this is bbc news. the headlines at 6. more than 200 people have died after a series of explosions at churches and hotels in sri lanka. authorities say 5 british nationals are among the dead. sir lankan authorities say eight people have been arrested in connection with the attacks. three police officers died during raids. police say most of the explosions were suicide blasts, it not yet clear who is responsible for the attacks. more than 830 people involved in climate change protests in london this week have been arrested by police — 42 have been charged. police in west yorkshire arrest a number of people in connection with fires burning on ilkley moor.

dozens of firefighters are dealing with the blaze, covering six acres. on her 93rd birthday, the queen attends an easter service at windsor castle — she was joined by family members including the duke and duchess of cambridge. more than 200 people have been killed and a50 injured after a series of explosions at churches and hotels in sri lanka. in the last few minutes, the foreign ministry has confirmed that three people from the uk and two people holding dual british—us nationality are among the dead. the blasts happened during easter services at churches

in negumbo and the eastern city of batticaloa. in colombo, worshippers were targeted at st anthony shrine and two other churches. three of the city's major hotels were also hit — the kingsbury, the cinnamon grand and the shangri—la. a short time later there were explosions at another smaller hotel and a private house. they came here to pray, on one of the most sacred days of the year. but just before nine in the morning, the sanctity of their easter service was shattered. as a violent bomb blast ripped through the historic saint anthony shrine in colombo, worshippers scrambled to escape. translation: i heard the explosion, and then the roof fell on us. we took the children and ran out from the rear door. but when i came to the hospital, i saw my brother—in—law and son

on the ground. at almost the same time, two other churches were also hit by deadly explosions. leaders speaking on behalf of the country's christian minority called for peace and harmony in the wake of these horrific attacks. i would like to call upon all to pray that all those who are injured may be healed soon, and that all these families who have lost someone may be consoled. i condemn to the utmost of my capacity this act that has caused so much death and suffering to the people. and it wasn'tjust churches. bombs also exploded at three hotels popular with tourists. a number of foreigners are among the dead. the british high commission in sri lanka said some uk tourists have been caught up in the blast. it is unclear right now to what extent. outside the luxurious shangri—la

hotel, the scene of one of the explosions, investigators are surveying the damage. an eyewitness who was staying on the 25th floor told the bbc what happened. we could hear two loud bangs, and the room was shaking. i could see that a lot of guests are being taken to hospitals. there were casualties among the hotel staff and guests. as grieving relatives waited for updates, two further blasts were reported. the sheer scale of these attacks suggest they were coordinated. translation: this is a serious situation aimed at destabilising the country and the economy. i strongly condemn this attack aimed at religious institutions and some hotels in the capital. the island of sri lanka is on a state of high alert. next month marks ten years since the country's civil war ended.

today's blasts are the worst this country has seen for more than a decade. the bbc‘s azzam amin spoke to us earlier at the scene of one of the attacks in colombo. they have said these are suicide bomb attacks and said that there is one group behind this. but they did not name the group. a police curfew has been imposed after the latest attack. after the eighth attack, police said there will be a fully countrywide curfew. they ask the public to remain inside their houses. don't come out. because the situation was panicking, there were rumours about more attacks, and the public were really worried. social media, especially facebook and whatsapp, have been restricted because of the disinformation that has been spreading.

i've been speaking to the high commissioner for sri lanka to the uk, manisha gunasekera, about the attacks. i think the scale of it is unprecedented. it is multiple attacks in different places so it could have been a group or groups which had tremendous capacity to carry it out with this level of precision, so certainly we cannot speculate at this point. we also don't know whether the suspects already arrested are sri lankan nationals or anybody else and what links they may have, these groups may have, we have no such information so we cannot speculate. but the scale of it is unprecedented. the government had no prior knowledge, not of specific attacks but just violent activity planned? nothing that alerted the government authorities that this

may have been coming? i cannot at this moment speculate on the intelligence that the government may have been privy to, but i can say that these types of incidents were not expected. it has come completely as a shock to everyone in sri lanka, especially because easter sunday is a celebration not only for the catholic and christian communities of sri lanka, it is a public holiday and all sri lankans come together in a celebration because this comes in conjunction with the new year which we just celebrated, and the christian and catholic communities belong to both ethnicities, so this is all communities coming together and joining to celebrate this. the civil war raged for 30 years

