this is bbc news, i'm rebecca jones. the headlines at 8pm. the foreign office advises against all but essential travel , to sri lanka, after sunday's devastating bomb attacks. officials revise down the death toll by around a hundred — 253 people are now believed to have lost their lives. british teenagers amelie and daniel were among those killed — their father describes the terrible end to their holiday they were getting me food from the buffet, and the first blast went off. i hope that's not what was the fatal blast because we did start running out i don't know what sort of condition they were, there was another brat blast. former us vice—president, joe biden,

confirms he wants to be the democratic candidate for next year's presidential election. the bbc learns there's to be a formal investigation into a leak from a national security council meeting, about chinese telecoms firm huawei. and bond is back, the producers reveal the cast for double 0 seven‘s latest outing. good evening. welcome to bbc news. the foreign office has changed its advice on travel to sri lanka — warning against all but essential trips. it says terrorists are very likely to try to carry out

indiscrimate attacks. the advice follows the easter sunday suicide bombings. the country is a popular british tourist destination. clive myrie reports from colombo. this is a country that's still on edge. several days after the mass murders, as tourists try to enjoy this holiday island, reminders of possible danger are everywhere. now the foreign office says british tourists shouldn't come here, and the thousands already on this island must be careful. i won't be coming back. first and last time. but the people are wonderful here. sri lankan people are absolutely fabulous. but no... we won't be coming back. but tourism sustains this island, with more than two million visitors here last year from all over the world. this worried hotelier says the fears are overblown. this is an isolated incident. i feel that this could happen anywhere in the world.

like i mentioned before with bali and paris, i don't think there should be any kind of fear in travelling. i guess giving into the fear psychosis wouldn't make any sense, because it is a beautiful destination. sobering news for those visitors already here and happy to remain. and others, desperate to leave. clive myrie, bbc news, in colombo. let's get more on this revised foreign office advice — which warns against all but essential travel to sri lanka — emma brennan from the association of british travel agents, joins me now. what does this mean first of all for the 8000 british tourists who are on holiday in sri lanka at the moment? as you said the foreign office has said they think 8000 people in treelike at the moment, uk residents, that can be tourists, it could also be people visiting family

and friends, who are out there for business at the moment. we do know the number of people who have travelled on the package, the numbers are quite low, so members have been speaking to their customers today, to update them on the latest situation. 50 what supports can you offer them, and not only people on package holidays, but perhaps people who booked flights and accommodation separately, or indeed sought their accommodation to make accommodation out there when it got there. you would need to speak to your airline, and also your hotel accommodation providers, if you're wanting to change your plans or come home early. it's unfortunate in these situations your travel insurance might not necessarily provide any cover for any losses. members are speaking to their customers this evening, just to update them, and talk about the options available. we do know that quite a few of them are actually do to travel home the next few days anyway. what about people who had holidays booked, and were preparing oi’ holidays booked, and were preparing or planning to travel to sri lanka, what is your advice to them? in

situations like these, when the foreign office introduces a restriction, other members follow that advice from the foreign office. so they will be contacting customers who are due to travel in the next few days and even weeks, if they are booked on a package holiday, they will be offered the opportunity d for their trip or make alternative arrangements, book a different holiday, or get a full refund on the cost of that package holiday. again, if you booked everything independently, then you're going to have to speak to your flights, accommodation provider, and the travel services that you booked. the option will be, if you're on a package holiday, you could cancel completely, and get your money back. absolutely. that's one of the benefits of booking a package holiday. if situations like this arrive, or there's other unforeseen events commuting get your money back on the cost of the package. what's in your view on the cost of the package. what's in yourview are on the cost of the package. what's in your view are the ramifications for the tourism industry in sri lanka, because it is a country heavily dependent on tourism, isn't

it? it is a country dependent on tourism, and we have seen a big growth in tourism to sri lanka over recent yea rs, growth in tourism to sri lanka over recent years, about 150,000 people travel there each year, to enjoy a holiday. the island has a lot to offer, so naturally there will certainly be a short—term impact following the update on the advice today. this hasn't been the first time that holiday—makers, tourists, people, british people abroad have been affected by a terrorist incident. i'm thinking about, are there any lessons that have been learned when it's happened on previous occasions? obviously when there is any sort of event, it's a lwa ys there is any sort of event, it's always the opportunity to reflect, and look at what lessons are learned. one of the key things that we re learned. one of the key things that were certainly doing is an organisation is working with the authorities to try and get information out there to customers, as and when they're booking a holiday, so they are aware about the destination that they are travelling

to, and so we always say, whenever you're booking a holiday, you should be visiting the foreign office website to understand what's going on in that destination. security issues, but also many of the matter such as local laws and customs that may have changed, it's also really important that you do check that before you do travel as well. emma brennan from the association of british travel agents, thank you so much for coming into talk us thanks. well, more on the developments in sri lanka today, on the story. where the death toll has been revised. a number of arrests have been made. our correspondent nick beek is in colombo for us tonight. clearly these have been devastating attacks for sri lanka, and they are continuing to bury their dead. but there has been tonight, a significant announcement from the health ministry, and they have drastically revised downward the number of people who have been killed. we were told initially it was 359, now apparently 253 people lost their lives. the funerals continuing nonetheless, and this is a country that remains in a state of emergency.

