avoid a speeding ticket. this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at lipm: police in sri lanka arrest 2a people as the government blames a local islamist extremist group for a series of co—ordinated bomb attacks. it's believed a british mother and her two children are among the 290 people killed. police say more than 1,000 people have been arrested after seven days of climate change protests. dozens of firefighters are trying to control a moorland fire in marsden in west yorkshire. gun salutes have taken place to mark her majesty the queen's 93rd birthday. coming up on hardtalk: i'm in florida to meet michael collins, one of the three crew members on that historic apollo 11 mission

which landed men on the moon. good afternoon. the sri lankan high commissioner says eight british nationals are among the 290 people killed in a series of bomb attacks. more than 500 others were injured in the blasts which targeted churches and hotels on easter sunday. police say they've arrested 2a suspects and that the bombings were carried out with the support of an international network. the government has blamed a local radical islamist group, although no—one has yet admitted carrying out the attacks. there has been another explosion today in the sri lankan capital

colombo, as security forces were defusing a bomb inside an abandoned van near a church. nick beake reports. the christians of colombo should have been celebrating rebirth this easter, but it's death, on an horrific scale, which has confronted them. this was one of three churches bombed. shouts and screams rang out where there had been singing and prayers. they were victims of a carefully coordinated strike which has plunged hundreds of families into mourning. among them, a 36—year—old's relatives, his brother said he rushed him to hospital, but there was nothing that could be done. the scale of these attacks and the planning that went into them have stunned sri lanka. but already the prime minister has admitted that intelligence was received more than ten days ago about possible attacks on churches, so already some people are asking — could these bombers have been stopped?

visiting one of the bomb sites, a senior official defended the authorities‘ actions. why you try to isolate this particular incident? what i have to say, it is very u nfortu nate, very u nfortu nate. at the shrine of saint anthony's in colombo, disbelief. more than 1,500 worshippers had packed into the easter sunday service. the chief priest told us he had left his church to pick up some papers when the bomb ripped through his congregation and that it was a miracle he survived. how does that touch you this morning, knowing you have been saved and 300 others lost their lives? i don't understand it yet, he has saved me. many are on edge, with good reason. explosions. this device has just exploded near one of the churches targeted yesterday, as the bomb squad was moving in. still no group has yet admitted it was behind the attack,

the perpetrators may remain in the shadows but the carnage they have wrought is painfully clear. nick beake, bbc news, colombo. it's believed a british mother and her two children are amongst the eight british citizens to have died. 42—year—old anita nicholson, 11——year—old alex and his younger sister annabel are reported to have been dining in the shangri—la hotel when the bombs struck. her husband is thought to have survived. 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. he 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. i pay tribute to the medical and emergency services who are providing support to those who have been injured. our thoughts and prayers are with all sri lankans at this difficult time. our correspondent in colombo, sharanjit leyl gave us this update. we have had those deadly explosions on sunday which we have been reporting on, but today there is still very much an active situation as we have seen explosions over the last few hours that we are told, were controlled detonations of devices that were found, particularly one that was found in the vicinity of saint anthony's shrine. we are told this is the van that was detonated that the suicide bombers used yesterday to target the shrine. there were yet more explosions, controlled we are told, taking place at a market nearby, and some 87 devices were found at one of the big bus stations here, and they were also detonated. so still very much an active situation.

investigations continuing here in colombo into what caused this attack. and, of course, a lot of issues and questions being asked around just how much the government and the authorities knew and when because it has since emerged that there was a memo put out that warned as early as april 11 that such an attack would be taking place. but prime minister wickremesinghe and his office were not informed of this, so there is a lot of questions about what could have been done, perhaps precautions could have been put in place, specifically at the luxury hotels. we are hearing from the hotels that they would have had their security and security personnel on high alert if some of this had been in place in effect. sharanjit leyl there. 0rganisers of the extinction rebellion protests are meeting this

afternoon to decide whether the group will continue to disrupt central london for another week. police say more than 1,000 arrests have been made during climate change protests over the past seven days. 53 have been charged. dozens of firefighters are trying to control a moorland fire in marsden in west yorkshire. it's thought the blaze, which broke out last night, extends to over a square mile was started by a barbecue. it's the sixth fire in the area so far this year. sally hurst reports. this fire started last night and firefighters are very busy today trying to tackle it. we have just had, in the last hour, another flare—up on the ridge you can see behind me. the helicopter has been going down to this reservoir nearby, scooping up water and dumping it on the fire in an attempt to stop it. i am here with craig best from the national trust. you have been here all night watching this, haven't you? it must be devastating to see the damage.