and next month as the tenth anniversary of the declaration of peace in the end of the war, but it has been a long time since sri lanka has had to deal with violence on this scale. this year will be marking ten years since the end of the conflict. it is a country that suffered greatly with the protracted conflict related to terrorism and sri lankans have been very resilient. they were in the process of consolidating peace and taking forward a reconciliation process when this happens, so i have to say that we are in shock and i think the government's reaction is very measured and very careful. i must say that having gone through a difficult period, for 30 years, nearly 30 years, i think the sri lankan government has the capacity to deal with these types of incident in a very professional manner, so we hope that with the support of the international community we will be able to address this. earlier i spoke to alan keenan, the sri lanka project director

for the international crisis group about how this compares to previous attacks and violence in the country. i think this is unprecedented, the level of carnage, the level of coordination, the multiple attacks. even in the worst days of the war with the tamil tigers, who used terrorism as one of their forms of pressure on the government, there was never anything like this. there were a big explosions sometimes, but there would be one, not eight of them across the country. it is worrying and quite devastating. two questions arise, obviously with the anniversary of the end of the civil war coming up, would there be any thought there could be a connection with that? is that an area the authorities would be investigating? i don't think so. but you never know. we all have to hold back from speculating too much. but i don't see any obvious links.

because for instance, those targeted, many of those killed, were tamil. it is unlikely to be a tamil group behind it. and in other ways it feels to me just like it may not be so much about sri lankan dynamics. it is important to point out there have been, post—war, there have been ongoing attacks against evangelical christians in particular, that has been going since the late ‘90s by groups of buddhists who feel their religion and culture is undermined by evangelicals coming in. often, they argue, converting through unethical means, converting their people to christianity. that has been there, but it has never been on the scale of massive bombings. it has been church fires, attacks on local pastors, low level but nasty stuff. the muslim communities also come under intense pressure since 2012, again by some of the same

groups attacking evangelicals, who again feel that buddhism is under threat not by christians in this case but by muslims. it is a predominantly buddhist country, but sri lanka's reputation is as a relatively tolerant place. sri lanka is a land of contradictions. it has had this incredibly violent ethnic war for 26 years, which was not a religious war, even though the main communities were of different religions. but it wasn't a religious war, it was a war about ethnicity, about share of resources, about power—sharing. and in many ways sri lanka is a very tolerant community or nation. this level of hatred is quite off the charts, i think. the foreign office have put out some advice if you are worried about british friends orfamily in sri lanka caught up in the incidents,

please call the foreign office switchboard number: 020 70081500. let's take you to kiev where exit polls in ukraine suggest a comedian with no prior experience of politics has been elected as the country's president. he isa he is a man with very little policy, he has been running on criticism of the existing president, the chocolate billionaire, who became president five years ago. exit polls

suggest volodymyr zelenskiy has taken the majority. the proportion of 75—25, roughly, three quarters of the vote going to him. ukraine is an enormous country, but they pull in a lot of places. 400 polling stations, 70,000 voters would have taken part. so it looks like volodymyr zelenskiy will be the president, not an unfamiliarjob will be the president, not an unfamiliar job to will be the president, not an unfamiliarjob to him, because he has been playing the role of president in a comedy show. the pope has condemned the attacks in sri lanka describing them as a ‘cruel act of violence‘. speaking at his annual easter day address at the vatican,

pope francis said he stands by the victims of the attacks saying that christians have been hit by'mourning and pain‘. our rome correspondent james reynolds reports. days after one catholic monument in europe was badly damaged by fire, attention turned to another of the church's most iconic structures, st peter's basilica here in rome. under grey skies, worshippers, pilgrims and tourists gathered in the square. the pope celebrated easter mass. he called for peace in conflicts in the middle east, africa, and latin america. from the basilica's main balcony he offered prayers for the victims in sri lanka. translation: i heard of the serious attacks in sri lanka today with great pain and sadness, that on easter sunday have brought mourning and suffering. i would like to express my closeness and affection to the christian community, struck while gathered in prayer and to all the victims of the cruel violence.

