today at five — mass funerals for victims of the bomb attacks in sri lanka, as the death toll rises to 321. a day of national mourning has been declared. the sri lankan government warns there could be more attacks — and says the bombers may have links to so—called islamic state, who have claimed responsibility. these cctv pictures are thought to show one of the suicide bombers entering a church before detonating his device. we'll have the latest from our correspondent in colombo, and we'll be talking about security with an expert in sri lankan politics. the other main stories on bbc news at 5pm: pomp and ceremony for the president.

it's confirmed donald trump will make a state visit to the uk injune. the murder of lyra mckee in londonderry. a 57—year—old woman is arrested under the terrorism act. i think we needed a lesson to show one person can change everything. the swedish schoolgirl who helped inspire global protests on climate change meets political leaders at westminster. and billy mcneill, the celtic legend and the first british man to lift the european cup, has died at the age of 79. it's 5pm.

our main story — the sri lankan prime minister has warned that more attacks are possible following the easter sunday suicide bombings. he also says the bombers could have links to so—called islamic state, and that some of them travelled abroad before the attacks. 321 people, including eight british citizens, are now known to have been killed in coordinated attacks on churches and hotels. 45 of the dead were children. a state of emergency has been declared and dozens of people have been arrested. our correspondent nick beake has this report from colombo. one man about to murder more than 100 easter worshippers. carrying a rucksack packed with explosives, he walks purposefully towards the church. he steps inside, where many are standing because the service is so full. after making his way towards the altar, he blows himself up. the holiest of days

becoming the deadliest. and so this morning, they had to bury their dead. all their dead. it will take a long time. many are struggling to take in the scale of the slaughter. and survivors are trying to understand why they were spared. translation: i was in shock. i was looking for my daughter, but when i found her she could not recognise me. she didn't know who her mummy was. she said, "god saved me. god got me and my mother out safely." but many did not make it. among the britons who died, anita nicholson and her two children, alex and annabel. her husband ben survived. former firefighter billy harrop and his wife dr sally bradley were also killed. danish billionaire anders holch povlsen, the biggest shareholder in the online clothing company asos, lost three of his four children.

another explosion yesterday was one dramatic reason why an official state of emergency has been declared, although no one was injured here. the authorities, though, are warning of more attacks. the defence minister told the sri lankan parliament two home—grown islamist groups carried out sunday's bombings, with help from an international network. he claimed they were motivated by the killing of 50 muslims in the new zealand city of christchurch last month. but the authorities here are facing fierce criticism for not acting on detailed intelligence about possible attacks on churches. and amid all this death, more than 300 families are now living with the consequences. nick beake, bbc news, colombo. our correspondent nick beake is in colombo with the latest. we heard a bit from the prime

minister on who the government think may have been responsible. what are the authority saying about who they think may have been behind these attacks? pretty early on, they have been single way these attacks were carried out committee coronation involved, the level of explosive knowledge which clearly had been employed to put together these bombs which ripped through the churches and the hotels, with such a devastating effect, that pointed to some sort of outside involvement. that's to say a terrorist network from abroad. as what they've been saying. and today we have had this claim from is, the islamic state group missing its numbers response over the attacks. the group did not put forward any evidence for this but there were photographs of eight individuals who they claimed have been responsible. some people are sceptical about this. it's taken a while for this admission, purported admission commit to be made in the past after big suicide bombings —— and any past, after big suicide

bombings, i asked and any past, after big suicide bombings, iasked have and any past, after big suicide bombings, i asked have been keen to say yes, their members are responsible for it. these are local men but helped by a wider network. state of emergency, nick, what are the atmosphere on the streets there was mike sri lanka had a blood he civil war that ended a decade ago but now a return to horrific violence. horrific violence and certainly violence which has never been afflicted on the christian community like this. all sure logins have been shocked to the core by this —— all sri lankans have been shocked. we have a state of emergency, which means the military and police can detain people and question them with added powers they did not have before this. people are tense, people are nervous and if you look at one specific warning sent out to the police in the city of

colombo, it is chilling and you understand why people are on edge. it was intelligence sent to officers throughout the city that they should be on the lookout for eight lori —— a lorry and a bus. the people, if they could process the events of sunday, bury their dead in peace, they cannot and it seems people are extremely fearful tonight. nick, think very much indeed. our correspondent nick bea ke think very much indeed. our correspondent nick beake in colombo. dr rajesh vanugopal is assistant professor at the department of international development at the london school of ecnomics and the author of nationalism, development, and ethnic conflict in sri lanka. hejoins me from our oxford studio. thank you very much for being with