there's a curfew once again overnight for the fifth night running. we are told around 7000 soldiers are part of a nationwide security operation, and the priority is to try and track down any remaining members of this cell, which has already brought great devastation on this country. worrying signs today though, more arrests in particular, three people were picked up, and they had with them, hand grenades, and also swords. there was a blast as well in the city, colombo, this morning, that was to the east of the city. no one was injured in that blast, but it took place near a court, and so that is being a cause for concern as well for all these things being put together by the british intelligence, that's led them to make the decision this evening that they are telling all of their citizens, or british citizens to stay away from sri lanka, unless it's absolutely necessary. so the security investigation continues, they are desperately

trying to piece together who some of the suspects may be, this is a nationwide operation, and all the time, sri lankans who are trying to grieve, who are trying to bury their loved ones, they're faced by this ongoing terror threat. nick beak in colombo. eight britons died in sunday's attacks. among them were teenagers amelie linsey and her brother, daniel. they died in a blast at the shangri—la hotel in colombo, just as residents were gathering for breakfast. their father and their brother — now back in london — have been talking to our correspondent caroline hawley. amelie linsey was 15, about to sit her gcs ease when she was murdered with her 19—year—old brother, daniel. amelie was really the glue that held the entire family together. she was beautiful in every way, she was so smart, she had a wonderful sense of humour,

and really it's going to be almost impossible to imagine life without her. a lovely girl, and again you expect her dad to say that, but she really was lovely inside and out. and you were having an amazing holiday with them until that moment? well they even thanked me and gave me a hug night before and said thank you very much, and you know, they were giving me food from the buffet, and the first blast went off, i hope that's not what, you know, was a fatal blast, because we did start running out, and i don't know what sort of condition they were in, and there was another blast, they were incredible kind. daniel photographed by his dad the night before he died was about to go to university to study travel and tourism. he more than anyone lived his life in the service of other people. he would always go out of his way to travel to different places, he volunteered in ethiopia, and at an orphanage,

he lived with a nomad tribe in mongolia, and he came back with equally close friends from each one, and people who have been equally loving. the linsey family senior altogether on holiday in india is now desperate to get the bodies of daniel and amelie returned home. we've had to go to the dentist, we had to go to get their dental records, see their x—rays, they've come to the house, they've taken their toothbrushes from their bags, they've taken away, they've taken my sister's phone, they've taken my father's clothes he was wearing at the time of the explosion. still they are not back. what you want the uk government to do now? obviously get them back here as soon as possible. i don't want to say anything else. i don't want to be critical in any way, because i know governments work different ways, but we want to get them back. we want to reunite them with their families as well, as you can imagine. they also now want to set up a special foundation to help the many many sri lankan victims of the attacks.

the two things we would really like to focus on is first of all the treelike and families minoan is talking about them, i'm sure several families have lost their only source of income. everyone working at the hotel, and we want to make sure that these families, their children can be educated, that they can also receive counselling, the same support that we've had here in london. they should have entry longer. then more on the ground, the medical facilities entry entry longer, i think they're quite rudimentary, and who knows if they would've done anything for my siblings, but i'm sure more lives could've been saved, had it been better. david linsey, and his father matthew, talking to our correspondent caroline hawley. other news now former us vice—presidentjoe biden has declared a presidential bid, putting an end to months of speculation. in a video announcement, mr biden argued that the core values of america's democracy are at stake. the 76—year—old enters an already crowded race for the 2020 democratic nomination. but who isjoe biden? katty kay takes a look back at his long career. joe biden became

a politician in 1972. to put that in context, in ‘72, america was still at war with vietnam... i, richard millhouse nixon... ..and richard nixon was the country's president. biden has known more than his share of tragedy. he lost his first wife and infant daughter in a car crash. joe biden is my name. in his many years in politics, he became a champion of working people, an advocate for gun control... i refused to give up. we refused to give up. it took me seven years to get the first ban put in place. more controversially, biden led the anita hill hearings, and was noticeably tough on a woman accusing a supreme court nominee of sexual harassment. the next president of the united states, joe biden. in 1988 he made his first run for the presidency. thank you. 20 years later he tried

and failed again. his consolation prize was eight years as vice—president to barack obama. the two are still friends. todayjoe biden is running again. he is 76 years old. that makes him a year younger than bernie sanders and just a little older than donald trump. even if 70 is the new 60, that still makes a bunch of old white men the three frontrunners for the next president of the united states. joining us from new york state is the democrat pollsterjohn zogby. thanks so much forjoining usjohn. he is tried twice before, why should this time be different? well, he was a former vice president, number two spotin a former vice president, number two spot in the government. served under a very popular president, barack

