good morning, welcome to breakfast with rogerjohnson and mega munchetty. our headlines today: nearly 300 people are now known to have died after a series of easter sunday bombings in sri lanka — five britons are among the victims. a curfew was imposed across the country overnight. it's not yet known who was behind the attack. the end to a week of disruption by climate change protestors in london as the last of the activists are removed by police. hundreds are forced to spend the night in shelters as a mile long fire sweeps across the mourne mountains in county down. no title twist yet, liverpool

have their noses in front again in the premier league, a 2—0 win and that's bad news for cardiff in their fight to stay up. it is the start of the rhubarb season. it is the start of the rhubarb season. later on we will be picking and tasting some of this rhubarb and i will have a full forecast in what is said to be a record—breaking easter monday. it's monday the 22nd of april. our top story: nearly 300 people are now known to have died in a series of bombings across sri lanka. nobody has claimed responsibility for the attacks, which targeted luxury hotels and churches packed with easter worshippers. five british nationals are believed to be among the victims. leigh milner reports. st anthony's shrine in colombo. this is where people had gathered to pray on easter sunday when a bomb exploded. a string of attacks ripped

through the country within minutes of each other. six bombs targeted separate churches and hotels in colombo. two other explosions hit churches in batticaloa. translation: i heard the explosion and then the roof fell on us. we took the children and ran out through the back but when i went into the hospital, i saw my brother—in—law and son on the ground. hospitals with hundreds of people looking for loved ones. for many, their search ended in heartbreak. it's been reported that at least five british people including a mother and her two children are among those killed. it's not yet clear who is behind the attacks. security forces have raided houses and a number of people have been arrested. but now it's claimed there were warnings of the attack ten days ago. this particular report was not taken serious. this was sent on the 11th of april and says there

could be suicide bombers, it could bea could be suicide bombers, it could be a weapon, or it could be a knife attack or it could be even a truck. 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. an island wide curfew has now been lifted. that security remains on high alert. a week of climate change protests on waterloo bridge in london has been brought to an end by police, who removed the final activists from the site late last night. more than 960 people have been arrested in connection with the demonstrations. simon jones has more. as night fell, officers moved in to remove the last of the protesters who had glued themselves to waterloo briggs —— bridge. with police resources a re briggs —— bridge. with police resources are stretched, the only approved place for protest remains marble arch. there, a 16—year—old

swedish schoolgirl received a rapturous welcome. greta thunberg's protest outside the parliament calling for action on climate change has sparked demonstrations worldwide. we are the ones making a difference. it shouldn't be like that but since no—one else is doing anything, we will have to do so. she was undoubtedly preaching to the converted. i think she's right. yeah, that's really all i have to say but she is right and people need to listen to her. she is going to be very welcome here because she is one of the first people that spoke out and drew attention to this.” of the first people that spoke out and drew attention to this. i wish that at 16 i had the guts to do what she is doing now. but the police say the disruption has been unacceptable. hundreds of people have been arrested. the now entering their second week but there is some discussion about the best way in which they should be taken forward with many people having differing views. activists will meet today to consider whether direct action should be paused in favour of

dialogue with politicians. as waterloo bridge reopens, the direction of travel is far from clear. simonjones, direction of travel is far from clear. simon jones, bbc direction of travel is far from clear. simonjones, bbc news. a british woman has been killed by gunmen who stormed the holiday resort where she was staying in nigeria. faye mooney who was working for the aid organisation "mercy corps" — and a nigerian citizen, were shot dead on friday. the attackers also kidnapped three other people. a comedian, who has never held political office, has won ukraine's presidential election. exit polls suggest that volodymyr zelenskiy took nearly three quarters of the vote. the incumbent, petro poroshenko, has conceded defeat. this report from jonah fisher contains some flash photography. the latest episode of the flood is a lenski show —— volodymyr zelenskiy show, started at the polling station. are you ready to be president? i don't know, the people will decide in the evening, i'm

ready. across town, fewer smiles. go to's opponent, petro poroshenko, has been blamed for the stalling of reforms. it's important people vote with their minds and not for the jokes, he said. that's what volodymyr zelenskiy is best known for. slapstick humour and for playing the part of a principled, honest president in a popular television series. exit polls immediately confirmed an overwhelming win. so there we have it. fact will follow fiction. ukraine's a television president is now going to become this country's real president. incredible! this is a fairytale when 42 that it's also a protest vote against not just the president but a political class that

are widely seen as self—serving and corrupt. remarkable story. two teenagers arrested in connection with the murder of journalist lyra mckee in londonderry, have been released without charge. the 29—year—old was shot as she observed riots on thursday night. police said support from the community has been positive, but appealed for "tangible evidence". hundreds of holidaymakers in county down, northern ireland, have spent the night in emergency accommodation, after a large hillside fire forced them from their caravan park. more than 50 firefighters worked through the night to bring the blaze on the mourne mountains in newcastle under control. declan harvey reports. too close for comfort. at around seven o'clock yesterday evening, smoke was spotted rising from the forest a bove smoke was spotted rising from the forest above picturesque newcastle. eyewitnesses were shocked at how

quickly and the height of the flames we re quickly and the height of the flames were a mile wide. 0n quickly and the height of the flames were a mile wide. on one of the busiest weekends of the year here, this caravan park was evacuated as c wins fuel to the flames. many including a pregnant woman and young children were bussed to the community centre where they spent the night. —— sea winds. community centre where they spent the night. -- sea winds. very frightening. people were getting into their cars and then you are told to get out of the cars and run told to get out of the cars and run to the gates. i think this is really serious. if we have to evacuate. so ijust got really scared and, yeah... either early hours, the fire appeared under control. the fire service is expected to give details on what may have caused the fire and the extent of the damage later

today. what a day of weather we had yesterday. it wasn'tjust what a day of weather we had yesterday. it wasn't just yesterday, was it? saturday, friday, incredible. record temperatures were set in scotland, northern ireland and wales but not in england where the temperature did hit 24.6 degrees. less than a degree shy of the record for england but rest of the record for england but rest of the country had regional records. sarah will have more on the unusually hot weather. that's what we should have been doing, out and about, paddling. ithink we should have been doing, out and about, paddling. i think they are fairly safe. it reminds me of that famous incident, freddie flintoff. they fell off and lost the captaincy. he had a few too many one evening. back in the day when they

we re evening. back in the day when they were allowed to. you had a go at me yesterday saying i was going to go and have a day of sport and not the weather. i didn't have a go at you but i was surprised you weren't going to do it outside in this glorious weather. i did watch a load of sport. it was a brilliant day of sport. the title race, we werejust wondering because we saw city, would liverpool link of falter? no, they didn't. it was tough. we are going to need magister city's near neighbours do liverpool a favour in the near week. the manchester derby which will have a lot to say. united are in all sorts of trouble as well. it's as you were in the premier league, liverpool are back at the top after they won 2—0 at cardiff. georginio wijnaldum and james milner the scorers.

cardiff stay in the relegation zone, three points adrift, liverpool are two points ahead of manchester city, but they have played a game more. it was a terrible day for manchester united who were beaten 4—0 at evertonthat‘s their biggest defeat under 0le gunnar solskjaer, and their fifth loss in a row away from home in all competitons. arsenal also lost yesterday, a blow for their top four hopes too. erin cuthbert‘s goal gave chelsea a lifeline as they lost 2—1 to holders lyon in the first leg of their women's champions league semi—final in france. lyon have been european champions for the past three years. and great britain beat kazakhstan in their fed cup tie at the copperbox arena in london. katie boulter sealed the victory when she beat zarina dyas. it ends a 26 year wait for britain

to return to the world group two. do you like rhubarb? a bit with a y°93 do you like rhubarb? a bit with a yoga time top. rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb. rhubarb and custard suites. —— sweets. we are talking about rhubarb because sarah is in nottinghamshire on a rhubarb patch. nottinghamshire on a rhubarb patch. not only does she have rhubarb but the sunshine and a sunrise like that. tell us more. yes, i am the sunshine and a sunrise like that. tell us more. yes, iam home to the national rhubarb collection. clumber park. similar scenes up and down the country. i am here to look

at the rhubarb, we are talking all things rhubarb and here there is 130 different types of rhubarb a little bit later we will get to pull some of the first stocks of spring and taste some of this delicious rhubarb as well. it is another gorgeous day out there with sparkling sunshine. yesterday of course was a record breaker as we have been hearing across some parts of the country. in northern ireland, temperatures reached 21.7 and in both cardiff and then broke, records were also broken. 23.7 there. we didn't quite break the record in england for the hottest easter sunday but easter monday could be a record breaker. if we get more than 24, it is quite likely, it will be the hottest easter monday on record. things will change a little bit as we had through the week. couldn't last forever, could it? as we headed through the week, some more u nsettled through the week, some more unsettled weather on the way with things turning caller with thunderstorms and showers pushing up from the south —— cooler. things

turning quite breezy. here and now, a big area of high—pressure keeping the wins at bay. it is not wall—to—wall sunshine because a few patches of mist and fog are around. does make winds. they should clear up does make winds. they should clear up and then it will be a bit of high cloud drifting northwards, turning the sunshine a bit hazy but for most of us it is blue skies, dry and warm weather with the temperature is around 22— 24 degrees and for most of us, we could see 25. possibly even 26 in the warmer spots towards the south. through this evening and overnight, it stays dry with a bit of reason around. a bit more cloud than last night, particularly in the west, with the chance of showers. —— a bit of breeze around. tomorrow,

for most of us, it is turning dry and warm with saharan dust drifting m, and warm with saharan dust drifting in, turning things hazy. you may well notice some is on your cars as well notice some is on your cars as well for top one or two showers for the south—west of england and possibly northern ireland and wales. temperatures are still up to 20 and 22 degrees. not quite as warm as today during the week, things change with heavy showers rolling in from the south—west. some of them bring hailand the south—west. some of them bring hail and the chance of thunderstorms. the southern half of the uk sees an unsettled story with heavy thunderstorms and temperatures are still around the 19 or 20 degrees mark. still mild but not quite as mild as it is out there at the moment. it sets us up for a more u nsettled the moment. it sets us up for a more unsettled and of the week. things will turn a showery and unsettled from wednesday always yeah onwards but today, looking at a glorious day with lots of sunshine —— from

wednesday onwards. back for more rhubarb shortly. thank you very much. we will look at the papers in a moment and we will also look at the sports. let's return to our top story. nearly 300 people are now known to have died in a series of bombings across sri lanka. five british nationals are believed to be among the victims. 0ur correspondent sharanjit leyl is in the capital, colombo, for us this morning. good morning to you. it is just over 24 hours now since this terrible series of what certainly well co—ordinated attacks. could you bring us up—to—date with the mood in sri lanka this morning? that is right. the mood is one of shock and horror at how this could happen again. sri lanka hasn't seen an attack this devastating since the ends of the civil war in 2009. it has been a decade. peoplejust coming to terms with this. it has

been more than 24 hours since the attack. it is monday morning here in colombo. you can hear the traffic. people are going about their business. that is after a 12 hour cu rfew was business. that is after a 12 hour curfew was lifted just a few hours ago. when we came through last night at the airport there was a lot of heightened security. soldiers and security personnel everywhere, even getting through to our hotel in colombo we were stopped at roadblocks. there is a sense of shock, horror, heightened security, tension as well. and questions being asked about how much the government knew and when there was a tweet of a memo that was shared by the minister of telecommunications, it has been shared quite widely about the fact that the government and authorities might have known that an attack was imminent as early as april 11, but they were not able or simply did not know enough about it to act on it. we have heard from the prime

minister, ranil wickremesinghe, saying that the priority now is to get the perpetrators of this terrible tragedy. and, as you mentioned as well, 36 foreign nationals are among the dead according to the ministry of foreign affa i rs according to the ministry of foreign affairs and this has impacted far and wide. i havejust learnt this morning that two children from my son's school in singapore were among those killed along with one of their pa rents. those killed along with one of their parents. i was on holiday here just a few days ago among the scores of others that have been hit by this. it was a festive time, the sinhalese and tamil new year had just been celebrated — it was a joyous mood. to come back here to cover this it is simply devastating to experience this terrible tragedy once again. thank you very much indeed for talking to us and for bringing a personal insight as well into what happened yesterday in colombo.

first let's look at the front pages, which are dominated by the easter sunday explosions in sri lanka. the guardian quotes the country's muslim council, who said in a statement that "innocent lives" had been lost because of extremists who wished "to create divides between religious and ethnic groups". the telegraph has a picture of a british family on its front page, the paper says they could be among the victims, although their deaths have not been verified by the bbc. there is uncertainty about which members of the family may have died. a number of newspapers have the same pictures which have been taken from the family's social media account. anita nicholson and her son alex are believed to have been killed. their daughter annabel and there is uncertainty over her whereabouts and the father, ben, is understood to

have survived, but none of that has been confirmed. the mirror's headline is "the easter massacre". the image is of st sebastian's church in negombo, which was severely damaged. and the picture of the nicholson is on the front of the later editions of the papers, on the front of the express as well, five britons dead in the easter massacre with a picture of one of the bomb sites. we will keep you updated throughout the day as news comes through. investigations going on as to who was behind the attacks. the time now is 6:20am. let's take a look at some of the other stories in the papers. yes, the back pages, this time the football season, which usually dominates. there was a very strange result for manchester united losing 4-0 at result for manchester united losing 4—0 at everton, their worst defeat in 30 odd years at goodison park. was that yesterday? yes. i should

have been sitting inside. gary neville was very strong. he was on broadcasting duties. he used the word rancid. and a lot of the papers have picked up on his words on what he thinks has gone wrong. what did go wrong? he thinks there is something completely rotten in the dressing room and 0le gunnar solskjaer will have to have a com plete solskjaer will have to have a complete clear out and rebuild. very strange results since he received the deal afterjose mourinho, just before christmas, but since he was given a three—year contract results have spiralled downwards. gary lineker tweeted bring back jose mourinho. as someone who doesn't follow this closely, i was fascinated by the whole jose mourinho attitude and the lack of support from the team and performance issues — you would think there would be a line drawn under it now. the team should behave. you would have thought, then we get into

the debate of player power — who is bigger than the manager, who is running the club. the daily mail, 0lly, i am sorry, apologising for the everton humiliation. and we have the everton humiliation. and we have the back of the guardian, nice picture of liverpool getting their noses ahead in the title race after they won 2—0 against cardiff. we let they won 2—0 against cardiff. we let the club down, says 0le gunnar solskjaer again, and fantastic result for the fed cup team, beating kazakhstan, katie boulter and johanna konta, winning the singles rubbers to take the unassailable lead against kazakhstan. they are not just at the top, there lead against kazakhstan. they are notjust at the top, there is world group one for the top eight teams, they go into the second tier, so the top 16. there may be a big revamp which would see the top 12 goes in. we don't know where they would leave great britain. good stuff. thank