the archbishop of canterburyjustin welby this morning leading a service in canterbury cathedral called on people to stand with sri lanka in prayer, condolence and solidarity. the will to power leads to the murder of innocents in sri lanka. the utterly despicable destruction, that on this holiest of days, seeks to challenge the reality of the risen christ. the queen, today celebrating her 93rd birthday, led the royal family to an easter service at saint george's chapel in windsor. and in paris, catholic worshippers who would normally go to notre dame for easter gathered instead at the nearby church, st eustache, a stand—in cathedral until notre—dame itself is rebuilt.

police say they've now arrested more than 830 people protesting in london over climate change. the protest organised by group extinction rebellion is now in its seventh day. hundreds of extra officers have been drafted in to monitor protestors on waterloo bridge, parliament square, and the main demonstration site in oxford circus — which has now been cleared. well, a little earlier our correspondent, simonjones, who's at marble arch in central london, which is the venue approved of by the police, told me that there look to be splits opening up in the leadership of extinction rebellion. earlier today we saw an internal document from the protesters which suggested that going into week two, rather than the disruptive action we have seen over the past seven days, shutting various roads, causing a bit of chaos in the centre of london, they might move from that

type of action to more political dialogue. this document suggested that the organisers would ask to have discussions with the mayor of london and also the metropolitan police. the aim was that they would say they would close down the protest sites such as this designated one at marble arch, and also the site at waterloo bridge that is causing a lot of chaos, and instead they would locate the protesters in westminster because they want to get their political message across to mps. but since that document emerged some doubt has been cast on it by other organisers. they are saying what was suggested in the document was just an idea, it is premature to say that is what is going to happen. there is talk that the protest will continue at all sites over the coming days. some debate about which best way to take to get the message going on further. but one of the organisers we have been speaking to says a key thing in the week coming ahead

is to try to get their demands heard by mps. mps will be back on tuesday when business resumes at westminster, and you can see therefore why protesters would want to be visible to try and influence the political debate. but what about the debate taking place over how the police have handled this? there was criticism earlier in the week that they had been too soft, to put it bluntly, with the protesters, that they should have tried to clear the demonstration much sooner. of course by the end of the week, they did just that. there has been debate about the levels of police numbers and how much it is stretching the police, but also as you mention the debate about how the police have handled this. what the police and authorities have been saying all along is you can come to this site, that is allowed, but they don't want people at other sites causing disruption. there has been a really convivial atmosphere between the police and protesters.

you don't get any great sense of tension between them. one arrest have been taking place they have been happening without resistance. but certainly the police have acknowledged that this has been a difficult time, very challenging in terms of numbers, which is why they have had to ask other forces around the country to sending extra officers to help them police and the hundreds of protesters here. certainly from campaigners, they say that potentially they don't want to focus to be so much on policing and how this is worked out, and debate about stretched resources, they want it more focused on their ambitions, to cut climate change, talking about reducing emissions as quickly as possible, and that's why some say the key now is to talk to mps.

the headlines on bbc news... at least 200 people have been killed in sri lanka after eight explosions at hotels and churches during easter services. five british citizens are among 27 foreign nationals believed to have been killed in the blasts the queen has attended an easter service at windsor castle on her 93rd birthday. a crowd sang "happy birthday" as she left st george's chapel. inafew in a few moments we join viewers from bbc one. now on bbc news it's time for sportsday.

hello and welcome to sportsday. i'm damianjohnson with the main stories delight for liverpool as they leapfrog manchester city yet again and return to the top of the premier league after a 2—nil win over cardiff city. brilliant from britain at the fed cup. they win their tie with kazakhstan, to secure promotion for the first time in 26 years. and what next for amir khan after his controversial world title defeat by wbo welterweight champion terence crawford? hello and welcome to sportsday. liverpool are back on top of the premier league after a 2—nil victory over cardiff city. they have leapfrogged the champions manchester city yet again after a tense afternoon in south wales. david ornstein was watching.

