this is bbc news. i'm simon mccoy. the headlines at ham: eight britons are among the 290 people known to have died after a series of suicide bomb attacks across sri lanka. 2a suspects have been arrested — following the worst day of violence in the country for more than a decade. british aid worker, faye mooney, 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. the head of britain's fertility watchdog accuses ivf clinics of using "very selective" information to persuade middle—aged women to undergo treatment. and exploring what it's like being 17 — around the world — that's a newsbeat documentary in half an hour — here on bbc news.

good morning. the sri lankan high commissioner says eight british nationals — including a mother and her two young children — are among the 290 people killed in a series of suicide bomb attacks. more than 500 others were injured in the blasts which targeted churches and luxury hotels on easter sunday. sri lanka has declared a state of emergency from midnight local time and tomorrow as a national day of mourning. police say they've arrested 2a suspects. they believe that most of those involved are part of one radical islamic group, operating locally. 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. one of our priorities is also looking into the safety of uk nationals who have visited sri lanka. do you know how many uk nationals have been caught up in this? as of now i think there is information on eight nationals who have lost their lives. 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.

in the detailed reports it said that the targets were christian and catholic churches... 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. it's been confirmed that three of the four children of the danish billionaire, anders holch povlsen were killed in the attacks. mr povlsen — who is denmark's wealthiest man — a major shareholder in the online clothing retailer asos and one

of the uk's largest private landowners — confirmed that his family were visiting sri lanka over the easter period. i've been speaking to roel raymond, associate editor roar lk — an online news platform in colombo, about who could be responsible for yesterday's attacks. there is some controversy over a letter that has been circulated on social media. initially the government dismissed it as being fake. in fact, journalists were quoted as saying the letter is fake. several other government officials said the letter is fake. but yesterday in the evening the prime minister for the yesterday in the evening the prime ministerfor the first yesterday in the evening the prime minister for the first time indicated that perhaps the letter was authentic because he said that in saying he had not received it, he and his cabinet had not received information that there was a possibility of any attack on

religious places in colombo and other parts of the islands, which is what the letter had indicated. the prime minister also said that he would investigate why authorities had not informed the cabinets. in just a couple of hours ago at a press c0 nfe re nce , just a couple of hours ago at a press conference, the former government spokesman and health minister also laid the blame with one particular organisation and this is the organisation which is mentioned in this letter that has been circulating since april the 11th and that is the national thowheeth jama'ath religious extremist organisation. he also places blame that this organisation behind the attack, six of them suicide attacks, six of the eight that took place yesterday. however, i have to say that this is just a

police investigation which is not complete, it's not over and it is still ongoing. i can't say that any of these comments from the minister oi’ of these comments from the minister or even the prime minister come from, come with any guarantees. it could just be projection. 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. here, older women are being exploited by ivf clinics "trading on hope", the fertility watchdog has warned. sally cheshire, chairwoman of the human fertilisation and embryology authority, said some private clinics are using "selective success rates" to target older women. joining me now is our news correspondentjenny kumah.

this will resonate with a lot of women who have gone through this procedure. yes, sally cheshire says that some of these organisations are using blatant sales tactics to target these women. she said that she was targeted herself at a trade show with people making sales pictures to her unaware that she was the head of the uk's fertility watchdog. she herself is a former ivf patient and went on to have a family through adoption. she is basically now calling for the industry to be more open about success industry to be more open about success rates particularly four older woman. we can look at some of the figures that show that success rates are higher for women under 35. the number of women over a0 who are having fertility treatment has doubled in recent years but the actual success rate for women who

