brent: this is "dw news," live from berlin. tonight, sri lanka begins toto bury its dead. funerals are taking place for the first of 320 vicictims o ofe easter sununday suicidide bombi. so-called islamic state has claimed responsibility, but has provided no proof. also coming up, the united nations security council has passed a watered-down resolution on sexual violence in conflict zones. russia, china and the u.s. all took issue with the german initiative.

♪ brent: i'm brent goff. toto our viewers o on pbs in the united states and all around the world, welcome. sri lanka is mourning the deaths of more than 320 people in the easter sunday suicide bombings. the country ground to a halt on tuesday morning to observe three minutes of silence, while in colombo, people began burying the dead. our correspondent nimisha jaiswal met a small community of christians in the capital grieving for the peoplple they lostst. nimisha: a familily waiting. the 49-year-oldd went to attend the easter service at st. anthonony's church. they have n not heard frorom her since. after multltiple t trips to thte hospitital and even the mortuar, they have not found her.

she went t to the church. i am sure of it. she always comes h home after going to the church.h. but she e never cacame back. she is still not back. we went anand seararched for het we could not finind her. we are still searching. there is no informrmation. nimimisha: saint anthonyny's wae of the eight locations hit in the blasts last sunday. all around it is a neighborhood in mourning. residents here saw another explosion on mondaday in an abandoned van. as people wait to receive the bodies of friendnds and loved onones, they silently contemplae their own survival, a few feet from the site ofofwo blasts. as locals here prepare for nerals, ththey tell us that t te death tollll in the nehbhborhood could have been n much higher, t for the practice that people closer to the chururch attend

services on saturday evevening d on sunday morning people who live further away attend services. the blasts hit on easter, which was a sunday morning. this is a mid d neighbhoodod. peoplele from all religions rese here. many resident muslims and hindus pitch in to help. local christians are unable to understand the carnage. >> this is new for us. eveven during the time of the tamil tigers we were not targeted. even the tsunami did not damage this area. these attacks have shocked us. >> this is so sad. today is tuesday. we usually go to mass but the church is closed. as sri lankans and especially as residents of this neighborhood, we are sad. nimisha: but sadness and anger have to be put on hold to bid farewell to those who are lost. today, colombo has come together to mourn.

brent: today, so-called islamic state claimed it was behind the suicide bombings. intelligence officials were reportedly warned that attacks were imminent in sri lanka, but the country's president said these warnings were not shared with him. he has vowed a shakeup of sri lankan defefense forces. also today, the country's prime minister said investigators were making good progress but warned it is likely there are more explosives and militants still at large. joining me nowow from colombo is journalist jamila najmuddin. jamila, it is good to have you with us again. we heard sri lanka's president today say intelligence reports were not shared with him. is the message here that political infighting in sri lanka is the reason that these

warnings were not heeded and that nothing was done that could have prevented this tragedy? jamila: the president today said since 2017, intelligence had reports about a radical group forming. but accocording to sri lankan ls custody. and later on once these effects -- attacks did happen, they said they had no prior warning. it was the police whoo had i it. somebody has to take responsibility. no one has even issueued an apology to the nation. brent: whatt is going to h happn now? is there pressure on the government to show that it t is taking action to replace

sosomeone? they have to find someone to blame for this grotesque failure. jamila: the president openly said he was not informed about these attacks. so has the prime minister. the cabinet is basically maintaining they t t did not know. the presisint said he would change defense forces. he wouould m make drastic changn security forces. the coming two dayays will see activity crucial. what the public needs right now is firm reassurance that thesee attacks will n not happen agaga. and i am not sure -- brent: the prime minister today took some very hard questions from reporters aboututhe political infigighting in the

government.. he alslso managed to talk a lite bit about the investigation into y this hapappened. what d did he tell us? jamila: the prime minister has been maintained he had no prior knowledge. most of the suspects have been arrested but there are more out there. a massive manhunt has been launched. he said there was no direct evidence to say -- proved they were linked. right now investigations are going on. the coming days will be extremely crucial. brent: journalist jamila najmuddin in colombo with the latest on n e investigation tonight. thank you. here are somome of the otherer stories now that are making heheadlines around the world.