us. who do you think would be behind these dreadful attacks? it's very ha rd to these dreadful attacks? it's very hard to tell you and i think it's also problematic to speculate. the organisation that has been identified by the government is responsible for this is a pretty obscure and otherwise insignificant extremist organisation that has had a very minor existence in terms of its membership and in terms of the notoriety that it brought upon itself in the past. so there are very serious questions being asked, andi very serious questions being asked, and i think you're correspondent pointed to this, about whether an organisation as insignificant and obscure as this could have launched an attack as devastating as this with the ordination and sophistication in the intent to inflict that kind of some bullet damage. and as i was saying, sri la nka damage. and as i was saying, sri lanka had that appalling civil war that killed so many people. that ended a decade ago but can we trace

in any way these attacks to the civil war? in any way these attacks to the civilwar? short in any way these attacks to the civil war? short answer is no. there isa civil war? short answer is no. there is a lot of the fallout. the civil war ended about ten years ago but there is a lot of unresolved issues from that civil war that remain hanging, in terms of accountability, in terms of reconciliation, a political solution to the conflict. that remains. and this is sort of layered on on top of that. in many respects, this attack on sunday seems like it actually has no origins and no bearing upon what's been going on in sri lanka. there are no tensions between muslims and christians in sri lanka of any calibre would have given anybody indication that such an attack was going to come. if there are no tensions between those communities, does that add credence to the idea that the islamic state may have had had on this? it would certainly suggest the dynamics of this attack

and its imagination came from elsewhere, not from within. sri la nka elsewhere, not from within. sri lanka has in many ways recovered from the civil war. the tourist trade has been booming there. to what extent will all of this, these horrific attacks, be a setback for the country, the economy and for its future economy and prospects? it's eight absolutely devastating setback. sri lanka has suffered very heavily during the 26 year long civil war. it sort of limped back in the last ten years, the end of the war, and tourism is quite flourishing. there is little doubt that all of the economy, and in particular sectors such as tour is him, which are impacted by international visitors come will be affected. very good to talk to you.

that is dr rajesh vanugopal. buckingham palace has announced president trump will make a state visit to the uk in earlyjune. theresa may promised him the visit shortly after he was elected in 2016, but no date was set. it will coincide with the preparations for the 75th anniversary of the d—day landings. president trump's last visit to the uk was met with mass protests. more now from our royal correspondentjonny dymond. that lived last visit was controversial and it's safe to bet that this one will be as well.” think within minutes of the announcement being made, social media was alight with threats of vast protests. i don't think there's any doubt this will spark the same, if not more, kind of protests we saw last time. you're member that giant blow—up baby trump that floated

above the houses of parliament —— you might remember. the difference between that visit and this visit is that was a working visit. this is a state visit, invitation by her majesty the queen. that means donald trump will spend a lot more time actually in london. last time, he chopper into london from stansted airport and then chopper it out of london for meals and meetings at blenheim palace, windsor castle and chequers. this time, there will be a state banquet in the big building behind me, buckingham palace. there will be an official meeting by the queen and i think that's probably going to happen at buckingham palace. but we don't quite know, though i've got a word it may not happen, is whether or not they will bea happen, is whether or not they will be a procession down the mall committee great great alice —— committee great great alice —— committee great great alice —— committee great big avenue here. with the state visits of presidents you generally don't because the

security services get the heebie—jeebies over risk to the president. donald trump will be here. you will be a lot more visible that he was last time and i suspect people are aiming to protest at the procession, they may be disappointed. jonny dymond, thank you very much. our royal correspondence at the palace. let's talk now to stephen doughty, labour and co—operative mp, who has called on the prime minister to rescind her offer of a state visit to president trump. why? this is an honour we grant and we choose to grant, not something we have to do. and i do not think we should be honouring a man who has been racist, misogynistic, divisive, has attacked his allies and indeed shared far right contents by criminals in the uk. this is not some but we should be honouring with the lavish red carpet, procession down the mall, addresses and parliaments. we have to have a working relationship. america's one of our tsongas allies. i love

americans but donald trump does not resent those very american values i have grown to love over so many yea rs. have grown to love over so many years. but that your view of him. he is leader of the united states, indeed our most powerful ally. we have not granted visits to all of us presidents. many presidents who did come to me that later terms of office. this is a choice by the prime minister. it's a wrong choice. i think prime minister. it's a wrong choice. ithink in prime minister. it's a wrong choice. i think in rick's —— it risks being a more division. it's a choice the prime minister has made presumably, although we don't know this, in part because of looking ahead into the post brexit world when we need to do trade deals with other countries, including the united states this might oil the wheels with a trade deal with america. might oil the wheels with a trade dealwith america. i think might oil the wheels with a trade deal with america. i think those who think that would be deeply naive, because donald trump has showed he

only cares about himself and bring his own agenda first. i think he is a deeply divisive and self obsessed individual who is very little interest in helping the strong uk— us alliance which many of us do so much work to continue. i did the other factor is this is going to cost a n other factor is this is going to cost an incredible amount of money. it's £18 million less time spent on policing the shorter working visit, diverting police officers are molar the country. one can only imagine the country. one can only imagine the cost and the stresses on our police are going to be even greater this time. is something they could do without. bearing that in mind, would you then appeal to people not to protest against the visit? that would then keep down the cost of policing if you needed fewer officers to police demonstrations. absolutely not. of course people should express the views, and it is so peacefully last time. it was a foolish operative the president and return to what she hoped would be

