welcome to newsday on the bbc. i'm sharanjit leyl in colombo. the headlines: sri lanka grieves. with close to 300 people killed in sunday's bomb attacks, the first funerals are taking place. the shock and disbelief remain raw. even here outside, shattered glass everywhere, roof tiles that are broken. and all around a strong smell of blood and death. as the government imposes emergency powers, it's facing more questions about its failure to act on intelligence ahead of the attacks. hello. i'm ben bland in london. also in the programme: the us threatens sanctions on any country importing oilfrom iran

after the first of may. tehran calls the move illegal. under the shadow of the skeleton of a blue whale, climate change activists take their protest inside london's natural history museum. this is bbc world news. it's newsday. it's midnight in london, and 4:30 in the morning in sri lanka, where there's growing concerns over a failure of communication in the lead—up to sunday's devastating bomb attacks that killed at least 290 people and injured more than 500. a festering row within the government meant the prime minister had long been excluded from intelligence briefings, and was kept in the dark about a recent warning about possible attacks by a local

islamist extremist group, the thowheeth jama'ath. this report from yogita limaye. another explosion near one of the bombed churches, in a country that's already on the edge. a van blew up when the police tried to defuse explosives inside. no—one was hurt. but on easter sunday, hundreds died, many of them here at st sebastian's church. it's believed to be the site of the deadliest bombing. the hall was packed with families who'd come here to pray. a priest who was at the altar has told me thatjust before the service ended, a person entered through one of the side doors and detonated a bomb. such was the impact that it destroyed everything inside. but even here outside, shattered glass everywhere, roof tiles that are broken. and all around, a strong smell of blood and death. people have begun to say goodbye to loved ones.

the allen family is from thailand. they were on holiday in sri lanka. these boys lost their mother, monique, when she was at breakfast in a five—star hotel. my wife loved sri lanka. this was her favourite country. she was so happy, and i think maybe it was her destiny to, um... to go back home, you know, to sri lanka. among the eight british nationals who have been killed are anita nicholson, her son alex, and her daughter annabel. in a statement, ben nicholson said his wife and children had the priceless ability to light up any room they entered and bring joy to the lives of all they came into contact with. also among the dead are a retired firefighter billy harrop, and his partner, sally bradbury, from manchester. the vast majority of those dead are sri lankan.

hundreds of families in this country in grief. popular chef sha ntha mayadunne, seen here on the left, and her daughter nisanga, to the right, posted this photo just before they were killed at the shangri—la. some, like this woman, are still searching. today, a sri lankan minister apologised to his people. we are very, very sorry as a government. we have to apologise to the families and the other institutions about this incident. several people have been arrested, and the government has blamed a local hardline islamist group for the attacks. there are questions about whether warnings about the bombings were not passed on. the intelligence never indicated that it was going to be an attack of this magnitude. they were talking about one or two isolated incidents, not like this. and also besides, there is no emergency in this country. we can't request the armed forces to come and assist us.

we can only depend on the police, so we informed the police. for a people that have endured war, these attacks are a sudden reminder of more violent times. yogita limaye, bbc news, colombo. stay with us here on newsday, we'll be talking to a security analyst a little later on the programme to get more on the organisation blamed for the attacks. stay with us for that. the united states says any country importing iranian oil after may the first will face us sanctions. it's further pressure on iran, after the us pulled out of the nuclear deal with tehran last year. it will affect china, india, south korea, and japan who were among the countries given waivers to buy iranian oil to limit disruption of markets. but washington now says market stability makes those waivers unnecessary. here's our state department

correspondent barbara plett usher in november, when the sanctions against iran fell back into place, the administration here issued waivers to a country so they could continue to buy iranian oil because the us was afraid there would be disruptions to the market. now officials are saying, after six months, they have made the calculation that the market can bear the sort of thing so they have cut off these exemptions completely. does the news of the drive prices up to some degree. that is also partly because there is a tight supply at the moment. it is notjust the sanctions on iran, it is sanctions on venezuela and other things. president trump himself has tweeted that they expect their allies in the middle east, the united arab emirates and particularly saudi arabia to increase production so the market can manage this, so that any gaps will be filled. the saudis have said they will work together with other producers to make sure that the market is balanced. although they have not given full guarantees

that they will step up production. they are in fact benefiting from the higher oil prices. this is something the administration has been quite clear about, they are quite sure that saudi arabia will step up. and the fact that saudi arabia appears to be almost co—ordinating with us to be almost co—ordinating with us to minimise the effects of this, saudi arabia being the main regional rival to 0rion will really sting iran, has there been any response from tehran to this? yes, there has. the iranians have said that the sanctions are illegal and therefore the waivers have no value. that is really a position of principal, isn't it? you can say that but the practical effect will be practical because the aim of the united states is to cut off all oil exports and therefore to cut off the main source of revenue for iran, which is quite a big thing and the iranians have acknowledged that. they said because of the practical negative consequences they have been consulting with the european partners, as well as international