obama left office very popular. joe biden, has become unclejoe to a lot of americans, certainly the democrats, anyway, and he has sort ofa democrats, anyway, and he has sort of a benign image, as a nice guy. let's deal with the nomination first ball. he enters a crowded field, doesn't he? 19 other democrats, uncle joe as doesn't he? 19 other democrats, unclejoe as you say, a lot of those other democrats are a lot younger than him. aren't they? can he win the nomination for a start? well he is the frontrunner, he's a good organisation. he represents the moderate to liberal wing of the party, which is substantial, but you know, there are a lot of candidates, and there are a lot of questions. aboutjoe biden, we will see when people vote in less than a year from 110w. people vote in less than a year from now. he is in good position, but it's not a lock for him. you when you say a lot of questions, what do you say a lot of questions, what do you mean? well, you know, certainly on the policy level, he was tough on

a woman before the me too movement began, he was tough on crime, incarcerating people for relatively lower crimes, that work is being undone. there has been, his record of touching unwanted touching of women, nothing that, you know, is deemed sexual, but is more icky. you know, those stories are old, they've been discussed, they were just released just a couple of weeks ago, and at least for now, he seems to be surviving. but nine months on the cam campaign trail before anybody votes, and we will see if those are a big factor or not. if he does when the nomination, what you think his plan is, do you think it's to win back the vote the democrats lost to donald trump in

the midwest, and perhaps not delve too deeply into other areas? no, no, no, he is strong among african—americans, his own record, plus the fact that he served with barack obama, but what you said is true. he is from pennsylvania, a state that donald trump one. he appeals to white working—class voters, very important in ohio, wisconsin, michigan, iowa, all states that donald trump one that democrats usually usually do when in a presidential level. how nervous do you think they are in the white house about joe you think they are in the white house aboutjoe biden running? you think they are in the white house about joe biden running? oh, they are very nervous. there is a lot of bravado, there's donald trump joking about biden's lack of intelligence and so on... butjoe biden i think is the one guy that can go against donald trump and not to be humbled or humiliated the way several presidential candidates were four years, three and half years

ago,jeb four years, three and half years ago, jeb bush and marco rubio and so on. joe biden is the one guy who can get up there and say oh donald, stop this nonsense, and let's talk about real stuff. john, the veteran democratic pollster, good to talk to you. thank you so much. thank you. the headlines on bbc news. the foreign office advises against all but essential travel to sri lanka , after sunday's devastating bomb attacks. former us vice—president, joe biden, has confirmed he wants to be the democratic candidate for next year's presidential election. the bbc understands there will be a formal investigation into a leak from a national security council meeting about chinese telecoms firm huawei. sport now, and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's azi farni.

good evening rebecca, thank you. sir mo farah will attempt to win his first london marathon this sunday, but instead of preparing quietly for the big race, he's become embroiled in a row with the former long distance great — haile gebresallasie — saying he'd been robbed at a hotel owned by the ethiopian. gebresallasie immediately hit back — alleging "multiple reports of disgraceful conduct" which farah denies. our sports correspondent joe wilson reports. mo farah‘s opponent is the man his nose to nose with here, that's the way the london's marathon planned it. pharaoh traded mark blows with world record holder elliot for the cameras by the tam's yesterday. they race on sunday. farah‘s been fixed on another rival. he crossed paths with a great... as a runner, and farah prepared and ethiopia at one of his hotels, there farah says he was the victim of a crime. farah

used yesterday's marathon media conference to tell the world about it. someone in the hotel had gone into my bag, opened someone in the hotel had gone into opened my someone in the hotel had gone into bag, someone in the hotel had gone into my bag, opened my bag, took my money, took my watch for my wife, just to be honest, it's highly... when you stay for three months in that hotel, it was very disappointed to know someone who has that kind of support couldn't do anything, at the end i wasjust like support couldn't do anything, at the end i was just like they're going to do nothing, so i wasjust disappointed highly. here is he in ethiopia, his may counter claims against farah including suggestions ofan against farah including suggestions of an assault, all of which farah and his representatives dispute. he has a message on his phone a p pa re ntly has a message on his phone apparently from a pharaoh who warns him that he will use the marathon news c0 nfe re nce to him that he will use the marathon news conference to raise the robbery issue. he brought it up on purpose, he told me before he left ethiopia. he told me before he left ethiopia. he told me he is going to end it indirectly. i'm going to spoil, i'm going to

destroy your name, destroy your hotel. it's like this. you can read enough from his sms message. farah's spokesperson last night urged him or his legal team to get in touch so that the matter can be resolved, in the meantime of course, farah is ripped to mac preparing for the biggest test of his career, his appearance of the london marathon running show on the tumble later yesterday was... eye—catching. he emerged apparently unscathed. the rays farah's faces on sunday against the world's best runners over 26 miles seems far more straightforward than the row that submersed him in the past 2a hours. joe wilson, bbc news. it's ‘crossover‘ time at the world snooker championship in sheffield with the last first round matches taking place while the second round gest under way. earlier ali carter made it throgh to round two with a ten — six win over fellow englishman joe lisowski three time world champion mark selby is trying to book his pace in the third round. he's up against another

