this is bbc world news today. our top stories: th sri lanka bans two islamic groups linked to the easter sunday attacks — as security forces say six children were among more than a dozen people killed during a police raid. you can see the science of clashes and the damaged hair. the steel gate has been damaged, broken windows. the united nations says some of the villages hit by cyclone kenneth in northern mozambique have been entirely wiped out. the uk government is under investigation over its decision to cancel the visas of thousands of foreign students accused of cheating in english exams. and millions of orthodox christians celebrate easter‘s holy fire ceremony in services across the world.

hello and welcome to world news today. sri lanka has banned two islamic groups linked to the easter sunday bomb attacks. the move comes as security forces say six children were among 15 people killed, after suspected militants blew themselves up during a police raid. the raid followed a gun battle with security forces in the ampara district south of batticaloa, the site of one of the easter sunday blasts. yogita limaye reports from colombo. the search continues for those behind sri lanka's horror. police have been carrying out raids across the country. on friday, they followed a tip—off to this house, in the eastern city of sainthamaruthu. armed men were inside, who set off an explosion.

a gun battle followed and the house burned down. more than a dozen died. women and children were caught up in the violence. the wife and child of this man, zahran hashim, the alleged mastermind of the bombings, are believed to be amongst them. in another raid in the same area, police found a huge stash of bomb—making material. a discovery that reveals how grave the threat of more attacks still is. this banner of the islamic state group, which has claimed responsibility for the easter sunday attacks, was also found. several suspects are still at large. these photos were put out by the government earlier this week. newly released closed—circuit tv footage shows the bomber at kingsbury hotel, in colombo, the night before the attack. backpack full of explosives, he checks in at the front desk, then goes off to his room.

in the morning, he's seen leaving the elevator on his way to the hotel's breakfast restaurant. moments later, he detonates his bomb. perhaps the most inhuman of the bombings was at this church in batticaloa, because children were the target — young boys and girls who were attending sunday school. the bbc‘s tamil service spoke to a pastor, who recalls seeing the bomber. translation: he was wearing a shoulder bag and a camera bag. i wasn't aware of his purpose at that time. many children were drinking water in the entrance of the church after their sunday school class. people and children were entering, that's when the bomb went off. workers have begun to clear the trail of destruction and most of those who died have been laid to rest, but fear remains.

the bbc‘s anbarasan etirajan has been to the site in eastern sri lanka where friday's raid took place and sent his report. this is the house where intense clashes took place 2a hours ago in the town of sainthamaruthu. the steel gate has been damaged, broken windows. the police said after the three militants were killed in the shoot out, the reigning —— remaining people inside detonated bombs and killed the rest of the members in this house. that damaged the entire building. we find another van here and the police believe this van belonged to members of this house. they suspected this could contain explosive devices and they said they didn't find explosive devices and they said they

didn'tfind any explosive devices and they said they didn't find any device but this van was also damaged in the fighting. 2a hours after the fighting, most of the neighbours have fled away, fearing for their safety, and that is why there is an eerie silence in the street, except for a few policeman guarding the site at the moment. the whole town is deserted and empty. we also see some bloodstains on the floor here, suggesting that some injured person was brought from inside the house to this place. police here say that, they rescued two people, a woman and a child, they were rescued, they we re a child, they were rescued, they were both injured in this operation and they believe that they were the wife and daughter of one of the masterminds of this sunday's bombing last week, zahran hashim, and they think that they made a big breakthrough in this case because the militants who were staying in this house, they were planning further attacks and that is why police believe that they have made a break breakthrough and they say that

operations like this will continue until they find the remaining sympathisers of the radical islamist group. in the united states, a man has been detained for questioning in san diego after a shooting incident at a synagogue. the san diego sheriff bill gore says police were called to the chabad of poway synagogue just before 11:30am local time. sheriff gore has tweeted that there are injuries but adds that the situation is developing. details are still coming in. the united nations says some villages hit by cyclone kenneth in northern mozambique have been entirely wiped out. after conducting an aerial assessment of the area, a senior officialfrom the un humanitarian agency described the level of destruction as heartbreaking and said many people would need assistance in the coming days. we are on the ground in pemba. we