you. in just under two weeks, millions of people across england and northern ireland will cast their vote in the local elections. they matter because the councillors we elect make spending decisions on the things that effect our daily lives — like roads, health and council tax. however, since 2010 councils in england have had their central budgets cut by almost half. turnout for these elections are also notoriously low — last yearjust over a third of people registered to vote, did so. nina warhurst has been to hartlepool, where last year's turnout was the lowest in the country. hartlepool council has a job on its hands. how can it get the proud population of this diverse community more interested in what it does? 160 million is being spent on

regeneration, but generating interest in these elections is proving tricky. have you ever voted ina proving tricky. have you ever voted in a local election? no. do you know what they do, local counsellors? no, i have no clue whatsoever. this is dyke hill, in the 2% of most deprived areas in the uk. the council can count on callum, the cleaner and pa rt—time youth council can count on callum, the cleaner and part—time youth worker wa nts to cleaner and part—time youth worker wants to make sure that he is heard. just when the counsellors were coming in and they were explaining what they want to do, i was thinking, well, that one vote could be vital, so i might as well use it and then i have used it every year since. so local elections matter? yes, definitely. since 2010 this council has lost almost two—thirds of its budget and that hasn't gone unnoticed by nora. there are so many things being cut back in this town, like a ghost town. vital services we

need, the magistrates' court, hospitals. doesn't make you think i will vote or not bother? my father a lwa ys will vote or not bother? my father always said if you've got a vote, use it. in hartlepool twice always said if you've got a vote, use it. in hartlepooltwice as many people voted in the last general election as the council election, so what makes the difference? we have made councils less important, taking power away from them and they have less and less money to spend, so if we wa nt less and less money to spend, so if we want to get people excited about local governments, about devolution and who their local council is we need to trust local councils to do a lot more. they did get excited about brexit. seven out of ten voted to leave and at sasha's community centre come polling station he said he saw dozens voting for the first time in decades. they take back control resonated massively with people who felt they didn't have any control in their lives. how do you think people feel now that hasn't

happened? i think there is a disillusionment with politics and politicians. so, accuse around the block in june 2016, politicians. so, accuse around the block injune 2016, what about may 2019? very unlikely. on the next street georgia says brexit made her think more about the value of voting. it sparked an interest in politics that wasn't there before. do you think because of brexit you'd be more likely to vote this time around? yes, i think! am going to think about it and go and vote to. because i brexit? yes. brexit chaos, counsel cuts, local loyalties and party splits — will they combine to engage hartlepool as never before, or send it the other way? we find out next week. thursday, the second of may, the big day for the local election. i've done mine. have you? always, we never know where we are with this job. very organised. time now to get the news,

travel and weather where you are. good morning from bbc london news, i'm sonja jessup. the climate change protest group, extinction rebellion, are deciding how to continue their campaign after days of disruption in the capital have come to an end. protesters have now left oxford circus, waterloo bridge and parliament square, but are continuing to occupy a legally approved area at marble arch. more than 900 people have been arrested. members of the group say they've called off plans to hold a giant picnic on the a40 by edgware road tube station today. the father of murdered teenager stephen lawrence says he no longer thinks about his son's remaining killers being brought to justice. dr neville lawrence says he's now focused on stopping further bloodshed, following the surge in violent crime. today is the first ever stephen lawrence day to coincide with the 25th anniversary of stephen's death. he was murdered by a gang of racists in south—east london in 1993. businesses are being encouraged to hire more people

on the autistic spectrum. research by yougov found almost a third of employers think people with autism won't fit into the workplace. but one it consultancy has found their approach to problem solving and attention to detail is a huge benefit in the tech sector, and hopes to encourage other firms to see the advantages. we have a skills shortage in the uk. at that same time we have 700,000 autistic people in the uk and only 16% of those in full—time employment. so there is a massive opportunity to match up those two problems and to solve the skills gap by bringing more autistic people into the workforce. let's take a look at the travel situation now. lots of part closures on the tube this bank holiday monday. as you can see, it's affecting the circle, district, dlr, hammersmith & city and 0verg round. do check before you travel. 0n the trains, mainline euston and fenchurch street stations are closed for engineering works. and south western railway is running amended services.

and, just a reminder, this is how marble arch currently looks — it's still closed because of the climate change protest. let's get the weather with kate kinsella. good morning. well, what a glorious easter weekend of weather. now yesterday temperatures over at wesley in heathrow reached 24.6 celsius. similar values expected today as well. it is dry, fine and, yes, the warm weather stays with us. now there is a little bit of high cloud around today which is set to make some really beautiful sunrises. and indeed sunsets a little bit later. easterly breeze still out on the essex a little warmer in the sunshine and temperatures getting up to 24 celsius elsewhere. 0vernight tonight again a little bit of high cloud around, the temperature really quite mild, especially further west you are. the minimum in central london properly not dropping down much below 12 celsius as you can see

overin much below 12 celsius as you can see over in the east, perhaps a little bit cooler. so for tomorrow morning, more of the same, dry, fine, sunny weather, temperatures reaching around 22. then from wednesday onwards that high—pressure slips away eastwards, the wind picks up a little and it turns progressively cooler and more unsettled. i'll be back in around half an hour. there's plenty more on our website, at the usual address. now it's back to roger and naga. bye for now. hello, this is breakfast with rogerjohnson and naga munchetty. it's 6:30 on monday the 22nd of april. we'll have the latest news and sport injust a moment. coming up on breakfast today: we'll find out how a pair of orphaned lambs are giving a new lease of life to the residents of an aberdeenshire care home. also this morning, 50 years have gone by since sir robin knox—johnston became the first man to sail solo and non—stop around the world. he'll tell us how he's planning to mark the anniversary. and from gymnast to chart—topping musician, before nine we'll be joined by one of taylor swift's favourite artists, nina nesbitt. good morning, here's a summary of today's main stories from bbc news.

it's monday the 22nd of april. our top story: nearly 300 people are now known to have died in a series of bombings across sri lanka. nobody has claimed responsibility for the attacks, which targeted luxury hotels and churches packed with easter worshippers. five british nationals are believed to be among the victims. leigh milner reports. a week of climate change protests on waterloo bridge in london has been brought to an end by police, who removed the final activists from the site late last night. more than 960 people have been arrested in connection with the demonstrations. ‘extinction rebellion' said it will hold a meeting in a legally—approved area at marble arch today,

to decide its next steps. a british woman has been killed by gunmen who stormed the holiday resort where she was staying in nigeria. faye mooney, who was working for the aid organisation "mercy corps", and a nigerian citizen, were shot dead on friday. the attackers also kidnapped three other people. a comedian, who has never held political office, has won ukraine's presidential election. exit polls suggest that volodymyr zelenskiy took nearly three quarters of the vote. mr zelensky is best known for starring in a satirical television series in which his character accidentally becomes ukrainian president. two teenagers arrested in connection with the murder of journalist lyra mckee in londonderry, have been released without charge. the 29—year—old was shot as she observed riots on thursday night. police said support from the community has been positive, but appealed for "tangible evidence".

hundreds of holidaymakers in county down, northern ireland, have spent the night in emergency accommodation, after a large hillside fire forced them from their caravan park. (tx more than 50 firefighters worked through the night to bring the blaze on the mourne mountains under control. it's not yet clear how it started. it's 50 years since sir robin knox—johnston made history by becoming the first man to sail solo and non—stop around the globe. in 1969, he set sail from falmouth with enough supplies to last him ten months. radio failure on board meant he couldn't make contact with anyone on land for much of that time. sir robin completed the trip in 312 days. we'll be speaking to him later in the programme. got lots to talk about, well, 0llie had lots to talk about. i'm not very

good at that. everybody‘s talking about the title race. jurgen klopp, happy man. they won. we have the flip—flopping at the top of the table. liverpool, every time you think they might falter, they respond. they are back on top now. they have won six in a row so you really think it's going down to the wire. whoever stumbles first, that will be it will liverpool are back on top after a hard fought 2—0 victory at cardiff, the goals came in the second half. 0le gunnar solskjaer says he doesn't know if his manchester united players care about the club after their shock 4—0 defeat at everton, and arsenal slipped up in their pursuit of a top four finish. joe lynskey rounds up yesterday's premier league results

at this stage of the season, every point and goal now needs —— means more. this was after an hour of growing tension to break cardiff down, they needed a thunderbolt. rattled into the rest of the net! look at the relief! look at the elation! a flash in a match that sees liverpool rise back to the top but this was a day that cardiff made things uncomfortable. somehow sean morrison missed their best chance of the game. timed better, it might have changed the whole picture. as it is, he got back to his feet and broke —— brought most salad down. liverpool penalty and 2—0. in this relentless title race, they now have 88 points. that is liveable's best tally since the 805. 88 points. that is liveable's best tally since the 80s. i was brought —— prepared for a proper banana skin. we knew that so the boys were unbelievable. their attitude is outstanding. it's a tough season but

a very positive one as well. the contrast of full—time feeling with that it manchester united. they lost 4-0 that it manchester united. they lost 4—0 against everton, a fifth away defeat —— defeat in a row and for all the quality in blue, this was a day for make united of difficult questions. former players think they need to strip the squad and com pletely need to strip the squad and completely rebuild. right now, the side are not celebrating but saying sorry. i think everyone here can say, hands on their heart, that is nowhere near good enough. we apologise again to the fans. we know it's a big task and work to be done. we have got to do it together. in north london, arsenal gave east london and easter repeat. they lost 3-2 at london and easter repeat. they lost 3—2 at home to crystal palace, missing the chance to move clear of the top four. right now, dolls like this have implications and one mistake can change the season. ——

goals like this. now we're at the business end of the season it's worth just reminding ousrelves what this title race will involve. liverpool a point clear but manchester city have that all important game in hand away to manchester united on wednesday. celtic need just four points from their four remaining premiership games to be sure of another league title. that's after being held to a goalless draw at hibernian they were denied thanks to several brilliant saves from hibs keeper 0fir marciano. neil lennon's side still have a nine point lead over rangers at the top as they look for an eighth straight league title. chelsea women scored a precious away goal against the best team in europe lyon, although they lost 2—1 in the first leg of their champions league semi—final and they didn't make life easy for themselves first scoring an own goal and then conceding after being unable to defend a corner. they also had a fran kirby penalty saved but erin cuthbert‘s fantastic strike gave them a hope. the second leg is next sunday at kingsmeadow, barcelona have a 1—0 lead against bayern munich in the other semi. in the women's super league, arsenal need just one more win to take the title after beating everton 2—1.

dutch forward vivianne miedema scored arsenal's second, that's her 30th goal in all competitions this season. great britain are into the fed cup world group for the first time in 26 years. they beat kazakhastan to secure promotion. they needed to win two rubbers at the copper box arena in london on sunday to seal victory in their play—off, and they got off to a great start whenjohanna konta recovered from four games to one down in the final set to beat yulia putintseva. what is a rubber? they named them rubbers in the fed cup. they are just games. if! don't rubbers in the fed cup. they are just games. if i don't know, someone will be out there. i called it a

match. you must call them brothers, apparently. so that left katie boulter with a chance to claim victory for britain if she could beat zarina dyas. that match also went to three sets. cue some delirious celebrations, that secures a a place in the 8 team second tier of the world group. having a bit of a revamp. we will speak to annabel croft soon to see what that means the women's tennis in britain. the rugby champions cup final will be between saracens and champions leinster. the irish beat toulouse. running in three tries in a 30 points to 12 win at the aviva stadium. they'll bid for a record fifth european title against saracens in newcastle next month. neil robertson missed out on the chance of completing only the second whitewash at the world

snooker championship. he beat michael georgiou 10—1 in the first round, but there's a chance it could happen this afternoon as shaun murphy leads by nine frames to nil against luo honghao. murphy won the tournament in 2005 and has started like he means business this year. returning to football. paris saint germain players wore a special kit last night following the fire at notre dame cathedral last week. players from the french champions sported the image of the famous cathedral on their shirts for the game against monaco. fans were asked to donate money to help fund the restoration project. the players' names on their shirts were all changed to read notre dame. a lovely touch. 0bviously a lovely touch. obviously it's touched many people in france and

around the world. if you are a football commentator... it's tricky, isn't it? lucky paris saint—germain area isn't it? lucky paris saint—germain are a very well—known side so if you are a very well—known side so if you area are a very well—known side so if you are a football commentator worth your salt, we recognise them from the players and what positions they play. because the numbers were still on. you don't really look at the players on the back. —— the names on the back. it would have been tricky. and the ball goes from notre—dame. he has played it to notre—dame. nice touch. let's return to our top story now. it's still not clear who's responsible for carrying out yesterday's bombings in sri lanka, which killed almost 300 people. a number of suspects have been arrested, but it's claimed the authorities were warned of the attack ten days ago.