partners, as well as international partners and neighbours to find out what is the best step forward. interestingly, in one of the iranian newspapers and official was quoted as saying as "we happy has been able to neutralise the enemy blows against our country" so that might suggest they are preparing to hunker down and wait this out. this is a particularly formidable low. -- blow. barbara plett usher there for us. at least eight people have been killed after a powerful earthquake rocked the island of luzon in the philippines. dozens are feared trapped in buildings in pampanga province, north of the capital of manila. the quake, with a magnitude of 6.1, caused structural damage to clark international airport and made office buildings sway in manila. thailand's navy has begun towing to shore the floating cabin —— the leader of an armed group operating which stops migrants

at the us border has been accused of training volunteers to assassinate high ranking leading democrat figure. larry hopkins was arrested on saturday, facing charges of being a felon in possession a firearm, but details in fbi court papers revealed witnesses had accused hopkins of training to kill president 0bama, hilary clinton and democratic donor george soros. hopkins intends to plead not guilty. the korean tech giant samsung has postponed the launch of its latest smartphone, the galaxy fold. the phone is designed to fold neatly in half, but early reviewers found that the screens broke afterjust a few days' use. it had been due for release later this week. the bbc understands that the white house will announce a state visit to the uk by president donald trump. it's thought the trip could coincide with the 75th anniversary of d—day so it would be around june 6. the trip would be the presidents second to the uk, following the four day official visit he made lastjuly. now, plenty of excitement gathering

around the world ahead of the birth of the duke and duchess of sussex's first child. but this time last year we were welcoming prince louis into the royal family. the third child of prince william and kate is a year old and to celebrate the couple have released these new pictures of their son. the pictures were taken on the norfolk estate of the family by the duchess of cambridge. you are watching newsday on the bbc. more than 220 people have been killed and over 1,00 injured in fighting in libya. there have been clashes between the un backed government, and forces loyal to a general from the east, who is trying to take over the capital. our international correspondent 0rla guerin has been to the frontlines and sent this report. in tripoli, the spectre of war has returned. instead of a planned un peace conference,

there is a fight for control of the capital. we were taken to the front lines in the southern suburbs. this is ain zara, a key battle ground, deserted now except for the defenders of tripoli. and here they are. brigade 191. heavy gunfire. there are resounding echoes of libya's revolution. spot the barefoot volunteers. but they have been holding off general khalifa haftar, the military strong man from eastern libya. here at this front line position, there's a very short distance between the two sides. the fighters here are telling us that the nearest of general haftar‘s men are less than a mile away. now, these men are here fighting for the internationally—recognised government.

they tell us this isn'tjust a battle for control of tripoli — this is a fight for the future of libya. and a short distance away in martyrs' square, a sea of flags and a chorus of protest. among the crowds — maalak al badri, born and bred in leeds and now living in tripoli. i think haftar is a war criminal. he's the spitting image of muammar gaddafi. he's walking in the same footsteps. he says he's going to free tripoli and then everything's going to be fine, it's going to be safe, but he's just going to be another muammar gaddafi. do you feel disappointed by the british government? i think theresa may is more caught up in brexit than any other thing in the world at the moment. if brexit wasn't here then maybe, but... many here feel abandoned by the international community, but insist they will stand together against the enemy. i would like to say two words to haftar. haftar, these men here, we will break you!

there is no way he will take tripoli. there is no way!! he will never take it while we are alive! freedom! the general presents himself as the face of stability here, the man to crush extremists. many libyans don't buy it but he has support from regional powers. 0n the streets, protesters fear he could lead their fragile country to all—out war and damage any hope of democracy. 0rla guerin, bbc news, tripoli. let's return to sharanjit in the sri lankan capital, colombo. thanks. sri lanka's easter sunday bombings were the deadliest violence the country has witnessed since the end of its civil war in 2009.

joining me now from singapore is nicholas fang, director, security and global affairs at the singapore institute of international affairs joins me now from singapore. just how different were these attacks on sunday from what has happened in sri lanka before?” think there were some interesting new features of this particular attack which surprised many people. historically, the protest violence we have seen in sri lanka, or at least ten years ago when the internal conflict finally entered into thousand largely focused on the conflict between the liberation tigers, which was a separatist movement, what we saw was different on easter sunday, just two days ago,

