this is the briefing. i'm ben bland. our top story. police in sri lanka say the death toll from the easter sunday bomb blasts has now risen to 290. 2a suspects have been arrested following the worst day of violence in the country for more than a decade. from comedian to president, ukraine elects television star volodymyr zelensky to be its next head of state.

a warm welcome to the programme, briefing you on all you need to know in global news, business and sport. today is earth day, a movement to raise awareness of our impact on the environment. so i simply want to know what have you done or seen others do that has really made a positive difference to our planet? let me know — just use the hashtag #bbcthebriefing. 290 people are now known to have died in a series of explosions that hit churches and luxury hotels in sri lanka on easter sunday. the country's prime minister says there should be an investigation into why intelligence reports of possible attacks were not acted upon. he also said the priority now was to catch those responsible for planning the attacks. police are interrogating 2a suspects but so far no group has admitted

responsibility for the bombings. a reporter sent this from colombo. —— oui’. this is where people had gathered to pray. but a bomb ripped through the peace of easter sunday. dozens were killed here at st anthony's shrine in colombo. 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 around the same time an explosion took place here at this catholic—dominated town just north of the capital colombo at a church which is just down the street.

we're not allowed to go past this point right now because of security reasons but this is believed to have been the deadliest of all the bombings. a church in eastern sri lanka was also attacked. families rushed to hospitals looking for loved ones. for hundreds, that search ended in heartbreak. sri lanka is home to more than a million christians. a community that's been left shaken. i would also like to ask the government to hold a very impartial, strong enquiry and find out who is responsible behind this act and also to punish them, mercilessly. three luxury hotels in colombo were also targeted, popular with tourists. many foreign travellers are among

those killed and five british citizens have also lost their lives. investigators have been searching for evidence. a guest staying on the 25th floor of this hotel, the shangri—la, describes what happened. we could hear two loud bangs and the entire room was shaking. i could see that a lot of guests here have been taken to hospitals. they're all casualties, staff and guests. for many, a holiday has turned into a nightmare. 20—year—old jason allen is from america. he's being treated for his injuries. security forces raided a house where they believed some of those involved in the attack were hiding. three policemen died. several people have been arrested

in connection with the bombings. we must also look into why adequate precautions were not taken in this respect. but first and foremost, we have to ensure that terrorism does not lift its head in sri lanka. cu rfew curfew is in place across the country. security has been heightened at churches, hotels and the airport, among other places. since its bloody civil war ended ten years ago, it's the deadliest day sri lanka has seen. joining me now is lisa fuller, a freelance journalist who works in colombo and joins us. lisa, give us a sense of what the latest is there, what you are hearing. a sense of what the latest is there, what you are hearinglj a sense of what the latest is there, what you are hearing. i think it is just a continuation from yesterday. just shock and chaos amongst the

population that has been affect it. a lot of anger does make affected, a lot of anxiety to know why this happened and who did it. —— affected. so far we have conflicting information from different sources. you and your family information from different sources. you and yourfamily i understand came very close to being caught up in all of this. my sister-in-law was parking her motorcycle outside of the church that was bombed there. if she had been there 30 seconds later, she had been there 30 seconds later, she would have been close to the bomber. she is fine, but we're very lucky. have you spoken to her about what she saw and what she did in the immediate aftermath? i did. she is in there is a nurse. the blast hit some children, she was doing cpr and assisting the ambulance before the

authorities arrived, she took some people on a motorbike ferrying them to and from the hospital. there wasn't much accurate information, there were concerns about misinformation being spread. about misinformation, we had a story from government officials in the morning and we were told documents were fake. later we had ministers say that they were real. it's not so surprising because in the past we have seen a lack of co—ordination between different parts of the government, especially during tense scenarios, but i think the real concern is that this information could lead to more attacks or assumptions on the party or parties that are responsible. as far as we know, so far, the vast majority of the victims thought to be sri

lankans, but the victims thought to be sri lanka ns, but people the victims thought to be sri lankans, but people from all over the world potentially touched in some way by this. very citizens there —— various and visitors as well. i spoke to some people from china,japan, the us well. i spoke to some people from china, japan, the us and all over the world. lisa, just to give us a sense of you know, how — how far the country has come on since it civil warand country has come on since it civil war and this really has the potential to do a lot of damage to the work that has been done to make it feel a place that is safe and welcoming to go. absolutely. the war ended almost exactly ten years ago and we haven't been anything even remote lee that scale is not remotely as violent since then —— remotely as violent since then ——

