welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: top sri lankan officials lose theirjobs over the intelligence failures before sunday's attacks, as new details emerge about the bombers. a guard of honourfor the north korean leader as he arrives in russia. the first ever summit between kim jong—un and vladimir putin gets underway in an hour's time. heavy rain and floods kill at least 60 people in durban, south africa, thousands more are forced to flee their homes. prince william takes part in anzac day commemorations in auckland as new zealand, australia and turkey honour their fallen.

hello. sri lanka's government has acknowledged a "major intelligence lapse" over the easter sunday bombings that killed 359 people. the president has asked his defence secretary and police chief to resign over the failure to pass on warnings. in the last few hours, the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, has said there is "every indication" the attacks were planned by the so—called islamic state. from colombo, clive myrie reports. mourning for the majority christians who died isn't confined to the catholic church. in the city of negombo, at the grand mosque, prayers have for days included

thoughts for the hundreds killed in the local church, murdered in the name of a perversion of islam. the rituals remain the same, but something's changed here now. there's an undercurrent of fear that there might be christian reprisals, that a whole community has been tarred by the barbarity of a few, in a city that's enjoyed so many years of interreligious cooperation. "not in our name", say the trustees of the mosque, denouncing the bombers as enemies of their faith. translation: maybe they are muslims but we won't accept that, we won't accept them as a muslim. but in this city, in the shadow of the church a suicide bomber desecrated, how can the community heal? go ahead. all around, the living are touched by evidence of the intolerance exhibited. killed in the attack? yes, yes, killed in the attack. three more people who died?

yes, three more people here. this street paved with sorrow and lined by grief. so many are still awaiting burial. in this house, a woman in her 70s, her daughter, aged 52, and another woman in her 60s. some of the more than 100 christian lives cut short here. but today, in a spirit of reconciliation, they're mourned by buddhists. the leader of sri lanka's catholics also paid his respects, and he told me the bombings left him numb. i lost my people, and these were innocent people. they had nothing to do with whatever the struggles of these people who blasted them to pieces. so it was something that i couldn't grasp and understand. i couldn't understand

the rationality of what they did. lorraine campbell's killer is thought to have lived in this upmarket neighbourhood in colombo. this is the suicide bomber‘s house, still sealed for forensics. and the family's copper factory is where investigators believe the bombs were built. singing. so many died that easter sunday, the funerals are being staggered. there were dozens more today. it's a continuing process of remembrance, in a land where the only viable future for its multi—religious and ethnic population is to try to live in peace. clive myrie, bbc news, in negombo. let's get more on this story. rukmini callimachi is a new york times correspondent covering isis and has been closely following the potential relationship with the group. i follow you on twitter, as ifollow you on twitter, as hundreds of thousands of people do. there's lots of useful information on your

deed and —— feed. rukmini, what's the significance of is claiming the attack? this is a group in sri lanka that had some sort of direct communications with isis and we know that because they were able to film a video pledging a lease and is —— to isis, and were able to film a video to pledge allegiance to the leader of isis. they were able to get it to the islamic state's official news agency. we have never seen a official news agency. we have never seen a case where official news agency. we have never seen a case where these videos of the pledges have emerged where there hasn't been some sort of co—ordination with the islamic state. sri lanka of course has a horribly body history with the civil war, but this seems to be something different, doesn't it? do you feel it isa different, doesn't it? do you feel it is a game changerfor different, doesn't it? do you feel it is a game changer for the country and for is? i'm sure it's a game changerfor the and for is? i'm sure it's a game changer for the country. as you've

seen, there were multiple warnings that the authorities received the artwork for whatever reason, ignored oi’ artwork for whatever reason, ignored or not given to the proper channels. —— the warning. so there will be some soul—searching after this because in america following 9/11. as far as because in america following 9/11. as faras temp because in america following 9/11. as far as temp remark —— isis, this isa as far as temp remark —— isis, this is a confirmation of what we have known for a while which is that although politicians have glibly taken to saying that the group was defeated, we know the caliphate was never just defeated, we know the caliphate was neverjust an iraqi mark and syria project. —— iraq project. we have seen project. —— iraq project. we have seen them grow in strength, this is an example of that. a group far from the course of isis' centre of gravity in iraq and syria, it has carried out possibly the most deadly

isis attack in the group's history. for the people who carried this out, what was the point and what you think it means the future? the point, i'm sorry to say, is in line with isis' ideology, they view christians as a swarm of idolaters, they call them cross worshippers. they point to the trinity as an idea that shows that they don't believe ina single that shows that they don't believe in a single god, they call them crusaders, and for years now, isis has been waging a war against them. we saw this with cop churches being attacked in egypt's with a cathedral being attacked in the philippines —— coptic church. the second end of the attack at high—end hotels where tourists were saying, this has been' called to attack citizens of the