let's speak to local newspaper reporter ashwin hemmathagama whojoins us from the capital, colombo. firstly, i'm so sorry for the tragedy that your country has been seeing and how it would have touched so many people. it's horrific and as we saw it unfolding yesterday, we we re we saw it unfolding yesterday, we were all horrified. i can't imagine how people feel there now. absolutely right. for sri lanka, it is something that came out of the blue and we never expected such a thing to take place. it is reported now that 290 people lost their lives and almost 500 still in hospitals around colombo and the area. where we re around colombo and the area. where were you when the news came to you? i was were you when the news came to you? iwas in were you when the news came to you? i was in the town and immediately after, we went and had a look around

and the site was awful and a lot of debris and people were scared and shouting, crying and it's horrific and, you know, sri lanka has of course got together with bystanders and authorities and managed to take the injured to hospitals and it's an awful site. it alarming. as we have been reporting, there is still no indication as to who was behind this attack at the moment. i now understand the government has put a ban on social media. 0bviously understand the government has put a ban on social media. obviously there was a curfew overnight. from our past experience, the government jointly knows that in such incidents, a lot of rumours, fake news goes around. it created difficult situations in those situations would shift the attention of the law enforcement and investigators from one to the other so investigators from one to the other so making it difficult to find the

actual responsible people who are behind the scenes. they have temporarily got facebook, whatsapp and u—tube suspended so they could continue with the investigations. the impact, we understand, around 30 foreigners and tourists, we understand five britons were among this awful tragedy, this awful incident. tourism was picking up in sri lanka. it was becoming a tourist destination, a very popular tourist destination, a very popular tourist destination after the troubles it has seen in previous decades. this is going to have an impact?m has seen in previous decades. this is going to have an impact? it will bea is going to have an impact? it will be a major blow to our industry because sri lanka was doing well and it was ranked high among destinations in the area and even in

lonely planet, it was an impressive response. it was a most trusted and looked after destination for westerners. with this unfortunate incident, tourists are in a panic situation even though the government has taken necessary measures to ensure their safety and they are well looked after and providing places in other hotels and stuff but nevertheless, the international airport is currently manned and managed by the sri lanka air force to ensure the security and the only —— only passengers are allowed in the terminal. there are long queues. it is advised to reach the airport four hours before the flight time. so they won't miss their flight. as

isaid so they won't miss their flight. as i said before, so they won't miss their flight. as isaid before, our thoughts so they won't miss their flight. as i said before, our thoughts are with you and your country as you recover from this atrocity. thank you very much for talking to us. thank you. we had a record breaking day of weather yesterday. mel in staffordshire said it was 27 degrees, why did we say it was cooler? they always over read it, don't they? lots of places had a record—breaking day yesterday, is it likely to be the same today? you are in the middle of a rhubarb patch in nottinghamshire. good morning. it is a beautiful day here. today could be another record—breaking day across parts of england. certainly a gorgeous morning here. i am at columba park for the start of the rhubarb season and this is the national rhubarb collection. joining me now is shirley roberts, senior

gardener here, so tell us about this amazing collection of rhubarb. gardener here, so tell us about this amazing collection of rhubarbm gardener here, so tell us about this amazing collection of rhubarb. it is the second largest in the world, the first largest is in holland and it comprises 141 varieties — there are loads of different flavours, some are champagne, some are sweeter than others, some late, some early, but, yes, different ones. has it been a good season? it doesn't like the weather we have had today. it is from siberia. it likes real, real cold. so it is a bit tricky at the moment. warm at the moment. any top tips for people growing rhubarb at home? everyone should have rhubarb. it is easy to grow. it doesn't like any special treatment. it has very few pests and diseases. you can have crumbles galore from one crown. thank you so much. later we will

pull the first stalks of rhubarb. another glorious day today across the uk. we may well break the record for the warmest easter monday ever recorded in the uk. things are set to change through the course of this week. we have some more unsettled weather on the way as things are set to turn in the week. we will see some thunderstorms and it will be turning quite breezy. go and enjoy the beautiful bank holiday weather today. we have high—pressure setting today. we have high—pressure setting to the east of the uk and that is drawing in warm southerly wind. it isn't wall—to—wall sunshine this morning. we have patches of mist and fog across parts of england and wales. we will see more high cloud drifted northwards through the day. 0n the whole it is looking gorgeous out there. blue skies, sunshine and very warm once again with temperatures generally around 20— 25 degrees. we could hit 26 celsius in isolated spots in the south. cooler along the north sea coast where we

have the breeze coming in from the sea. have the breeze coming in from the sea. you will notice the breeze today. dry, fine and sunny. into this evening and things are dry and settled for most of us. 0vernight we will see one or two showers in the south—west of england, perhaps into wales, so cloud drifting in from the west. it won't be quite as cold as last night. temperatures around 6—12 to start your day tomorrow. for the most pa rt to start your day tomorrow. for the most part tomorrow looks like another beautiful day. we have a few exceptions, showers likely for south—west england, wales, one or two into northern ireland as well. for the vast majority of places, a fine, dry, hazy day. temperatures not as hot as they will be today but up not as hot as they will be today but up about 20— 22 degrees. cooler on the east coast. you might notice some dust on your cards. we have a lot of the dust coming up at the moment. things turn unsettled on wednesday. we have some heavy, potentially thundery showers pushing in from the south on wednesday.

scotla nd in from the south on wednesday. scotland and northern england should be dry for much of the day. temperatures by the time we get to wednesday around 19, possibly 20 degrees. you will notice the downward trend in temperatures wednesday onwards as things turned showery and unsettled through the rest of the week. get out and enjoy your easter monday. bank holiday weather is looking beautiful. blue skies ahead. i love a yellow coat in the sunshine. i do. i think it is so apt, isn't it? and it makes you feel sunny, doesn't it? yes, like a daffodil in the spring. there we go, our very own daffodil in the spring. there we go, our very own daffodil. daffodil in the spring. there we go, our very own daffodillj daffodil in the spring. there we go, our very own daffodil. i haven't seen a our very own daffodil. i haven't seen a cloud for days. wednesday. that was when it was? know, that is when they are coming back. you should do herjob. venture out onto pretty much any road in the uk, and the chances are you'll see people breaking the speed limit. but perhaps not for much longer. under rules being finalised by the eu, all new cars will have

to be fitted with speed limiters from 2022 onwards. but how will they actually work? theo leggett has been finding out. speed limits, they are a fact of life and they will soon become even harder to ignore. from 2022 all new ca rs harder to ignore. from 2022 all new cars will be fitted with intelligent speed assistance systems. basically on—board speed limit is designed to prevent you from breaking the law. now that might all sound a bit futuristic, possibly a bit big brother as well, but you might be surprised to learn that lots of cars, including these two, already have intelligent speed assistant systems set as standard. so the best way to find out how they work is to use them and i'm going to start with this ford. so this car has a fairly basic speed assistant system fitted. it relies mainly on the camera up here which looks at the road ahead and tries to pick out speed limit

signs and respond to them. there is the 40 limit sign now. just going past it and i can see the car has recognised it. it is on my dashboard and the car is slowing down as well. so we're not breaking the law. and now i am approaching a 30 mile an hour limit. let's see if the same happens. i can see on my dashboard the car has recognised it and now i am doing 30 miles an hour. i can go faster if i really want to buy standing on the accelerator. given we are going through a village, there might be children around, there might be children around, there is a school over there, probably not such a good idea. that is one form of intelligent speed assistance. there are others. let's try what this car has to offer. now this car is a little bit different. it does have a camera but it also

relies on gps data so it knows when limits are coming up. and right now i'm doing 50, approaching a 40 zone and the car has warned me of what to expect. and in fact it has now told me that there is a 30 zone coming up, so! me that there is a 30 zone coming up, so i can slow down in advance. i don't need to risk speeding. if i get it wrong, the system is there to help me out and help me avoid a speeding ticket. most people want to stick to the speed limit but they need help in understanding what is the speed for any particular road. these systems help them do that. but the systems are not infallible. systems like these won't stop determined speeders. there is an off switch. they do make you more aware of what you are doing. so if you get a speeding fine you probably deserve it. you have been warned. we have. spring has arrived at a care home in north—east scotland with some very cute visitors. a trio of orphan lambs are being used to help those with dementia. many of the residents lived and worked on farms, so seeing the newborns helps them reconnect with their past. nasim asl from bbc scotland's "nine"

programme has been to find out more. lambing season is well under way this easter. but not all have an easy start to life. these lands couldn't be cared for by their mothers so they are off to a care home to get some love —— lambs. most of the residents in dalhousie huntly have dementia. forfarmer‘s of the residents in dalhousie huntly have dementia. for farmer's wife jean marc, seeing the lands it brings back memories of her younger yea rs. brings back memories of her younger years. i was born on a farm. so what is it like for you being with the lambs now? it is great. in the uk one in six people over the age of 80 have dementia. farming is right at the heart of this rural aberdeenshire community, so having these lambs in this care home is providing a real confident to the residents here. spending time with animals is proven to have benefits for people with dementia. there is

lots of different research in regards to therapy. people might not a lwa ys regards to therapy. people might not always connect to other people but they will connect with animals. the lambs work well because it is a rural home with farming connections, but something else will work differently in another home. so it is about that person centredness and making sure you find what works for each individual because once you make one person with dementia you have met one person with dementia. everybody is really different. being around these lambs helps reduce symptoms of depression, loneliness and anxiety. residents in the care home even got to name the lambs. meet sheila, joseph and teeny violet. named after 198—year—old resident. give me a kiss. violet used to sing professionally. # i know these days... # i will take you away at the top of hill... # just you and me... # will carry you

around, my darling. # you wait... the lambs will be back to visit the ca re the lambs will be back to visit the care home over the next few weeks when they are sure to be serenaded by violet once again. slippery floors — need the carpet, and the little nappies. that is what we wa nted and the little nappies. that is what we wanted before the report was what about the mess and there is the answer. so sweet! have you got a little song as well? time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. we will see you at 7am with the headlines. good morning from bbc london news, i'm sonja jessup. the climate change protest group, extinction rebellion, are deciding how to continue their campaign after days of disruption in the capital have come to an end. protesters have now left oxford circus, waterloo bridge and parliament square, but are continuing to occupy a legally approved area at marble arch. more than 900 people have been arrested.

members of the group say they've called off plans to hold a giant picnic on the a40 by edgware road tube station today. the father of murdered teenager stephen lawrence says he no longer thinks about his son's remaining killers being brought to justice. dr neville lawrence says he's now focused on stopping further bloodshed, following the surge in violent crime. today is the first ever stephen lawrence day to coincide with the 25th anniversary of stephen's death. he was murdered by a gang of racists in south east london in 1993. businesses are being encouraged to hire more people on the autistic spectrum. research by yougov found almost a third of employers think people with autism won't fit into the workplace. but one it consultancy has found their approach to problem solving, and attention to detail, is a huge benefit in the tech sector, and hopes to encourage other firms to see the advantages. we have a skills shortage in the uk. at that same time, we have 700,000 autistic people in the uk and only

16% of those are in full—time employment. so there is a massive opportunity to match up those two problems and to solve the skills gap by bringing more autistic people into the workforce. let's take a look at the travel situation now. lots of part closures on the tube this bank holiday monday. as you can see, it's affecting the circle, district, dlr, hammersmith and city and 0verground. do check before you travel. 0n the trains, mainline euston and fenchurch street stations are closed for engineering works. and south western railway is running amended services. and just a reminder, this is how marble arch currently looks, it's still closed because of the climate change protest. let's get the weather with kate kinsella. good morning. well, what a glorious easter weekend of weather. now, yesterday, temperatures over at wesley in heathrow reached 24.6 celsius. similar values expected today as well. it's dry, fine and, yes, the warm weather stays with us. now, there is a little bit of high cloud around today,

which is set to make some really beautiful sunrises, and indeed sunsets a little bit later. easterly breeze still out along the essex coasts, a little warmer but still very pleasant in the sunshine, and temperatures getting up to 24 celsius elsewhere. 0vernight tonight, again, a little bit of high cloud around, the temperature really quite mild, especially further west you are. the minimum in central london properly not dropping down much below 12 celsius. as you can see, over in the east, perhaps a little bit cooler. so, for tomorrow morning, more of the same — dry, fine, sunny weather. temperatures reaching around 22. then, from wednesday onwards, that high—pressure slips away eastwards, the wind picks up a little and it turns progressively cooler and more unsettled. i'll be back in around half an hour. there's plenty more on our website at the usual address. bye for now.

all good morning, welcome to breakfast with rogerjohnson and naga munchetty. 0ur headlines today: nearly 300 people are now known to have died after a series of easter sunday bombings in sri lanka — five britons are among the victims. a curfew was imposed across the country overnight. it's not yet known who was behind the attack. the end to a week of disruption by climate change protestors in london as the last of the activists are removed by police.

hundreds are forced to spend the night in shelters as a mile—long fire sweeps across the mourne mountains in county down. no title twist yet, liverpool have their noses in front again in the premier league, a 2—0 win, that's bad news for cardiff in their fight to stay up. and joy for great britain in the fed cup and joy for great britain in the fed cu p after and joy for great britain in the fed cup after they eat kazakhstan. we will be speaking to former british number one annabel croft a bit later. i am number one annabel croft a bit later. iam here number one annabel croft a bit later. i am here this morning at clumber park amongst the national rhubarb collection. we'll be talking all things a little later and a forecast on what is said to be a beautiful easter monday. it's monday the 22nd of april. our top story: nearly 300 people are now known to have died in a series of bombings across sri lanka. nobody has claimed responsibility for the attacks, which targeted luxury hotels and churches packed with easter worshippers. five british nationals are believed to be among the victims. leigh milner reports.

st anthony's shrine in colombo. this is where people had gathered to pray on easter sunday when a bomb exploded. a string of attacks ripped through the country within minutes of each other. six bombs targeted separate churches and hotels in colombo. two other explosions hit churches in negombo and batticaloa. 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. hundreds rushed to hospitals looking for loved ones. for many, their search ended in heartbreak. it's been reported that at least five british people including

a mother and her two children are among those killed. it's not yet clear who is behind the attacks. security forces have raided houses and a number of people have been arrested. but now it's claimed there were warnings of the attack ten days ago. this particular report was not taken serious. this was sent on the 11th of april. it says there could be suicide bombs, it could be a weapon, or it could be a knife attack or it could be even a truck. 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. an island—wide curfew has now been lifted, but security remains on high alert. leigh milner, bbc news. let's speak to our correspondent sharanjit leyl, who's in the capital colombo for us this morning.

we now know that about 300 people have been confirmed dead. many here in colombo. i stand in an area close to where some of those luxury hotels we re to where some of those luxury hotels were that were targeted. we know up to 500 others were injured and the death toll might rise. bbc was talking to the director of the colombo general hospital here, the biggest in the country, and they dealt with a lot of the casualties when they first came in. the director said that some 50 of them died of their injuries upon arrival. this is just how horrific this is. something sri lanka hasn't really experienced at this level since 2009 which was the end of the civil war between the tamil and singer leaves ethnic groups. —— sinhalese. the blast yesterday have taken on a new

dimension stop christians, many people believe, where the target and of course, they are a minority in the country, just over1 million. learning of out of the scores of people dead, 36 foreign nationals have also died according to the foreign ministry here. five of them british, as you mentioned. i will tell you how much this has hit home for me personally and my family, i was just here a couple of days ago on holiday because i live in singapore and i learned today this morning from my sonheadmaster that two children in school as well as one of the parents had passed away so one of the parents had passed away so this is having a devastating impact on many sri lankans, many people, it's just devastated. impact on many sri lankans, many people, it'sjust devastated. —— devastating. sharanjit, we are so sorry. a week of climate change protests on waterloo bridge in london has been brought to an end by police, who removed the final activists from the site late last night. more than 960 people have been

arrested in connection with the demonstrations. simon jones has more. as night fell, officers moved in to remove the last of the protesters who'd glued themselves to waterloo bridge. with police patience and resources stretched, the only approved place for protest remains marble arch. chanting: we love you! there, a 16—year—old swedish schoolgirl received a rapturous welcome as she took to the stage. greta thunberg's protest outside the swedish parliament calling for action on climate change is credited with inspiring demonstrations worldwide. we are the ones making a difference. it shouldn't be like that but since no—one else is doing anything, we will have to do so. she was undoubtedly preaching to the converted. i think she's right. yeah, that's really all that i want to say, but she is right and people need to listen to her. she's going to be very welcome here,

isn't she, because she is one of the first people who spoke out and drew attention to all of this. i wish that at 16 i would have had the guts to do what she's doing now. but police say the disruption has been unacceptable. hundreds of people have been arrested. the protests are now entering their second week but there is some discussion about the best way in which they should be taken forward with many people having differing views. activists will meet today to consider whether direct action should be paused in favour of dialogue with politicians. as waterloo bridge reopens, the direction of travel is far from clear. simon jones, bbc news. a british woman has been killed by gunmen who stormed the holiday resort where she was staying in nigeria. faye mooney — who was working for the aid organisation "mercy corps" — and a nigerian citizen were shot dead on friday. the attackers also kidnapped three other people. a comedian, who has never held political office, has won ukraine's presidential election. exit polls suggest that volodymyr zelenskiy took nearly three quarters of the vote.