remotely as violent since then but there has been religious tensions that never went away. last year we saw an anti— muslim riots carried out by the buddhist population and in terms of christians, they have been over the last 20 years, even in as low—level, but consistent attacks on christians. they were being stoned and throwing fireworks at them during services last sunday. this is shocking in terms of the scale and the nature — in terms of religious and ethnic violence. 0k, lisa, thank you very much for speaking to us. lisa fuller in colombo. there's more detail and background to the deadly attacks on our website including eyewitness accounts and updates as we get them on the victims.

for all of that log on to bbc./news. in ukraine, president petro poroshenko has admitted being defeated by his rival, the comedian volodymyr zelensky. partial official results suggest mr zelensky, with no previous experience of politics, has won 73% of the vote. he stars in a ukrainian television show as a fictional president. this report from jonah fisher contains some flash photography. the latest episode of the volodymyr zelensky show started at the polling station. are you ready to be president? i don't know, the people will decide it in the evening. i'm ready. he doesn't, however, have any political experience, or, judging by his election campaign, that many ideas. the choice ukraine must make today is whether to stick with the president they've had for the last five years, or take a leap into the political unknown, with this man, the comedian volodymyr zelensky.

across town, there were fewer smiles. mr zelensky‘s opponent, president petro poroshenko, has been blamed for the stalling of reforms. "it's important people vote with their minds and not for thejokes", he said. that's what mr zelensky is best known for — slapstick humour and for playing the part of a principled, honest president in a popular television series. this evening, with the music from his tv series playing, mr zelensky took to the stage. exit polls immediately confirmed an overwhelming win. so, there we have it, fact will follow fiction. ukraine's television president is now going to become this country's real president.

incredible! cheering. this is a fairy tale win for mr zelensky, but it's also a protest vote against notjust the president, but a political class that are widely seen as self—serving and corrupt. jonah fisher, bbc news, kiev. and we'll have more analysis on mr zelensky‘s election victory in just a couple of minutes. now let's brief you on some of the other stories making the news. two teenagers arrested over the murder ofjournalist lyra mckee in northern ireland have been released without charge. miss mckee was shot dead during a riot in londonderry on thursday. her funeral will be held in belfast on wednesday. the police service of northern ireland has appealed for anyone with information to come forward. a british aid worker killed in nigeria on friday has been named as faye mooney. the british high commission confirmed the death

and she was named by mercy corps, the charity she was working for. mooney was one of two people shot dead by gunmen who stormed a holiday resort in northern nigeria. a landslide in south—western colombia has killed at least 17 people. five others were injured as eight houses in the village of rosas were buried by the mud. the landslide happened early on sunday after days of torrential rains in the area. but as ramzan karmali reports, many are still missing. a scene of utter devastation has hit the small village of rosas. a landslide swept through the village, destroying eight homes and leaving residents shocked and bewildered. now firefighters have beenjoined by the army and locals in their desperate bid to find the missing. translation: we are working on the rescue of victims. the report we have seen at the moment has the number at 15. we are looking for other missing people. this situation in the rosas municipality is very unfortunate.

five people have also been taken to nearby hospitals for treatment. authorities say that the landslide was caused by several days of heavy rain and that parts of the pan—american highway, whichjoins columbia to ecuador, have also been blocked. but these landslides are common in mountainous colombia, especially during the rainy season. just two years ago torrential rain produced one of the worst disasters to hit colombia in recent times. at least 300 lost their lives as entire neighbourhoods of mocoa in the south of the country were washed away. as rescue attempts continue in rosas, president ivan duque has said on twitter that the government was in solidarity with the families affected. but for the people of this village, rebuilding of their homes and lives will be a long, hard struggle. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: we'll have

all the sport, including liverpool's return to the top of the table after their 2—0 win over cardiff. the stars and stripes at half—mast outside columbine high. the school sealed off, the bodies of the dead still inside. i never thought that they would actually go through with it. one of the most successful singer songwriters of all time, the american pop star prince has died at the age of 57. he was a great musician and, you know, a genius. for millions of americans, the death of richard nixon in a new york hospital has meant conflicting emotions. a national day of mourning next wednesday sitting somehow uneasily with the abiding memories of the shame of watergate.