rewards early on in his presidency. —— offer to the president. now she is having to go through with this andi is having to go through with this and i urge her to think again and rescind this offer. many mps have signed my motion today making it very clear, across the political spectrum, and ethic we need to be very serious about those who we choose to honour. of course we got to have a working relationship with the us presidents, whoever they are and whatever the politics, but the reality is we have to thing about who we give that honour to come and we should not be giving to donald trump. stephen doughty, very good to talk to you. stay with us. at just after 5.35pm, we'll get the view of former british ambassador to washington, sir christopher meyer. do stay tuned for that. the time has just gone a quarter past five. the headlines on bbc news: mass funerals for victims of the bomb attacks in sri lanka, as the death toll rises to 321.

british pomp and ceremony for the president. it's confirmed donald trump will make a state visit to the uk injune. the murder of lyra mckee in londonderry. a 57—year—old woman is arrested under the terrorism act. and in sport, the five—time champion ronnie o'sullivan beaten ten frames— eight by the amateurjames cahill in the first round of the world championship. o'sullivan said he was lacking energy. celtic legend billy mcneil has died at the age of 79, captaining the famous lisbon lions in1967, captaining the famous lisbon lions in 1967, the first british player to lift the european cup. and ahead of the manchester derby tomorrow night, united manager ole gunnar solskjaer has back his players despite their recent poor form. and has back his players despite their recent poorform. and i will has back his players despite their recent poor form. and i will be has back his players despite their recent poorform. and i will be back with more on this stories to start —— ijust with more on this stories to start —— i just have with more on this stories to start

—— ijust have passed. —— atjust talks on brexit between the government and labour have resumed this afternoon, as mps return to westminster after the easter break. theresa may held a cabinet meeting this morning, the first since the eu agreed to delay our departure date until the end of october. our assistant political editor norman smith is at westminster. norman? how are those talks going and also what to be per minister have to sate in cabinets? —— the prime minister have to stay in cabinet? if she hoped the cabinet would come back from break in a more consolatory mind, she will have quickly been disabused. in the last half an hour orso, we disabused. in the last half an hour or so, we have heard from the labour leaderjeremy corbyn basically pouring a cup of cold water on the prospect of any breakthrough on result of the cross party talks. why that matters is number ten had pre—much been making on them as

their basic strategy to try and get a deal, in the belief labour was engaging, was serious about some sort of agreement, and they took the view it was in mr corbyn's own interests to sign up to some sort of copper mines deal because of the risk of a backlash from his own leave supporters if you did not. in the past hour, mr corbin has said in terms that the government has got to move on and change its approach if there is going to be any progress. we'll continue putting our case. but quite honestly, there's got to be a change from the government's approach. they cannot keep on just regurgitating what has already been emphatically rejected three times by parliament. there's got to be a change. we have a window of opportunity to bring about that change. i hope the government recognises that and calls in on that window of opportunity and makes the most of it. at the same time, the pressure on mrs may's on position continues to

mount with a meeting tonight of the executive of the 1922 committee of tory backbenchers, the sort of men and women in grey suits who will decide whether they want to change the party rules to allow another leadership contest to be triggered before december, which is when the next contest would have been permissible. if they do decide to do that, the expectation is there would then be a consultation of tory mps, then be a consultation of tory mps, the thinking being that they could then say to mrs may, you really need to set a date for your own departure because otherwise, we may trigger another contest. and you just get the sense that mrs may has come back from that week long walking holiday she had in snow dona, and if anything, the prospects of deal and her own survival have become even more precarious “— her own survival have become even more precarious —— in snowdonia.

thank you very much indeed. that is norman smith, our assistant political editor in westminster. the new political party change uk — formed by members of the independent group of former labour and conservative mps — has launched its campaign for next month's european elections. the party is opposed to brexit and is campaigning for another referendum. speaking at the launch event in bristol, the interim leader of change uk, heidi allen, said the two main parties had failed. the conservatives have drifted yet farther to the right, now so anti—europe and anti—business that conservative voters can barely recognise their party anymore. and labour have continued to let the country down, offering ineffective opposition to a government at the time when the country needs it most. lacking leadership on brexit and still — still failing to tackle anti—semitism. a teenage neo—nazi who encouraged the shooting of prince harry