are aa is actuallyjust i% and that equates to two live births essentially. some nhs trusts offer fertility treatment but otherwise it is an expensive process. yes, for those women over a0 who can get fertility treatment on the nhs, just one cycle, but as sally was saying some private clinics are charging as much as £20,000 forjust one cycle and she is saying that some of them are using tactics such as add—on services which clinics are suggesting will increase your chances of getting pregnant. now, the watchdog says there is no conclusive evidence of this and the watchdog is calling for greater powers to clamp down on practices such as this and clamp—down on profiteering. jenny, thank you very much. 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. 0ur correspondent jonah fisher is in kiev. it's pretty mind—bending stuff. fact has followed fiction here in ukraine and yes, as you say, it is a landslide for this comedian with no political experience, volodymyr zelensky. looks like he's going to get 75% of the vote or so with the incumbent, the man who's been president here in ukraine, just getting 25%. so, yes, extraordinary developments here. we are also facing the prospect in a couple of weeks' time when mr zelensky becomes the president, we will have the tv show airing in the evening where we see the fictional president, while during the daytime mr zelensky will be doing the job for real. you're joking! laughter

crazy. ok, let's look... this is the sort of warped reality we are having to deal with at the moment, simon. oh, i know, but i don't think ukraine is alone in that. let's just talk about the lead up to this because he didn't do any serious interviews. he just did a few light—hearted comments on social media. yeah, he almost ran an anti—campaign in this election. he didn't do rallies, he didn't do political speeches. the few interviews he did, he really came off as... well, as you might expect, a comedian, a bit lightweight and jokey and lacking in real political substance. his team quickly worked out to keep him away from the politics, to mainly campaign on social media, and the less he talked the more popular he became, so it was a formula which worked but clearly it's not a formula that's going to work in government because his team have now got a few weeks before the inauguration to try and put together some concrete policies and to work out what he really stands

for beyond very broadly being about something new and something different and changing the way ukraine works. and he's got some pretty serious stuff to deal with, including a war on the eastern front. yeah, yeah. being the president of ukraine is not really a joking matter. there is a war going on in eastern ukraine and has been going on for the last five years against russian—backed forces. 13,000 people have died in that war over the last five years. ukraine also has some pretty serious economic problems. it's a hugely corrupt country. one of the most corrupt in europe, and badly needs some reforms. so, yes, when he gets into office in about three or four weeks' time, president zelensky will have a very, very serious in tray and he will have to start really getting to grips with what the reality is of being president for real. that was our reporter speaking to me from 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 during riots on thursday night. police said support from the community has been positive, but appealed for "tangible evidence". 0ur ireland correspondent, chris page, has more. the two teenagers, as you say, aged 18 or 19, they were arrested early on saturday morning and now they have been released without charge. the police officer who has been leading the investigation, detective superintendent jason murphy, has said that the police have received positive support from the community in the creggan area of derry which is where lyra mckee was shot dead on thursday night, but they need to convert that support into what he calls tangible evidence. so he says he wants to meet with local community representatives in creggan, with the hope that they can help him to unlock some evidence, as he calls it. encourage people to come forward. police say they know

there are people in creggan who know what happened and who was involved, and they have acknowledged that in situations like this when dissident republicans are involved, it's thought that new ira, the largest dissident group, carried out the murder of lyra mckee. the police know that there is sometimes a reticence or fear in communities for people to come forward to the police and bring evidence. police are working with members of the community and leaders in the community, with clergyman, and local politicians, so that they can break down that fear and encourage witnesses to come forward and give statements. the police investigation is continuing, in the meantime preparations also now being made for lyra mckee's funeral which will be held in belfast, where she grew up, on wednesday. that was chris page. more now on the suicide bombings in sri lanka which have killed nearly 300 people. we arejust we are just hearing from writers

news agency that police in sri lanka have found 86 detonators. sharanjit leyl is in colombo for us... a city very much still in shock. that is right. it is a city in shock. you can see it as a picturesque city and it is sunny and beautiful but of course a dark day for the families grieving from the teller —— terrible events yesterday. tamara has been declared a national day of mourning for many in sri lanka. the devastation of those eight blasts continue. yesterday as we arrived at the airport we were told there was a bomb that was diffused not far away from the international airport as well. so the investigations continue. we heard from the cabinet aussie press