englishman gary wilson. he's 3 frames to 1 down in the interval. the conclusion to the first—round match between kyren wilson and scott donaldson — taking place at the moment. wilson currently leading eight frames 23. it's best of 19, so first attend there, both matches are available to watch now on the bbc sport websites, and via the red button. jofra archer has given a glimpse of what he might offer england in the coming months. the all rounder is in the one day squad for the series against pakistan next month. earlier today he hit a sparkling 27 not out with this six in the final over to seal a dramatic win for the rajasthan royals against kolkata knight riders in the indian premier league. despite the victory, the royals are still second from bottom of the table

one other cricket line for you — alex hales will join the england squad for their pre—world cup training camp in cardiff on saturday. hales has missed nottinghamshire's first three one—day cup games for "personal reasons". you can find more on that and the rest of those stories on the bbc sport website. that's bbc.c0.uk slash sport there has been condemnation across the political spectrum after highly confidential details of a meeting of the national security council were leaked to a newspaper. the discussion centred on whether or not the chinese telecoms firm, huawei, should be given a contract to help develop britian's 5g network. the council is attended by the prime minister, ministers and senior intelligence figures. and this evening the bbc understands there will be a formal investigation, as our political editor laura kuenssberg reports. secrets are often

traded around here. but some of them are meant to be kept. yet crucial cabinet conversations about a chinese firm taking part in a vital project got out. now, there are calls for the police to find out exactly how. the cabinet secretary is also our national security adviser. i think he should now call in the police and properly investigate who the likely leaker was and make sure he is dismissed. this week, the national security council talked about allowing huawei, the chinese telecoms company, to build part of the next network here — superfast 5g. the decision isn't final, but many ministers are really concerned about the risk to security if it goes ahead, and there is straightforward anger on all sides about the information leaking out. if a minister did leak the information, they are not fit to serve in the cabinet. and are certainly not fit to be prime minister. indeed, if the leak was for an advantage

in a tory leadership race, that would be truly shocking. officials, including the security and intelligence agencies referred to, need to feel that they can give advice to ministers which ministers will treat seriously and keep private. hear, hear. we are well used to information seeping out. sometimes this government leaks like a sieve. but this is different, because the national security council is made up of only the most senior members of the government, like the prime minister, the foreign secretary, the defence secretary and the home secretary. and they've all had to sign the official secrets act, precisely so they can have these of conversations in private. this leak, perhaps, is therefore a symbol of how far the normal rules of discipline and loyalty around here haven'tjust been stretched, but have been broken altogether. the man who created the security council says these questions have to be discussed in confidence. what is the risk to our relationship with china? what is the balance

between our economic interests and our security interests? you can't have those kind of discussions in public, you've got to have them in a private space where you can trust people to keep secrets. the prime minister would not comment on the leak. but several ministers have denied it has anything to do with them. cabinet members have told me a formal inquiry is being launched, but we may see more of the technology on our streets before we really know what happened. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. the cast of the 25th james bond film has been announced, with oscar winner rami malek confirmed as part of the acting line—up, playing the villain. it's all been kept under wraps until today, when it was revealed at the goldeneye estate injamaica, where ian fleming wrote the double 0 seven novels. lizo mzimba was there and sent this report. like any good secret agent, daniel craig says he's less interested in the past and his time as bond, and more focused on thejob in hand, the new film.

this is my fifth and it's been a long time but it's been an amazing time, and i'm just terribly excited about getting going. and we're launching it here, at goldeneye in jamaica, so things aren't that bad really. here injamaica is where the first film, dr no, was shot back in the 1960s. a lot has had to change since ursula andress emerged from this ocean, particularly the way female characters appear in the movies. the women in this film are very interesting, complicated characters. is it particularly important to take that approach after the events of the last few years in the industry and wider? absolutely. i think the metoo movement has had a huge impact — rightfully, thankfully, on society. and these films should reflect that. but you 're kind of dealing with a character who is flawed, who has issues. of course we wouldn't be movie— makers or creative people if we didn't have an eye on what's

going on in the outside world while doing our work. skyfall put bond on top of the world, making more than $1 billion, but perhaps now the franchise's success could be in danger from the likes of the marvel universe. blockbusters now mean this huge, interconnecting web of different franchises which are across film, which are across television, which are consumed in different ways, which have lots of different characters. and bond just seems an anachronism. he'll soon be exiting the world of 007, hoping, at least when it comes to inclusivity, to leave it properly and firmly in the 21st century. lizo mzimba, bbc news, jamaica. well we can speak now to larushka ivan—zadeh, who's the chief film critic for the metro. thanks for coming in. what is your ta ke thanks for coming in. what is your take on the announcements today, first of all? well, they were quite anido

first of all? well, they were quite an i do have to say even by bomb standards, which keeps everything kind of quiet. i don't think they we re kind of quiet. i don't think they were letting a lot through, it was quite disappointed, because i think this is a franchise that slightly hasn't lost its way, but it's been a troubleshoot this one, danny boyle fell out, he was meant to be directing the film, and he dropped out. so the release date has gone further and further away. and since the last film, spectre came out in 2015, it feels like the world is sort of changed underneath bond, as they were saying in that report. barbara was acknowledging it. the world has changed, with the rise of the me too movement, hollywood has got more woke as it said. i don't know how younger viewers in fact will view bond nowadays as this kind of gas causing planet happening carbon footprint stomping hero. ok, quite a lot to unpick there. let's go to ronnie malik, first of all, let's talk about some of the things yesterday fresh from his oscar win of course. do you thank you will make a good billing?|j of course. do you thank you will make a good billing? i think it will make a good billing? i think it will make a good billing? i think it will make a brilliant villain, he definitely has that quality about