mission control: and lift-off of the space shuttle discovery with the hubble space telescope, our window on the universe. you're watching the briefing. 0ur headlines: police in sri lanka say the death toll from the easter sunday bomb blasts has now risen to 290. the comedian and actor volodymyr zelensky has won a landslide victory in ukraine's presidential election. let's stay with that now. katharine quinn—judge is a ukraine analyst with crisis group. she has been following the election closely and joins us live from kiev. firstly, your take on this result — imean, it

firstly, your take on this result — i mean, it was long expected as we got closer and closer to polling day, wasn't it? well, within the last — after the first round of elections this result was largely expected — and in the last week a sense of resignation really fell over the petro poroshenko camp. they went from saying this would be absolute disaster to saying this would be a disaster but nevertheless making it clear no matter what happened. what does this mean for the direction that ukraine goes in now? well, so, our concern is preventing deadly conflict, so we are concerned about what this means for the process of the minsk agreement, which is the roadmap for reintegrating separatist areas in eastern ukraine, which are under — backed by russian—backed separatist — back into ukraine municipal. and in fact zelensky hasn't taken any positions to indicate that he would represent fundamental shifts from

poroshenko. he said he is not in a nyway to poroshenko. he said he is not in anyway to consider a deal in which ukraine would recognise crimea's annexation in return for russia entirely pulling out of donbass and he's not willing to consider a situation in which the areas under separatist control would be reintegrated back into ukraine in a way that would allow russia retain any influence. there have been some changes and differences in which poroshenko has talked about building a strong crew —— pro—european ukraine. zelensky has spoken about urgently ending the war and the death and suffering of people living in eastern ukraine. it is a changed emphasis. whether it will be changed policy remains to seen. the difficult thing for any analyst trying to figure out what happens

next is there was no real full formal campaign from this now president—elect. formal campaign from this now president-elect. yes, and a lot of people are left looking at the canon of work that we have from zelensky which is his comedy, trying to disown his worldview and this is incredibly tricky and risky, given that people see what they want to see in his work. we do know that from his comedy he presents ukraine asa from his comedy he presents ukraine as a place in which we are all culpable for what is going on here, in which regular people are both victims of corruption and complicit in corruption, and to a large extent there seems to be a message that has resonated with a lot of ukrainians. whether it can translate to a wilful public engagement among ukrainians and a greater adeptness on the part of the government to engage the public to try to move the fight forward in a way that feels

inclusive again, it is anybody‘s gas. thank you very much. -- guess. now it's time to get all the latest from the bbc sports centre. hello, i'm marc edwards and this is your monday sport briefing. the english premier league title race has had more twists and turns than a particularly twisty rollercoaster. the lead at the top has now changed an amazing nine times since march 10th, but liverpool are back in pole position thanks to a 2—0 win away at cardiff. the result sees them go two points clear of manchester city, who have a game in hand. goals from gini winaldum and james milner means jurgen klopp's team pile the pressure on city ahead of the manchester derby on wednesday. we have to do it like we do it and we cannot change that. we have done it the whole season already is not like, "come on, we have to try it more". the boys try really with all they have and i know that so we speak only about the things we have to do. and of course before the game,

how much we have to invest and all that stuff and the boys know that. the attitude is outstanding. it's a tough season but very positive one as well so all good. good things come to those who wait, and at the grand old age of 31, fabio fognini won his first masters 1000 title with victory over dusan lajovic in the final in monte—carlo. he becomes the oldest monte—carlo champion in the open era, and having beaten the king of clay himself, rafa nadal, on the way to the final. he continued that form to chalk up the biggest win of his career, 6—3, 6—4, a win that will see him up to number 12 in the world rankings. fifth—placed chelsea are in action in the english premier league later on monday. they take on burnley. the london club are in danger of missing out on champions league football for the second season in a row, something that hasn't happened since roman abramovich took over in 2003. they still have two chances to avoid that, finishing in the top four or winning the europa league. they'll be hoping for all three points against burnley.

to the nba now, and if this guy, james harden, is on form then you can bet that the houston rockets will make it through to the second round of the playoffs. with a 3—0 series lead they take on the utahjazz again on monday. a victory would give them an unassailable lead in the best—of—seven series with the winners taking on either golden state warriors or the la clippers. they'll need their mvp contender harden to have a good game after he missed his first 15 shots of game three, although he still scored 22 points in that rockets victory. there are four chinese debutants at the world snooker championship this year at the crucible in sheffield. one of them is luo honghao. sadly for luo it might be an extremely brief appearance. he is getting absolutely hammered by shaun murphy, who is nine frames to nothing up. however, we've managed to dig up some footage of luo, who has some other skills he might be able to fall back on.