secretary a little while ago who said that the people behind these attacks have been identified. 0ver 20 have been arrested and they are pa rt 20 have been arrested and they are part of a small islamist group here in sri lanka that is not very well known but he suggests in his press conference that they may have had international help from an international help from an international terror network because of the coordinated network of these attacks to have taken place in the space of so few hours in different locations here in sri lanka. you can see behind me i'm in the centre of town. the shangri—la hotel is not too far away. you can see the high—rise building which was one of the luxury hotels that was targeted as well as the cinnamon grand and the kingsbury hotel here colombo. what are the reports there are about the intelligence agencies having a warning are not passing

that on? that is correct. this is the question on most people's mind today. how much that the government no and when? we are hearing from the press c0 nfe re nces no and when? we are hearing from the press conferences that there was some suggestion that the authorities we re some suggestion that the authorities were warned as early as april 11 that some sort of attack would take place and this was not communicated to the prime minister's office. there has been lots of questions asked about that and why that has happened. we know the sri lankans may be getting international help with local report suggesting that interpol and the fbi will be coming this week to help with the investigations. so keeping an eye on that and the mood here continues sombre. there is still security in the streets. there is a great deal of tension as people wait to see

what happens. the us state department is warning american citizens that there may be more terror attacks so they are warning their citizens to keep away. the headlines on bbc news... eight britons are among the 290 people known to have died after a series of suicide bomb attacks across sri lanka. british aid worker, faye mooney, 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. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's 0lly. good morning. jurgen klopp says his team is motivated by their supporters not the "holy grail" of a first league title since 1990. liverpool are back on top of the table but were kept out by cardiff for the best part

of an hour before georginio wijnaldum gave them the lead. it finished 2—0 afterjames milner scored from the spot. cardiff remain in the relegation zone three points adrift of safety. they looked doomed pretty much. liverpool are two points ahead of manchester city, but have played a game more. if you are only motivated if you win the holy grail then something is wrong with you. we are motivated itself because we play for this club, because we want to win football games, because we enjoy the ride together with our fans — that's the truth. lots of soul searching at manchester united today, after their biggest defeat defeat under manager 0le gunnar solskjaer. they went down a—0 at everton. that leaves them two points off the top four. they have lost six of their last eight matches, and it's the manchester derby at old trafford on wednesday night. one step at a time and i've said all along, i'm going to be successful here.

there are players that won't be part of that successful team, but there are players there that of course do have it. former liverpool and england striker robbie fowler is set to be named as the new manager of a—league side brisbane roar. reports in australia say the appointment will be confirmed in the next 2a hours. fowler, who spent two years playing in australia towards the end of his career, has been linked with a number ofjobs in england and has previously worked as a coach with liverpool's academy. chelsea women lost the first leg of their champions league semifinal 2—i away at lyon. the french have won the title for the past three seasons, and after a chelsea own goal, they took a 2—0 lead from this corner. chelsea, who have never been beyond the semis, then had a penalty saved, before erin cuthbert scored what could be a really important away goal. the second leg is next sunday at kingsmeadow. i'm disappointed we haven't got

a better result here. because i thought we, today, were the better team. and i thought we played with the courage and the conviction that i'd asked of the players and getting the away goal means that the tie is very much alive, but i expect it will be even more difficult at home because lyon have the quality, as we know, but i'm very, very proud of my team today. barcelona lead by munich i—0 barcelona lead by munich 1—0 in the other semifinal. great britain are into the fed cup world group for the first time in 26 years. they beat kazakhastan to secure promotion, johanna konta and katie boulter winning the two rubbers required, to secure promotion to the eight team second tier of the world group. when players sometimes put their home country's tracksuit on it brings out different pattern, different levels of performance. anything can happen. i think with bothjohanna konta and katie boulter, it is a strong team. we have someone injohanna konta

who has beaten some of the strongest champions. she's beaten 0sa ka. she's beaten venus williams, wozniacki. you know, all of the players she has beaten out on the tour, she has enormous self belief. i think this team is very, very strong and i think every time they step out onto court against anybody, i think they probably feel they have a great chance of winning. shaun murphy has completed only the second whitewash at the world snooker championship. the 2005 champion resumed this morning 9—0 up against luo honghao, and rattled off the first frame to breeze through to the second round. john parrott was the first to complete a 10—0 vcitory at the crucible back in 1992, against eddie charlton. these are live pictures. the three—time champion, mark selby, is facing zhao xintong.

