this is bbc news. i'm simon mccoy. the headlines at 12pm: another explosion in colombo as police discover another device — a day after a series of suicide bomb attacks killed 290 people — including eight britons. 2a suspects have been arrested — officials say the attacks were carried out by a localjihadi group with the support of an international network. 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.

good afternoon. in the past few minutes there has been another explosion in the sri lankan capital colombo, as security forces were difusing a bomb inside a van near a church. that is the moment it exploded. it comes the day after 290 people were killed in a series of suicide bomb attacks. eight british nationals — including a mother and her two young children — are amongst the dead. more than 500 others were injured in the blasts which targeted churches and luxury hotels. bomb disposal experts are trying to dismantle 87 devices found in colombo bus station. 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. 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 — is 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. the queen has sent a message to the president of sri lanka it says: prince philip and i were deeply saddened to learn of the attacks in sri lanka and send our condolences to the families and friends of those who have lost their lives. lisa fuller is a journalist who lives and works in colombo. we've just seen an explosion in an attempt to defuse a van bomb. this isa attempt to defuse a van bomb. this is a city very much on edge?

absolutely. the bomb was outside one of the churches that was bombed yesterday and was left over from the attack. it was being diffused but there was a vast panic which is understandable because everyone is quite scared and on edge still. what has been made of the targets here? we're talking about churches on easter sunday and luxury hotels. no one has claimed responsibility for the attack. we are getting this latest information from the government. that it was a islamic group called national thowheeth jama'ath but that is just in the last few hours. i can't comment on their motives except to mention that christians were targeted.|j understand christians were targeted.” understand your sister—in—law was close to one of these attacks when it happened. she was outside one of

the churches. she was ok but she had children who were in the church getting thrown out quite near her so it sounded very gruesome. we are talking about a country that has been ridden with civil war for years and then a period of relative peace and then a period of relative peace and this must reawaken many fears in sri lanka. yeah, the war ended ten yea rs sri lanka. yeah, the war ended ten years ago and since then there has been violence but on a much lower level. the biggest incident was last year there were anti—muslim riots which destroyed 400 muslim properties but only killed two people. so we haven't seen anything like this since the war ended and this type of violence doesn't even look anything like the war. in those centres it is quite unprecedented. what about the very... it is very

early days and the place in shock but there are concerns about the effect this will have an tourism which is important to sri lanka. absolutely. already people are talking about that. lonely planet named it as its top tourist destination in 2019. it has seen a surge in tourism and they will want that to continue. some talk of revenge attacks already happening. very small scale but i have a few confirmed reports of attacks on people who are perceived to be muslim. a few properties were destroyed but i don't have any reports of injuries. given the recent history of anti—muslim violence it is very concerning that within 24 hours of these attacks we are already starting to see those types of incidents. lisa, it's very good of you to join us. lisa types of incidents. lisa, it's very good of you tojoin us. lisa fuller that live in colombo. we will have

more from you later. 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. jenny kumah has been speaking to sally cheshire about her concerns... she said that she herself was targeted at a trade show with people making sales pitches 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 rates particularly four older woman.

about success rates particularly ——for 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 40 who are having fertility treatment has doubled in recent years but the actual success rate for women who are 44 is actually just 1% 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 40 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. that was jenny kumar. let's that wasjenny kumar. let's return to events in sri lanka. sharanjit leyl is in colombo for us. we've seen another explosion while police try to defuse a van near a church. the city are still on edge? it is very much so a city on edge, in shock and in grief as well at those awful, tragic blasts that happened on sunday. as you mention, just in the last hour we are seeing pictures of reports of explosions at

saint anthony's cathedral which was the location of a blast yesterday. we do not know if they were controlled explosions. there was another at a nearby market. that has happened in the last hour or so. earlier we were told that 87 devices we re earlier we were told that 87 devices were detonated at the main bus station. there was also the reports of the device that was detonated at the airport last night. so this is continuing to be a really high security. lots of concerns and people being advised to stay indoors. another curfew has been called. there was one last night. the authorities have said they will be another tonight. a national state of emergency is also due to be declared at midnight tonight and it will be a national day of mourning tomorrow the authorities have announced. so it is an active