the incumbent, petro poroshenko, has conceded defeat. let's speak to our news correspondentjonah fisher, who's in kiev. thanks for talking to us. when we we re thanks for talking to us. when we were speaking yesterday, you suggested everything pointed towards a likely win for the guy who is a comedian, that was his career before becoming president. but has the scale of the victory surprised people there? yes, they will be a few ukrainians waking up this morning wondering whether this election was all a dream but no, it has actually happened. as you mentioned, volodymyr zelensky, comedian, with no experience, has overwhelmingly won the election here. he is on track of getting

about 73% of the vote compared to 2596 about 73% of the vote compared to 25% for the incumbent petro poroshenko. why is the margin so great? a bit of that is due to mr zele ns ky great? a bit of that is due to mr zelensky himself. he is well known here as a comedian. he has a tv show which, as you mentioned, styled himself as a principled, honest president so people have seen him being presidential before but i think a large part of this boat, of the vote for mr zelensky, is a protest vote. not just against the incumbent poroshenko but against ukraine's in thai political system. people here are fed up with their politicians and the political system which they see as being corrupt. —— entire political system. they sickly in the pockets of rich oligarchs. —— basically. two teenagers arrested in connection with the murder of journalist lyra mckee in londonderry, have been

released without charge. the 29—year—old was shot as she observed riots on thursday night. police said support from the community has been positive, but appealed for "tangible evidence". hundreds of holidaymakers in county down, northern ireland, have spent the night in emergency accommodation, after a large hillside fire forced them from their caravan park.(pres + more than 50 firefighters worked through the night to bring the blaze on the mourne mountains in newcastle under control. declan harvey reports. too close for comfort. at around 7:00 yesterday evening, smoke was spotted rising from the forest above picturesque newcastle. eyewitnesses were shocked at how quickly it took hold. at its height, the flames were a mile wide. on one of the busiest weekends of the year here, bonnys caravan park was evacuated as sea winds fuelled the flames.

many including a pregnant woman and young children were bussed to this community centre where they spent the night. very frightening. people were told to get into their cars, move their cars and then get into their cars and then you were told to get out of the cars and run to the front gates. i was like, well, this is really serious... if we have to evacuate. so ijust got really scared and, yeah... by the early hours, the fire appeared under control. the fire service is expected to give details of what may have caused the fire and the extent of the damage later today. declan harvey, bbc news, in newcastle, county down. what a day of weather we had yesterday — people will be casting their votes in local elections soon enough. they are important because they relate to

roads, council tax. however, are important because they relate to roads, counciltax. however, budgets have been cut by almost half and turn upfor have been cut by almost half and turn up for these elections are also notoriously low. last year when different areas held the same elections, just over one third of the people who were registered to vote did so. nina warhurst has been to hartlepool, where last year's turnout was the lowest in the country. hartlepool council has a job on its hands. how can it get this population of this diverse community more interested in what it does? 160 million is being spent on regeneration but generating interest in these elections is proving tricky. have you ever voted in a local election? no. no. do you know what local counsellors that may counsellors do? no, i have no clue whatsoever. this is in the top 2% of

most deprived areas in the country. the cleaner and pa rt—time most deprived areas in the country. the cleaner and part—time youth worker wants to make sure that he is heard. that vote could be vital. so local elections matter? since 2010 this council has lost almost two—thirds of its budget, and that hasn't gone unnoticed by nora. there are so many things being cut back in this town, it's like a ghost town. vital services we need, the magistrates' court, hospitals. doesn't make you think, i will vote, or not bother? my father always said, if you've got a vote, use it. in hartlepool, twice as many people voted in the last general election as the council election, so what makes the difference?

we have made councils less important, taking power away from them, and they have less and less money to spend, so if we want to get people excited about local governments, about devolution and who their local council is, we need to trust local councils to do a lot more. but they did get excited about brexit. seven out of ten voted to leave. and at sasha's community centre—come—polling station, he said he saw dozens voting for the first time in decades. the "take back control" resonated massively with people who felt they didn't have any control in their lives. how do you think people feel now that hasn't happened? i think there is a disillusionment with politics and politicians. so, queues around the block injune 2016 — queues round the block in may 2019? very unlikely. 0n the next street, georgia says brexit has made her think more about the value of voting. it sparked an interest in politics that wasn't there before.

do you think because of brexit you'd be more likely to vote this time around? yeah, i think i am going to think about it and go and vote. because i brexit? yeah. brexit chaos, counsel cuts, local loyalties and party splits — will they combine to engage hartlepool as never before, or send it the other way? we find out next week. so, will the local elections capture the imagination? it is a question we will put to jay twyman, pollster we will put to jay twyman, pollster we will speak to in the next half hour. i have had my vote, my postal vote. it is 7:15am — how lovely was it yesterday, how lovely is it today and where else would you want to spend a day in a sunny coat than in a rhubarb patch — sara? spend a day in a sunny coat than in a rhubarb patch - sara? good morning to you. yes, it is a beautiful day,

we are in for a stunning day for your easter monday today. i am at clumber park in nottinghamshire among the national rhubarb collection. there are more than 140 different varieties of rhubarb. rhubarb is not just different varieties of rhubarb. rhubarb is notjust good in a crumble, it can be used with jams, ca kes crumble, it can be used with jams, cakes and even booker prize as well. so later on we will be pulling some of the first rhubarb of and tasting some of as well —— and even pork pies as well. we have had a gorgeous sunrise, blue skies, sparkling sunshine. yesterday was a record breaker across part of the country. in scotland, northern ireland and wales we had temperatures the highest of ever in easter, 23.7 in cou nty highest of ever in easter, 23.7 in county armagh, 23. in cardiff and edinburgh and today could be a record—breaking easter monday with temperatures hitting 25, possibly 26 celsius across parts of england. here and now things are dry and fine. it won't stay that way through

the week. we have unsettled weather on the way. gradually through the week it is turning cooler. they will be thunderstorms moving up from the south and it will be feeling quite breezy later in the week. here and now, blue skies, dry weather, lots of sunshine with high pressure sitting east of the uk keeping weather fronts at bay. the cloud we had yesterday across north—west scotla nd had yesterday across north—west scotland is clearing away. a dry day wherever you are. we have a little mist and fog first thing this morning clearing away very quickly. some high cloud drifting northwards through the day. but fine, dry, a breeze developing and top temperature is likely to reach around 20— 24 degrees quite widely. we could see 25, possibly 26 in the south. it is a little cooler around the north—eastern coast with the breeze coming from the north sea. so typically the mid—to—high teens. as we move into the evening and overnight there will be more cloud drifting in from the west. that

could bring isolated showers to the south—west of england, into wales as well. most places stay dry and settled. temperatures not falling quite as low as last night. lows of around six to 12 degrees as we head into the early hours of tomorrow morning. tuesday should bring another mostly fine, settled and dry day. quite hazy. we have saharan dust around at the moment drifting in from the south, turning things a bit hazy. you may notice dust on your cards for instance, particularly where we see showers in the west. temperatures tomorrow still warm, not as high as today, eyes of generally 19— 22 degrees, so watch out for the isolated showers —— highs. by wednesday the showers become quite frequent and heavy across the southern half of the uk. there could be hail and thunderstorms mixed in with the showers on wednesday. it should be mostly dry for scotland and northern england. temperatures reaching around 15— 19 degrees. from wednesday onwards, a change in the weather as we see more unsettled

weather as we see more unsettled weather arriving. so i dip in the temperatures, showery weather around during the second half of the week. certainly enjoy your easter monday. blue skies, sunshine and temperatures. easter monday is don't come much better than this. they certainly don't. we will be back with more rhubarb in half—an—hour. thank you. laughter. time now for a look at the newspapers. we have an old friend, a familiar face. journalist and author chris eakin is here to tell us what's caught his eye. you were just reminiscing about your days on the breakfast sofa. we could be here all day. that was a long time ago. all of the front pages are dominated by what happened in sri la nka dominated by what happened in sri lanka yesterday. roger and i were on airwhen lanka yesterday. roger and i were on air when the news started coming throughjust air when the news started coming through just before yesterday morning. as it unfolded, just

horrendous. and now the account as journalists have been to the scene. i think it is an advantage newspapers have if you look at this from a journalistic perspective, that they can really get into the accounts of what happened. i think it is more challenging for broadcasters. especially in the days afterwards. if you take the peas we are looking at, the top left—hand corner, the worshippers closing their eyes. this is the first few paragraphs of this story are so powerful. it starts at saint anthony's church, the priest asked the congregation to close their eyes in prayer when the bomb went off. and it goes on to say," a survivor, as soon as and it goes on to say," a survivor, as soon as i closed my eyes, i heard this huge sound. as i opened my eyes i saw this huge sound. as i opened my eyes isawa this huge sound. as i opened my eyes i saw a fire everywhere. and they quote another survivor who talks about a flash before the packed

church shook and much of the roof caved in and he says we all ran out of the church and when i came back i found that the bodies of both my son and my son—in—law were lying there. and it really... that whole idea that you literally just and it really... that whole idea that you literallyjust sat down. if there was ever any doubt that this was an attack on a religion, it is summed up in that literally as they start to pray in church... imagery is horrific but are so powerful, isn't it? i think so, is horrific but are so powerful, isn't it? ithink so, exactly. just on the times, an interesting piece on the times, an interesting piece on the times, an interesting piece on the fallout on all of this, page eight, this is the christian church looking at the intro here, the sense of postcolonial guilt and the belief that christianity is the religion of the rich and powerful has held britain back from supporting persecuted christians around the globe. this is according to the bishop who is leading a government review into their plight. and the

timing is extraordinary. that report is due out, published, the first phase published next week and a full report due out injune. so all of that coming after the actual attack. just flicking to the guardian on social media talking about how apps we re social media talking about how apps were blocked to curb the spread of false news. and a number of comments... they have banned it, social media use, in sri lanka at the moment. sensible thing to do. they don't want misinformation to be spread. there are specifics as well. there are people talking about how there are names of the suicide bombers that went on what's at. it is interesting. —— whatsapp. there is interesting. —— whatsapp. there is discussion about what is sought out on these platforms. they clearly realise, facebook have been quoted

saying teams across facebook have been working to support first responders and law enforcement as well as identifying and removing content which violates their standards. there is a change in reaction from social media companies. there is still a lot of speculation about who was behind this. this is the mail suggesting islamic state could have been involved. having said that, blocking the apps to prevent speculation and everything else... on the right-hand side you've got a column from yasmin now, and i used to review the papers on news 24, and she talks about the different religions. the last paragraph she talks about the wealthy helping the notre—dame cathedral after the fire and she says she hopes the same sort of response follows these attacks as well. so that isjust response follows these attacks as

well. so that is just a flavour of what is going on in the newspapers as regards sri lanka. we will step away from sri lanka. we are hoping to speak to the high commissioner from sri lanka later in the programme. this story would have been such an interesting focus for us if sri lanka hadn't happened, we would have focused on this, it is remarkable isn't it? it is, there are great photos throughout the papers, the headline you're looking at, the ukranian president concedes defeat to the tv actor, zelensky, more of the anti— politics reaction. this character became the president in the tv show that he was in. can i borrow that? i have lost mine. there isa borrow that? i have lost mine. there is a great couple of paragraphs which essentially... here we are. when you get into this, there was little enthusiasm on display for

either candidate and there is a woman who says it is like when you go to woman who says it is like when you gotoa woman who says it is like when you go to a cheap supermarket and all of the fruit is rotten and you rummage around to find the least rotten piece. it has been seen as a big protest vote, hasn't it? exactly. 0ne protest vote, hasn't it? exactly. one minute left. what do you want to finish on, the weather? melting easter eggs. i used to work in newspapers a long time ago after 25 years at the bbc and the one story you didn't want to have to do was the, phew, what a scorcher. i love the, phew, what a scorcher. i love the telegraph's brave reporter that has turned this into the melting easter eggs. the story is codswallop, but it is quite fun. retailers in london forced to shut the blinds to prevent window displays stuffed with chocolate from melting. 0n social media people lamented the banking conditions that softened eggs onto trains. then you

get to the real point, however, a chocolatey are based in north london said he did not have an adverse effect on sales. utter nonsense! i hope you don't meet whoever wrote that article —— chocolateer. it is a great spin on the phew, what a scorcher. the first time i have heard someone call an article codswallop. thank you. chris will be back later in the programme alongside a man he's written a book about, sir robin knox—johnston, the first man to sail solo and non—stop around the globe. 50 years? you wrote a book about it. 50 years? you wrote a book about it. 50 years? you wrote a book about it. 50 years ago today. we will talk to you about that later. time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. good morning from bbc london news, i'm sonja jessup. the climate change protest group, extinction rebellion, are deciding how to continue their campaign after days of disruption in the capital have come to an end. protesters have now left oxford circus, waterloo bridge and parliament square, but are continuing to occupy a legally—approved

area at marble arch. more than 900 people have been arrested. members of the group say they've called off plans to hold a giant picnic on the a40 by edgware road tube station today. the father of murdered teenager stephen lawrence says he no longer thinks about his son's remaining killers being brought to justice. dr neville lawrence says he's now focused on stopping further bloodshed following the surge in violent crime. today is the first ever stephen lawrence day to coincide with the 25th anniversary of stephen's death. he was murdered by a gang of racists in south east london in 1993. businesses are being encouraged to hire more people on the autistic spectrum. research by yougov found almost a third of employers think people with autism won't fit into the workplace. but one it consultancy has found their approach to problem solving, and attention to detail, is a huge benefit in the tech sector, and hopes to encourage other firms to see the advantages.

we have a skills shortage in the uk. at that same time, we have 700,000 autistic people in the uk and only 16% of those are in full—time employment. so there is a massive opportunity to match up those two problems and to solve the skills gap by bringing more autistic people into the workforce. let's take a look at the travel situation now. check before travelling on the tube. lots of part closures this bank holiday monday on the circle, district, dlr, hammersmith & city and 0verg round. 0n the trains, mainline euston and fenchurch street stations are closed for engineering works. and south western railway is running amended services. and marble arch is still closed. here's how it looks: oxford circus, waterloo bridge and parliament square are open again. let's get the weather with kate kinsella. good morning. well, what a glorious easter weekend of weather. now, yesterday, temperatures over at wesley in heathrow reached 24.6 celsius. similar values expected today as well. it's dry, fine and, yes,

the warm weather stays with us. now, there is a little bit of high cloud around today, which is set to make some really beautiful sunrises, and indeed sunsets a little bit later. easterly breeze still out along the essex coasts, a little warmer but still very pleasant in the sunshine, and temperatures getting up to 24 celsius elsewhere. 0vernight tonight, again, a little bit of high cloud around, the temperature really quite mild, especially further west you are. the minimum in central london properly not dropping down much below 12 celsius. as you can see, over in the east, perhaps a little bit cooler. so, for tomorrow morning, more of the same — dry, fine, sunny weather. temperatures reaching around 22. then, from wednesday onwards, that high—pressure slips away eastwards, the wind picks up a little and it turns progressively cooler and more unsettled. i'll be back in around half an hour. there's plenty more news, travel and weather on our website. now it's back to roger and naga. bye for now.