him. he also brings with him of course the great populism of bohemian rhapsody, which is one of the biggest films now almost of all time, the biggest musicals of all time. software the producers of bond will be hoping he brings that fan base with he's proved that he can play both a hero and a villain, and somewhere in between in the tv series mr robot. he is incredibly adaptable, he's a brilliant actor, it's a fantastic piece of casting. it was rumoured and confirmed today that... flee bag and writing killing eve has been brought in as part of the writing team, there were quite a lot of writers on this film, i have to say. what is she going to bring to say. what is she going to bring to it? welll to say. what is she going to bring to it? well i was tremendously excited about phoebe weller bridge being on the writing team. i hope she has a significant input, and not just some stump air glossing over, because she of course will bring in, i presume they wander per distinctive caustic feminist humour, which will bring into the story. i hadn't really noticed until today that there hasn't been a female writer on a bond film since 1963. she's only the second?

she's only the second? she is the second one. so you have to think that that is going to inject some new freshness to the bond franchise, which we haven't seen for literally decades. you say that, but female characters have got stronger over the years. yes, that's true. that's because of barbara broccoli, she came into goldeneye and brought usjudy dench, who is literally bond's superior, and the most important bond girl in the entire franchise. she has sort of su btly the entire franchise. she has sort of subtly change the edges insert delete neck in terms of female representation. i almost wish phoebe walbridge had been announced as a villain. we haven't seen a female bond villain since russia with love. she is literally the only i think female bond villain we've had. it would be nice to have someone who had an equal power with bond in the film, who wasn't just had an equal power with bond in the film, who wasn'tjust the had an equal power with bond in the film, who wasn't just the judy had an equal power with bond in the film, who wasn'tjust thejudy dench character going no, no, no bond, you can't have any fun. but was playing on an equal playing field. maybe we could see a female bond villain in the future. you mention the word

fun, andi the future. you mention the word fun, and i do think that humour and fa ntasy a re fun, and i do think that humour and fantasy are integral elements to this franchises success, whatever you've said about it at the beginning. and i know for example with doctor who, there's been talk, hasn't there, that perhaps it's, however that it is, it's perhaps become a bit preachy. how do you reflect me to come awoke, the things you are talking about, but still keep the essential elements of a bond film. this is where phoebe comes in. she interweaves great statement about women's place in society with very irreverent, often sort of rude humour. i think she has a mastery of tone, which hopefully will be reflected in this, because of course it's fun, going to see a bond film for, yes we don't need to be lectured about the environment, we go to have a terrific escapist time. we must leave it there. great to talk to you. thanks so much for coming in. let's catch up with all the weather news now sarah keith—lucas. good evening. it's been a day of sunny spells

and heavy scattered showers and thunderstorms too. we've still got some showers we are through the remainder of this evening and overnight, particularly across parts of north wales, perhaps northwest england for a time, western scotland seeing some of those showers. further east for eastern scotland, central and eastern england, it's looking mostly dry and clear before more cloud and more showers work in from the southwest later in the night. our temperatures for most of us, looking frost free, but could just be a few degrees above freezing and the more rural spots in the east. after that chilly start to friday morning, there will be plenty of dry and sunny weather for central and eastern england, and eastern scotland, still the chance of the odd shower cropping up. from the west though, we've got more cloud, bringing outbreaks of further shari rain. it will be colder in the west, 12—13 degrees, still holding onto that milder air, 16—17 in the east. turns particularly windy and stormy through friday night and into saturday, as a storm hanna approaches, bringing strong gusty winds, particularly in the south, and a risk of heavy and thunder—y rain too.

hello this is bbc news. the headlines... the foreign office advises against all but essential travel to sri lanka after sunday's devastating bomb attacks. officials revise down the death toll by around a hundred — 253 people are now believed to have lost their lives. former us vice—president, joe biden, confirms he wants to be the democratic candidate for next year's presidential election. the bbc learns there's to be a formal investigation into a leak from a national security council meeting, about chinese telecoms firm huawei. cases of measles almost quadrupled in england last year, a report warns more than half a million children in the uk may not have had the vaccine. a cyclone has reached the coast of northern mozambique where gusts of wind were expected to exceed 200

kilometres an hour. forecasters are predicting that cyclone kenneth will cause catastrophic flooding. the cyclone has weakened over the last few hours but there are fears that buildings could still be destroyed. as it is moving slowly, extreme quantities of rain are expected to fall over the next week. the affected area of mozambique is to the north of where cyclone idai struck lost month, killing hundreds of people and displacing hundreds of thousands. let's cross to beira in mozambique where we can speak to matt carter from the international federation of red cross and red crescent societies. the ifrc is the world's largest humanitarian organisation and its volunteers are on alert in mozambique as cyclone kenneth makes its way there. thank you forjoining us, what's