talents abound. you can get all the latest sports news at our website, that's bbc.com/sport. but from me, marc edwards, and the rest of the sport team, that's your monday sport briefing. earth day is being marked around the world on monday. it's an annual day of events and activities promoting better protection of the environment. 0rganisers say more than one billion people take part each year in nearly 200 countries — including clean—ups in local communities, protests, and educational events. the president of the earth day network is kathleen rogers, who says she can get behind climate protests such as the one in london this past week. the first earth day brought 20 million people out into the streets in the united states.

it remains the largest civic engagement event in human history. and that is our goal, particularly for the 50th. it is a major year in 2020. but i do think the extension rebellion and greta are an antidote for the inertia that i think global leaders have found themselves in that place and so i'm really supportive of youth engaging in that. i did it when i was young and it is something that can be really important for leaders when they are looking to the next election orjust in terms of voting with your pocketbook. so young people need to be engaged in this movement. they have been the missing link for some time, so i'm really happy to see it. i was asking you for tweets on things you have done yourself or you have seen or heard others doing to make a little bit of a difference to try to help the environment. thank you for the tweets that have come

in. i will share a few with you. snowy in brighton says we all do something in a little way like turning off the light, not charging your phone 21w, walking to the shop instead of taking the car, these small things add up, so, yes, good point. tweets says together let's all save fruit seeds and grow fruit trees everywhere. i suppose it is something you could do if you have a garden and the space to do that. and harry says i have seen thousands of people take to the streets of london in peaceful protest for the good of the planet's future. and he applauds them as having made an absolutely fantastic effort. and earth day is all about sometimes protest, sometimes local community cleanup, sometimes local community cleanup, sometimes people just being a little more aware, more conscious of their impact on the environment. so whatever you are doing, share it with us.

i'll be back with the business briefing in just a few moments. hello. there are weather changes on the way this week, they on the way this week, will start after we end the long they will start after we end the long easter weekend with another sunny and warm day. what a weekend it has been. good friday, 24. saturday 25.5 and on easter sunday scotland, northern ireland and wales, the warmest easter sunday on record. the england record stands, 25.3, came close on easter sunday, 24.6 in surrey. we are going to see a sunny day in north—west scotland, western northern ireland compared with recent days. this weather system has backed away westwards. these other starting temperatures. chilly through central and eastern

england, misty in places and temperatures set up quickly in the sunshine. there is a fine day into the western isles. high cloud pushing and across england and wales turning the sun hazy. more cloud than recent days. maybe a late show in south—west england, south wales. high teens, low 20s, the mid—20s and some spots, could be the warmest easter monday on record. here is how it looks into tuesday, on monday it is breezy including on monday night, with high cloud, the chance of some showers for the channel islands, south—west england, may be south wales. a similar picture on tuesday. low pressure developing to the south—west doesn't have its act together. we are drawing this error together. we are drawing this error to the south and some saharan dust arriving in the atmosphere which could turn the sunrises and sunsets picturesque — cameras at the ready. as we look at tuesday, high cloud, hazy sunshine, it is breezy. the odd

shower possible further west. it is still warm out there. maybe not quite as warm. from mid—week the changes accelerate. after starting the week with the warm continental air, low pressure develops, turning u nsettled, air, low pressure develops, turning unsettled, loose head in our way. more colour at the end of the week especially into next weekend. the downward trend in temperatures, the change from sunshine to more cloud and the child is a wet weather not necessarily a bad thing on the gardens and the fields. turning cooler this week, unsettled, showers and thunderstorms spreading north and thunderstorms spreading north and getting breezy as well.

this is the business briefing. i'm ben bland. revenues soar at the chinese tech giant huawei despite a us campaign to have the firm banned over national security fears. almost six years after 1100 people we re almost six years after 1100 people were killed at a bangladesh factory colla pse we were killed at a bangladesh factory collapse we look at safety in the garment industry. and on the markets many markets closed for the long easter weekend. the nikkei trading fairly flat. 0il oil prices rallied by more than 2.5% on monday, to levels not seen since november.