a day is vital to liverpool's title bid as cardiff's fight against relegation, a day when chances needed to be taken, and wastefulness could prove costly. for a period is the gulf in quality was clear, but pressure can be a leveller. both goalkeepers were to thank for keeping the scores level at half—time. but not for long. the deadlock was broken, and almost the net. liverpool were in front. the celebration and smile what a mark of what it went. cardiff should have equalised. how did he miss? their afternoon went from bad to worse, a penalty to liverpool. james milner was as reliable as ever from the spot. the reds rising back to the premier league summit, and still in contention for a first title in 29 yea rs. contention for a first title in 29 years. knocked out of europe in midweek, manchester united's sole focus is now to finish in the top

four. but those hopes were dented by an abject display that saw everton condemn them to a sixth defeat in eight. thejob condemn them to a sixth defeat in eight. the job facing condemn them to a sixth defeat in eight. thejob facing ole gunnar solskjaer looks bigger by the game. i think everyone can say with their hands in the heart that is not good enough, that is not really a man united team. for me as a manager, the staff, the players, we know that. and we're going to hold our hands up. we apologise again the fans. but we promise that they are going to come out on wednesday and do what we can to give a performance. there were a couple of big results too in the race for the top four. arsenal had a great chance to move above tottenham and into third. but they were beaten 3—2 at home by crystal palace. mesut ozil equalised after christian benteke opened the scoring. but palace made it 3—1 with goals from wilf zaha and james mcarthur. pierre emerick aubamyang's effort with thirteen minutes remaning failed to produce an arsenal fightback and they remain

in fourth place. let's have a run through some of the day's other football headlines. celtic need just four more points from their four remaining premiership games to clinch another league title. they were held to a goalless draw at hibernian this afternoon, hibs keeper ofir marciano was in inspired form to keep neil lennon's side out. chelsea have lost their first leg of their women's champions league semi final against lyon. they lost 2—1, so they did get an away goal which could prove to be vital come the second leg. arsenal need just one more win to take the women's super league title after a 2—1 win over everton. they're four points clear at the top of the table, and will win the league if they beat brighton next weekend. great britain have won their fed cup tie with kazakhstan at the copperbox arena in london. the win was sealed by a couple of great performances from johanna konta and katie

boulter. a very good day today for great britain? yes, although both players were in perilous position and produced courageous performance is to finally see britain through to the top 16 teams for the first time since the 19905. teams for the first time since the 1990s. joanna konta up against the cats act number one player, and it was nip and tuck most of the way until her opponent put her foot on the gas, and joanna konta put in many errors, a double break of serve out, can't i got one break back and at the end recovered from 5—3 down, playing virtually flawless tennis to ta ke playing virtually flawless tennis to take it to a decider, 7—5, and give great britain the first robber of the afternoon. she does produce the goodsin the afternoon. she does produce the goods in the fed cup now. how

significant is this for a british women's tennis? it means a lot for the team now that the victory secured. katie boulter also had to do it the hard way in the second singles rubber. sheesh were struggling with a back problem that she was also affected by yesterday. she was using a hot water bottle to try to soothe her back. one break down and one set down she was in trouble before coming back to take the decider 6—1. it means they are now in the elite top 16. as they stand they would be in world group too, because the world group is divided into two groups of eight teams. but the international tennis federation have promised reform. it is not confirmed by the proposed format is to have a 12 team one week long world cup finals in april, perhaps in a city in europe. britain would be involved in some capacity. they would need to win a play—off in

february to qualify, but they have a shot at winning the title next year, and it is the first time we have been able to say that for over a quarter of a century. the first round of the world snooker championships continue in sheffield this afternoon, and the 2005 champion shaun murphy is in great form. he's on for a whitewash against china's luo honghao, murphy's 9—0 up, the same score that neil robertson leads michael georgiou in his first round match. there's only ever been one other whitewash at the crucible, a couple of chances for another in the next 24 hours. leinster are through to the final of rugby union's champions cup after beating toulouse in the semifinal. the irish provincial side will face saracens of the premiership at newcastle united's st james's park next month. ben croucher reports. after a year in ireland to the champions cup is starting to feel at home with leinster. it has only spent as long in the toulouse trophy cabinet as the one in dublin in its

history. for a return to france, toulouse would have to defend better. the irish side were relu cta nt to better. the irish side were reluctant to wave goodbye to their trophy. it looked as if toulouse might have waved the white flight by half—time, only for a penalty in the build—up. leinster had to waitjust 12 minutes after the break to go further ahead. with toulouse chipping away, there was some french resistance. garry ringrose touched the ball down at the same time, so there was no try. leinster continued to kick them some more. no intentions of letting the trophy go anywhere just yet. amir khan says his boxing career isn't over, after he lost his world title fight against terence crawford in new york earlier this morning. khan was outclassed by the wbo welterweight champion, and was knocked down in the first round at madison square garden.