your understanding of the current situation where you are and elsewhere in mozambique? thank you for having me, yes like you said, the storm is expected to land in the northern most province of mozambique this evening. we are extremely worried about the welfare of hundreds of thousands of people who live in that province in the north, and the cyclone comes weeks after * idai hit bailey where i am now, causing widespread damage. how prepared are those provinces in the north? it's hard to say, there is poverty out there, so people in their homes often poorly constructed, flood prone areas and

they had that here as well, our teens have been on the ground in and around the expected area in the last and coming few days or so, and they had been disseminating and they themselves are from this communities, so they had been active in preparing for the storms of people know what will happen and they will be there through the response as well, delivering health services and shelter and supplies. that's interesting because i was going to say appreciate you can warning people of this may happen, but i wondered what steps you could ta ke to but i wondered what steps you could take to perhaps minimise the damage and disruption for examples and potential loss of life. yes

absolutely, that's the real worry here. whether these people go, there isa here. whether these people go, there is a lack of construction for them to flee to, a lot of these people live in poverty and as a result they have limited coping mechanisms, so we are very worried about the situation and we had teens on the ground, but it's just to some extent waiting and seeing how city damage isi waiting and seeing how city damage is i mean, i know from our response to cyclo— idai, which hit the city six weeks ago now, the red cross has mobilised international appeals and has many delegates on the ground in mozambique to respond to the cyclone. and we, in relationship with this in civil society to mitigate the damage. you mentioned

in previous cyclone, how have communities there recovered from that? i think... it's communities there recovered from that? ithink... it's damage communities there recovered from that? i think... it's damage really, there's lots of homes missing roofs, i went earlier this week i met a woman whose house had been com pletely woman whose house had been completely destroyed it was really ha rd to completely destroyed it was really hard to believe how badly damaged her house was. the red cross has given her shelter. and other items as well, but you know, for communities like this, there is a long way to go after the shelter needs are met, the worry then is diseases and the widespread that's right spread flooding and then into

the medium term, it's a question of how people are going to feed themselves, there is damage to the harvest, lots of livelihood as well, so it's a prolonged response that's needed for the last cyclone that hit weeks ago, and now we will see tomorrow how the damage is in the north. matt corridor and mozambique, we are grateful for your time, thank you for talking to us. knife crime figures for england and wales have risen to record levels. last year, nearly 41,000 offences were recorded by police — a 6% increase on 2017. the figures, published by the office for national statistics, show there were more than 730 cases of murder and manslaughter — that's the highest number for a decade. but your chances of being a victim

of violent crime are at their lowest level ever as our home editor, mark easton, explains. it is a horribly familiar scene — another teenager stabbed to death last night in birmingham, as homicide figures for england and wales hit a ten—year high and knife offences recorded by police reach record levels. crime is now the most troubling political issue after brexit — with police detection rates at their lowest since they were first measured in 2015, there are demands for a more effective response. nobody wakes up and decides just to go and kill somebody. there's got to be some kind of underlying problem, and agencies need to work together, cos you've got little agencies that work on their own. we've seen an appalling number of young lives that have been cut short. the prime minister has recently set up a new cross—departmental serious violence team in whitehall, with a ministerial task force to co—ordinate the government's response.

i wish there was one single thing that could be done to bring it down dramatically, but there is not one thing. i think we need action on many fronts, and that's what we've been pursuing. the sense is that violence is rising in england and wales, but let's look at the bigger picture. homicide is up, at a ten—year high, but this graph suggests it's too early to say that society is becoming more violent. overall figures for violent crime show actually a huge fall since the mid—'90s. the chances of being a victim of violence then were 110 in 1,000. now, the lowest ever, 29. figures for offences involving a knife recorded by police are at their highest, but they only go back to 2011, and some experts think the apparent trend upwards may not be quite what it seems. we don't, all of us, need to be more scared than we used to be. violence involving knives is localised. it affects relatively

small numbers of people, so overall the risk to us all has decreased. there are hot spots of serious violence, notably disputed gang areas in london and other big cities, but, mercifully for people generally, the risk of being a victim of violence is still going down. mark easton, bbc news. a proposed £12 billion merger between sainsbury‘s and asda has been blocked by the uk's competition watchdog. the competition and markets authority said it ruled against the deal over fears it would result in higher prices for shoppers and motorists, and cut the choice and quantity of goods. president putin of russia says the north korean leader, kim jong—un, needs security guarantees within a multinational framework — if he is to end his nuclear programme. mr putin was speaking after his first ever summit with mr kim near vladivostok in russia's far east. it follows the breakdown

of talks between the us and north korea in february. french president emmanuel macron has given a long—awaited response to the yellow vest movement. despite insisting that order must return, he acknowledged a "lack of trust" in the establishment. he promised new measures to address this including tax cuts, a reform of the civil service and the introduction of proportional representation. protests started in november over rises in fuel costs. these escalated into the gilets jaunes, or yellow vest movement, a national uprising against economic injustice. environmental protestors have targeted financial institutions across london on the eleventh day of demonstrations in the city. supporters of the protest group extinction rebellion blocked roads around the treasury and the london stock exchange. our science editor david shukman has been at the group's protest site at marble arch in central london.