hello this is breakfast with rogerjohnson and naga munchetty. 290 people are now known to have died, and almost 500 injured, in a series of bombings across sri lanka. police said that 24 arrests have been made, but nobody has claimed responsibility for the attacks, which targeted luxury hotels and churches packed with easter worshippers. five british nationals are believed to be among the victims. a week of climate change protests on waterloo bridge in london has been brought to an end by police, who removed the final activists from the site late last night. more than 960 people have been arrested in connection with the demonstrations. ‘extinction rebellion' said it will hold a meeting in a legally—approved area at marble arch today, to decide its next steps. a british woman has been killed by gunmen who stormed the holiday resort where she was staying in nigeria.

faye mooney — who was working for the aid organisation "mercy corps" — and a nigerian citizen were shot dead on friday at the resort in kaduna state near the capital abudja. the attackers also kidnapped three other people. a comedian, who has never held political office, has won ukraine's presidential election. exit polls suggest that volodymyr zelenskiy took nearly three quarters of the vote. the incumbent, petro poroshenko, has conceded defeat. mr zelensky is best known for starring in a satirical television series in which his character accidentally becomes ukrainian president. two teenagers arrested in connection with the murder of journalist lyra mckee in londonderry, have been released without charge. the 29—year—old was shot as she observed riots on thursday night. police said support from the community has been positive, but appealed for "tangible evidence". hundreds of holidaymakers in county down, northern ireland, have spent the night in emergency accommodation, after a large hillside fire forced them from their caravan park.

more than 50 firefighters worked through the night to bring the blaze on the mourne mountains under control. it's not yet clear how it started. it's been 50 years since sir robin knox—johnston made history by becoming the first man to sail solo and non—stop around the globe. in 1968, he set sail from falmouth with enough supplies to last him ten months. radio failure on board meant he couldn't make contact with anyone on land for much of that time. sir robin completed the trip in 312 days. we'll be speaking to him later in the programme. he started controlling what he was eating. trying to manage the effects. he was eating soft foods. marvellous, marvellous. sticking with the sporting theme but on dry

land. very dry land because it was a beautiful weekend. some of the liverpool watchers were complaining that cardiff hadn't watered the pitch. it was too slow and they hadn't scored a goal to, conspiracy theories. they are now two points clear ahead of manchester city. looking at quotes from juergen kl°pp, looking at quotes from juergen klopp, they are not motivated by this holy grail of the title. really? yes, that's what i thought. they are just enjoying the ride with theirfans. they are just enjoying the ride with their fans. that's like they are just enjoying the ride with theirfans. that's like people they are just enjoying the ride with their fans. that's like people who say they don't care about winning, is just about taking part. yeah, right! i think they are highly motivated. they are top of the table. liverpool are back on top after a hard fought 2—0 victory at cardiff, the goals came in the second half. 0le gunnar solskjaer says he doesn't know if his manchester united

players care about the club after their shock 4—0 defeat at everton, and arsenal slipped up in their pursuit of a top four finish. joe lynskey rounds up yesterday's premier league results. at this stage of the season, every point and every goal now means more. for liverpool, this was the joy after an hour of growing tension. to break cardiff down, they needed a thunderbolt. commentator: ohh, rattled into the roof of the net by georginio wijnaldum! look at the relief! look at the elation! a flash in a match that sees liverpool rise back to the top but this was a day when cardiff made things uncomfortable. somehow sean morrison missed their best chance of the game. a leap that timed better might have changed the whole picture. as it is, morrison got back to his feet and brought mo salah down. a liverpool penalty and 2—0

through james milner. in this relentless title race, they now have 88 points. that's liverpool's best tally since the 805. we were prepared for a proper banana skin. we knew that so the boys were unbelievable. their attitude is outstanding. it's a tough season but a very positive one as well. the contrast of full—time feeling with that at manchester united. they lost 4—0 against everton, a fifth away defeat in a row and for all the quality in blue, this was a day for united of difficult questions. former players think they should strip the squad and rebuild completely. right now, the side aren't celebrating but saying sorry. i think everyone here can say, with hands on their heart, that's nowhere near good enough, that's not the man united team. and we apologise again to the fans. we know it's a big task and work to be done. we've got to do it together. in north london, arsenal gave united an easter reprieve. the gunner's lost 3—2 at home to crystal palace,

missing the chance to move clear in the top four. right now, goals like this have implications and one mistake can change a season. joe lynskey, bbc news. celtic need just four points from their four remaining premiership games to be sure of another league title. that's after being held to a goalless draw at hibernian. they were denied thanks to several brilliant saves from hibs keeper 0fir marciano. neil lennon's side still have a nine point lead over rangers at the top as they look for an eighth straight league title. chelsea women scored a precious away goal against the best team in europe lyon, although they lost 2—1 in the first leg of their champions league semi—final. and they didn't make life easy for themselves first scoring an own goal and then conceding after being unable to defend a corner. they also had a fran kirby penalty saved but erin cuthbert‘s fantastic strike gave them a hope. the second leg is next sunday at kingsmeadow, barcelona have a 1—nil lead

against bayern munich in the other semi. in the women's super league, arsenal need just one more win to take the title after beating everton 2—1. dutch forward vivianne miedema scored arsenal's second, that's her 30th goal in all competitions this season. the rugby champions cup final will be between 2 time winners saracens and the champions leinster. the irish beat toulouse, running in three tries in a 30 points to 12 win at the aviva stadium in dublin. they'll bid for a record fifth european title against saracens at newcastle's st james park next month. after a 26 year wait, great britain have secured a return to the world group in the fed cup. there were fantastic celebrations at the copperbox arena asjohanna konta and katie boulter

both won their rubbers to seal the 3—1victory over khazakstan. let's get more now from former british number one, annabel croft, who join us from our london newsroom.great britain have been knocking on the door for the past few years, what an achievement. it was absolutely fantastic yesterday. just an amazing weekend in total, to be honest. there was drama, passion, entertainment, fist pumping, trombones, trumpets and drums going off in the arena at the copper box britain managed to get thejob copper box britain managed to get the job sealed and it was the fifth time in eight years they had attempted to do that, as you said. but i think the home advantage made all the difference. the performances, particularly from katie boulter in the final thai of the final rubber that sealed the tie

—— tie. the final rubber that sealed the tie -- tie. it the final rubber that sealed the tie —— tie. it showed great strength of character. johanna konta has won so many matches. form those around does make out the window as they put on a gb vest. johanna konta finds a way to get through matches when she is not playing her best. her level was fluctuating wildly throughout the course of the weekend but each time she came from behind in matches, yesterday, served the match. i think it was 5— four in the final set and she still managed to pull something extra out of the bag so she digs deep, she is gritty, she has a terrific character and as i said, she problem solved and i think she really relished being out there. she seems to enjoy putting that gb tracksuit on. getting into the nitty—gritty, nobody wants to be in that euro africa zone. they have secured themselves into the second tier. there are 18 teams above them. they will tinker with the format

probably but whoever they facing, it's going to be very tough for them to stay up. it is going to be tough but i think somebody like boulter, she has taken herself up to 86 in the world. she has made enormous progress over the last year and with the weapons that she has on tour, we have seen immense amounts of power interspersed with a lovely touch. she is working withjeremy bates who is encouraging her to move forward, i think we will see a rise in her ranking. when players put their home country's tracksuit on, it brings at different levels of performance and anything can happen. withjohanna konta and katie boulter, johanna

konta and katie boulter, johanna konta has beaten a lot of the grand slam champions. she has beaten so many who have won the grand slams. she also has enormous self belief. i think this team is very, very strong andi think this team is very, very strong and i think every time they step out onto court against anybody they probably have a great chance of winning. what are we going to see in a revamped fed cup? will it be a 12 tea m a revamped fed cup? will it be a 12 team finals week? a1 world group, 16 teams? what do you feel? nobody really knows the answer to that and i believe the igf are going to have a big meeting in a month or so's time and it will probably be decided then watch the formula is. it could well be that if they decide to bring it bound —— bring it down to a 12 tea m it bound —— bring it down to a 12 team formula, we could potentially go through another world group tie

as we have just done which bearing in mind what people have just witnessed, it should be absolutely fantastic to have some more fun. we will have to wait and see because nobody knows right now and it's all up nobody knows right now and it's all up in the air. i don't think my fingernails can take it. great britain beating kazakhstan. it's tennis weather today, really. anything outside. how are your rhubarb facts? it's so good for digestive complaints. good to know. gastrointestinal problems. i thought it was quite acidic so it would give you heartburn. no, that's

because it is sour. where else would you be on a sunny day than a rhubarb patch. a beautiful start of the day. iamat patch. a beautiful start of the day. i am at the national trust's national rhubarb collection. there are over 140 different varieties of rhubarb grown here. it is a vegetable often eaten as a fruit in crumbles but also in pork pies and jams. we will be pulling some of the first stalks of the season as well as tasting some delicious rhubarb. there are 140 varieties here and it's pretty robust. the senior gardener surely tells us that if you are hoping to grow it at home, chuck it in the ground and basically leave it in the ground and basically leave it alone. it doesn't take too much

attention. a beautiful start of the day today. yesterday was a record—breaking easter sunday. we saw temperatures in northern ireland, scotland and wales, breaking the record. 21.7 in northern ireland and in cardiff and edinburgh, 23.4. it wasn't a record breaker in england but today it could well be. the warmest ever easter monday on record could be here. we are looking at a beautiful start of the day and things are about to change as we head through this week. it will gradually turn more unsettled through the week with colder weather on the way and thunderstorms likely later in the week. it will turn quite breezy. get out and enjoy this beautiful easter monday when dave does make weather. the easterly winds are keeping the weather fronts at bay. the cloud we had yesterday in the western part of

scotla nd had yesterday in the western part of scotland is now clearing away. a few mist and fog patches are especially across england and wales but they are clearing away very quickly and then there will be some high clouds drifting northwards across the uk. just turning that sunshine a little bit hazy for some of us later on what a sunny day ahead. we could see 25 or 26 what a sunny day ahead. we could see 25 or26 in what a sunny day ahead. we could see 25 or 26 in the south and don't forget we have got high levels of uv out there. things will be a bit cooler around north sea coasts with breeze coming out off the sea. they will be a bit more cloud tonight and a bit more of a breeze working in from the west which could bring one or two showers for the south—west of england and wales. temperatures won't fall as low as last night. we are looking at around 6—12 as our overnight lows. to start the game again tomorrow, most places dry, fine and settled. much more of this beautiful sunshine. more cloud in the west which could bring isolated showers to the south—west of england and wales that most of us should stay dry. averages tomorrow not quite as warm as today, around about

19 or 20 quite as warm as today, around about 19 or20 and quite as warm as today, around about 19 or 20 and cooler around north sea coasts. moving into the middle of the week and that is when things start to change. wednesday is an u nsettled start to change. wednesday is an unsettled picture with showers working in from the south and pushing northwards. there could be hailand pushing northwards. there could be hail and thunderstorms are mixed in. temperatures not quite as warm. that sets us up for something cooler on wednesday and more unsettled as we look towards the second half of this week. today, a beautiful easter monday out there. lots of sunshine, get out and i enjoy it. i hope we will be tasting some rhubarb delicacies later. rhubarb yoghurt, it is the way to go. yes, as if that was going to happen. clicking your fingers.

returning to our top story now. yesterday's bombings in sri lanka were the country's deadliest in ten years — nearly 300 people are known to have been killed. this morning, an island—wide curfew has been lifted, but security remains tight and some social media platforms have been blocked. manisha gunasekera is sri lanka's high commissioner in the uk, shejoins us from our london newsroom. thank you very much, ms gunasekera, for joining thank you very much, ms gunasekera, forjoining us. firstly, our thoughts are with the people who have suffered this awful, horrendous series of attacks in sri lanka. please accept our condolences in that sense. thank you. can you tell us what you have learned in terms of numbers, anyone who may be suspected of being behind this a horrific incident? thank you for your message

of condolence. as of now it is 24 hours since the attack. sri lanka is still coming to grips. security has been escalated and places of worship, hospitals, embassies and all other security points have been reinforced by security forces. the sri lankan government has been very cautious and measured in its reaction to this tragedy of very grave and unprecedented scale. in this regard i think they are trying to strike a balance between reinforcing security, carrying out a very thorough investigation by also establishing normalcy in the country. in this regard a curfew enforced islandwide has been temporarily lifted and i understand that people are back at work, though

still in great shock due to this tragedy. charlenejones are standing together united at this time of great challenge to the nation. -- sri lankans. can you let us know who might be behind the attack? i know you said the government wants to maintaina you said the government wants to maintain a measured and cautious reaction to the attacks and have a thorough investigation, but what are the suspicions, what has been going on in the country for there to be something like this? yes, i think we need to perhaps also understand that there is a local context, but these incidents may not be absolutely localised. since the investigations are ongoing and the government has apprehended various suspects, but has been cautious in providing information with regard to suspects, groups and their affiliations in the

context of the investigation that is ongoing. therefore it is difficult to speculate at this point. what is clear i think is these are acts of terror and also there is the element of violent extremism involved. so perhaps we need to consider these a cts perhaps we need to consider these acts of terror in the context of contemporary global and regional contacts contemporary global and regional co nta cts as contemporary global and regional contacts as well, and also looking locally at the investigation very thoroughly. there are some reports that the government may have had authorities, may have had warning a week before, what do you know about this? yes, i think the sri lankan government has launched an investigation into this. they are looking at the authenticity of this and they are carrying out a thorough investigation in this regard. there have been statements made by the government in this regard. we would need to wait until the

investigations are completed to shed more light on this dimension and really decide on whether there had been any lapses on the part of the law enforcement authorities. what has been the thinking behind the social media restriction that has now been lifted, i understand, in part? yes, i must say that this particular incident has targeted the christian community as well as luxury hotels which are also inhabited by foreigners and tourists. these attacks cut across the ethnic and religious dimensions of the country because the christian community comprises the majority of the community as well as minority communities, the tamil community as well. so the country is actually united in this particular aspect and —iam united in this particular aspect and — i am sorry, iforgot... united in this particular aspect and - i am sorry, i forgot... the social media... ? yes, so in this regard

the rationalisation, the thinking behind temporary suspension of social media is to avoid unnecessary speculation, spread of disinformation, which could pick up certain extreme sentiments and which could be very counter—productive at this particular point. and also certain groups with vested interests who may be operating who try to exploit the situation with disinformation in social media. so therefore this clampdown is on, but it would be a temporary measure stop how safe can people feel in sri la nka how safe can people feel in sri lanka today? well, as i said, the cu rfew lanka today? well, as i said, the curfew has been lifted and i've spoken to my family — people are back at work, though in great shock. i think we need to keep in mind that, tragic though it has been, and the scale and magnitude has been so large, this could be an incident or a series of incidents. this cannot