russian and north korean government sources have confirmed north korean leader kikim jong-u-un will holold his first-ever summit t with vladimr putin on thursday. preparations are underway in an eastern russian city where the meeting will take place. mexican immigration officials have detained hundreds of central american migrants. it is the biggest single rating since large groups started traversing the country last year en route to the u.s. mexico inititially welcomed them but has hardened its stance since they started overwhelming u.s. bororder crossssings. more t than 1000 represesentatis of indigenous peoples from all of the worldld gathered in new york for the 18th sesession of e united nationsns permanentnt fom on i indigenous issusues. the session this year is s focud on the generatioion, transmissin and protection of indigenous peoples s traditional knowledge.

staying at the united nations, the security council has adopted a heavily watered down resolution on sexual violence in conflict zones. the measure was originanally put forwarard by germany as the centerpiece of its security council presidency. but russian and c chinese objections led to -- extensive rewrites before the u.s. threatened to veto the resolution e entirely. crititics say the endd result faileded the victims of weweapoe sexual violence. rereporter: women in syria, rorohingya muslim womenen, women all wawars throuout the ageges. allegations of rape spring up wherever there is conflict. enforcing its prorosecution has long remained unattainable. the german foreign minister has put this issue front and center during his term. he also co-authored an opinion

piece in thehe washington post with actor angelina jol urging the perpetrators of f sexual violence b be brought to justic. while presiding over the council, germany introduced a resolution would make it easier to prosecute rapists and help victims. among its supporters, a an activist and nobel prize laureate who survived years of i.s. captivity and rape. she criticized ththe u.n. for taking little actioion. >> we were hoping that our testimonies would papave the w y for bringing i.s. to justice. however, thousands of i.s. elements are free. thousandndare detained withoutut trial. we come here today to ask those perpetrators of genocide be brought to justice. reporter: amal clooney, the lawyer who represents her and other survivors, made a strong

call action against i.s., compmparing it to triaials of te perpetrators of the holocaust following world war ii. >> ladies and g gentlemen, thiss yourur nuremberg moment. your chance to stand on the right side o of historyry. you owe itoo nadiaia and to the thousands of w women's andd girs who wawatch isis members shave f their beards and go b back to their normal lives while they, the victims, never can. reporter: the council approved the resolution but only after the text was watered-down to get u.s. support. washington insisted language referring to reproductive health be removed before it approved the text. advocates warned it willl be extremely h hard to enforce the diluluted versionon. ent:t: h how to read this resolulution. to do ththat i am joined now by someone from an eight organization which helps women in war and conflict zones. it is good to have you on the show.

is this u.n. resolution going to help stop sexual violence being used as a weapon in war? guest: i think as we saw since many years no resolution can stop at once and forever. i think it is just like one step forward, but as we know there has been a lot of resolutions adopted since the year 2000 on the issue of women peace and security. we appreciate a lot the german government is putting this very high on the agenda during their two years in the security council. we have also just heard that the u.s. were opposed to it and some very important issues like sexual reproductive health rights and access to safe abortion for women had been withdrawn from the new resolution.

that is really a pity. brent: what do you make of that? the fact that reproduction issues and abortion led to the watering down of this resolution? sybille: there are a lot of other good issues in the resolution. that would have been a cornerstone for women's sexual and reproductive health rights because in the situation of crisis and after rape, we have been working for 25 years with a lot of women we have seen a lot of them with a very heavy burden to choose between carrying their children or aborting their children born out of rape. if they carry it they face a lot of stigmatization from their society, and that is really something -- they should have been given a choice. we really hope and we are thankful that the issue was brought to the agenda. but we know the security council

at the moment, there is a lot of backlash towards women's rights in the members we have there. brent: you speak from experience. you have worked in this area for 25 years. you know what happens to women when they are in war zones. the issue of abortion and how you just explained it, do you think that was made clear to the un security council? do you think thahat was communicicated as cleaearly asou just communinicated it? sybille: i do think it was, and i i think that is just an n isse that we see t the u.s. . with a prpresident who declares h himsf getting evevery woman he w wanto get. th issue of women's rights in the whole world is facing a a bg backlash as many human rights issues, and that is just one example of it. brent: this resolution, at least it helps to raise awareness about t this problem andnd the problelem of impunity.