coalition is fighting islamic state. so they were probably trying to kill americans, brits and people whose countries belong to those coalitions. thank you very much indeed. thank you. within the hour north korean leader kim jong—un will meet president vladimir putin for one—to—one talks in russia's far eastern city of vladivostok. it's the first ever summit between the two men. here's the bbc‘s sarah rainsford with more. well, this is the campus of vladivostok university here in vladivostok, and behind me is the sports hall where president putin and kim jong—un will meet. we are expecting them to arrive in an hour or so. mr putin is on his way here. kim jong—un is already in town, they admitted he is on his way. his arrival was a ceremonial event, a red carpet laid out for him at the station here as his armoured train rolled into the station. there was a military band, a full reception for him

here at the campus of this university. he is going to be holding those talks with putin in the sports hall where a stage is set up. we are expecting a reception, we have heard musicians rehearsing for some kind of show. but the substance will be those talks, primarily, talks focusing on north korea's nuclear programme and what role russia can bring — can play now in terms of resolving the denuclearisation issue in north korea. and i think the timing of all this is no accident. it comes a couple of months after the kim jong—un's talks with donald trump in the united states broke down. kimjong—un has now come here, the north korean leader, looking for a new ally in russia's president vladimir putin. much of this is designed to send a message to washington in particular, but there are things that putin will want from this? russia doesn't want a nuclear—armed neighbour? no, i think you're right.

travelling here to vladivostok, it's seven time zones away from moscow, we're close to the north korean border. it's an eight hour flight. that is a reminder of why this matters, one reason why it matters to russia. this is a neighbouring country and russia says it doesn't wa nt a nuclear—armed state on its border and it is committed — it signed up to all the un sanctions on north korea up till now. but i think what russia also has is a different approach to north korea. it has argued in the past and will begin to lobby more, i suspect, significantly, that sanctions should be eased on north korea. that there should be a more gradual approach to the problem. donald trump has always been trying to put on maximum pressure, no relieving of the sanctions until north korea completely denuclearises. i think what vladimir putin will hear from kim jong—un is the argument for a more gradual approach and you perhaps might find

a willing ear in him or perhaps a lobbyist or broker in terms of reinvigorating the talks with united states on that matter. it's also about russia reinserting itself in the game on the global stage. even if there is substance to these meetings as you suggest, how much do you think we are likely to see or hear? well, in terms of words, i think very little. i think there will be a lot more ceremony than is eight months. —— than statements. certainly the north korean leader is not a man used to giving press conferences. there could be some surprises. certainly there will be a lot more ceremony. i think it is interesting too, though, that putin isn't planning a walkabout with kim jong—un. there is no tourism plan,

no cultural plan together, that will come tomorrow when kim jong—un tours a number of sites in the city. seems more like a low—key event. let's bring you some more of the main news briefly. three of the most controversial figures on sudan's ruling transitional military council have offered their resignations — a key demand of the protest movement. all three were generals, seen as islamists, closely allied with the deposed president. protest leaders want a rapid handover to civilian rule. after talks, a military spokesman said the two sides had reached agreement on most of the demands. a white supremacist convicted of a notorious racist killing has himself been executed in prison by lethal injection. john william king murdered james byrd jr in 1998 by dragging him for miles behind a truck. the body was then dumped in front

of an african american church. in bell first, political leaders have heard a call for an end to violence resulting from the death of lyra mckee. —— bell first —— belfast. the united nations children's fund has warned that cases of measles around the world have nearly trebled compared with last year. unicef says between 2010 and 2017, at least 20 million children worldwide went unvaccinated. developing and developed countries alike are at risk, whether from poor health systems, or unfounded and misinformed anti—vaccine posts on social media. at least 60 people are confirmed dead in heavy rain and flooding in south africa's coastal city of durban and the surrounding area. at least 1,000 people have had to leave their homes as roads and buildings were washed away on south africa's eastern coast. the bbc‘s nomsa maseko reports. torrential rains and mudslides left a trail of destruction in south africa's coastal city of durban. at least two universities, businesses and hundreds of homes were damaged.

eight people died here after mudslides obliterated their homes. this man witnessed the deadly floods, he recounted the panic and horror. translation: i heard a loud bang and suddenly water came gushing into our house through the wall and i heard my children screaming from their bedroom. i tried to rush to help them, but the strong water current forcefully pushed me to another room and i was under the collapsed wall. i remember hearing the screams of the children, neighbours tried to dig us out, but we couldn't save the children. south africa's president visited the area to assess the damage and visited families who lost their loved ones. it's very traumatising. these other members of the family.