bea a series of incidents. this cannot be a permanent situation. so in that context i would say that with security reinforced, sri lanka should be safe, as it has been. what is your message to the sri lankan community in the uk? there will be many people who are desperately trying to get hold of family and loved ones at the moment. what support are they getting? the sri lankan community in the uk is very large and very diverse. i think they have been very concerned in this regard. they have immediately got through to their families and established the safety of their family members. they are very sad and grieving. as well as extending all support possible to the sri la nka all support possible to the sri lanka high commission and all authorities working to bring stability and peace to the country and to bring normalcy to the situation as soon as possible. they

are also very closely watching all the information emanating from sri la nka the information emanating from sri lanka to ensure that the narrative is constructive and productive and objective. in that regard, i think that shows great moral courage to the sri lankan government at this point. manisha gunasekera, sri lankan high commissioner to the uk, thank you. thank you. we will get the news, travel and whether in a minute, but before that... it'll please some and outrage others — cars that make sure you stick to the speed limit. under rules being finalised by the eu, new vehicles will have to be fitted with limiters from 2022. but how will they actually work? theo leggett has been finding out. speed limits — they're a fact of life and they will soon become even harder to ignore. from 2022, all new cars will be fitted with intelligent speed assistance systems. basically, on—board speed limiters designed to prevent you from breaking the law. now, that might all sound a bit

futuristic, possibly a bit big brother as well, but you might be surprised to learn that lots of cars, including these two, already have intelligent speed assistance systems set as standard. so the best way to find out how they work is to use them, and i'm going to start with this ford. so this car has a fairly basic speed assistance system fitted. it relies mainly on the camera up here, which looks at the road ahead and tries to pick out speed limit signs and respond to them. there is the 40 limit sign now. just going past it and i can see the car has recognised it. it is on my dashboard and the car is slowing down as well. so we're not breaking the law. and now i am approaching a 30 mile an hour limit. let's see if the same happens. i can see on my dashboard the car has recognised it and now i am doing 30 miles an hour. i can go faster if i really want to by standing on the accelerator.

given we are going through a village, there might be children around, there is a school over there, probably not such a good idea. that is one form of intelligent speed assistance. there are others. let's try what this car has to offer. now this car is a little bit different. it does have a camera, but it also relies on gps data, so it knows when limits are coming up. and right now i'm doing 50, approaching a 40 zone and the car has warned me of what to expect. and, in fact, it has now told me that there is a 30 zone coming up, so i can slow down in advance. i don't need to risk speeding. if i get it wrong, the system is there to help me out and help me avoid a speeding ticket. most people want to stick to the speed limit, but they need help in understanding what is the speed for any particular road. these systems help them do that. but the systems are not infallible. systems like these won't stop determined speeders. there is an off switch.

they do make you more aware of what you are doing. so, if you get a speeding fine, you probably deserve it. we have been warned. if you are travelling, this will interest you and of course the news, weather and traffic where you are this morning. we will see you after 8am. good morning from bbc london news, i'm sonja jessup. the climate change protest group, extinction rebellion, are deciding how to continue their campaign after days of disruption in the capital have come to an end. protesters have now left oxford circus, waterloo bridge and parliament square, but are continuing to occupy a legally—approved area at marble arch. more than 900 people have been arrested. members of the group say they've called off plans to hold a giant picnic on the a40 by edgware road tube station today. the father of murdered teenager stephen lawrence says he no longer thinks about his son's remaining killers being brought tojustice. dr neville lawrence says he's now

focused on stopping further bloodshed, following the surge in violent crime. today is the first ever stephen lawrence day to coincide with the 25th anniversary of stephen's death. he was murdered by a gang of racists in south—east london in 1993. businesses are being encouraged to hire more people on the autistic spectrum. research by yougov found almost a third of employers think people with autism won't fit into the workplace. but one it consultancy has found their approach to problem solving and attention to detail is a huge benefit in the tech sector, and hopes to encourage other firms to see the advantages. we have a skills shortage in the uk. at that same time, we have 700,000 autistic people in the uk and only 16% of those are in full—time employment. so there is a massive opportunity to match up those two problems and to solve the skills gap by bringing more autistic people into the workforce. let's take a look at the travel situation now.

check before travelling on the tube. lots of part closures this bank holiday monday on the circle, district, dlr, hammersmith & city and 0verg round. 0n the trains, mainline euston and fenchurch street stations are closed for engineering works. and south—western railway is running amended services. 0n the roads there are queues on the m4, the heathrow spur road — here's how it looks — it's as you come to the emirates roundabout. and marble arch is still closed due to the protests — oxford circus, waterloo bridge and parliament square are open. let's get the weather with kate kinsella. good morning. well, what a glorious easter weekend of weather. now, yesterday, temperatures over at wesley in heathrow reached 24.6 celsius. similar values expected today as well. it's dry, fine and, yes, the warm weather stays with us. now, there is a little bit of high cloud around today, which is set to make some really beautiful sunrises, and indeed sunsets a little bit later. easterly breeze still out along the essex coasts, a little warmer but still very pleasant in the sunshine,

and temperatures getting up to 24 celsius elsewhere. 0vernight tonight, again, a little bit of high cloud around, the temperature really quite mild, especially further west you are. the minimum in central london properly not dropping down much below 12 celsius. as you can see, over in the east, perhaps a little bit cooler. so, for tomorrow morning, more of the same — dry, fine, sunny weather. temperatures reaching around 22. then, from wednesday onwards, that high—pressure slips away eastwards, the wind picks up a little and it turns progressively cooler and more unsettled. need to make the most of it. i'll be back in around half an hour. there's plenty more news, travel and weather on our website at the usual address. bye for now. good morning, welcome to breakfast with rogerjohnson and naga munchetty. 0ur headlines today: nearly 300 people are now known to have died after eight bombings across sri lanka. five britons are among the victims.

a curfew was imposed across the country overnight. it's not yet known who was behind the attack. the end to a week of disruption by climate change protestors in london as the last of the activists are removed by police. hundreds are forced to spend the night in shelters as a mile long fire sweeps across the mourne mountains in county down. no title twist yet, liverpool have their noses in front again in the premier league. a 2—0 win that's bad news for cardiff in their fight to stay up. and 50 years on from the end of his epicjourney, we speak to sir robin knox—johnston, the first man to sail solo and non stop around the world. i m imat i m at the national trust park in nottinghamshire which houses the national rhubarb collection. join me in15 minutes, we national rhubarb collection. join me in 15 minutes, we will be pulling some of the first stalks in the season and i will have a focus for a

glorious easter monday. it's monday the 22nd of april. our top story. nearly 300 people are now known to have died in six bombings across sri lanka. nobody has claimed responsibility for the attacks, which targeted luxury hotels and churches packed with easter worshippers. five british nationals are believed to be among the victims. leigh milner reports. st anthony's shrine in colombo. this is where people had gathered to pray on easter sunday when a bomb exploded. a string of attacks ripped through the country within minutes of each other. six bombs targeted separate churches and hotels in colombo. two other explosions hit churches in negombo and batticaloa. 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. hundreds rushed to hospitals looking for loved ones. for many, their search ended in heartbreak. it's been reported that at least five british people including a mother and her two children are among those killed. it's not yet clear who is behind the attacks. security forces have raided houses and a number of people have been arrested. but now it's claimed there were warnings of the attack ten days ago. this particular report was not taken serious. this was sent on the 11th of april. it says there could be suicide bombs, it could be a weapon, or it could be a knife attack or it could be even a truck. 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. an island—wide curfew has now been lifted, but security remains on high alert. leigh milner, bbc news.

earlier, we spoke to the high commissioner in the uk for some reaction. these incidents might not be absolutely localised. but since the investigations are ongoing, and the investigations are ongoing, and the government has apprehended various suspects, but has been cautious about providing information with regard to suspects, groups and their affiliations in the context of their affiliations in the context of the investigation which is ongoing. therefore it's very difficult to speculate at this point. what is clear is that these are acts of terror and also, there is the element of violent extremism involved. if you are worried about british family and friends in sri lanka, you can call the foreign 0ffice switchboard. you need to select the emergency

option when you get through, and you can find some assistance. a week of climate change protests on waterloo bridge in london has been brought to an end by police, who removed the final activists from the site late last night. more than 960 people have been arrested in connection with the demonstrations. simon jones has more. as night fell, officers moved in to remove the last of the protesters who'd glued themselves to waterloo bridge. with police patience and resources stretched, the only approved place for protest remains marble arch. chanting: we love you! there, a 16—year—old swedish schoolgirl received a rapturous welcome as she took to the stage. greta thunberg's protest outside the swedish parliament calling for action on climate change is credited with inspiring demonstrations worldwide. we are the ones making a difference. it shouldn't be like that but since no—one else is doing anything, we will have to do so. she was undoubtedly preaching to the converted.

i think she's right. yeah, that's really all that i want to say, but she is right and people need to listen to her. she's going to be very welcome here, isn't she, because she is one of the first people who spoke out and drew attention to all of this. i wish that at 16 i would have had the guts to do what she's doing now. but police say the disruption has been unacceptable. hundreds of people have been arrested. the protests are now entering their second week but there is some discussion about the best way in which they should be taken forward with many people having differing views. activists will meet today to consider whether direct action should be paused in favour of dialogue with politicians. as waterloo bridge reopens, the direction of travel is far from clear. simon jones, bbc news. a british woman has been killed by gunmen who stormed the holiday resort where she was staying in nigeria. faye mooney, who was working for the aid organisation "mercy corps", and a nigerian citizen were shot dead on friday were staying

in kaduna state near the capital abuja. the attackers also kidnapped three other people. a comedian, who has never held political office, has won ukraine's presidential election. exit polls suggest that volodymyr zelenskiy took nearly three quarters of the vote. the incumbent, petro poroshenko, has conceded defeat. let's speak to our news correspondentjonah fisher, who's in kiev. i remember watching the piece that you filed earlier, those scenes when he won was rather remarkable, the whole story is remarkable. it's remarkable, and bizarre. mr zelenskiy trip to the stage yesterday to see the exit poll results to the music of his drama series where he plays the part of a fictional president. this whole series has been a very strange blaring of fiction and reality. as

of last night, we can say that tract is going to follow fiction, and mr zelenskiy is going to go from being a television president, an actor, to being the real president of ukraine, pretty extraordinary. the thing is, thejob begins pretty extraordinary. the thing is, the job begins now. pretty extraordinary. the thing is, thejob begins now. the race has been remarkable and extraordinary, we can use all of those descriptive words, but there has been criticism that he hasn't had any political and there experience and there is a country to run which has real issues. throughout his campaign, mr zelenskiy really did not articulate much of a vision for what he was going to do for ukraine beyond saying that things would be new and different, there would be a bit more vigour than there was under the incumbent petro poroshenko. now that he's won, he has a few weeks before his inauguration, the onus will be on him and his advisers to demonstrate that they do actually have a grasp of detail and that they can put together a coherent policy

platform and that they are going to deliver on these pretty vague promises. people have voted for something different, for change, but eve ryo ne something different, for change, but everyone has something different in mind there will be very difficult for mind there will be very difficult foer mind there will be very difficult for mr zelenskiy to satisfy this huge swathe of people, 75%, who voted for him in this election. thank you very much, from a rather sunny kiev. two teenagers arrested in connection with the murder ofjournalist lyra mckee in londonderry, have been released without charge. the 29—year—old was shot as she observed riots on thursday night. police said support from the community has been positive, but appealed for "tangible evidence". hundreds of holiday—makers in county down, northern ireland, have spent the night in emergency accommodation, after a large hillside fire forced them from their caravan park. more than 50 firefighters worked through the night to bring the blaze on the mourne mountains in newcastle under control. declan harvey reports.

too close for comfort. at around 7:00 yesterday evening, smoke was spotted rising from the forest above picturesque newcastle. eyewitnesses were shocked at how quickly it took hold. at its height, the flames were a mile wide. on one of the busiest weekends of the year here, bonnys caravan park was evacuated as sea winds fuelled the flames. many including a pregnant woman and young children were bussed to this community centre where they spent the night. very frightening. people were told to get into their cars, move their cars and then get into their cars and then you were told to get out of the cars and run to the front gates. i was like, well, this is really serious... if we have to evacuate. so ijust got really

scared and, yeah... by the early hours, the fire appeared under control. the fire service is expected to give details of what may have caused the fire and the extent of the damage later today. declan harvey, bbc news, in newcastle, county down. what a day of weather we had yesterday. there were new temperature records set in scotland, wales and northern ireland. there weren't any set in england, although the mercury did reach 24.6 degrees, less than one degree shy of the record. sarah will have more on the unusually hot weather, which is set to continue today, in about five minutes' time. she is in worksop in nottinghamshire. also, ollie will join us for the sport in 20 minutes. let's return to our top story now. it's still not clear who's responsible for carrying out yesterday's bombings in sri lanka, which killed almost 300 people. a number of suspects

have been arrested, but it's claimed the authorities were warned of the attack ten days ago. 0ur correspondent sharanjit leyl is in the capital colombo for us this morning. bring us up to date with the latest situation and the mood in colombo this monday. the mood as you can imagine is one of shock and horror, it isa imagine is one of shock and horror, it is a city in mourning, more than 24 hours after these devastating attacks. you can hear traffic behind me, life is returning to normal somewhat, people going on with their business, there was a 12 hour curfew that was lifted this morning, it is now monday afternoon and we know that people are back at work. some things like the colombo stock exchange are shut for the day, and that police presence, the military presence is still out there in full force, checking the streets where there has been a lot of roadblocks.

