i'm sharanjit leyl in colombo. 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. 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. 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. it's 1:00am in london, and 5:30 in the morning in sri lanka, where there's growing concerns over a failure of communication in the leadup 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. the united states says any country importing iranian oil after may 1st will face us sanctions. it's placed 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 unncesssary.

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 eight countries so they could continue buying iranian oil because the us was afraid there would be disruptions to the market. now officials are saying, after six months, they've made the calculation that the market can bear this sort of thing, so they have cut off these exemptions completely. just the news of the drive prices up to some degree. that's 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. the administration officials — president trump himself has tweeted that they do 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 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. but 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 minimise the effects of this, saudi arabia being the main regional rival to iran is going to 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? because 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've said because of the practical negative consequences they have been consulting with the european partners, as well as international partners and neighbours to find out what is the best step forward.

interestingly, in one of the iranian newspapers an official was quoted as saying as "we have for years 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 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 of an american bitcoin trader and his thai girlfriend, who had set up the ‘seastead' 14 nautical miles off the island of phuket. chad elwartowski and supranee thepdet are members of the seasteading movement, which promotes the creation of floating communities in international waters. the couple, who are in hiding, face possible death sentences for violating thai soverignty.

the leader of an armed group that stops migrants at the us border has been accused of training volunteers to assassinate 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 obama, hillary clinton and democractic 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 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. more than 220 people have been killed and over 1000 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, orla 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 the revolution of 2011. 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 islamic extremists. many libyans don't buy it but he has support from regional powers. on the streets, protesters fear he could lead their fragile country to all—out war and damage any hope of democracy. orla guerin, bbc news, tripoli. let's return to sharanjit in the sri lankan capital, colombo

we have been reporting about this extensively as our top story. sri lanka's easter sunday bombings were the deadliest violence the country has witnessed since the end of its civil war in 2009. but were experts shocked that the attacks happened? i've been speaking to angela mancini from the global risk consultancy control risks. she's an expert on security in emerging markets. i think most people were very surprised by what has happened. as we know, the country had a terrible civil war, but that ended now almost ten yea rs civil war, but that ended now almost ten years ago, and even during that time we didn't see attacks that were this size and sophistication that he had multiple locations, that were targeting christians and foreigners at the same time. while there might have been some news that some intelligence that came across that wasn't actioned or communicated out, regardless of that, most people were

just very surprised that something of this scale and sophistication could take place in sri lanka at this point, no—one was expecting it. right. you talked about that, angela, the fact that sri lanka has been torn apart by ethnic strife in the past between the tamil tigers and the sinhalese ethnic group. is this perhaps more worrying than that? well, when sri lanka faced civil war in the past there was ultimately a political solution that could be pursued. in fact, that's why, part of the reason why sunday post was attacked was such a surprise, because the thought was that there had been a political solution to the tamil tigers and the issues they have had in the past. this was a surprise for many, i think the challenge here is that this is a group that not much is known about it all, and there was certainly no thinking that they would be a group that would have the

intentional capability to carry out something of this scale, and there is speculation — did they have support from international groups to be able to pull something like this off? this was a very sophisticated attack, you need safe houses, places to make bombs, this is not something that just small groups can to make bombs, this is not something thatjust small groups can do without any kind of support, and thatis without any kind of support, and that is what is different from what we have seen here in the past in sri lanka. already there is a huge political row about why the prime minister and his team were not informed, or were kept in the dark about intelligence reports, but what would you advise developing countries in this region, who are facing potential violence like this, what should they be doing to take steps to try to prevent it? well, sadly, as we are seeing, these attacks, whether from terra sadly, as we are seeing, these attacks, whetherfrom terra groups all known gunmen, they really can happen anywhere. it is scary, but obviously precautions need to be

taken. even in sri lanka, if you look at what the threat assessment worldwide said earlier, sri lanka was not even in that. whether you are in the government, whether you are in the government, whether you are businesses, which we advise to control risks — are you being vigilant, do you have crisis management in place? in the case of this incident, the government shutdown social media for a period of time, so people normally communicate on what's up but you know you can't do that. if you are a company with travellers and businesspeople moving around these jurisdictions, have you planned in advance what you might do, where your people are, how you contact them or support them if something like this 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! over 1,000 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. organisers 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 there are so many emotions there, a lot of emotions to be

absorbing to speak with. other any particularly poignant moments that have stood out in your mind? well, i think, ben, the most poignant moment is the way this country is trying to move forward. we have been talking a lot about the civil war which ended in 2009. this country has not seen such horrific violence since then. it has been about a decade. of course, it is morning now. it is a new day in colombo. the morning light, you can seejust new day in colombo. the morning light, you can see just how lovely this city years and you can't see next to me but on the right, i can see the waves of the indian ocean breaking so this is heartbreaking to see how this country is having to come to grips with some of its darker days. a tragic reminder some days. does sunday's bombings killing 290 and injuring over 500 others. a state of emergency was dissed ——

declared and this will give the government powers to arrest and detain people. this is all but —— this is also a day of mourning. thanks for staying with us. 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 sunshine around and 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 picture is looking very u nsettled. you can see clouds swirling around here. weather fronts as well, patterns actually, but these weather fronts are heading in our direction and in around 24—36 hours time they will arrive and we will see downpours. first in the country's south—west and then in other parts of the uk as well. for the time being, tuesday

looks relatively quiet, notjust in the uk but in much of western, north—western europe into scandinavia as well. morning temperatures are between six and 12 celsius though not as chilly as it was yesterday 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 23 across southern and central areas. still making around 20 in the lowlands of scotland and just shy of 20 for belfast 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 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 watch what happens through the day on wednesday. difficult to say which towns and cities will get the downpours at what time but suffice to say it

will be a lot more unsettled on wednesday compared to the last few days. scotland is still looking fine but the north sea coast may be a little on the cool side there. some cloud as well. that is midweek — towards the end of the week it really will be a big change because we even 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 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. and the top story in the uk:

england, wales, scotland and northern ireland have