investigation that is continuing and we still hearing from the government and authorities here who have been updating us on the last few hours. we heard from the spokesperson from the cabinet who talks about some of the cabinet who talks about some of the people they think are behind this. they have arrested a number of them and they think they are linked to this particularly small islamist radical group which is not widely heard of. they are thought to be linked to the vandalising of some buddhist statues last year in sri lanka. there is concern about the fa ct lanka. there is concern about the fact that they may have had international help because of the coordinated nature of these attacks happening so quickly in the space of a few hours on sunday. this letter that apparently was sent and got into the hands of the intelligence services before yesterday's explosions but didn't seem to be passed on any higher. that is the focus of a lot of anger at the moment. there is a lot of questions being asked about that and

essentially it was the minister of telecommunications speaking to the bbc who confirmed that he had shared this memo that suggested the authorities knew an attack was happening as early as april 11 but there was a miscommunication and this was not communicated to the prime minister ranil wickremesinghe and his team so there were no precautions taken as a result of that. so there is a lot of anger about that. we're also getting sense ofa about that. we're also getting sense of a city still morning because we are getting more details of the people who were killed, the victims, including three children of the danish billionaire who owns a major sta ke danish billionaire who owns a major stake in the fashion chain asos. it is confirmed three of his kids are killed. the family are asking for

privacy. a sri lankan celebrity chef and her daughter were also killed. five political party members from india who also sitting down to brea kfast india who also sitting down to breakfast in one of the luxury hotels. the regional repercussions of this, to give you an idea, two children from my son's school in singapore were killed along with one of their parents, the headmaster of the school has confirmed this morning. 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". 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. jonah fisher reporting there from kiev. the headlines on bbc news: police in colombo are continuing to find and defuse explosive devices — a day after 290 were killed in 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 foster. hello again, simon. jurgen klopp says his team is motivated by their supporters not the pursuit 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 and james milner scored for the 2—0 win. cardiff remain in the relegation zone, three points adrift of safety. liverpool are two points ahead of manchester city, but have played a game more. if you are only motivated if you want the holy grail then 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 4—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 here that won't be part of that successful team, but there are players here that of course do have it. former liverpool and england striker robbie fowler is set to become the new manager of a—league side brisbane roar. reports in australia say the appointment will be confirmed in the next 24 hours. fowler, who spent two years playing in australia towards the end of his career,

has been linked with a number of jobs in england. he previously had a coaching role with liverpool's academy. 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 secures promotion to the 8 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 current grand slam champions. she's beaten 0saka, kerber,. 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 victory at the crucible back in 1992, against eddie charlton three time champion mark selby has been struggling against china's xhao zintong. he trails 3—1 — only a century in the final frames before the mid session interval preventing a total one sided opening session. the five—time world champion, ronnie 0'sullivan, plays his first round match against james cahill this afternoon. it could be a mismatch. cahill is the first amateur to qualify for the world championship, 0'sullivan is world number one, with five tournament wins this season. if you would give me the trophy now and say world champion i would say

fantastic but if i don't win it then thatis fantastic but if i don't win it then that is just how sports goes sometimes. you've got to be in its to win it. if you ask me when i was 25 would i win one, i would have been pretty doubtful, so you have to think back to those days and think to have five, i don't want to be too greedy and sounds too big headed, but i would have settled for one. on more than happy with five. you can follow that across bbc two and the bbc sport website. i will be back in the next hour. see you then. oddly, thank you very much. 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 1,065 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. more than one billion people in nearly 200 countries around the world are taking part in earth day today. it's an annual day of events and activities to protect the environment — including clean—ups in local communities, protests, and educational events. the president of the earth day network is kathleen rogers. shejoins me now... for many people who weren't aware of this can you just explain what earth day is and why it began? earth day began in 1970 on april 20 seconds when millions of people walked out on the streets of the united states, young people but also mothers and