we know that some social media has been restricted to some extent, that is the government's effort to try and prevent the spread of fake news. there is a sense of tension and concern amongst citizens here. we believe we will hear more about who conducted these horrific attacks, no one has claimed response readyjust yet, but the prime minister is about, or is already delivering a press co nfe re nce about, or is already delivering a press conference at the moment where perhaps more information will be given to the public and the press about exactly who was behind these devastating attacks. a series of eight blasts tearing through colombo, particularly, where i am in this area, this is near some of the luxury hotels that were hit, the shangri—la, the kingsbury and the cinnamon grand. but there were also

blasts in in nearby churches. there isa blasts in in nearby churches. there is a sense of shock and horror here. we will monitor the press conference at the prime minister is giving as it unfolds. so many people killed and injured, but you were talking earlier this morning, a number of the papers here and the bbc has not yet confirmed this, about british casualties in this, suspected that there could be as many as five. and some of them are members of the same family. you are saying that you had heard from your own children's school in singapore about that? yes, that's right. this has really hit home for me and my family personally, we were here on holiday a few days ago, as a tourist, i now return as a journalist to cover this event and i learned the horrifying news that two children in my son's school in singapore were among those killed along with one of the

pa rents, killed along with one of the parents, we believe they were at the shangri—la not very far away from us. we are reluctant to name them just yet, the foreign office has said as many as five petition nationals were killed by this terrible event. it is a horrifying thing to have happened and personally it has taken a toll on myself, and many people in this region. it's horrifying to think that the ramifications are so far and wide. altogether some 36 foreign nationals have been confirmed dead, according to the foreign ministry here. we will get more information as the story develops. it is a horrifying thought that it could hit so horrifying thought that it could hit so close to home and have an impact on so many so close to home and have an impact on so many in this region. thank you very much indeed, speaking to us live from colombo. we were talking to the high commissioner of sri lanka earlier, investigations are still going on as to where there any warnings given,

who might be behind this and the lifting of the curfew. are very —— back the numbers are very horrifying. it's quarter past eight. we had a record breaking day of weather yesterday, can we expect more of the same today? you get told you are being sent to a rhubarb farm, sarah, and you are like, really? where now? but it's not a bad job today! good morning! yes, there are some worst places to be this morning! i am at the national rhubarb collection here, over 140 different varieties of rhubarb. claire, you are the catering manager here so took me through some of the things. people think of rhubarb in a crumble, but there are lots of other things we can do with it? yes, definitely, we have rhubarb and ginger scones that we make every

morning and rhubarb and gingerjam that goes very well with them. a pork pie topped with rhubarb as well, and we have got a signature clumber park rosemary, orange and rhubarb cake. they look delicious. 0ne rhubarb cake. they look delicious. one of those pork pies has got my name written on it for later! but before we get to this stage, we have got to pull the rhubarb, it is not picked, it's pulled. shelley can talk me through the best way to pull rhubarb. you need to pull it from the bottom, don't cut it, because that can leopard artisan. pull it from the base very gently. let's give it go. -- that can let the dusty things in. that is excellent! we will see what we can do with that

later on. it is a beautiful day here, yesterday was also a gorgeous day. record—breaking across parts of the country, we could see the hottest ever easter monday on record today. it will not last forever, as we head through this week we have more u nsettled through this week we have more unsettled weather on the way. things will be turning colder and more windy with heavy showers and thunderstorms later on this week. today high pressure drives the weather, we have a weather front that brought cloud yesterday across the north west of scotland that will clear away so an improvement of the western isles, more sunshine than yesterday. but multiple sunshine, we have a little bit of mist and fog —— not wall—to—wall sunshine, we have mist and fog, and some high cloud which could drift north across the country, which could turn the sunshine hazy. but it is dry and warm everywhere, temperatures generally 20 to 25 degrees. cooler on the north—east coast where we

have the breeze coming in from the north sea. 0ne have the breeze coming in from the north sea. one or two showers cropping up in this evening and overnight into the south—west and wales. as we move through this evening and overnight, dry and settled once again. a bit of haze around because we have some dust in the air, coming in from the sahara across the uk, so you could notice some of that dust settling on your car. 0vernight temperatures six to 12 degrees, not as cold as it has been over the party nights. through the day tomorrow, after a reasonably dry and fine day, most parts of the country having another glorious day, plenty of sunshine. 0ne country having another glorious day, plenty of sunshine. one or two exceptions, cloud and the west could bring the odd isolated shower to the south—west, wales and northern ireland but most of us stay dry. not quite as warm as today, temperature

19 to 22 degrees, cooler around the north sea coast. wednesday, things start to change. heavy showers rattling in from the south, thunderstorms and hail mixed in, especially across the southern half of the uk. temperatures on wednesday around 15 to 19 degrees for most of us. that's setting this up for a more settled end to the week. after a beautiful day, blue sky and sunshine, could be the warmest easter monday on record, make the most of it, things will turn a little bit more unsettled later this week. not a good day for that bit of rhubarb! rhubarb likes cold weather, so, yeah, not ideal. not after you slap it! is —— snapped it! so, yeah, not ideal. not after you slap it! is -- snapped it! that is a first for breakfast, live rhubarb killing. somebody has e—mailed in and said, rhubarb agenda. killing. somebody has e—mailed in and said, rhubarb agendalj killing. somebody has e—mailed in and said, rhubarb agenda. i have had it, rhubarb and ginger. —— rhubarb

chin. let's not talk about that now! in just under two weeks, millions of people across england and northern ireland will cast their vote in the local elections. they matter because the councillors we elect make spending decisions on the things that effect our daily lives, like roads, health and council tax. however, since 2010 councils in england have had their central budgets cut by almost half. turnout for these elections are also notoriously low. last yearjust over a third of people registered to vote, did so. you don't always get elections in every council in every place when they turn around. nina warhurst has been to hartlepool, where last year's turnout was the lowest in the country. hartlepool council has

a job on its hands. how can it get the proud population of this diverse community more interested in what it does? 160 million is being spent on regeneration, but generating interest in these elections is proving tricky. have you ever voted in a local election? no. do you know what they do, local counsellors? no, i have no clue whatsoever. this is dyke hill, in the 2% of most deprived areas in the uk. the council can count on callum, the cleaner and part—time youth worker wants to make sure that he is heard. just when the councillors were coming in and they were explaining what they want to do, i was thinking, well, that one vote could be vital, so i might as well use it and then i have used it every year since. so local elections matter? yes, definitely. since 2010 this council has lost almost two—thirds of its budget, and that hasn't gone unnoticed by nora. there are so many things being cut back in this town, it's like a ghost town.

vital services we need, the magistrates' court, hospitals. doesn't make you think, i will vote, or not bother? my father always said, if you've got a vote, use it. in hartlepool, more than twice as many people voted in the last general election as the council election, so what is it about the locals that leaves the electorate cold ? we have made councils less important, taking power away from them, and they have less and less money to spend, so if we want to get people excited about local governments again, about devolution and who their local council is, we need to trust local councils to do a lot more. but they did get excited about brexit. seven out of ten voted to leave. and at sasha's community centre—cum—polling station, he said he saw dozens voting for the first time in decades. the "take back control" resonated massively with people who felt they didn't have any control in their lives. how do you think people feel now that hasn't happened? i think there's a disillusionment with politics and politicians.

so, queues around the block injune 2016 — queues round the block in may 2019? very unlikely. 0n the next street, georgia says brexit has made her think more about the value of voting. it sparked an interest in politics that wasn't there before. do you think because of brexit you'd be more likely to vote this time around? yeah, i think i am going to think about it and go and vote. because of brexit? yeah. brexit chaos, council cuts, local loyalties and party splits — will they combine to engage hartlepool as never before, or send it the other way? we find out next week. joining us from our london newsroom is political pollster, joe twyman. good morning, thank you forjoining us. let's pick up on that point from the end of the report first. for

many of us, brexit, whatever you view, wherever you stand, has politically energised people in the way that many of us don't remember from our lifetime. is that likely to tra nsfer over from our lifetime. is that likely to transfer over into local elections? into local elections, where not really sure yet. it's certainly true that the big parties that have attracted attention for their brexit position that have emerged recently, the brexit party and chains uk, neither of them are running in the local —— and change uk, neither of them are running in the local elections. so it could be that people turn to parties like ukip and the greens. ukip are only running in one of six seats, but if they can target those seats effectively, they could hope for a boost as people demonstrate their dissatisfaction. notjust demonstrate their dissatisfaction. not just with demonstrate their dissatisfaction. notjust with brexit but demonstrate their dissatisfaction. not just with brexit but with demonstrate their dissatisfaction. notjust with brexit but with the entire political process more

generally. and local elections have traditionally been seen as a way of a protest vote in a way. more normal, in inverted commas, political terms, the government would find itself under pressure in local elections. that's right, local elections happen every year but only on one side of the country and they are referred to as political scientists as second—order elections. in other words, scientists as second—order elections. in otherwords, people vote for different reasons and turn out tends to be much lower. this time around, it could be the case that turnout is higher as voters are energised by the whole issue of brexit and more generally political dissatisfaction. but things could go the other way. disappointed about the other way. disappointed about the progress that has been made not just on brexit but on things like cuts and austerity, people may choose up and down the country not to vote, to sit on their hands and stay at home. that is one

possibility, but why should people in these elections, why do they matter, why should people go out and cast a vote? these elections matter firstly because they send an important message to politicians generally. people like me will conduct polls on a daily basis but it's elections which are most important. they demonstrate where the public are. also at a local level, these elections elect people who decide where the local money is spent. and you could argue that the amount that is spent is determined by central government, but those decisions on things like roads and many other subjects are determined by local councillors. that's why they are important to people up and down the country. a final thought, these local elections in the areas where they are happening on the 2nd of may, beyond that, of course, we have the european elections which many people didn't expect it to have. they are they they likely to

play out? it's really too early to say at the moment because there's still a lot of uncertainty about exactly how these will play out. or indeed whether they will take place at all. what is almost certain to happen is to some degree, at least, they will be reviewed is effectively a consequence free environment by voters. most people voting will be aware that it's highly likely, if brexit goes ahead, that is, that these meps elected will only sit for a matter of weeks. so it could very much be the case that the entire process becomes a sort of proxy referendum for brexit. and those that support remaining and those that support remaining and those that support remaining and those that support leaving will, it's likely, choose parties with very unambiguous clear positions on brexit. and so if that does happen, support could be very high for parties like the brexit party, change uk, the lib dems and perhaps

ukip. precisely how those votes divide up remains to be seen, and indeed whether people to turn up or not will be a crucial element to that. there's a lot of time still left, even though we have a matter of weeks, there is a lot of time still left for people to engage with that process or not. so it will be interesting, very interesting to see what could be argued be one of the most influential and at the same time least important elections in history of british politics. thank you very much indeed. referring back to the local elections on the 2nd of may, you can find out where they are happening on who the candidates are in the different wards and areas on the bbc website. coming up to half past eight, let's find out what is happening where you are.

doctor neville lawrence says he is now focused on stopping further bloodshed following the surge in violent crime. today is the first ever stephen lawrence day to coincide with the 25th anniversary of stephen's death. he was murdered bya of stephen's death. he was murdered by a gang of racists in south—east london in 1983. businesses are being encouraged to hire more people on the autistic spectrum. almost a third of employers think people with autism will not fit into the

workplace, but one it consultancy has found their attention to detail isa has found their attention to detail is a huge benefit in the tech sector. we have a skills shortage in the uk. at the same time we have 700,000 autistic people in the uk. there is a massive opportunity to match up those two problems and to solve the skills gap by bringing more autistic people into the workforce. there are pate closures on the circle line, the district dlr, hammersmith and city and the overground. marble arch is still closed due to the protests. parliament square is now open.

what a glorious easter weekend of weather. yesterday temperatures in wisley near heathrow reached 24.6. todayit wisley near heathrow reached 24.6. today it is dry, fine and the warm weather stays with us. there is a bit of high cloud around which is set to make some beautiful sun rises and the sunset later on. an easterly breeze on the essex coast. temperatures getting up to 24 elsewhere. 0vernight tonight and againa elsewhere. 0vernight tonight and again a little bit of high cloud around. the temperature is really quite mild, especially the further west you are. in london it will not drop down much below 12 celsius. tomorrow morning more of the same, dry, fine, sunny weather, temperatures reaching around 22. from wednesday onwards that high—pressure slips away eastwards and the wind picks up and it turns

cooler and more unsettled. that is it from us. 290 people i know to have died and almost 800 have been injured. nobody has claimed responsibility for the attacks which targeted luxury hotels and churches packed with easter worshippers. five british nationals are believed to be among those. it is too early to say who is responsible. these incidents may not be absolutely localised. but since the investigations are ongoing and the investigations are ongoing and the government has apprehended

various suspects, but has been cautious in providing information with regard to suspect groups and their affiliations in the context of their affiliations in the context of the investigation that is ongoing. who removed the final activists from the site late last night. more than 960 people have been arrested in connection with the demonstrations. extinction rebellion said it will hold a meeting in a legally—approved area at marble arch today, to decide its next steps. a british woman has been killed by gunmen who stormed the holiday resort where she was staying in nigeria. faye mooney, who was working for the aid organisation mercy corps, and a nigerian citizen were shot dead on friday were staying in kaduna state near the capital abuja.

the attackers also kidnapped three other people. a comedian who has never held political office has won ukraine's presidential election. exit polls suggest that volodymyr zelenskiy took nearly three quarters of the vote. the incumbent, petro poroshenko, has conceded defeat. mr zelensky is best known for starring in a satirical television series in which his character accidentally becomes ukrainian president. two teenagers arrested in connection with the murder of journalist lyra mckee in londonderry have been released without charge. the 29—year—old was shot as she observed riots on thursday night. police said support from the community has been positive, but they have appealed for "tangible evidence". hundreds of holidaymakers in county down, northern ireland, have spent the night in emergency accommodation after a large hillside fire forced them from their caravan park. more than 50 firefighters worked

through the night to bring the blaze on the mourne mountains under control. it's not yet clear how it started. catching up with all the sport, the premier league title race goes from one to the other. they have played one game less than manchester city... one day more, i should say, so it is still in... it is still in manchester city's hands. talking aboutjurgen klopp saying, it is not all about the holy grail of the title, doing it for the fans. we need to do a little bit of nastiness between the two, do you remember kevin keegan and alex ferguson, "i would love it", newcastle united. pep guardiola said, i love livable, best team out there, isn't it fantastic. jurgen klopp saying nice things about manchester city. enjoy it, because it will happen. i was standing outside the interview room the night that kevin keegan did that on sky sports and you could hear him in the room, and when he came out, all the

other journalists said, room, and when he came out, all the otherjournalists said, "kevin... can you do that again?" laughter liverpool are back on top by two points. there were a couple of other matches yesterday. 0le gunnar solskjaer says he doesn't know if his manchester united players care about the club after their shock 4—0 defeat at everton. and arsenal slipped up in their pursuit of a top four finish. joe lynskey rounds up yesterday's premier league results. at this stage of the season, every point and every goal now means more. for liverpool, this was the joy after an hour of growing tension. to break cardiff down, they needed a thunderbolt. commentator: rattled into the roof of the net by georginio wijnaldum! look at the relief, look at the elation! a flash in a match that sees liverpool rise back to the top. but this was a day when cardiff made things uncomfortable. somehow, sean morrison missed their best chance of the game,

a leap that, timed better, might have changed the whole picture. as it is, morrison got back to his feet and brought mo salah down. a liverpool penalty, and 2—0 throuthames milner. in this relentless title race, they now have 88 points. that's liverpool's best tally since the ‘80s. it was all prepared for a proper banana skin, so... and we know that and so, the boys were unbelievable. their attitude is outstanding. it's a tough, tough, for them, season. but a very positive one as well, so, all good. but contrast the full—time feeling with that at manchester united. they lost 4—0 at everton, a fifth away defeat in a row. and for all the quality in blue, this was a day for united of difficult questions. former players think they should strip the squad and rebuild completely. right now, this side aren't celebrating but saying sorry. i think everyone here can say with hands on their heart that that's nowhere near good enough, that's not worthy

of a man united team. and we apologise again to the fans. we know that it's a big task and work to be done, we've got to do it together. but in north london, arsenal gave united an easter reprieve. the gunners lost 3—2 at home to crystal palace, missing the chance to move clear in the top four. right now, goals like this have implications, and one mistake can change a season. joe lynskey, bbc news. what about the title race in scotland? celtic need just four points from their four remaining premiership games to be sure of another league title. that's after being held to a goalless draw at hibernian. they were denied thanks to several brilliant saves from hibs keeper 0fir marciano. neil lennon's side still have a nine point lead over rangers at the top as they look for an eighth straight league title. chelsea women scored a precious away goal against the best team in europe, lyon, although they lost