whether you admire the passion of the people here, or resent the disruption they've caused, it's clear that we had seen in recent days in a very original process. this series of nonviolent often good—humored protest, involving a very wide range of people including lawyers and pensioners. more than a thousand of the people have been arrested, most recently in the city of london today as you mentioned, the demonstrations targeted banks and other financial institutions. for their support for fossil fuels, which is driving up the rise in global average temperature, so where does this leave us? what does this all achieve? while the protesters want to see a cut to zero in britain's carbon emissions over the next six years and most experts i have spoken to say that that is totally unrealistic. but there is a talk of a meeting between the organisers and ministers in the coming days. that's obviously a hope of shift in government policy

so when i read the result of that, this series of events has definitely raised the profile of climate change. something that climate scientists for years have said is urgently needed. the headlines on bbc news... the foreign office advises against all but essential travel to sri lanka after sunday's devastating bomb attacks. former us vice—president, joe biden, has confirmed he wants to be the democratic candidate for next year's presidential election. the bbc understands there will be a formal investigation into a leak from a national security council meeting about chinese telecoms firm huawei. firefighters are back at the scene of a major wildfire in murray this evening. the scottish fire and rescue service said last night it had put out

the blaze around knock—an—doe, however fires have reignited. it's being described as one of the worst wildfires in the uk in recent years. rachel bell reports. massive in scale and devastating impact. this wildfire has been described as one of the biggest in the uk in years. since monday, it has been ravaging this landscape, destroying more than 20 square miles of grassland. it's been three days since this blaze took hold here. and although most of the fire is out, parts of the land are still burning. dry conditions and high winds caused the fire to spread aggressively. at one stage, the blaze was burning on all fourfronts. several properties close to the fire had to be evacuated. so you were asked to leave your house on tuesday, so what was your reaction to that? it was frightening really. to know that...

what do you take with you? the lands and... we didn't have much time, we were just told to get out. i had been born here, i have seen fires. but nothing like this. nobody has seen a fire like this. at its height, around 80 firefighters were at the scene as well as around a0 local gatekeepers. they had been working day and night to tackle the flames in treacherous conditions. you get in the middle of the fire and the wind direction changes, you've got not only flames coming towards you but smoke and when you are in that situation you cannot see the road to get out of there. so you have to be really careful watching your back all the time. the fire service has been on wildfire alert across scotland for a number of days now. a wild fire on the isle of skye has now been extinguished. here, crews are continuing to battle the flames.

more than half a million children in the uk were not given a crucial measles vaccine between 2010 and 2017, according to new figures from the charity unicef. it comes as nhs chief simon stevens warned measles cases had almost quadrupled in one year and said people rejecting vaccines was a "growing public health time bomb". our health editor hugh pym reports. measles is a highly infectious viral illness. cold—like symptoms are followed by a rash like this. health chiefs around the world are increasingly concerned about the steep rise in the number cases. so why do they say children must be vaccinated? put bluntly, it can be fatal. 110,000 people globally died from the disease in 2017. if enough people are vaccinated, that ensures the whole population is safe. but if too many don't have the jabs, there's the risk of measles

spreading to children like alba. she was just too young to be vaccinated. she developed measles and was in hospitalfor nine days. are you jumping? bounce, bounce, bounce. she recovered and was back home last week, but her mum told me it was a frightening experience. there was a day where we both thought we were going to lose her. so it was heartbreaking and terrifying at the same time, but you want to stay strong because you want to fight for her as well. it's been the worst few weeks of my life. it's been horrible. what's happening here across the uk? between 2010 and 2017, according to the charity unicef, more than 500,000 children were not vaccinated. last year there were 953 cases of measles in the uk, more than three times the number the previous year. so why are some parents refusing to vaccinate? experts blame social media for spreading false claims

about injections harming children. at this toddler group today, parents i spoke to said they ignored negative messages about vaccination. i can understand why people believe what they read. but i think follow the nhs line. it's always important to challenge what's available but for me it's listening to the health care professionals. i'm just thinking how to protect him as soon as possible. as forjilly, she just wants other parents to know what can happen if their children are not vaccinated and get measles, and perhaps spread it to others who are too young to be protected. hugh pym, bbc news. question for you now... what do your children like to be read at bedtime?. a classic from roald dahl, or perhaps it's a david walliams book, or a jk rowling? teachers at a school in essex are so concerned their pupils aren't getting a bedtime story that they've decided to read to each child themselves. debbie tubby has been along

to latton green academy in harlow, where pupils can have a bedtime story from one of their teachers, and it's streamed on facebook live. it was lesson time at toy school for bob and the other new toys. once upon a time, well five weeks ago to be precise, teachers at latton green primary carried out a survey, which showed most of their pupils werent getting a bed time story. now, at 7pm, tucked up in the comfort of their own beds, their teachers have started to read to them. using facebook live. and the children can interact. it's no replacement for a paper book so if there is at night the parents don't have time to read a story or instead of watching or playing a computer game or tv, that is inappropriate them for the viewing, they have the opportunity to give their child technology and watch something beneficial for them.