yes, i have been on site since about one o'clock. the fire started at seven o'clock last night, and we believe it was through the use of a barbecue. in that time, it has spread quite rapidly from what was initially a very small fire to a scene that we see behind us which amounts to about 300 hectares in total. that is actually double the size of the previous fire you have already had this year. that is double the size of the fire we had at the end of february, but it is actually the sixth fire that we have had this calendar year, which is exceptionally rare for this time of year. what about damage to wildlife? this is a key nesting time, isn't it? yes. this moorland is really important for ground nesting birds, and a number of those species of ground nesting birds are currently nesting, so there would have been some impact on birds‘ nests and also a whole range of small mammals and reptiles. and what about the financial cost as well to the national trust?

we think of this landscape in the same way as a stately home. if a stately home catches fire, that is a significant asset that has effectively gone up in smoke. we have invested several hundred thousands of pounds in restoration to restore the moorland, make it wetter, improve it for wildlife and improve those peat soils, and we estimate around £200,000 of restoration has gone up in smoke. what will be happening for the rest of the day? we will be working with the fire service and we will also continue to use the helicopter to put the fire out. but there is no doubt we are going to be with this fire for the next couple of days to ensure there are no flare—ups. 300 hectares of land is an awful lot for the fire service to tackle, to get on top of, so this command centre is going to be here for the next few days at least. that was sally hurst in west yorkshire.

in northern ireland hundreds of holiday—makers in county down spent the night in emergency accommodation after a large hillside fire forced them from their caravan park. the wildfire happened in the mourne mountains above the seaside town of newcastle. they're now under control. chris page reports. 0n the mountainside, a fire a mile long threatened some houses as it burned through the gorse. eyewitnesses described it as a running wildfire. 50 fire fighters worked to bring the blaze under control. the flames came close to a caravan park. police went from one mobile home to another, telling people to get out quickly. buses took around 200 holiday—makers to a leisure centre. it wasn't how expected to be spending their easter. very frightening. people were told to get in to their cars, move their cars. then you got in and you were told to get out of your cars and run to the front gates. the wind was blowing it towards the caravan site. once it hit one caravan, then they were worried about the gas bottles.

once the gas bottles are hit, it would have made a chain reaction. they have now been allowed to go back to their caravans. the mourne mountains provide some of the most striking scenery in northern ireland. the hilltop scrubland adds to the rocky beauty. but when fires break out here, the wind and the terrain mean they spread rapidly. it isn't clear yet how this one began. but the emergency services have pointed out the vast majority of gorse fires are started deliberately, and pictures like these show how dangerous that can be. chris page, bbc news. in derby, a police station has been evacuated after a large commercial fire triggered a string of explosions. derbyshire constabulary say the fire at prime parkway industrial estate has resulted in a series of blasts, and the subsequent evacuations of st mary's wharf police station. they've advised local residents to keep their doors and windows shut. two teenagers arrested in connection with the murder of the journalist, lyra mckee, have been

released without charge. the 29—year—old was shot dead during violence in londonderry on thursday night. police said support from the community has been positive, but appealed for tangible evidence. a british charity worker has been killed in northern nigeria. faye mooney was shot dead on friday, along with a nigerian man, when gunmen stormed a resort in kaduna state where she was visiting on holiday. three other people were also kidnapped. no—one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. older women are being exploited by some ivf clinics, who are "trading on hope" — that's according to the head of britain's fertility watchdog. sally cheshire, chairwoman of the human fertilisation and embryology authority, has accused some overseas private clinics of using "selective success rates" to persuade middle—aged women to undergo treatment. the human fertilisation

and embryology authority says that those undertaking ivf aged between a0 and 42 had a success rate ofjust 9%. those a year older saw their chances of getting pregnant fall significantly to 3%. and those aged 44 had a success rate of 1% — that equates to just two live births. a short while ago i spoke to sally cheshire about the issue. we're concerned about are more of the foreign clinics who are coming to the uk who are investing here because there are returns to be made, who absolutely are not being honest with women, and the advent of social media and other outlets where people can find their information means that we can't always provide those patients with the right, accurate information that they have. i would encourage them to come to the hfea and to ask very searching questions of their clinic about the cost of treatment, about any add—ons to basic ivf that may be offered to them and, as you pointed out, we have a traffic light system which rates the most common

and suggests that, actually, there's no evidence that any of them are effective. what hopes do you have, then, of achieving this much tighter regulation that you're hoping for? 0n add—on treatments in particular and on prices, we're making lots of progress with all of the professional bodies and with the government so every person who works in the sector, all the stakeholders, professionals and ourselves, have signed a consensus statement recently about the way to offer add—on treatments ethically and we will do the same on price and we will do the same through media opportunities like this to get our message across. the queen's 93rd birthday has been marked with gun salutes in central london. a 41 gun salute took place in hyde park at midday. and at 1pm, a 62 gun salute was performed at the tower of london.