for marrying a woman of mixed race has admitted a string of terror offences. 19—year—old mikhail shevchuk, who is from leeds, pleaded guilty at the old bailey to two counts of encouraging terrorism and five of possessing documents useful to a terrorist. the charges relate to a neo—nazi group called the sonnenkrieg division. a 57—year—old woman has been arrested under the terrorism act in connection with the murder of the journalist lyra mckee in northern ireland. she was shot while she was reporting on riots in londonderry on thursday night. the dissident irish republican group, the new ira, has admitted it was behind her killing. in a statement, it offered what it said were "full and sincere apologies" to lyra mckee's family and friends. our ireland correspondent chris page is in londonderry for us. chris, what are people there making of that apology and that statement from the new ira? an apology,

causing so much outrage among friends of lyra mckee. they said the paramilitary groups should not be issuing statements of apology. instead they should just be disbanding. the outpouring of grief here has continued. it's been several days since lyra mckee was gravely wounded when she was covering the riots. still a real sense of disbelief that someone like lyra could have fallen victim to political violence. she was a 29—year—old journalist also acclaimed for her writing, tipped for great things in the future. tomorrow, herfuneralwill for great things in the future. tomorrow, her funeral will be for great things in the future. tomorrow, herfuneral will be held in her home city of belfast. in meantime, the police investigation has been continuing. detectives here continuing to focus on the community, potential witnesses from the community could be the key to future prosecutions. more than 140 people have contacted detectives on

an online portal they have set up for people to upload mobile phone footage, cctv footage, —— for people to upload mobile phone footage, cctv footage, -- can footage. the police say they still need people to come forward. the police assure people that will work with them. they understand people can be scared coming forward in circumstances like this. however, they say initially they just want to have a conversation on what they know and then they will move forward from there. today detectives have made their third arrest in the investigation, a 57—year—old woman detained under anti—terrorism legislation. she is being... over the weekend commit two teenagers we re the weekend commit two teenagers were arrested but they were released without charge. chris page, thank you. let's take a look at some of today's other news. firefighters are still damping down areas of moorland after a number of fires broke out in west yorkshire over the bank holiday weekend.

eight crews remain on marsden moor following a blaze, which is believed to have been started by a barbeque on sunday. meanwhile, 10 fire engines are in the deer hill area of meltham dealing with a new incident. a police horse working at a bank holiday monday football match died on duty following a "tragic accident". morecambe was working at the league one game between blackpool and fleetwood at bloomfield road and fell onto a metal pole. lancashire constabulary said the horse suffered a serious stomach injury and was pronounced dead at the scene. the conservative mp chris davies has been sentenced to a community order of 50 hours unpaid work and a fine of £1,500 at southwark crown court. the mp had earlier admitted two charges of making a false expenses claim. the swedish schoolgirl who helped inspire global protests on climate change has been meeting political leaders at westminster. in a bbc interview, greta thurnberg has called for urgent action

to deal with what she says is an "existential crisis" and has urged british politicians to "listen to the scientists" on climate change. sarah walton reports. not many 16—year—olds could hold the attention of political leaders, but today, greta thunberg took her message of climate change activism to the houses of parliament. well done on what you have brought to the debate... she was then invited to give a speech to mps and activists, getting a warm welcome. but she had strong words for her fans in the audience. we children are not tech raising our education in her childhood for you to tell us what is politically possible in a society you have created. we have not taken to the streets for you to take selfies with us and tell us that you really admire what we do.

the swedish teenager has become the young face of the school climate strikes, a global movement which campaigners say has seen more than a million children across the world walk out of classrooms in protest at the lack of action to tackle climate change. and she says she wants people to panic about the state of the environment. by panic, i mean that we step out of our comfort zones and realise what is going on. as i say, if your house is on fire and you want to keep your house from burning to the ground, that does require some level of panic. you don't sit talking about insurance claims or rebuilding or renovations. you do everything you can to put out the fire. the campaigner has also met the pope and been nominated for a nobel peace prize. and just a few days ago, she addressed protesters from extinction rebellion. their week—long action brought areas of central london to a standstill,

making headlines across the world and bringing climate change protests to the capital on a scale never seen before here. today, they also went to westminster, calling on the government to engage with them in discussions about climate change. police say they have made 1,000 arrests since their demonstrations began last week, but greta thunberg is calling on more people to take similar action. as long as it's non—violent, and i think that can definitely make a difference. today, the leaders of labour, the snp, lib dems and green party heard what greta had to say today. her message to them — "don'tjust listen to me, listen to the science, listen to the scientists." sarah walton, bbc news. new photographs of prince louis have been released to mark his first birthday today. the youngest child of the duke and duchess of cambridge is seen playing in the garden of the family's home, on the sandringham estate in norfolk. the duchess took the pictures

herself earlier this month. time for a look at the weather. ben rich. thank you very much. good evening. if you were up early enough this morning, you might have seen an impressive sunrise we've got some sarin dust wafting up from the south. that could give quite a spectacular sunset for some of us tonight as well but it's not only just wafting up from the south, cloud and that cloud is increasingly going to be bringing some showers down towards the southwest as we go through tonight. some low cloud developing for eastern scotland in northeast england. not an especially chilly night. tomorrow we're going to see some pretty wet in places. outbreaks of rain into parts of wales. ahead of that, we are electing a brick at some pretty intense thunderstorms across the midlands, perhaps into northern england and northern ireland. it will be quite windy and also pretty cloudy for eastern scotland as well as the far northeast of eglin. and most locations tomorrow trouble he

won't get to 20 degrees but those temperatures have a lot further to fall as we head towards the weekend. well down into the teens with some winds and rain at times. this is bbc news. the headlines... mass funerals for victims of the bomb attacks in sri lanka, as the death toll rises to 321.