he made it to the sixth round but then was caught by a very low blow, an accidental shot below the belt from crawford. khan was pulled over by his corner, but was in so much pain that he couldn't continue, he denied quitting and said he "couldn't think straight". crawford had won every round to that point and remains unbeaten. i never quite feel anything. i'd rather be knocked out. i'd rather have been knocked out than quitting a fight. it's just not in me to quit. and obviously i was hit with a low shot. i couldn't recover from it. that's the reason the fight was called off. i tried to continue, but it was getting worse, and the coroner called it off and we chose to not fight. that's all from sportsday. we'll have more

throughout the evening. hello, once again many of you will have enjoyed weather like that over the past few days, if you have seen the past few days, if you have seen the news bulletins, if you are out and about, the ground is very dry at the moment. take care. it is not like that everywhere. go too far north—west and you run into a lot of cloud. this is a weather front that has been trying to work its way towards the british isles, failing towards the british isles, failing to do so for many of us. but it has been there. overnight we will see the first signs of it wanting to move a little bit further back towards the atlantic. not particularly cold, although as in recent nights some spots will be close to zero in the countryside.

there is the weather front on monday, and at last we can speak of some decent sunshine getting into the northern and western isles, areas north of the great glen, and the western side of northern ireland. elsewhere, gloriously sunny and very warm. some may even get up to 26 degrees. from tuesday, signs ofa to 26 degrees. from tuesday, signs of a change. initially in the south—western quarter. we have this influence of low pressure to consider. there will be more high—level cloutier, and i think there could be one or two showers moving through the channel islands, to the south—west of england and wales, maybe to northern ireland. temperatures not as high as over the past few days. from wednesday we see the influence of low pressure, the heat that we have seen of late will work across the continent. the

colours begin to drain away as we pick up an increasing influence from the atlantic. from wednesday onwards we will notice a significant difference in the weather. it will turn cooler. chances of showers or longer spells of rain to stop some thunderstorms in there. and it will be windy at times. it may start dry around the midlands, but by the middle of the data could be thunderstorm around there. the best of the weather and sunshine at that stage will be further north.

in a series of explosions in sri lanka. there are five britons among the dead. many of the victims were in churches, where they'd gathered for services to celebrate easter. translation: i heard the explosion, and then the roof fell on us. we took the children and ran out from the rear door. but when i came to the hospital, i saw my brother—in—law and son on the ground. the authorities say eight people have been arrested, and the prime minister says there might have been information received before the attack. translation: this is a serious situation aimed at destabilising the country and the economy. i strongly condemn this attack. as christians around the world gather to celebrate easter, the pope said the attacks in sri lanka were "such cruel violence".

also today, more arrests as climate—change demonstrators offer to pause the protests that have been taking place in london for a week. oh, brilliantly driven in by gini wijnaldum! and liverpool are back at the top of the premier league after victory against cardiff. good evening. at least 200 people have been killed and hundreds injured in a series of bomb attacks in sri lanka. five britons are believed to be among the dead. the explosions targeted churches during easter services and some luxury hotels. the attacks took place in the capital, colombo, in nagombo and batticaloa

on the east coast. in colombo, st anthony's shrine was targeted, a very popular site for worshippers. three of the city's major hotels were also hit — the kingsbury, the shangri—la and the cinnamon grand, followed by two further explosions on the outskirts of colombo. eight people have been arrested. the sri lankan prime minister says there may have been prior information about a possible attack. our south asia correspondent rajini vaidyanathan has the latest. they came here to pray on one of the most sacred days of the year. butjust before nine in the morning, the sanctity of their easter service was shattered. as a violent bomb blast ripped through the historic st anthony's shrine in colombo, worshippers scrambled to escape.

look closely at the left of frame. this amateur video said to show the moment the explosion happened and the smoke billowing from the church. translation: i heard the explosion, and then the roof fell on us. we took the children and ran out from the rear door. but when i came to the hospital, i saw my brother—in—law and son on the ground. at almost the same time, two other churches were also hit by deadly explosions. leaders speaking on behalf of the country's christian minority called for peace and harmony in the wake of these horrific attacks. i would like to call upon all to pray that all those who are injured may be healed soon, and that all these families who have lost someone may be consoled. i condemn to the utmost of my capacity this act that has caused so much death and suffering to the people.