although her actual birthday was yesterday tradition dictates that the salutes never take place on a sunday. the time is 4:15pm. the headlines on bbc news: police in sri lanka arrest 2a people as the government blames a local islamist extremist group for a series of co—ordinated bomb attacks. it's believed a british mother and her two children are among the 290 people killed in the blasts. police say more than a thousand people have been arrested after 7 days of climate change protests. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre. hello. plenty of football to get through this afternoon. a full programme in the championship today and a crucial afternoon for norwich

city who could guarantee promotion if they can beat stoke and a couple of other results go their way. let's ta ke of other results go their way. let's take a look at the latest cause. norwich have been pegged back to 1—1 at the moment. they need either sheffield united or leeds to drop points this afternoon. sheffield united are currently leading 3—0 at hull. so it looks like it will be a long afternoon for norwich fans. elsewhere, middlesbrough and bristol city both losing away from home. towards the bottom, rather have the lead against birmingham with them. relegation rivals reading and west brom are currently goalless. portsmouth bolstered their bid for an automatic promotion from league 1 coming from behind to beat coventry

2-1. it coming from behind to beat coventry 2—1. it has pushed them up to second for the time being. barnsley and sunderland can overtake them if they win their respective through pm kick—offs. boxer kash ali has been given a six—month ban and fined £10,000 for biting david price during their old british heavyweight fight. ali had his boxing licence suspended and his fight purse withdrawn after being disqualified in the fifth round in the bout last month in liverpool. he apologised after the fight saying his behaviour was not a true reflection of who i am. money 0'sullivan has begun his campaign at the world snooker championship in sheffield. the world number one is up againstjames cahill, the first amateur to qualify for the event. cahill did when the first frame but 0'sullivan took the next two. the 23—year—old has fought back to level at 2—2 at the

interval. meanwhile, three—time champion mark selby will have it all to do if he is to progress beyond the first round. he trails 51 at one stage before taking the final two frames of the morning session against zhao xintong. they will pay to conclusion tonight. shaun murphy has completed only the second whitewash at the world snooker championship. the 2005 champion presumed this morning 9—0 up against luo honghao. he rattled off the first frame to breeze through to their second round. murphy will face anotherformer their second round. murphy will face another former champ, neil robinson in next round. snooker is a funny little gain. you can only really concentrate yourself. i can only worry about my game and what i am doing. ifi worry about my game and what i am doing. if i make the most of the chances that will come my way. i went to sit in my seat for 13 frames. i will get chances. if i make the most of them, it could be a

classic. you can watch all the action live at the crucible right 110w action live at the crucible right now on bbc two. british cyclist has w011 now on bbc two. british cyclist has won the first stage of his pro career. the team sky rider was front and centre. he timed his sprint perfectly on the narrow streets to beat team—mate chris fromm who finished in sixth. that is all your but for now. i will have more in the next hour. goodbye from me. thank you. let's get more now on the series of bomb attacks which killed more than 290 people, including 8 britons in sri lanka. the sri lankan intelligence services have come under fire after the prime minister admitted the government was made aware about possible attacks on churches 10 days ago. our correspondent, nick beake has been speaking to the sri lankan defence minister, hemasiri fernando, who was on a visit to one of the bomb sites.

very unfortunate thing has happened. sri lanka has become a peaceful and democratic country and suddenly it happened. it is very unfortunate. very u nfortu nate. in other countries, so many peaceful countries where security concerns are very much... it happens. for example, new zealand, it happened, very unexpected. we need to make sure that similar things will not take place in times to come. you say these things happen but there was a clear warning, intelligence that christians would be targeted, and that intelligence was not acted upon. the intelligence never indicated that it is going to be an attack of this magnitude. they were talking about isolated, one or two, incidents. not like this. besides, we can't depend on the armed forces to protect us. we can only depend on the police. we informed all important departments of the police about this.

about this information. was any action taken? no. again, that, you know... any intruder can get into any place. you can freely go in the bus, in the train, you can freely go, tell me how to do these things? it is very difficult. what is your message today to those who say the sri lankan people have been failed? what would you say to those who say this was an intelligence failing and innocent people have died in their thousands? this is not the first time a bomb has gone off in this country. there are several. during the height of the war when the emergency regulations were in full and every two kilometres there was a roadblock and we were checking everybody, even then the bombs exploded in this country. why are you trying to isolate this particular incident?

it is very unfortunate, very u nfortu nate. what are you doing now? you met this morning the president and other key figures. we have had a number of meetings with the prime minister and we are doing everything possible to stop a similar thing happening in the time to come. are you confident...? i can't be confident with terrorism. no country in the world can say that it is not going to happen. we are trying our best. investigations are still ongoing and we want to find out everything. we have to do our best. your message to the people of sri lanka today, should they remain on guard? be calm and be peaceful. let the armed forces and the police and the government take care of the situation. do you think you have arrested all of the perpetrators? some 23, 2a people in custody now. i don't know.