pomp and ceremony for a president: it's confirmed donald trump will make a state visit to the uk injune. talks on brexit between the government and labour have resumed this afternoon. the murder of lyra mckee in londonderry: a 57—year—old woman is arrested under the terrorism act. round of sport. the five—time champion ronnie o'sullivan is out of the world snooker championships. in a huge upset, he was beaten in the first round by amateurjames cahill. ben croucher reports. number one player in the wild is out to they call it the greatest shock

and snicker, he walked in a qualifier, an temperature and left today with a piece of history. it's nice to qualify, everything is perfect. achieved perfection this was an imperfect one, when we have not come to recognise even without the drastic overnight haircut, next followed by another mess and another mess. he struggled simply to say awake and the overnight lead extended from 5—428— five. awake and the overnight lead extended from 5-428- five. not good signs. and then what the fans wanted to see, the temperature started to look like one and started to look like writing again. 8—5 became six and then and rocket on a roll. cahill capitalised, took the frame and showed all the coolness of the season proud to see the match and

send them out of sorts they buried him at the stage for the fourth time in 27 visits to sheffield. everything feels very heavy, shattered and drained i had no energy but you have to give credit to him he got over the line.|j wouldn't have won that match if he wasn't playing well and i know that, i'mjust wasn't playing well and i know that, i'm just happy to be through, and to be in the next round it was fantastic. how do you topic? and aim for another shot on friday. billy mcneill, the first british player to lift the european cu, has died. he was 79. mcneill was one of the most important figures in celtic‘s history. he captained them to nine successive titles, seven scottish cups and six league cups. but it was this iconic moment for which he will be

best remembered, lifting the the european cup when they beat inter milan in the 1967 final in lisbon. he also had two terms as celtic manager and spells in charge of manchester city and aston villa. celtic say he "passed away surrounded by his family and loved ones". ahead of tomorrow's manchester derby with neighbours city, the united manager ole gunnar solskjaer has publicly backed his players, saying many have the club's "dna". the united squad were heavily criticised after the 4—0 thrashing at everton on sunday — their sixth loss in eight games — and there's been speculation as to who from solskjaer‘s squad will be sold in the summer, and who will stay. now is not the time to talk about our make changes in the squad because that's been doing great, we've had, yet they take more points than at the last 18 games and that said, that's a great effort by the boys and when we came in, we really

give it a go and you can see loads of the standards and the dna 90 players. but they will be as i said, of course you have to get players in at some place and some have to go out. england wicketkeeper jonny bairstow was out for a duck in the indian premier league today bairstow, who plays for sunrisers hydrabad was caught behind by ms dhoni off the bowling of harbajan singh. .. sunrisers finished on 175 for three after their 20 overs. chennai super kings are currently three without loss in their reply. there's live commentary of that match on five live sports extra. that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. that's bbc. c0. uk/sport. thank you, hugh. the so—called islamic state group has claimed responsibility for the attacks in sri lanka, with the sri lankan government saying they could be involved.

earlier, the country's minister of defence, told radio five live that one of the bombers had spent time in london. the one actually was from london. and another attacker who had studied in australia. so, yeah, they were highly educated people. which is, you know, something to worry about. our security correspondent gordon corera is with me now. we had a islamic state claiming responsibility, sorry, going to the foreign secretary in the comments. the best. flying at half mast following the horrific yesterday terrorist attack in sri lanka, with your permission i would like to

update the house on the attack in the uk government's response. on sunday, multiple terrorist suicide bombings conducted across the lanka, six explosions a period simultaneously, three in the church is conducting easterday services in colombo and three more in hotels and colombo and three more in hotels and colombo popular with foreign visitors. information is still coming in, but we know that over 300 people had been killed. and we know that at least eight of those sadly our british nationals, they include mother anita nicholson with her 14—year—old sun alex and an even year old daughter annabelle. teenage brother and sister emily and dan neil lindsay, firefighter bill with his wife sally. the whole house will wa nt to his wife sally. the whole house will want to pass on our deepest sympathies and condolences, as he

