. twelve year old car 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

. for its. seriously their words don't really count when things really matter to us. this is. mr. 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. of the money. the government doesn't care about schools so 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 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. doubling the young municipal councillor on monday. the mean attacked his town killing scores of soldiers it took hours before reinforcements arrived. we feel betrayed by. the state. there is no police. no prisons to reassure. us 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 promises made at stake is the country's future nicholas hawke al-jazeera about micro. environmentalists are alarmed at the russian government's plans to allow an increase in toxic materials to flow into the world's largest freshwater lake scientists urging the government to consider better technologies step. 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 freshwater seals can be spotted with oxygen one and a half kilometers down near the bottom that 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 pollution 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 oil actually and has lived here for nineteen years he recalls how not long ago he would drink water from the lake 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 boat 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 resource assassin plans 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 you still need to build clean in the cities but better ones researchers are trying to find out why spawn just unique to baikal are dying at an alarming rate and if large amounts of and wheat are changing the fragile ecosystem russia's government didn't respond to our request for comment but the website of the ministry of natural resources sas the new wastewater standard is based on scientific research and by callous better protected than any other lake in the world. mabel were drinking this water straight from the lake just a few years ago but drinking this now with definitely make you sick scientists fear that what is known as the world cleanest lake and its largest freshwater reserve is rapidly losing its value for humankind scientists say it's not too late to turn to tight they say while water by the shore says polluted water deep into the lake remains as pure as it was millions of years ago they're 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 fast and al-jazeera led by cal russia. get it over with quick reminder of your top stories the national day of mourning is being held in sri lanka for the victims of the easter sunday bomb attacks at churches and hotels most funerals are being held for some of the three hundred ten people who were killed. egypt is hosting two emergency musings of african leaders to discuss fighting in libya and the political unrest in sudan. the united nations special envoy to libya has renewed his appeal for all armed groups to stop a third week of fighting around the capital tripoli haasan selami is called in mr libyan national army and led by him for have to slow down its advance on tripoli at

least two hundred sixty four people have been killed and thousands injured since the battle for control of the capital began. mian miles highest court has rejected the final appeal of two reuters journalists jailed while reporting the ethnic cleansing crisis wallowed one chore saw who spent sixteen months in prison after being convicted of breaking the official secrets law. cast in egypt's constitutional referendum which could extend president updo fattah el-sisi in office until twenty thirty the official results are due on saturday rights groups say the referendum is neither free or fair if approved the changes would allow the president to appoint top judges and expand the role of the military. voting has begun in the third and largest phase of india's seven phase general election the prime minister narendra modi voted in his home state modi is aiming for a second term in office the election is seen as a referendum on his five year rule polls are now almost half way through for five

hundred forty three seats in the lower house of parliament. the us is demanding all countries stop buying iranian oil or face sanctions iran has reached its reacted by threatening to close the straits of hormuz a key oil route. the philippines has been hit by a second earthquake this time on the southern island of samara no casualties have been reported further north rescuers continue to pull victims from the rubble of course by monday's earthquake on the island of luzon the six point three magnitude tremor killed at least fifteen people and injured dozens more those are your headlines up next it's inside story i'll see you on the other side of that program but i for now. the shortest administration in spain's modern history has been forced to point to snap election at eight hundred twenty eight with polls suggesting a fragmented vote on the rise in the far right populist movement banks can the socialist alliance hold on to power

a state with al-jazeera the latest on the spanish elections. he told jokes about the president he is the president comedian a lot of it was the landscape wins out landslide victory in ukraine's election but with no previous political experience how will he tackled the many challenges ahead what's the punch line this is inside story. please. hello and welcome to the program on iraq comedian at the bottom as lenski played a fictional president for years now he's got.