was the attacks targeting tourists as well as, of course, christian churches. those are two particular target groups that haven't really featured very high in any type of violence within sri lanka in the past. and that's why some of the observers of these particular types of attacks were quite surprised to see this development. of course we are waiting to see whether any particular group chooses to claim credit for this. but the nature of these attacks and historically looking at similar attacks around the world seem to be geared towards ensuring the highest number of global attention and news headlines, hence targeting tourists as well as religious communities like the christian churches in sri lanka. those are two factors... nicholas, the group behind this... here. let us the group behind this... here. let us talk about the group behind us. they are called national thowheeth jama'ath all the ntj. very little

known internationally. what we do known internationally. what we do know about them is they were thought to be behind the vandalism of some buddhist statues last year. we know they are a french group of already a small minority in sri lanka, what more do we know about them? —— fringe. well, the nationalthowheeth jama'ath translates loosely to the national monotheistic organisation. they seem to have their roots going back to a similarly named organisation in the southern indian state of tamil nadu. they are rumoured to be a splinter group of another sri lankan group which bears another sri lankan group which bears a similar name. 0n social media and in any sort of online digital presence, they are very minimal in terms of their profile. as you mentioned, they are most famous for being responsible or at least accused of vandalising some buddhist statues towards the end of last year. in terms of what most people would be aware of them, as they are

homegrown, a local sri lanka group. they seem to be quite small. and they do focus on right—wing islamic teachings and they do propose wahhabi islamism as well. it is beyond the remit or the abilities of such a small group to carry out such co—ordinated attacks as we saw two days ago, which has sparked all this speculation that there has to be some foreign sponsorship or foreign support of their efforts. and the finger is then typically pointed to large organisations like al qaeda, like islamic state. and of course and isis inspired attack, which is what some people are calling the easter attacks in sri lanka, would see a slower claim of credit for the attacks by an organisation like isis compared to an isis directed attack. with motor claim i know group has really co m e with motor claim i know group has really come forward to claim credit for the attacks so far —— which is

why. 0k, nicholas, thank you so much for joining why. 0k, nicholas, thank you so much forjoining us with your analysis. rector of security in global affairs at the singapore institute for international affairs. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: climate activists move their protest to one of london's most famous buildings — the natural history museum. the stars and stripes at half—mast outside columbine high. the school sealed off, the bodies of the dead still inside. i never thought that they would actually go through with it. one of the most successful singer songwriters of all time, the american pop star prince has died at the age of 57. he was a great musician and, you know, a genius. for millions of americans, the death of richard nixon in a new york hospital

has meant conflicting emotions. a national day of mourning next wednesday sitting somehow uneasily with the abiding memories of the shame of watergate. mission control: and lift-off of the space shuttle discovery with the hubble space telescope, our window on the universe. i'm ben bland in london. our top stories: with close to 300 people killed in sunday's bomb attacks in sri lanka — the first funerals are taking place. the government's facing more questions about its failure to act on intelligence ahead of the attacks. the united states threatens sanctions on any country importing oil from iran after the first of may. tehran calls the move ‘illegal‘.

environmental activists in london have taken their protests to the city's world famous natural history museum. demonstrators staged a sit—in inside the building. protests linked to the extinction rebellion group are now in a second week. more than 1,000 people have been arrested since the demonstrations began. caroline davies has more. central london, day eight of the protest. tents still lie in the middle of a road junction and banners and stages continue to block the streets, so the crowds gathered in marble arch. i think it's a very important time, and time we're running out of. i think it's important to give support. it's all about the numbers, so the more people who show support, the more echo it will create. it's great to see so many people from all different walks of life getting involved and standing up for what we believe in. at the natural history museum, around 100 protesters lay

on the floor under the blue whale in a staged die—in. they're not doing theirjob! 0ver1,000 arrests have been made so far, with over 50 people charged. among those detained was former gold olympic medal winner, canoeist etienne stott. it's a big step to take, but like i say, i think this is what it's come to for me. and i think if it's working, and i believe that it is, i am happy to have been counted at this point, because this could be the start, well, i believe it is the start of this turnaround. over 9,000 police officers have been deployed to the protests. the mayor of london has called for the group to allow the city to return to business as usual. the group behind me are currently co—ordinating what's going to happen next. after over a week of disruption, they're not the only ones who want to know how this is going to continue. exactly what will happen next isn't clear. 0rganisers suggested that more direct action is planned for this week, but wouldn't reveal the details.

caroline davies, bbc news. researchers in canada have developed a treatment that has restored movement in patients with chronic parkinson's disease. a quarter of patients experience difficulty walking as the disease wears on — often freezing and falling over. but researchers have found electrical stimulation to the spine has enabled some to walk more freely. pallab ghosh reports. this parkinson's patient was barely able to walk for several years. now take a look at the same man a few months later. he's had an electrical implant fitted to the back of his spine. walking involves the brain sending instructions to the legs. the researchers believe that parkinson's disease reduces the signals coming back, causing the patient to freeze. the implant boosts that signal, enabling the patient to walk. looks like they're having a little bit of a picnic. gailjardine had the implant fitted a few months ago. this is the first time she's walked with her husband, stan, for more than two years.