digested a truly heartbreaking situation. i spoke to the british high commissioner and colombo this afternoon and i want to pay i record my thanks to him and his team and all the employees of the british council for all the employees of the british councilfor their all the employees of the british council for their dedication and extremely testing circumstances. one local employed his counsel employee is in hospital with his wife, both with serious injuries and our thoughts are with them as well. our travel advice has been updated and remains the best sort of information for internationals and members have concerns about the situation. yesterday i spoke to my counterpart, three sri lankan foreign minister to express thanks for the work of the emergency services and should as well as passing on our condolences to all the grieving families. i also discussed with further support the uk might be able to offer. her majesty, at the queen and other

members of the royal family sent m essa g es of members of the royal family sent messages of condolences to the president and people are sri lanka, and the prime minister is expected to speak with the sri lankan prime minister. mr speaker, these attacks we re minister. mr speaker, these attacks were a primitive and violent attempt to sell the division between people of different faiths. religious tensions have caused some of the bloodiest battles in human history. and is sombre and sobering that even in the 21st century attempts continue to affect believers of different religions against each other. our response must be to deny the perpetrators the satisfaction of dividing us by being united in our condemnation and united in our support for religious tolerance. surely one of humanities at one of the greatest achievements. just after the equally horrific attacks on the two mosques in christchurch

new zealand, we must respond by bringing people together, the exact opposite of what was intended by the perpetrators. it has to be said that sheer brutality of these attacks was stuck. one pair of attacker dirt —— attackers after detonating the explosive in a hotel waiting for people to try to escape before detonating another advice —— device, it was destroyed at the airport and likely designed to target fleeing civilians. the attack was complex, tightly coordinated, and designed to cause maximum chaos damage and heartbreak. the uk will never stand by in the face of such evil. so today we stand in solidarity with the government and people of sri la nka the government and people of sri lanka who had been making enormous strides towards stability and peace. following the conclusion of a civil war almost exactly ten years ago.

the metropolitan police counterterrorism commands us to dispatch a team of specialists in sri lanka including family —— family liaison offices to support and assist the families of british victims and repatriation of deceased british nationals. a recent programme run by interpol inbound training at 30 sri lankan forensic specialist and police officers, by uk experts and disaster victim identification. which we also hope will be other additional support. the government of sri lanka has declared a state of emergency at the investigation continues, more than 20 arrests had been made and likely they are more people involved in the planning of this attack who are still at large. large amounts of ied materials had been recovered including 87 low explosive detonators come from a bus station, there are no verified claims of responsibility as yet, but so far 40 arrests have been made and counterterrorism activity continues.

the sri lankan prime minister president had both said publicly that there will be a thorough investigation into the incident and weather information was handled correctly and it's important to let the process follow its course. mr speaker, to attack christian worshipers on easter, a celebration of peace and holiest day in the christian calendar, portrays in the attackers absence of the most basic value of humanity. just two days ago, the prime minister and i both noted in our easter messages of the dangers facing christians around the world. 300 of whom are killed every month. in response to such acts, we must redouble our efforts to protect the freedom of religious minorities to practise their faith where they are in the world. and for that reason, id sel has asked the bishop of truro do an independent report

into what can be done to protect persecuted christians around the world. the british government will continue to get its wholehearted support to the people of sri lanka, andi support to the people of sri lanka, and i am sure the house willjoin you once again and expressing our deepest sadness and sympathy to eve ryo ne deepest sadness and sympathy to everyone affected by these monstrous attacks and i commend this statement to the house. that was the foreign secretary there with a statement on the bombings in sri lanka, which killed eight british nationals saying it was truly heartbreaking and a primitive and violent attempt to sow division between the different states. let's talk to our security correspondent gordon, so cut islamic state are claiming responsibility for the attacks, how much credibility should begin the claim? they put out an initial statement and i think there was caution around it but as the day went on they put more detail out saying with pictures and videos of

the magnet supposedly pledging allegiance to so—called islamic state, sub act doesn't appear to be pretty strong evidence and clear evidence linking that group to this local group because each is a bees look like local men from a local group who appeared to the joint up in some way, with so—called islamic state and i think that will explain the shift really of that local group to being able to carry out such a serious and major attack and against different targets. when really it was at first british shrines and local sri lankan targets are now hitting four interest teresa christian church is more in line with the ideologies of so—called chthonic state. as the point secretary said, always coordinated attacks, and a suggestion that actually the sri lankans were given actually the sri lankans were given a warning of this. yes, it looks as if they had a detailed intelligent report passed on by the indians, not yet confirmed about this, but about them planning something. if you look

at it which was about april the 11th of talked about members of the group and it talked about potentially attacking churches and interestingly an indian diplomatic compound in sri lanka, and a name to some of those people who appear to have carried out the attack. but we now have this blame game in colombo, the sri lankan capital which is why it was not acted on who knew about it the prime minister sank he did not see it and now the president saying the same thing, so signs the political dysfunction is playing out now with this intelligent blame game on why that report was not acted on. thank you very much, gordon. buckingham palace has announced that the queen will host a state visit to the uk by president trump injune. mr trump will hold talks with theresa may at downing street, but it's not yet clear whether he'll address parliament during the three—day visit. so what do we know about what will be on the agenda? the three—day state visit to the uk will be from the 3rd to the 5th ofjune. once inside buckingham palace,

