this is d w news live from berlin the philippines government vows revenge on those behind a deadly bombing at a cathedral at least eighteen people were killed when twin blasts struck during sunday mass in a topic hollow island which has long been plagued by islamist militants our correspondent has the latest also coming up signs of headway in talks to end the war in afghanistan seventeen years of fighting makes the conflict america's longest war now the taliban and u.s.

negotiators say they're seeing progress after peace talks in qatar. and venezuela's top military and boy to the u.s. breaks ranks with president nicolas maduro and urges the rest of the country's military to back up position leader one point zero will they need his cool. down on holocaust memorial day we meet a jewish frenchwoman who risked everything he can to spy on the nazis couldn't find it was at least in film suicide for arrested including some. time on your troops mckinnon thanks so much for joining me two bombs have exploded at a cathedral in the town of hollow in the southern philippines at least eighteen people were killed and scores of those wounded the first blast occurred during its. sunday

mass sending churchgoers rushing outside where a second bomb detonated on the island hollow comes less than a week after voters there rejected it simply jand in a muslim autonomous area in other parts of the mindanao island group which includes followed the referendum was overwhelmingly approved. writes let's cross straight to our south-east asia correspondent. other any more details that you can give us about this attack. what we do know as you said and you know that there were two bombs that exploded in that church or other one inside of the church as that mass was going on and then the other bit later outside probe presumably in the parking lot of the church just as security forces and rescue workers were rushing to the scene to secure the perimeter and to help to help the victims so we know that there were a couple of soldiers posted outside of the church who may be also among the victims

most of the victims are civilians but there are some some troops also among those victims we know that some victims have been airlifted out of out of holo to go which is on the main island in the southern philippines on mindanao and yeah that's it is there any indication yet who might be behind these bombings. well so far no group has claimed responsibility for this attack but there is a number of extremist groups operating in that area however. the main culprit that the that the filipino authorities are eyeing are the group which is notorious not only for bombings in the past but also for piracy and for kidnapping for ransom also targeting often targeting foreign nationals at the moment that group is thought to hold at least file. hostage is one of them

a dutch national two indonesian malaysians and a filipino. so that's the group that the authorities think did this also because they're saying that that's the only group in that area that has the wherewithal to perpetrate such an attack and you show let's talk about possible reasons could this attack be linked to last week's referendum on and muslim autonomy in the southern philippines. so far it's a bit too early to tell also because there is no clarification yet on who is behind this attack but there is of course a possibility sulu is a part of the southern philippines that rejected the referendum and these groups if it is in fact the i would say off group for example these groups stand to benefit from from instability in the national police chief has said whoever is behind this attack wants to sow chaos and wants to show for so maybe there was to show that there is still a credible threat and also as i said they stand to benefit from instability because

as long as the filipino army is putting out fires in other places they have less they have less forces to concentrate on these groups as well so there is a reason to believe that in the wake of this of this autonomy law that was passed in that referendum maybe these groups want to destabilize that region. a bit further and you. se asia correspondent thanks so much. negotiations to end america's longest war may have made significant progress the u.s. special envoy will brief the afghan government in kabul today about his peace talks with taliban rebels amid reports of positive steps being made towards a deal so may held six days of talks with the taliban representatives in the qatari capital doha key sticking points on negotiating a cease fire and a timeframe for a withdrawal of foreign troops from afghanistan. and the u.s.

envoy is being cautious in a series of tweets he said that significant progress had been made on vital issues but he warned that some issues are yet to be resolved and he stressed that a cease fire must be a result of intra afghan dialogue that's a reference to the taliban's refusal so far to negotiate directly with the afghan government for more i asked correspondent in kabul what he's heard about the reports from those talks in doha well right now in kabul we're waiting to see what the government here has to say the information. brings back we know that there have been several sticking points in these discussions things that well sightsee is very important to their demands of potential settled peace in the country so the two main issues left are a troop withdrawal which the taleban say that they have didn't have to. reach an

agreement on a foreign troop withdrawal and also a cease fire which is very important to the. right now of course the biggest issue is the fact that this is all being presented to the government without their direct involvement in the process. that was correspondent reporting from kabul now firefighters in brazil are warning with another mining dam is at risk of rupturing imminently as just one day after a deadly dam collapse in the same area and alarm went off this morning warning of dangerously high water levels the death toll from the collapse in southeastern brazil has now risen to at least forty rescue as a searching for around three hundred people who are still missing firefighters have been digging through the debris of degree trying to find survivors but hopes of finding more people alive on now fading it's still unclear what caused the town to . venezuela's top military envoy to the united states has turned his