i immediately pass on my condolences as president as well on behalf of the government. we pass our condolences to the family that has lost so many people in one go, where a whole house just collapsed and only one person was saved. we'd like to say to the family that we are with you, our hearts are with you. entire communities have been cut off here. low—lying areas were most susceptible to mudslides and mop—up operations were hampered by heavy rains overnight are now under way. but it will take weeks to clean up the damage. hundreds of homes like this one have been left damaged. thousands of people are displaced, but there are also fears that the death toll could rise because many more people are still missing and are unaccounted for.

the government has offered financial assistance to the areas ravaged by flooding. the painful process of burying the deceased has already begun. nomsa maseko, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: the battle for brazil's indigenous population — the huge protests planned against president bolsonaro. 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. this is bbc news, our main headlines: top sri lankan officials have lost theirjobs over the intelligence failures before sunday's attacks, as new details emerge about the bombers. a guard of honourfor the north korean leader as he arrives in russia. the first ever summit between kim jong—un

and vladimir putin is about to begin. today is anzac day — when australians and new zealanders commemorate soldiers who served and died in wars for their country. turkish authorities have arrested a suspected member of the extremist group, the so—called islamic state, who they believe was planning to attack a world war one commemoration at gallipoli. and in auckland, prince william joined prime ministerjacinda ardern at a service. the bbc‘s phil mercer is in christchurch at the bridge of remembrance with more. those were the sentiments of the new zealand prime minister, jacinda ardern, addressing a dawn service in the city of auckland earlier today. the anzacs, by the way, were the australian and new zealand army corps who fought so heroically alongside allied forces in gallipoli in 1915, the new zealanders, australians and allies in general suffering

you horrific losses during that campaign and today, both countries and many other services around the world marking that get friends sacrifice. the prime minister, jacinda ardern, said that anzac day reminded us all of humanity of which new zealand had in turn been reminded of during those terrible on attacks here in the city of christchurch about six weeks ago, alone gunmen killing about 50 people and there is a visit also by prince william who is coming to christchurch to meet with emergency service personnel, senior police officers and more pertinently, survivors of those two attacks. and security, we gather, very tired and with very good reason. and security, we gather, very tight and with very good reason. absolutely. anzac day services continue across zealand and there has been a noticeable police presence right across the country. prince william and jacinda ardern, the new zealand prime minister, on their way to christchurch. prince william visited the city

and the aftermarket of the 12 bull prince william visited the city and the aftermath of the terrible earthquake here in february 2011. that claimed 185 lives. you might be able to see behind me, mike, the remnants of christchurch cathedral which was badly damaged during earthquake all of those years ago. we understand the principle lay a wreath to the memorial of the earthquake victims so he is once again on his way back to a city that is still scarred and wounded, notjust by the events of the earthquake a few years ago but also by that terrible atrocity committed here almost six weeks ago. an australian man has been accused of 50 counts of murder and he will be back in court in the middle ofjune. the anzac day really does have enormous residence anzac day really does have enormous residence in this part of the world. yes, as i say, anzacs are the australian and new zealand army corps.

for many australians and new zealanders, they believe their national identities were forged by the courage and the sacrifice displayed at the gallipoli peninsula all of those years ago in what is now modern—day turkey in 1915 so commemorations in new zealand and across the tasman sea, commemorations in australia as well as gallipoli as well and many other places will mark this very sombre day, arguably the most sombre day in the calendar for both countries and the prime minister, anzacs, saying it's a sense of shared humanity that rings people together on anzac day and over the course of the next two days, we will see similar sentiments as jacinda ardern and prince william visited christchurch and survivors of those two attacks almost six weeks ago.

thousands of people from across brazil are gathering in the capital, brasilia, this week for the biggest indigenous demonstration in the country — the free land camp.they‘re expected to camp out in front of government buildings for three days of native celebrations and protests against far right president, jair bolsonaro — he's repeatedly called into question the existence of indigenous reserves since he took power injanuary. ramzan karmali reports. they've come from across the country so that their voices can be heard by those holding power. up to 4,000 indigenous people from all over the country are expected to join this annual demonstration, free land camp. translation: we are here for our right to defend, to speak, to complain so that the problems with the indigenous population don't occur. and this year's protests have an added significance. presidentjair bolsonaro, who took power injanuary, has vowed to freeze demarcations of new indigenous reserves, revoke the protected status of others and free up

commercial farming and mining in the rainforest. translation: we are not going to accept this because the government is practically injuring the brazilian federal constitution, which gives guarantees to indigenous people regarding the demarcation of indigenous lands. tribal leaders are incensed by the government's decision to transfer responsibility for demarcation of indigenous reserves to brazil's agriculture ministry. many see it to be under control of members of the powerful farming lobby that's long been opposed to indigenous land rights. tensions have been ramped up even more after the justice minister authorised a national force to take control of the area where the free land camp will be based. this has increased the fears of possible violent clashes with protesters, something the organisers are keen to avoid. ramzan karmali, bbc news.