the president, the prime minister and the government are concerned about the current situation and we want things to get back to normal as soon as possible. we are trying our best. it is an unfortunate incident. should sri lankans have faith in intelligence services to protect them in the future? i refuse to comment on that. you can't give them that reassurance? sorry? you can't give them that reassurance? no, there are certain things i can't. that was the sri lankan defence minister speaking in colombo. in ukraine, a comedian, volodymyr zelensky, has been elected the country's next president in a landslide victory against the incumbent petro poroshenko. he won 73% of the vote with no previous experience in politics, though he does star in a ukrainian

television show as a fictional president. the european union says he can count on its strong support to fight corruption. from ukraine's capital kiev, here's our correspondentjonah fisher. this was the first time volodymyr zelensky was told he'd become president. it was three years ago and the first episode of his television show. servant of the people. last night, action became fact and the music from the tv show last night, fiction became fact and the music from the tv show was played as volodymyr zelensky was told for the second time. this time for real, that he was ukraine's next president. translation: to all former soviet countries, look at us. everything is possible.

across town, the president poroshenko conceded while muttering darkly that the kremlin would be celebrating the comedian‘s when. that the kremlin would be celebrating the comedian‘s win. ukraine could be quickly returned to the russia orbit. relations with russia will now be the key issue for the soon to be president zelensky. can we expect any change in ukraine's relationship with russia? the population is pretty decided upon towards what russia is. the vast majority sees it as an aggressor. so there's no real scope for president zelensky to try to strike some sort of deal over the conflict in the east or it negotiate over crimea, for example. he may try to do that but at the same time i think it would create a public outcry.

what of the activists from the street revolution? what do they make of ukraine's comic turn? when i'm looking at this from the angle of the change in the elite, ukrainians wanted change. and if only zelensky happened to be someone who can deliver this change... so we should work with what we have. it's a step in the right direction, you think? i would say this is a step and we have to make it right! there are still plenty of unanswered questions about mr zelensky, not least his relationship with a controversial oligarch. but for now it's important to reflect on a peaceful campaign, a fair vote, and what looks set to be a smooth transfer of power. the world may be laughing at ukraine's comic choice of leader, but this country has lots to be proud of, too.

in a moment will talk to our moscow correspondent steve rosenberg. to get a reaction from there. first, to jonah fisher in the ukranian capital, kiev. the morning after, how excited, what sort of reaction is that on the streets of uk ukraine? —— make the streets of uk ukraine? —— make the streets of uk ukraine? —— make the streets of ukraine? the dust has been settling after an extraordinary sunday here in ukraine and to be quite frank, enthusiasm and excitement is not quite the word to explain the mood here. there was never a ground spell maxwell. what we saw was an expression of the deep held frustration that ukrainians have for their political leaders, their politicians. a large part of what we saw in that huge victory was

a protest vote. people liked what they saw of mr zelensky seen him on television, but people simply wanted to deliver a message to the politicians that they had had enough, they had had enough of the way they operate in politics and often the way they interact with very rich oligarchs. would it be fairto very rich oligarchs. would it be fair to say that they were com pletely fair to say that they were completely ignoring mr poroshenko's claim as defender of national interest? they were very much concerned about domestic issues, so russia has slipped down the agenda for ukrainians. mr poroshenko made a very bold statement in the middle of the campaign. he said it is a choice between myself or if you choose my opponent mr zelensky, you're effectively voting for vladimir putin. that appearance of campaign adverts. i think that backfired

disastrously and i think even his advisers think that that marked a wrong turn in their campaign. what mr lenski —— mr zelensky offered was a unifying message. russian and ukrainian language speakers together, in a warm embrace. people responded to that as opposed to the angry rhetoric from mr poroshenko. this is ukraine's first a jewish leader, what sort of reactions has this result received from world leaders? it has been welcomed by leaders? it has been welcomed by leaders around the world. one slightly bizarre thing is they don't seem slightly bizarre thing is they don't seem to be able to agree on how to speu seem to be able to agree on how to spell his name. we have seen all sorts of different versions being tweeted by world leaders around the world as they try and guess how his name ends. that will have to be

resolved in the next few weeks before he gets inaugurated into office. a warm reception. russia seems to be withholding its adjustment at this point. the european union has moved to invite mr zelensky to a meeting with them, talking about reforms in the ukraine. we think it will be a big pa rt ukraine. we think it will be a big part of his political platform here. all indications are that europe are trying to find mr zelensky into reforms mr poroshenko initiated in the hope that he can come in this early period, the momentum from that victory will continue our go faster with it. thank you very much indeed. lets cross to moscow and steve rosenberg. how has moscow received this result? world leaders have been queueing up to congratulate mr

zele ns ky queueing up to congratulate mr zelensky but