what has to be done now? sybille: i think itt is very portant t to really putut all effoforts together to implelemet the reresolutitions that had ben there, including the new resotion which has some good pieces in itt and s some new w s in it. because as nanadia just said, it not about not havaving thee legal framewowork, it is about implemementing it. all women activists around the world are waiting for ages for really big steps to be taken. brent: sybille fezer, repeat sheet you taking the time tonight to share your experience and your insights. thank you very much. sybille: you are w welcome. brent:t: here in germany, the right-wing populist party alternates refer germany, the afd, wants germans to be proud of being german. the party believe people spend too much time apologizing for the crimes of the nazi era.

it has to be said that germany has developed what is called a culture of remembrance to ensure that the dark chapter in its history is not repeated. that is respected araround t the woworld. reporter: not far from berlin, thisis concentration camp was oe of many sites where people were brutally annihilated on a huge scale during world war ii. school groups come here from across europe to learn about nazi atrocities. >> this is really depressing. it makes me feel very sad. >> it is a horrible feeling to be here. reporter: until now there has been a consensus and german politics to ensure that the crimes of the nazi era are not forgotten, especially among younger generations. but the far right afd reject this. they claim nazi history takes up too much school time and say the culture of remembrance is bad for germany.

>> the effect is quite clear. young people are systematically brought up to feel guilt and shame about being german, and they learn to associate germany with people. -- with evil. reporter: these sentiments are not just expressed in parliamentary debates. the director of the memorial says sites like this are directly targeted by the far right. >> there was a group here that was either afd or alligned with it. an investigation by the public prosecutor's office is continuing. these people even denied the existence of the gas chambers. reporter: provocations like these are only part of the afd's tactics. for example, the party has tried to reduce public funding for memorials.

there is no majority support for such measures, but some fear public opinion may change. >> without financial support, these institutions can no longer fulfill their educational mandate. and that is open to political manipulation. reporter: the afd says germany's nazi past should be seen in a wider context. >> we also wantnt to focus on te positive aspects of german history, because we think every nation needs positive points to identify with. >> stressing the favorable aspects of german history is pulling the wool over people's eyes. it is downright dangerous. we have done work over decades taking a critical look at our own history. reporter: our political conflicts s that could affect te future of germany's public

memorials. brent: in northern ireland, the dissident group the new irish republican army says it killed journalist lyryra mckee. it happened during last week's violence in londonderry. mckee's death raised fears over the stability of the northern irish peace process. in its statement, the new ira said mckee's death was accidental and its members had been targeting security. reporter: the statement was received late on monday by the northern irish newspaper the irish news. in it, the dissident republican group calling itself the new ira admits responsibility for the death of lyra mckee in the northernrn irish city of airyry londonderry. the group upopon the -- the grop apologized, saying the killing was not intentional. in the course of attacking the enemy, lyra mckee was tragically killed while standing beside and in been -- beside enemy forces.

we offer our full ends -- full and sincere apologies. that apology will do little to quill the anger and sadness at her killing. friends and supporters had symbolic bloody handprints on the outside of the office accused of having links to the new ira. experts believe the dissident group has about 200 supporters. they reject the good fridayy peace treaty which largely ended the violence in northern ireland in 1998. now that piece seems more fragile than it has for decades. brent: african leaders have agreed to give sudan's interim rulers more time to carry out democratic transition measures following the ousting of the longtime president. at a meeting in cairo, the african union extended its 15 day ultimatum for the military to hand over power to a civilian government.