a little bit of footballing history will be made on sunday when amiens play strasbourg in france's top division. for the first time, a ligue une game will be officiated by a female referee. the country's governing body said they'd chosen stephanie frappart to prepare her for the women's world cup later this year. the bbc‘s tim allman reports. in modern football, the man in black need not always be a man — stephanie frappart going through the usual pre—match routines. this, a game in the french second division but, in a few days' time, she'll be making a big step up. not that she believes her sex should make any difference. translation: when you make the right decisions, everything is fine. if there's a contest on the field, you try to manage. there's no difference between a man and a woman. i hope this will inspire others. i invite all women to take up

the whistle and go to the match. stephanie frappart has been on fifa's international referees list since 2011. she was the first woman to ref a ligue 2 match back in 2014 and she's already officiated in a women's world cup in canada a year later. she won't be the first female referee in top—flight european football. bibiana steinhaus has taken charge of games in the german bundesliga. but there has still not been a top—flight female referee in italy, spain or england. in many ways, stephanie is a footballing pioneer. more women may now follow her example, and who knows — maybe one day, a female referee will be just as unpopular as her male counterpart. tim allman, bbc news. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter — i'm @bbcmikeembley.

hello again. uk forecast in just a moment but first of all we are off to mozambique where it looks like we've got another weather—related disaster on the way. another cyclone, this is cyclone kenneth, picking up strength and it's going to make landfall thursday afternoon in northern mozambique and bringing you through five days of forecast here, you can see the problem. once the storm has made landfall, it stops moving and we will see torrential falls of rain in the same area day after day. we could be seeing, getting on for a metre of rain over coming days combined with a storm surge 2—4 metres high which could bring coastal inundation and looks like we will see another round of devastating flooding across mozambique, particularly in the north of the country. here in the uk, our weather has changed. it's turned a bit cooler,

we've got unsettle weather over the next few days with rain or showers but also temperatures have eased over recent days. it will feel cooler as we head into this weekend combined with strengthening winds as well. now, today we'll start off with some reasonable weather around. in scotland and northern ireland, a bit of brightness or sunshine first thing. showers across england and wales from the word go push northwards. in terms of being cloudy, the showers get heavy with hail and thunder mixed in. some of those downpours will be quite lengthy as well as they drive their way northwards. in the south, perhaps turning a bit lighter today, a bit more sunshine, temperatures down on recent days, 13—16 degrees and quite a breezy day coming up, really. going through thursday evening and overnight, further wet weather for scotland, showers working in across parts of western england, and wales, perhaps some lengthier spells of rain through northern ireland through thursday night and into the early part of friday morning.

friday, on the face of it, although it's quite unsettled again, there'll be some bigger gaps between the showers and perhaps some more in the way of sunshine for particularly eastern areas of scotland for a time, but it's not completely dry, you will see some further showers moving in through the afternoon. some of these are likely to be heavy and potentially quite lengthy in places. gusty winds around too. temperatures 13—15 degrees celsius and then through friday night and into the weekend, we see this area of low pressure diving southwards, tightly squeezed isobars, it's going to be a windy spell of weather. the strongest winds o this stage, targeting probably south—west england. gusts 60, 65 miles per hour, something like that. outbreaks of rain, widespread, and it's going to feel quite cold, notjust on account of those strong winds, heavy rain but also those temperatures. we'll be looking at highs of between 10 and 13 degrees. you can forget the 25 we had a few days ago.

this is bbc news, the latest headlines: sri lanka's president has asked the defence minister and police chief to resign from theirjobs, in response to what the government's called major lapses in intelligence. it's been confirmed prior warnings were not acted upon ahead of easter sunday's suicide bombings, which took the lives of at least 359 people. north korea's leader, kimjong—un, has arrived in the far east of russia for his first summit with president putin. he was welcomed by a guard of honour in the city of vladivostok, talks between the two are set to begin shortly. heavy rain and floods have killed at least 60 people in durban in south africa. a number of children's bodies were pulled out from under a collapsed building. thousands of people have also been forced to flee their homes. south africa's president cyril ramaphosa said climate change was making the weather wilder and less predictable.