back on president nicolas maduro his government saying he recognizes opposition leader. as venice whale is interim president and he's urging the rest of the military to follow his example the european union has also throwing its weight behind and has called for fresh elections president maduro says his government will not be dictated to by foreign nations. the e.u.'s ultimatum is another boost for one quite knows campaign to oust nicolas maduro brussels has given the incumbent a week to call fresh elections otherwise it will recognize his opponent as president. you're going to meet you know the first thing i want to do today is to recognize the european union's firm steps towards supporting venezuela firm steps in supporting and recognizing the democratic struggle in our country. going

ok i'm going to say that a different rally materials government pushed back in strong terms it's a lot of our young guns have what i don't know so the european union has given us eight days you go to hell when it's open as well and don't take orders from anyone . here yet another area you have the others are doing. this while the military leadership continues to stand by president maduro a high level defections signaled that the army's unity may be fracturing than his way last military attaché in washington announced he was switching sides. yet today i speak to the people of venezuela and especially to my brothers in the national armed forces with the goal of recognizing one guy doing as the only legitimate president. one would go so in order both through the crisis was hotly debated saturday at an emergency session of the u.n. security council called by the u.s.

to force the world's powers to pick a side. no more delays no more games either you stand with the forces of freedom or you're lead with material and his mail is defying growing international pressure emboldened by russia and china's continued support calling the crisis a us orchestrated coup. but he defused an imminent showdown with washington over his demand for american diplomatic personnel to leave venezuela by sunday extending the window to allow negotiations with u.s. officials. other. look at some of the other stories making news around the world the u.n. says more than fifteen mass graves have been found in western democratic republic of congo after a spate of killings there it's thought the graves relate back to deadly violence between two ethnic groups this erupted in december an investigation is underway. and kind of design best suited to china john mccallum has been fired by pretty

prime minister justin trudeau a khalam was sacked for suggesting that the u.s. should drop its extradition request for huawei executive. the chinese business woman was arrested in vancouver in december and is wanted by the u.s. on charges of violating sanctions on iran. now today marks holocaust memorial day on this day in one thousand nine hundred forty five savia troops liberated thousands of prisoners in the auschwitz concentration camp former prisoners of auschwitz have been placing flowers at an execution wall in the former nazi death camp where more than a million people were killed a ceremony to honor the victims is planned for later on sunday. we spoke to one woman who managed to escape being sent to the concentration camps and he went on to fight against the nazis as a spy. mob cohen is ninety eight years old. but still full of

energy. tonight she'll be holding another talk as always her husband major accompanies her she says that in remembering the holocaust one thing is often overlooked. to know jews if. it's. to wed she with. her at the jewish museum in frankfurt she presents her biography and tells what seems like an unbelievable story she a jewish french woman spied on the nazis. in february one thousand nine hundred forty five paris was already liberated but fighting continued at the secret line on the front with her perfect german skills mark cohen was a lucky find for military intelligence she may have been just one and a half meters tall but she wasn't easily intimidated using

a german alias she crossed the border and pretended to be looking for her fiance near the front the twenty five year old was often fearful but she kept her poise if you're arrested she planned to commit suicide with sleeping pills. i would take it. each vet said to go. her mission was life threatening but she was inspired by her maiden name good luck or hope good luck she procured important information about positions on the front courageous actions like these were often insufficiently recognize its says museum director miriam vance will this. very many were murdered but there was also resistance and jews as part of the allied forces defeated the germans that's both inspiring and important and was fished. despite losing loved ones cohen found

the courage to carry out her mission. her sister was deported and murdered in auschwitz. say a resistance fighter was taken prisoner and shot dead. despite her agony mot completed her espionage mission. we. if the media. mob cohen wants to tell her story to as many people as possible so this part of history is not forgotten. and extraordinary woman. coming up after the break it is the bundesliga with my colleague nick mckenna kline don't mend was sitting at the top of the table going into matchday nineteen and wants to get the full medical scoring machine churning out once more against one of us they stay tuned for that animal coming up the bundesliga.

you're watching news from berlin join me again at the top of the alpha more news from around the world today forget you can get all the latest news and information on a website that's. i'm on you tube as mackinnon in berlin thanks so much for watching . coach of british. surely from africa the world your link to exceptional stories and discussions from all use a visit our web site d w dot com slash africa join us on facebook. africa. earth home to millions of species. worth saving. google indios told stories of.