because she would freeze, she had frequent falls. researchers monitor her progress using sensors on her suit and socks. i can walk better. i have more confidence. and overall health feels better. i used to fall, at least two times a day sometimes, but now i haven't fallen in over two months. how do you feel, easier? the researchers here have been astonished at her progress. when i first met her, she had a lot of freezing and was much more off—balance. i think it's been a huge improvement, and it's just been two months. i hope to see more improvement, but what i'm seeing right now, i'm quite satisfied with. these scans show how the treatment has altered the brains of patients. this one is before the electrical treatment. these areas control movement, and they're red because they

aren't working properly. three months later, the red areas have gone and the patient‘s walking has improved dramatically. 15 patients have taken part in this pilot trial. so how well has it gone so far? beyond our wildest dreams. to be able to perform something like this in patients that are so advanced — most of these patients have had the disease for 15 years and have not walked for several years with any confidence at all — so to be able to make a difference in their quality of life, almost up to three years in some patients, has been remarkable. gail is confident that her improvement will continue, and that she will be able to go out to the countryside with stan more often. pallab ghosh, bbc news, london, ontario. now let's return to sharanjit in the sri lankan capital —

colombo. iimagine i imagine that there is so much going on and to absorb the but i wonder, since you have arrived, have any moments stood out to you as being particularly poignant or moving? absolutely. it is such a tragic and horrific thing to have happened to this country. most people have not seen this sort of violence since the end of the civil war in 2009 so many sri lanka and is i have spoken to are still in shock. of course they are grieving the loss of family of course they are grieving the loss offamily and of course they are grieving the loss of family and friends. it has been a horrifying thing for them to experience. also incredibly hard to report as a journalist. i was here last week as a tourist and to see the difference in the mood last week they had new year celebrations and it was a festive and joyous time and to return this week after these attacks, i should say that it is

coming up to 5am here in sri lanka. the curfew in place overnight has been lifted. it is a national state of emergency here as well. this is newsday, i'm there is some good news on the weather front if you have been enjoying the fine weather in the last few days. we have one more day of decent weather on tuesday, a lot of decent weather on tuesday, a lot of sunshine around in temperatures still into the 20s. after that it really will be all change. in fact it will cool off dramatically and we have showers and thunderstorms potentially on the way. on the satellite already, the pickjurors looking very unsettled. you can see clouds swirling around here. weather fronts as well but these weather fronts as well but these weather fronts are heading in our direction and in around about 36 hours time

they will arrive and we will see downpours. first in the country south—west and then another parts of the uk as well full for the time being, tuesday looks relatively quiet, notjust in the uk but in much of western, north—western into scandinavia as well. morning temperatures are between six and 12 celsius though not as chilly as it was yesterday for morning. and then in the afternoon it is business as usual. a lot of sunshine around, warm south south—easterly wind, not quite as warm. we had temperatures around 25 degrees in the last few days and i think around 22 or three across southern and central areas. still making around 20 in the lowla nds still making around 20 in the lowlands of scotland and just shy of 20 but another fine day on the way. here is tuesday night into wednesday and the high pressure that has been bringing us the fine weather slips away towards the east and this big area of messy weather with its weather fronts, this big area of messy weather with its weatherfronts, this big area of low pressure is starting to push in. from the early hours of wednesday we

will start to see rain moving into cornwall, devon, parts of wales as well, central and southern england and the midlands as well some could be downpours with thunderstorms and what would happen through the day on wednesday. difficult to say which towns and cities will get the downpours of time but suffice to say it will be a lot more unsettled on wednesday compared to the last few days. scotland are still looking fine but the north sea coast maybe a little on the cool side there. that is midweek towards the end of the week it really will be a big change because we say goodbye to the mild air. the warm air is long gone but colder currents of air from the north atlantic arrive, breezy conditions as well, showers possible. so the outlook says it all, really, a lot of shower symbols here with temperatures dropping to below average for some of us and towards the weekend even struggling towards the weekend even struggling to make double figures across northern areas.

i'm ben bland with bbc news. our top story: the funerals of many of those killed in sunday's bomb attack in sri lanka are due to be held on tuesday. questions are being asked about what the security services knew after the prime minister said they'd been "aware of information" about possible attacks, but he hadn't been told. the us says it will end exemptions from sanctions for countries that buy oil from iran. secretary of state, mike pompeo, said the aim was to put maximum pressure on iran's government. and these pictures are trending on bbc.com. as selfies go, this is impressive. the virunga national park, in the democratic republic of congo, and two very relaxed gorillas posing with the park rangers who have raised them since they were babies. that's all. stay with bbc news.