he has lost the first two frames, are he has lost the first two frames, a re really cagey he has lost the first two frames, are really cagey second frame which he lost. a long way to go though they are, first to ten, of course. that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. that's bbc.co.uk/sport you can keep a cross that mark selby match at the crucible if you want. we could watch that cagey second frame. 0llie, thank you very much. the bodies of three world—renowned professional mountaineers have been found after an avalanche at canada's banff national park. two austrians — and an american, were attempting to scale howse peak, a notoriously difficult route in the canadian rockies. the group were reported missing last wednesday but recovery efforts were hampered by weather conditions.

they were part of a team of athletes sponsored by american outdoor equipment firm the north face. climate activists, who've staged a week of demonstrations in london and edinburgh, will meet this afternoon, to discuss the next phase of their campaign. late last night, police removed the final activists from waterloo bridge. 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. 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. a former monk from north london has gained an online following in the millions after becoming a motivational speaker. jay shetty is considered one of the most influential people on social media and has recently been awarded for his achievements. bbc asian network's haroon rashid has met jay to find out more about his journey. so there's good news and there's bad news. jay shetty describes himself as a storyteller who makes wisdom go viral, and has notched up hundreds of millions of views on inspirational videos about lifestyle, relationships and well—being. when i started making videosjust under three years ago, i never thought any of this was possible. he has been honoured for his achievement online of the asian awards in london.

but jay‘s spiritual journey initially took a nearly 5000 miles away from the uk to india. i was always fascinated by rags to riches stories. but when i met a monk when i was 18, i felt it was the first time i'd met someone who was really having an impact in the world, doing something incredibly positive. so i spent a lot of time with him over the next four years. when i was 22, i decided to turn down my corporate job offers and decided to be a monk, because i felt that would help me live a life of service. was it difficult when you came back to london? was it difficult to adapt back to normal life? i actually went back into the corporate world, which is what i would have done originally, and i ended up learning about social media. and so in 2016, i realised i wanted to use all of my corporate training, and my monk training, to see if i could put the two together and use social media monk to share these messages online. people think depression is being quiet. depression is when we smile but when we want to cry. it is when we talk but we want to be quiet. it's when we pretend like we are happy but we are not.

that video did, i think, something like 125 million views. a lot of people saying, this gave me permission to talk my friend. or this forced me to reach out to my friend and then i realise that he or she was going through this. you grew up in north london. you have said that you lost a close friend to gang crime. right now in the uk there has been an increase in knife crime. what would you like to say to young teenagers in britain today? you are going to think about age, that what you are into and what you're up to is really cool and it makes you feel amazing and it maybe makes you powerful. but really, when you look at it back when you are older, you are going to think you made a lot of stupid decisions. go and spend time with people who have actually lost people because of it. from knife crime, gun crime, any violence, there is nothing positive that comes out of it. and if you go and spend a moment with somebody who has lost someone, it will put everything into perspective for you. imagine spending your whole life with someone... with three videos and two podcasts published weekly, jay is making the most

of his growing online community. 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. naseem from bbc scotland's "nine" programme, has been to find out more. spending time with animals is proven to have benefits for people with dementia.

people might not connect with other people but will connect with animals. it works well here because it isa animals. it works well here because it is a rural home with farming connections. being around these lands helps improve depression, loneliness and anxiety. they even got to name the lambs. meet tina, joseph and violets, named after 198—year—old resident. violet used to sing professionally. # i know these days... # i will take you away at the top of hill... # just you and me... # we'll carry you around, my darlin‘. # you wait #. 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. now, it's time for a look at the weather with stav danoas.