and it wasn'tjust churches. bombs also exploded at three hotels popular with tourists. the sri lankan foreign ministry says five britons are among those killed, two had joint citizenship with the us, details about the victims have yet to be released. outside the luxurious shangri—la hotel, the scene of one of the explosions, investigators are surveying the damage. an eyewitness who was staying on the 25th floor told the bbc what happened. we could hear two loud bangs, and the room was shaking. i could see that a lot of guests are being taken to hospitals. there were casualties among the hotel staff and guests. as grieving relatives waited for updates, two further blasts were reported.

with hundreds of casualties, hospitals are at capacity. this 20—year—old from the united states is being comforted by his father as he receives treatment for his injuries. the government believes most of the blast were carried out by suicide bombers. the prime minister has admitted officials had some prior knowledge of the attacks but that ministers weren't told. three police officers were killed as a security forces raided a house in colombo today. no group has admitted carrying out the attack. several people have been arrested. the country's prime minister has described today's atrocities as cowardly. translation: this is a serious situation aimed at destabilising the country and the economy.

i strongly condemn this attack aimed at religious institutions and some hotels in the capital. a nationwide curfew is in place, and access to social media has been temporarily banned. this was the worst attack sri lanka has seen since its deadly civil war ended ten yea rs since its deadly civil war ended ten years ago. tonight, there's usually idyllic island remains on a state of high alert. rajini vaidyanathan, bbc news. our diplomatic correspondent caroline hawley is here. we have heard several times today people describing this series of attacks is unprecedented, what is your analysis of it? unprecedented certainly, sri lanka has a long history of violence, of civilian suffering, there was a brutal civil war that lasted for nearly three decades and ended about a decade ago in 2009 with the defeat of the tamil tigers. since then there has been

relative calm, so this has caused profound shock. there has been simmering tension between buddhists, christians and muslims but never before anything like this, the massacre of christians in his well—planned way. we do not know who is behind it, but it has been condemned around the world from iran to the us to the uk, where theresa may called it a truly appalling and said that no—one should practice their faith said that no—one should practice theirfaith and said that no—one should practice their faith and fair. caroline, thank you. i would like to go live to colombo and make contact with our reporter as i mean, could you tell us reporter as i mean, could you tell us what the latest position is, the state of the investigation? the prime ministerjust held a news conference, and they said there were possible intelligence reports of a possible intelligence reports of a possible attack, and he said the cabinet was not informed about these

possible, you know, attacks that could take place, because they were government ministers who said that they had been informed about the possible attack, specifically targeting christian churches, and the indian high commission in colombo. so that is what the current situation, a police curfew has been in force, situation, a police curfew has been inforce, and situation, a police curfew has been in force, and there are reports of more arrests, police have also arrested a specific house which it is believed the group was operating, so there have been many investigations under way, so by tomorrow morning the sri lankan president said he will be able to appoint a special committee which will give further details of the attacks. thank you very much for the latest, azzam ameen, our correspondent in colombo. the pope has condemned the attacks in sri lanka, describing them as "cruel violence". speaking at his annual easter day address at the vatican, pope francis said he stood

by the victims of the attacks, saying that christians had been hit by "mourning and pain". our religion editor, martin bashir, has the latest. st peter's had been transformed into a vast garden of flowers as christians gathered to celebrate the resurrection of jesus. but as news of the attacks in sri lanka reached the vatican, the pope's traditional easter message was altered to acknowledge the unfolding tragedy. translation: i heard of the serious attacks in sri lanka today with great pain and sadness that on easter sunday have brought mourning and suffering. i would like to express my closeness and affection to the christian community, struck while it was gathered in prayer, and to all the victims of the cruel violence. at canterbury cathedral, archbishop justin welby condemned the attacks. the will to power leads to the murder of innocents in sri lanka, the utterly despicable destruction that, on this holiest of days, seeks to undermine the reality of the risen christ, to say that darkness will conquer, that our choice

is surrender or death. the queen, who is 93 today, also attended an easter service at st george's chapel, windsor. and in paris, worshippers were invited to attend mass at saint—eustache church, on the other side of the river to notre—dame. during the service, archbishop michel aupetit handed over a bible rescued by firefighters from notre—dame — a sober moment on what is normally a joyous day in the christian calendar. martin bashir, bbc news.