meanwhile in sudan, protests continue. on tuesday, tens of thousands of people joinened rallies in f frt of the military headquarters into the capital. earlier we spoke to our correspondent and asked him what the opposition in sudan is plenty to do next. reporter: here inn sudan the tension is rising between the militaryry council on one side d protesters on the otr s side. i just talked to one of the leaders of thehe sudanese association and he said if the military will not hand ovever power t to a civilian council tn they will l go for a g generous strike a and for civilil didisobedience. but the question is who is representiting the civivilian counsel. this question is still being asked here in sudan, because they are not united and they are not presenting all people's choice in sudan. this is what the mililitary

council is taking advantage of and saying as long as you are not united then w we will not hd over the power. so, according to what i see, the tension w wl be tensee because thereill be e a blockadade betwn the civilianan counsel and military transitional consul. brent: that was our reporter from the sudanese capital. now to the middle east. egyptians have approved a series of controversial constitutional reforms which will allow president abdel-fattah el-sissi to stay in power until the year 2030. in a referendum that took place over the weekend, 80% of voters approved the changes, which would extend the potential term from four to six years and allow el-sissi to rurun for a thirdd term. he says he neededs more time in government to complete major development projects and economic reforms. the changes also boost the

powers of the country's mayor telling -- m military. joining us from cairo is journalist ruth michaelson. good t to have you onn the prog. a a very strong mandndate. more than 80% of the v vote for thesese changes. atat makakes m me wonder, how fr and free was this referendum? do we k know? ruth: therere are c certainly 2f questions abobout how f free -- plenty of questions about how free and fair selection was. the extremely strong outcome in favor of the changes. the e first thing was sissi won lastst year with 97.8%8% of the vote, so neither o of these resusults were expected to be particularly free or fair. but i spoke to several people whwho talked about being paid in boxes of food in ororder to go o thee polls and they certainly felt that once they were in the polling stationon, haviving shon

their i.d. to e staff, that if they voted against the changes that thehewould be s some kindnf punishment. so, thihiss an election thahat delivered a very strong result, but certainly one where there are questions about it going forward. brent:t: i heard today t that ty were comparisons to mubarak's re ign, a and el-sissi using this o consolidate his powers. are peopople worried abobout isw much power they have now given ththeir president?? ruth:: w well, i mean n it is cecertainly concerning. there are people that say they feel this will more or less allow sissi to become president for life, much in the style of mubarak. you know, all those -- - althouh these amendments allow him to rule until 2030 there is always

theossibility of the constitution being changed again allowing him to stay in power even further. the changes do increase his control over the judiciary. they also increase the military's role in pitics. it is arguable in some way that hehe may havave more power than mubarak ever did. brent: journalist ruth michaelson with the latesest frm cairo tonight. thank you very much. in soccer news, the women's world cup kicks off in france in june. one team will be there for only the secondnd time, argentina. it is a far cry from the success of thehe men's team. some blame a lack of investment and a lack of interest in women's football at both club and national levels. reporter: another day on the boca juniors training pitch in buenos aires. despite their rigorous schedule and the fact they play for one

of south america's top clubs, these footballers do not receive a proper wage. the argentinian football association announced just last month that the 16 women's teams in the top league will turn professional in june. but even then, not every player in those teams will be paid. >> it i is very difficult for a woman to play football on april level. ---- on a a pro level. when you work or study at the me timimyou cannotot give 100%. it so happens the women's national team does not do so well, but nobody seems to realize it is because of the circumstances. reporter: south america's football governing body has launcheded a push to encourage teams to show more interest in the women'ss game. but progress has been slow in argentina, according to this self-described football feminist. >> we have been playing since

1931, whihich iss w when men hat turneded profefessional. to put i i s simply, we have ben made invisible all this time, and people are only now realizing that. but the truth is that women's football is 100 years behind. reporter: given their struggles, just qualifying for the world cup was an achievement for argentina, and they are hopeful they can see success on the international stage. brbrent: after a shohort break l be back to t take you u throug"e day." tonight, the isis connection to sri lalanka. ♪ [captioning peperformed by the national captitioning institute, which is responsible for its caption cocontent and accuracyc. visit ncicap.org]

twenty four i'm from twenty four dot com. this is walking to live in paris world news andnd analysis from france i i cast on marco and the are the headlines. july because morning it's dead in the wake of the easter sunday terror attacks. the death soldiers in to over three hundred the phararmacist says the islamic state group may have been behind the actual cit. current drug mody costs is votes on the busiest ballot date in india's election the prime minister is in gujarat. a hundred and eighty million people of an eligible to focus cheese. rereports say nearly 90% of egyptian bow to sort of proved constitutional changes that could see president abdel fattah el sisi stay in power. until