2—1 in the first leg of their champions league semifinal. and they didn't make life easy for themselves, first scoring an own goal and then conceding after being unable to defend a corner. they also had a fran kirby penalty saved. but erin cuthbert‘s fantastic strike gave them hope. the second leg is next sunday at kingsmeadow. barcelona have a 1—0 lead against bayern munich in the other semi. in the women's super league, arsenal need just one more win to take the title after beating everton 2—1. dutch forward vivianne miedema — what a season she's had — scored arsenal's second, that's her 30th goal in all competitions this season. great britain are into the fed cup world group for the first time in 26 years. they beat kazakhastan to secure promotion. they needed to win two rubbers at the copper box arena in london on sunday to seal victory in their play—off,

and they got off to a great start whenjohanna konta recovered from 4—1 down to beat yulia putintseva. so, that left katie boulter with a chance to claim victory for britain if she could beat zarina dyas. that match also went to three sets. cue some delirious celebrations. that secures a a place in the eight—team second tier of the world group. having a revamp of that so they may very well be in the top tier. paris saint germain players wore a special kit last night following the fire at notre dame cathedral last week. players from the french champions sported the image of the famous cathedral on their shirts for the game against monaco. fans were asked to donate money to help fund the restoration project. the players' names on their shirts were all changed to read notre dame. lovely touch, i hope they raise lots

of money. great tribute, but as i said, i think it would be very confusing for commentators, commentators nightmare! notre dame passing to... notre dame. and notre dame has got on the end of that! very confusing! thank you. fifty years ago, sir robin knox—johnston made history by becoming the first man to sail solo and non—stop around the globe. in 1968, he set sail from falmouth with enough supplies to last him ten months. 0bviously that was 51 years ago. he completed the trip in 312 days. we'll be speaking to sir robin in a moment, but let's remind ourselves of that almighty voyage.

newsreel: falmouth awaits the arrival of robin knox—johnston aboard his 32—foot ketch suhaili. when do you think you'll be home? well, i hope it going to be tomorrow morning. and what's the first thing you're going to do? have a bath! joining us from falmouth harbour is the man himself, sir robin knox—johnston, and with us here in the studio is chris eakin, author of a race too far.

first of all, thank you very much for joining first of all, thank you very much forjoining us, your shot, first of all, thank you very much forjoining us, yourshot, does first of all, thank you very much forjoining us, your shot, does it feel like 50 years ago, we can see your boat behind you as well? well, it is rather strange being down here and thinking, i never imagined this would happen 50 years ahead. you have sailed back from gosport over the last few days, you're still out there on the water as often as possible? yes. not enough, really. i would prefer to be out more. just tell us about what a challenge that was 50 years ago, the race that you did? well, it wasn't really considered possible. francis chichester had gone around the world and had to stop in australia. so, once we passed australia, you're doubling the length of the voyage, and most people didn't think it would be possible for two reasons, firstly the boat wouldn't take it and secondly, the human would probably go mad. with us in the studio, we've got chris eakin, who

has written about this, and you have sailed with robin knox—johnston as well, what was it like? it was quite an experience, and actually, it was five years ago, you were 75, robin, you have just turned 80, and five years ago, you were 75, robin, you havejust turned 80, and it five years ago, you were 75, robin, you have just turned 80, and it was at the start of a transatlantic race, we travelled from portsmouth to saint—malo in brittany and frankly, it was a pretty difficult trip, we had quite a few problems, and the corporate hospitality, it's very interesting, robin skippered the boat brilliantly, it was fascinating to watch it, but his hospitality was basically a supermarket carrier bag with five pork pies and there were five of us on board, for a 36 hour difficult journey, but he did look after everybody! when it comes to food, i was reading that when you were on your voyage, sir robin knox—johnston, you had appendicitis and actually you got through that, you knew exactly what food to eat, can you tell us what happened? well,

ijust got can you tell us what happened? well, i just got these tremendous pains can you tell us what happened? well, ijust got these tremendous pains in my stomach and i thought to start with i had poisoned myself with my cooking! but it wouldn't go away. i looked it up in the ships captains medical guide and it said seek hospital attention. well, iwas medical guide and it said seek hospital attention. well, i was ten days from land so that wasn't on. i just put myself on a very easy diet of milk and stuff like that. and after about three days the pain wore off and! after about three days the pain wore off and i forgot about it. until 18 months later when i was home and they said, they took me in and took my appendix out and told me to... so every day has been a bonus since then because if it had burst before... i know this was tangential in many ways to the story, i think it isa in many ways to the story, i think it is a mark of your character, but just tell us about donald crowhurst and the gesture that you made in giving all your winnings to his family? well, i think the way we race today, donald crowhurst

wouldn't have been allowed to sail, he was totally unprepared, and he got himself into a terrible fix. and it was just a tragedy waiting to happen, really. and my concern was for his family, because they were going to lose their house and everything else. and i didn't really think i was going to win that money, so, giving it away didn't really cost me anything because i hadn't budgeted for it. chris, tell us why sir robin hasn't such an impact on people, not just in sir robin hasn't such an impact on people, notjust in the world of sailing, why is it such a good story, why did you decide to look into it? what you're not hearing from robin, and you never will because he is too modest, is how enormous an achievement it was. 0ne big issue here is that a newspaper, the sunday times, hijacked the whole concept and turned it into a race, and robin already owned suhaili, the boat, the one which is with him now, literally, he was trying to get a sponsorfor a bigger boat, like

chichester had done, that failed, he had to go in his own boat, in a hurry, because it had become a race, and suhaili was not prepared for it. even three weeks in he was having to dive overboard to plug leaks in the boat. it meant he had a ten month war of accretion holding that boat together, and for me, that's the scale of the achievement. most people would have given up and on half a dozen occasions, when he had huge problems. just a final word from you, robin, if you would, i know you founded the clipper race in the last few years, or the last couple of decades, to give ordinary people the chance to sail in stages around the world, you will be joined today by 100 of the people who have done that, to mark this 50th anniversary — how much has that legacy meant to you? anniversary — how much has that legacy meant to you ?|j anniversary — how much has that legacy meant to you? i think every timei legacy meant to you? i think every time i see those clipper cruise coming off the boat, watching them a little more proud, a little more self—assured, and loving the sport i love, i feel that that really is my

legacy. i am so proud of them, and proud of their legacy. we are very grateful to you forjoining us. sir robin knox—johnston in falmouth, enjoy the celebrations today and thank you so much for talking to us. and chris eakin, former broadcaster on this sofa, well, not this one but one very on this sofa, well, not this one but one very similar! it looked glorious weather down there in falmouth, let's see what we can expect for the rest of the country, with sarah. yeah, beautiful easter monday here today, i am at the national trust in nottinghamshire. it houses the national rhubarb collection. so here are some of the delicacies they have been making. everything from crumble, pork pies, rhubarb cake as well. if you have got rhubarb growing in your garden at home, it is the start of the rhubarb season so is the start of the rhubarb season so you is the start of the rhubarb season so you can is the start of the rhubarb season so you can start pulling it about this time of the year, up until

july, but leave some of the stalks in because they will help to photosynthesise and feed the crown so photosynthesise and feed the crown so that you will get good rhubarb coming back next year as well. yesterday was record—breaking, the warmest ever easter sunday across scotla nd warmest ever easter sunday across scotland and northern ireland and wales. temperatures in northern ireland reached 21.7 celsius. in cardiff and edinburgh, we had temperatures of 23.4 degrees. today, easter monday could well be record—breaking across england, with temperatures possibly reaching 25. it can't last forever, though, we have got some unsettled weather coming later in the week. it will be turning cooler. there will be some heavy showers and thunderstorms from mid week onwards. for the here and now, it is stunning. we have got high pressure sitting across scandinavia, drawing in these warm southerly winds. we had a weather front yesterday which brought quite a lot of cloud to scotland but that is now clearing away so a much

better day for the western isles. lots of sunshine up and down the country. we have got a few misty patches which are now clearing away. there will be some high clouds drifting north through the day. there will be some saharan dust in the air, working its way in later on today. so you could see some dusting us on your car over the next few days. temperatures this afternoon are likely to reach 23—24. a little bit cooler around some north sea coasts with the seabreeze. tonight, most coasts with the seabreeze. tonight, m ost pla ces coasts with the seabreeze. tonight, most places staying dry, one or two showers for the south—west of england and possibly wales as well. temperatures not falling as low. tomorrow starts off on a dry, fine note for much of the country, another glorious day ahead. we have got more cloud tomorrow in the west. the chance of some isolated showers for wales and the south—west of england. potentially northern

ireland as well. but most of us will stay dry. it will not be quite as hot as today. a little bit cooler around the east coast again. but then things turn more unsettled into wednesday. that is when we will start to see some heavy showers with hailand start to see some heavy showers with hail and thunderstorms, especially the further south you are. much of scotla nd the further south you are. much of scotland and northern england should stay dry for much of the day. a downward trend in temperatures later in the week. but certainly for today, bank holiday mondays don't come much better than this, sparkling sunshine and looking at potentially the warmest easter monday on record. i am going to tuck into one of these pork pies! i am quite impressed, as a tickle weather presenter, you have done every forecast this morning with a nice yellow raincoat on, just in case!

you should listen to your own forecasts! it was pretty chilly, honest! she's been championed by ed sheeran, taylor swift is also a fan. but nina nesbitt‘s rise to the top was stalled in 2016 when she was dropped by her record company. three years later, the scottish singer—songwriter is look, stronger than ever. she's just completed a sell—out tour of the uk and her latest album had a million streams in just one day. her new single, love letter, is from that album. have a listen. # we started good # crossed our hearts, we made a promise # misunderstood # cos all my friends say you're dishonest # you had me questioning what i was worth # they know and i know, now # say! # what you want but i know that it's only # words! # that you use to anyone, anybody # my! # self and i, we were done with your sorrys # get out my face, it's safe to say # when i was your girlfriend # you said it'd be different

# you wanted other girls # then you wanted commitment # but you couldn't get it # to—to—together # i'm sending you this # love, love, love letter # oh, i was your girlfriend # i thought you were different # i tried to make it work # gave a million chances # but i know i can # do, do, do better # i'm sending you this # love, love, love letter # you'd sit at home # too keen on that.... # pick up your clothes # like you forgot i'm not your mother... nina nesbittjoins us now. and nina is with us now. good morning to you. how are you?” and nina is with us now. good morning to you. how are you? i am good, how are you? it is always interesting having a musical artist on the sofa at this time of the morning. just five layers of concealer! that is my morning every day! we said the record label, they

dropped you in 2016, is that right, and then... you are back bigger and better than ever, just talk about the internet and how important that has been for you, we mentioned a million streams in a day? yeah. it's been really, really helpful, i started on the internet when i was 15 and i'm from a little village in the middle of scotland where there wasn't really any other people doing this. or any connections. wasn't really any other people doing this. 0rany connections. and it kind ofjust helped me get started and then have a fan base. i think thatis and then have a fan base. i think that is kind of the most important thing, no matter if you are on a label or whatever, if you have that fan base, i think it is the most important. for people who don't know your music, what inspires you, what is your message, what are you singing about? i call it suburban p0p singing about? i call it suburban pop because i feel like it isjust about daily life. i have songs about relationships, a friend having a

baby, career goals, all these different things, on my album. i just like writing about daily life because i feel like that is what we all experience. you've had some really interesting champions of your work, taylor swift is a fun, are you afan of work, taylor swift is a fun, are you a fan of hers? taylor swift is the reason i picked up a guitar when i was 15, so that was really, really cool. and ed sheeran, of course, as well has been a fan as well. how has all of that worked? i genuinely think again it isjust all of that worked? i genuinely think again it is just from all of that worked? i genuinely think again it isjust from the internet and my music getting out of there. i've been really lucky to receive that support from other artists, that are incredibly talented. i think it's good because you can sort of go into different people's fan bases. are the days of needing a record deal, are they gone now, can people establish themselves and then the record companies come after you? definitely, ithink people always do best when they have got their own thing going on. record

labels are really good at picking something up and taking it to the next level but the indie label that i work with is really good at developing and an artist and i think online you can pretty much do anything, you can put a song out from your bedroom, that you produced. you could! give it a go! you never know! the first song on the album, i've produced in my bedroom and i put it out and it got on all these playlists, you really canjust do on all these playlists, you really can just do it yourself now to large your history is quite interesting, with gymnastics and everything, you used to be able to do the splits... you are training for the commonwealth games?” you are training for the commonwealth games? i was training with the scottish team, yeah, but thenl with the scottish team, yeah, but then i kind of discovered boys and partying! no regrets from be no regrets, i think it gave me a good idea about hard work at a young age and the amount of training it takes to do something so i feel like i have taken that into music with me.

i have never been able to do the splits, got any hints? just... just grin and bear it, just do it! get someone grin and bear it, just do it! get someone to push you down. gently! disclaimer! so, what does the future hold, you are off on another tour to australia and the far east? yeah, we just finished a sold out uk tour, which was amazing... when did it finish? it was three days ago. so you're resting now. i'm actually going on holiday, so, very excited. i going on holiday, so, very excited. , we're doing australia and asia over the summer, which will be good. you're doing the bbc summer social as well. yeah. loving the fact that your look, stronger than ever, love the single as well. thank you very much. nina nesbitt‘s album is called the sun will come up, the seasons will change.

that's all from us for today. breakfast will be back tomorrow morning from six. all the developments from sri lanka throughout the day on the bbc news channel, but now, for viewers on bbc one, it's time for health: truth 0r scare.

this you're watching bbc news at 9am with me, simon mccoy. the headlines. eight britons are among the 290 people now known to have died after a series of suicide bomb attacks across sri lanka. 24 suspects have been arrested following the worst day of violence in the country for more than a decade. a british aid worker has been killed by gunmen who stormed the holiday resort where she was staying in nigeria. a comedian who played the president of ukraine in a television satire has been elected to run the country. two teenagers arrested in connection with the murder of the journalist lyra mckee in londonderry have been released without charge. a week of climate change protests on waterloo bridge in london are brought to an end by police, who removed the final activists from the site late last night.