in ukraine, the current president, petro poroshenko, has conceded defeat to his rival, the comedian volodymyr zelensky. exit polls suggest mr zelensky, with no prior experience of politics, has won a landslide victory. he stars in a ukrainian tv show as a fictional president and is said to have won the presidential election with nearly three—quarters of the vote. there's disagreement amongst climate change protesters this evening over whether to pause the protests which have been going on in central london for a week. this morning, one organiser said they were considering a change in tactics, moving towards negotiation, but by this afternoon others insisted the direct—action protest would go on. more than 830 people have been arrested. our correspondent jon donnison has more. for a seventh day, climate change protesters were making noise on the streets of london. some dressed for

the weather, others not so much. all week, the atmosphere has been remarkably good—natu red. week, the atmosphere has been remarkably good-natured. the people that are standing here today and that are standing here today and that have been here for seven days are amazing, and without people standing up and speaking out loud and shouting, nobody will listen. on waterloo bridge, there were more arrests after demonstrators glued or locked themselves together to block the road. but around lunchtime, as protests continued, came news of a shift in a leaked e—mail sent to demonstrators, one organiser saying perhaps it was time for a pause with a transition from mass disruption to negotiations with political leaders. for some here, with considering. this kind of action won't be needed if the government responds properly. imean if the government responds properly. i mean you know, the demands, actually, are reasonable and so in line the science. it is an untenable position not for the government not to negotiate. this evolving movement

has no real leaders, and that message that it is time to pause is by no means felt by everyone. we have spoken to one organiser who says that direct action, like the kind of thing we have seen over the past week, should and will continue in the next tarmac coming days. the agreement that has been agreed is that we will carry on with a week of activities, we have got a whole week scheduled. while some protesters may think it is time for a negotiation, others believe talks will only be successful alongside the pressure that direct action brings. jon donnison, bbc news, in central london. time to catch up with all the day's sports news with cathy good evening. the premier league title race is perfectly poised with just three weeks remaining, after liverpool returned to the top of the table with a 2—0 win over cardiff city. manchester united were beaten 4—0 by everton, while arsenal fell to a 3—2 defeat to crystal palace.

david ornstein reports. a day as vital to liverpool's title bid as cardiff's fight against relegation, a day when chances needed to be taken, and wastefulness could prove costly. for a period, the gulf in quality was clear, but pressure can be a leveller. both goalkeepers were to thank for keeping the scores level at half—time. but not for long. gini wijnaldum breaking the deadlock and almost the net, liverpool in front, the celebration, the smile a mark of what it meant. cardiff should have equalised. how did sean morrison mess? he's under afternoon then went from bad to worse, penalty to liverpool, james milner as reliable as ever from the spot. the reds rising back to the premier league summit, and still in contention for a first title in 29 years. knocked out of europe in midweek, manchester united's sole focus is now to finish in the top four.

but those hopes were dented by an abject display that saw everton condemn them to a sixth defeat in eight. the job facing ole gunnar solskjaer looks bigger by the game. david ornstein, bbc news. celtic need four more points to claim the scottish premiership title after today's goalless draw with hibernian. that result puts neil lennon's side one point closer to an eighth league title in a row. chelsea are aiming to reach a first women's champions league final. they lost the first leg of their semifinal 2—1 to the five—time champions lyon. but erin cuthbert scored an important away goal for the london side. great britain's tennis team are celebrating reaching world group 2 of the fed cup for the first time in over a quarter of a century after they beat kazakhstan 3—1. katie boulter won her singles match in three sets against zarina diyas to win the play—off and claim the promotion. johanna konta won both of her singles matches at the copper box arena to help give britain an unassailable 3—1 lead.

amir khan believes his boxing career isn't over despite losing his world title fight against america's terence crawford in new york this morning. there was a controversial end to the bout with khan caught by an accidental low blow. the british boxer was being outclassed by the wbo welterweight champion and said he was in too much pain to continue, which led to boos from the madison square garden crowd. there's more on the bbc sport website. that's all for now, we're back with the late news at ten o'clock. now on bbc one, it's time for the news where you are. goodbye.