the recent school survey showed only 24% of the pupils here heard or read a bedtime story. 72% watched the very first story on facebook live, 86% have watched it since. many children came into school and said once it had ended their family sat down together and read another bedtime story. the parents and pupils have loved it so much, they've even taken videos and photos so the teachers could see them listening to the stories. why do you think parents are not reading to children? i think personally it's just got lost along the way, so much is going on, people have afterschool clubs, all of that going on, and other things had taken over. it's a shame because there are so many lovely books out there for everyone to read and no matter how old the children are, they love a good story above, i love a story book. i read a lot before,

but now i'm reading even more and it's helping me a lot. i started to read to my little brother now, and reading a bit more at home as well. the school has had hundreds of comments on facebook, and says while screens aren't always recommended before bed timeif children are going to watch them anyway they might as well make it educational. we've got the children saying congratulations to the teachers and commenting on the reading and within the classroom children are talking about how they can extend it and they're giving us ideas on how to take it further. everyone say good night to hank. this isn't the end of the story. they hope there's another chapter with other schools taking up the idea. good night everybody see you tomorrow. well, sinead mccarthy is head of school at latton green primary academy, we heard from her briefly there. sinead, tell us a bit more about the motivation in setting up these bedtime stories. thank you so much, tell us more

about where this idea came from. well, we always have a story at the end of the day with the children, and the children vote for the story, and the children vote for the story, and it came about because they voted for one particular story and some children were concerned and upset they went having the story they really wa nted, they went having the story they really wanted, so teacher recommended reading it before bedtime as a bedtime story if you haveit bedtime as a bedtime story if you have it at home and the children we re have it at home and the children were commenting they did not always have a bedtime story, which sparked us have a bedtime story, which sparked us to doa have a bedtime story, which sparked us to do a survey within the school and we did it and we were surprised by the number of children who did not have a bedtime story. at the same time allotted them said they are on technology before bedtime, so we did a survey on that and was surprised that 62% of children is technology before bedtime, so between a discussion with the staff we thought how can we actually connected to, to make sure the technology that they are using can be purposeful and educational because we wouldn't normally recommend it if they using it, let's use it to our advantage. because

that was another question i had actually went out to put that technology had bedtime is what we are told. if it's already being used, just like them use it so that as you sit purposefully. what has been the response from the children and parents? really positive actually, it's lovely we don't see ourselves as a school where are family and we are a community and we know that the children can only make this progress and enjoy these things if we had the home—schooling, so we work together then we can make that happen, so we want to be able to support the families because life is busy, people are busy and have older children to take the clubs, they have got differentjob ships, so they don't always get to have that family time so we are creating that and a lot has said sitting down as a family and enjoying the stories together, children coming and each day i wanted every day so we have to say no sometimes we can't do that, and the staff said we will do it if

they want to and i said no for their well—being i had to put them back from it, buti well—being i had to put them back from it, but i am lucky because i had an amazing team, both of the teachers and had the idea of using facebook live stream, they wanted to do it if they could but i had to say no for their well—being. do it if they could but i had to say no for their well— being.|j do it if they could but i had to say no for their well-being. i was going to say after a long day, they're still reading starts at seven o'clock. how do you briefly, choose the books because you got a wide age range. yes we do that initially we started it with key stage one so we looked at picture books, we asked children to choose what they would like and from that, they then choose a selection of books bring it to actually choose two have the books that they can share and they vote for that but that way. children are involved in the and gilded children has started asking about chapter books, so we are listening to the children it's about the people of like as that connects to join us together as a community we want children to share our love of reading, and that's what we would

like to do now only that we also have been able to address it with other schools within the trust. and we have shared it with them as well, i that's why we do shout outs to children and their schools because we work together as a team within the trust so that's really worked well. ok, sinead from harlow, are you forjoining us. now it's time for a look at the weather with sarah keith—lucas. that evening a bay assigning spouse and heavy scattered showers and thunderstorms, still some showers with us in the evening and overnight across north wales, man for a time in western scotland showers, further east and central east england looking dry and clear before my cloud and showers working from the southwest later in the night. temperatures for most of us looking frost free but a few degrees above freezing and the more rural spots, after a chilly start friday morning

plenty of giant sunny weather, still a chance and i showers cropping up from the last of my cloud bringing outbreaks except for the showery rain. it'll be colder in the last, 12 or 13 degrees holding onto the mild air, it turns particularly windy and stormy through friday night and into saturday, storm hanna approach is bringing strong gusty wind in the south and risk of heavy and thunder he rain as well. bye— bye.

hello, i'm ros atkins, this is outside source. joe biden makes his pitch for unseating donald trump in next year's us presidential election. if we give donald trump eight years in the white house, he will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation. officials in sri lanka revise down the death toll from the easter suicide attacks by around a hundred — 253 people are now believed to have lost their lives. and cyclone kenneth makes landfall in mozambiquejust a month on from the devastation caused by another storm. we'll bring the very latest on that.