it is expected the queen will host a banquet for around 150 guests in mr trump's honour. in addition to meeting the queen, the president will have a meeting with prime minister theresa may. donald trump will then attend a ceremony in portsmouth to commemorate the 75th anniversary of d—day. and will then travel to normandy onjune 6th will for further normandy commemorations. sir christopher meyer is the former british ambassador to the united states, hejoins me now from megeve in the south of france. east of france. sorry we have got it. christopher, is it wise the state visit, only the third american president to be given the honest. state visit, only the third american president to be given the honestm very wise, we the british had so many interests invested in the united states that we have to keep

in good order, and even though the president is an intensely controversial individual not least after the partial publication of the miller report, that has to be separated from the office of the presidency and the reality of the relationship with the uk has with the united states. so why do some president get aside a. it seems inconsistent. and may be, and i wish i could give you an answer. and my lifetime and during my career, we had george w bush in november of 20,000 -- 2003, had george w bush in november of 20,000 —— 2003, barack obama and may of 2011, now we had donald trump said the strike rate of us presidents getting the supreme accolade of the state visit is increasing, but of course there's been a plethora of official visits, other types of visits, working visits, i mean when we had the 50th anniversary of d—day in 1994, bill

clinton came over for a anniversary of d—day in 1994, bill clinton came overfor a kind of hybrid working semi—state visit and then travelled quite of the way on then travelled quite of the way on the royal yacht to return to the celebrations, said there is a kind of precedent for what he will do. it's already controversial day are likely to be protest, but is the reason for it at rooted this invitation that we are looking for a post brexit trade deal of the united states, is not what this is about?” would not narrow it down so narrowly as that, it will be something in play, if it is the case by the time he arrives. that we had not subscribed to a customs union. with the european union, because as far asi the european union, because as far as i can see, but i would roll—out a possibility of independent parties and free trade agreements, that's something that has play out, but

don't forget we have masses security interest that included these at 35 fighters battled behind to the new enormous aircraft carriers, we had an intensely important economic and financial interest, we had intelligent interest as well. there a lotta stuff that needs to be replenished and re—thrashed by that's refreshed by the head of state by the united states i don't look at it through the prism of a possible free—trade agreement. look at it through the prism of a possible free-trade agreement. from donald trump point of view, he's presumably going to love this and i picked up and possibly use it in his reelection campaign videos. he may well do that. who knows, one assumes he will run a 2020 and he seems to be making other preparations for it. and the fact of the matter is, that any politician of any country is allowed to use video on visits he's either received or given himself. to support his candidate and i would not be surprised if he himself did

that and one of the great rules of international relations is that you did not interfere in the internal political affairs of another country so what he chooses to do in his election campaign if there is one, is up to him. all right, thank you very much indeed for being with us. former british to washington in the east of france, thank you very much. thank you. police investigating the murder of the journalist, lyra mckee, in northern ireland have made a third arrest. ms mckee was fatally wounded when a gunman opened fire during rioting in londonderry on thursday evening. the dissident republican group, the new ira, have admitted responsibility and have offered "full and sincere apologies" to her family. for more on the group we're joined from belfast by dr marisa mcglinchey. she is an assistant professor at coventry university's centre for peace, trust and social relations and the author of a book

about dissident irish republicans called "unfinished business". thank you for being with us, tell us more about the new ira, how big are they, and what did they want to? while the new ira are most recently formed at the so—called dissident republican armed organisation, they emerged in 2012 as at the result of an amalgamation between former members that their real ira republican action against drugs which is particularly strong and independent republicans, it's difficult to gauge levels of support but there is believed to be about 50 active members at the group and about 200 may be on the wider periphery. are you surprised that they had surfaced in this way and carried out this attack with well, there's been lots of speculation in terms of linking recent activity from the organisation to exit our political vacuum, but in actual fa ct, political vacuum, but in actual fact, if you look at the security

statistics, over recent years, what we can see is actually low levels of sustained level of activity, so we see quite a large quantity and weapons and firearms seized every year including bombing incidents and shooting incidents which don't a lwa ys shooting incidents which don't always make the headlines. what about the statement they put out today, this apology but then talking about how their action was taking on the enemy. what do you think of that and the reception and had there, which is massive hostility from the local population to what this new ira statements that. has been a widespread level of repulsion over the killing of lyra and across the community a general sense, also interested in lean, within the irish republican community and specifically within like is time dissident republican is and what we talk about that, we are talking