hello. this is bbc news with julian worricker. if your password is "123456" —

then you share it with more than 23 million people. that's according to a study published today by britian‘s cyber security watchdog. the national cyber security centre says people should make it harder for hackers to access their data by using three random, but memorable words. our security correspondent gordon corera has more. a password is supposed to keep our information secure, but as we have all had to use more and more passwords, the temptation is to keep them simple. that, though, can be a mistake. a new study which analyses the passwords that have already been stolen shows the risks. the most used password overall is "123456", appearing more than 23 million times in the study. the next biggest is the not much more imaginative "123456789". and the phrase "password" appeared 3.6 million times. all of these are easy

for a hacker to guess. only 15% of the uk population feel they know how to stay cyber safe. there are five simple things we are saying. passwords, get three random words, password manager, back—up your data, do two—factor verification if it is available to you, and also when the updates for apps come through, do it. nearly half of people in the survey said that information on how to keep secure online is confusing and as we move more and more of our lives online, the hope is that the survey today may make some people think again before they take the easy route when it comes to their password. nearly a thousand pubs closed in britain last year. landlords blame increasing costs and business rates but the rate of decline is slowing. there are calls for changes to the way pubs are taxed,

to try to help those at risk of closure. rob young reports. the great british boozer, there aren't as many as are used to be. in the seven years up to april 2017, 128 pubs vanished each month in england and wales. since april 2017, the rate of closures has halved, with 76 closing each month. two years ago, a new business rates system was introduced. since then, many public houses have received a discount on their bills. this year, the average pub is estimated to have had £6,000 knocked off their rates. the industry says business rates, together with high beer duty and rising general costs, are a heavy burden on the sector. there have been calls for further changes to the way they are taxed. there is relief at the reduction in the number of sites closing.

and in better news about beer sales — the amount of beer sold in pubs rose in the last three months of 2018, the first time there had been an end—of—year increase for years. cheaper alcohol in supermarkets has hit some pubs. the local is regarded by many as an important part of culture and a valuable community asset. those pubs that have vanished could have been demolished or turned into homes, shops, or offices. rob young, bbc news. the queen has attended an easter service at windsor castle on the day she celebrates her 93rd birthday. she was joined for by family members including the duke and duchess of cambridge and the duke of sussex. the duke of edinburgh, who has retired from public duties, and the duchess of sussex, who is expecting a baby, did not attend. here's what happened when her majesty left the chapel. crowd sings happy birthday

hip hip, hooray! hip hip, hooray! singing outside of windsor castle earlier. time for a look at the weather with phil avery. many would have enjoyed whether that looked like that over the past few days or so and just a word to the wise, if you've seen the news bulletins if you're out and about, the ground is very dry at the moment but do take care, it is not like it everywhere, go to far north and you end up running into an awful lot of cloud. this has been trying to work its way into the british isles and singularly failing to do so for many of us. it is there to be had an overnight we see the first signs of that wanting to move of bit further

back across the atlantic. as has been the case in recent nights, one or two spots will get close to zero in the countryside. there is the weather front as we get through the new day on monday. decent sunshine getting into the northern isles and western isles. in western side of northern ireland. another gloriously sunny day and another warm day indeed and some may even get up to around 26 degrees or so. from tuesday onwards, signs of a little bit of a change, initially done in the southwestern corridor where we have the influence of low pressure to consider. there will be more in the way of high—level cloud here and i think it will have enough about it for one or two showers just moving through the channel islands to the southwest of england and wales and may be up to northern ireland. temperatures elsewhere maybe not as perky as they have been over the past few days and from wednesday

onwards this is where we see the influence of the low pressures close by to the south and west of the british isles. the heat we will have seen of late gradually working its way across the continent here in the british isles, the colours beginning to drain away as we pick up an increasing influence from the atla ntic increasing influence from the atlantic rather than the continent. from about wednesday onwards, a significant difference in our weather and it will turn cooler, not cold, but cooler. some greens and thunderstorms and there and quite windy at times as well but it may start dry across midlands and wells. there could be a lot of thunderstorm activity around there but the best of sunshine and weather at that stage for the north.

this is bbc news i'm julian worricker. the headlines at 7. more than 200 people have died after a series of explosions at churches and hotels in sri lanka. five british nationals are among the dead. translation: i heard the explosion and then the roof fell on us. we took the children and ran out through the rear door. but when i came to the hospital, i saw my brother—in—law and son on the ground. the authorities say eight people have been arrested, received before the attack. this is a serious situation aimed at destabilising the country and the economy. i strongly condemn this attack. in other news... more than 830 people involved in climate change protests in london