children, people wearing suits, and asa children, people wearing suits, and as a result of that demonstration which was enormous by us standards and still remains the largest civic eventin and still remains the largest civic event in human history, we had most of our environmental laws are passed, many of which were exported worldwide. so earth day is credited with launching the modern environmental movement, one that is focused on much beyond national parks and species protection. it then spreads are being the main focus on human health and that has only grown because of climate change which as you know affects everything, every part of our lives and is caused by everything from transportation, agriculture, buildings, deforestation. so earth day represents no longer a day, a week, month, season and earth day events week, month, season and earth day eve nts go week, month, season and earth day events go on year—round. week, month, season and earth day events go on year-round. as you say, you're part of the launch of this such a long time ago in effect, i just wonder what make of the progress in the protest movement

particularly what is going on in london and edinburgh at the moment. is that something you agree with or would you rather everything come under one umbrella was yellow i wasn't there for the first day but i can guarantee you that they wouldn't be debating today if they should change to a dialogue if theyjust walked in and ask for a conversation nothing would happen. disruption is never a good thing in normal life, it impacts business and your commute and everything else, but i guarantee you that it is because of that that we are talking about is what the next steps are both in great britain and around the world. having youth involved is critical. it's been cyclical but certainly youth were a dominant force in 1970 so we are hoping they will be now when we reached an apex of climate disturbance and we are watching things get truly out of control.

kathleen rogers, thank you very much for your time. a 41—gun salute has taken place at hyde park this lunchtime to mark the queen's 93rd birthday. gun salutes are always fired as a mark of respect to the queen on her birthday — but never on a sunday, so this year they have be delayed by one day. a 62—gun salute will also be performed by the honourable artillery company at the tower of london at 1pm today. let's follow that with some explosive weather. it's just sunny, isn't it? it it is for now but the weather may provide later on this week because there are some

changes to come. notjust yet because for the rest of this easter monday the vast majority have warmth and sunshine. a sunny day for most but further south we have started to see the first signs of change. cloud coming in from the south and you can see that from the satellite picture. it is mostly high and wispy clouds whichjust it is mostly high and wispy clouds which just turns the sunshine a bit hazy but there is some saharan dust blowing in high in the atmosphere which could lead to some impressive sunrises and sunsets over the next couple of days. for the weather, some patches of clouds drifting northwards making the sun hazy but a fine afternoon and another 11. if you're still about a 5pm it will be 20 two 23 degrees in glasgow. through tonight it will be dry in most places. a few showers in the south—west of england and wales but

elsewhere clear spells. not a cold night for most of us away from the far north—east of scotland where there may be a touch of frost. generally temperatures between six and 12 degrees. fine weather and spells of sunshine tomorrow. some cloud across the western side of the uk, bringing some showers to northern ireland possibly. this cloud also rolls in from the north sea turning things grey in aberdeen and pegging temperatures back. but in the sunshine temperature is still a very respectable 19 to 21 degrees. however, things start to change more rapidly tuesday and wednesday with low pressure taking more and more control and various frontal systems circulating. this first one on wednesday brings heavy downpours and we could see some thunder and lightning across the midlands, wales and drifting up into northern england and northern ireland as well. scotland staying largely dry with spells of sunshine but it is behind a band of showery rain that things start to turn cooler in the

south—west. and that is the trend as we go towards the end of the week. loose the last of that warm air and we get this cooler air from the atlantic. so are very different feel for the rest of the week. next weekend will be unrecognisable from this one with outbreaks of rain, temperatures in the teens, a very different feel to the weather. that's all from me. bye for now. hello, this is bbc news with simon mccoy. the headlines: eight britons are among the 290 people known to have died, after a series of suicide bomb attacks across sri lanka. a state of emergency has been declared from midnight local time. 24 suspects have been arrested — officials say the attacks were carried out by a localjihadi group with the support of an international network. a british aid worker, faye mooney, has been killed by gunmen who stormed the holiday resort where she was staying in nigeria. the head of britain's fertility watchdog accuses ivf clinics of using "very selective" information to persuade middle—aged