about a wide spectrum of organisations and individuals, and then he had been built to support then he had been built to support the use of armed actions and so we had seen repulsion within the republican community against what has happened yet. so when you say that, there is a widespread of these dissident republicans, the new ria -- ira, i dissident republicans, the new ria —— ira, i paya small dissident republicans, the new ria —— ira, i pay a small splinter within those groups? there a separate organisation, we had seen the emergence of what has been termed incident republicanism in recent times from 1986 and various groups and independent broke away from the position of movement are sinn fein and the new ira are simply the latest script you had done that. from their point of view, do you think this killing will end up being counterproductive in terms of that hostility that we talked about and the repulsion that you mentioned in the repulsion that you mentioned in the wake of her killing? and demonstrating the revolution and

awareness, and the response and relation to this from the republican community, i mean that political wing deny it, but they counseled their easter commemoration in dairy on easter monday recognising the level of repulsion there. good to and and get your analysis will stop. billy mcneill, the celtic legend and the first british man to lift the european cup, has died at the age of 79. billy mcneill captained the famous lisbon lions side that beat inter milan in 1967. he spent his entire 19 year career at celtic, playing more than 800 games and winning nine scottish league titles before turning his hand to management. james shaw takes a look back on his life. lisbon, 1967.

billy mcneill becomes the first british player to lift the european cup, and in so doing fixes his status not just as an outstanding player, but also as a celtic legend. and that is how the fans today remember him. everybody is an icon, everybody is a hero. they're not. he was an icon and he was a hero. the celtic family are crying all over the world today. what a loss. it was another celtic hero, jock stein, who saw mcneill‘s potential and made him his captain. their relationship was key to the successes of that era. while he was captain they won nine leagues in a row and seven scottish cups. when his long playing career was over he became a manager, eventually succeeding jock stein in charge of celtic before moving south. in the late 1980s he

was back at parkhead. he later reflected on what celtic meant to him. not many people get the opportunity to stand in the winners' rostrum, and i have done it on lots of occasions and it is wonderful, make no mistake. to play for a club and to be associated, for me, with this club, has always been brilliant. the club and their fans see themselves as a family. today, a loved and revered member of that family been lost. billy mcneill‘s children paid tribute to their mother, who'd looked after him during his years with dementia, and they called on the fans to tell his stories, sing his songs and celebrate his life. billy mcneill who has died at the age of 79. time for a look at the weather, with ben rich.

thank you very much, good evening to you, big changes on the way and the weather and it easter weekend left you thinking summer had arrived, while i'm about to tell you that it has meant to because it does at 20s will quickly become a thing of the past, by this coming weekend, you be lucky to get to 30 degrees i let that stop outbreaks of rain at times, the changes so far had been quite subtle, high clouds drifting up quite subtle, high clouds drifting up from the south training centre easy, he also had saharan best quiet high up in the atmosphere, getting in present sunrises, you might see quite an impressive sunset this evening as well and as a go through the night, we see areas and clouds drifting north, but becoming more threatening across southwest of the ukfor threatening across southwest of the uk for southwest england, showery rain and thunder storm clipping into northern ireland and low clouds drifting from the north sea into eastern scotland and northeast england, but as they go into

tomorrow, low pressure increasingly dominating the weather. first fractal system here bringing outbreaks of heavy rain for some of us, the rain moving southwest at a glance of the northeast it is not impressive wales may be northern ireland, i that happy primary shower isn't breaking out, quite hit that mess but if you catch what you will know about it. i submit lands and later in the day perhaps across southern and northern ireland, thunder lightning hail strong gusty winds even further north across scotla nd winds even further north across scotland where the days are predominantly dry, eight be windy with lots of cloud to contend with on the eastern side of scotland, and as temperatures for most places probably won't get to 20 degrees but those temperatures i have quite a lot further to fall as he had to fall as we had today week —— end of week, showers and thunderstorms kept north, as they do, the warm airjust north, as they do, the warm airjust north as well and it's replaced by an ever cooler airfrom

north as well and it's replaced by an ever cooler air from the west as we head towards the end of the week and particularly into the weekend. thursday forecast, showers and thunderstorms drifting north with tiny breaks in between may well be northern scotland gets away with the that that dry and sunny weather but look at that temperature is 13 and 15 degrees, it's a while since we had values like that and as temperatures continue to drop anything through friday into the weekend, some of the struggling to get in the double digits on saturday with some wet and windy weather at times, said there are big changes on the way of the next few days.

a day of mourning, as sri lankans bury their loved ones. the number of dead after the easter sunday attacks has risen again. first pictures of one of the suicide bombers on his way to a church. sri lanka's prime minister says some of the extremists are on the run and have explosives. we are trying to apprehend them. people who are on the run. so far, we've been successful in apprehending many of them. dozens of victims have been buried today, the authorities now say more than 320 people were killed. as the investigation into the bombings gets under way, it's emerged that intelligence about the attacks may not have been