have come back from an aerial assessment where we have seen the villages worst hit by the eye of cyclone kenneth. these villages have been wiped out, they look like they have been run over by a bulldozer. the people are asking for shelter, then they need water and purification and food. we will work closely with the government, we are supporting their coordination to this response to mobilise the supplies needed to get these people assistance as quickly as possible. the weather is bad, it is still raining, but the winds have died down. we will be doing everything we can next 2a hours to get people the supplies they need and continue to move out to assess areas and make sure we know the full situation on the ground. our correspondent pumza fihlani is in the mozambican capital maputo and sent this report. it's the worst storm this part of mozambique has seen. the people here were unprepared. days after cyclone kenneth hit, many are still shocked at the force of mother nature.

heavy wind of up to 200 kilometres ripped through northern mozambique, destroying homes and uprooting trees. the people of mozambique had barely recovered from another cyclone, which hit the port town of beira just over a month ago, causing death and destruction. the authorities this time around want to move faster. they're desperate to get their hands on resources which will make it possible for them to get help to where it's needed most. the operation is dependent on how nimble they are on the ground. torrential rains are expected here over the next few days. this means there's a high risk of flooding and landslides. there are fears thousands of people could be left trapped in remote villages. there are nearly 20,000 people in displacement centres — these are schools and churches that survived the impact. but as a clearer picture emerges of the destruction, more may be needed, local

authorities have said. the worst—hit areas include pemba. teams have been deployed to the area. officials say this will determine where help is needed most. one death has been confirmed, but there are fears that figure will rise over the next few days. but for some, life now has become a search for the next meal. they are relying on aid efforts. it's a desperate time for survivors. rebuilding their lives will be slow and daunting for many people of this poor country. pumza fihlani, bbc news, maputo. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. sudan's military rulers and the organisers of mass protests have both expressed optimism after their first formal meeting to discuss a return to civilian government. it's expected they will agree the formation of a new body to lead the transition to a civilian government, though military representation on any

new council would remain. pakistan has suspended a nationwide anti—polio campaign following several attacks on health workers. the government said it wanted to protect hundreds of thousands of polio workers across pakistan, after one was killed in baluchistan province and others attacked. the campaign — to give anti—polio drops to almost a0 million children under five — has been undermined by distrust and the spread of misinformation. a ceremony has taken place in the border village of panmunjom to mark the first anniversary of the ground—breaking summit between the leader of north korea's kimjong—un, and the south's president moonjae in. but the north did not accept the invitation to attend. in his address, president moon said peace remains the ultimate goal. an investigation has begun in the uk into whether the home office acted fairly when it accused more than 30,000 foreign students of cheating in english

language tests required to obtain their visas. hundreds were detained and more than 1,000 were removed from the uk. clear evidence of cheating was uncovered by the bbc‘s panorama programme in 2014 but there are claims the government went on to wrongly accuse many people. kathryn stanczyszyn reports. an instructor reads out the answers. the students dutifully write them down. in 2014, panorama found clear evidence of this kind of cheating at two centres where foreign students sit english language tests. it's one of the assessments they need to pass in order to obtain a visa to study in the uk. the then—home secretary theresa may said it would be urgently looked into. we have done a lot over the last three and a half years. we have rooted out abuse, the number of student visas has gone down and the amount of abuse has gone down, but it is clear people are finding other ways around the system. following the panorama investigation, the home office ordered checks on more

than 58,000 oral tests taken between 2011—2014. it concluded that 311,000 people had cheated and said other results were questionable. the government cancelled 36,000 student visas and more than 1,000 people removed from the uk. fatima was one of those told her visa would be revoked, but denies doing anything wrong. she's not allowed to work, but not allowed to leave the country either. my life is actually damaged, it is broken now. whatever i am doing is just staying in the home and counting my time, hoping that one day, everything will be sorted and i will live my life again. at the time, the conservative government made very public its aim to reduce immigration numbers, something critics claim may have played a part. those students were not even treated like criminals — criminals would have a better chance to defend themselves

because you would have to present them with evidence. this is directly linked with this effort to attempt to reduce the number of migrants at any cost, and those students were caught in this. the national audit office says it will now review the government's response to fraud in the student visa system. the home office says it is already cooperating and continues to welcome genuine international students. in the united states, a man has been detained for questioning in san diego after a shooting incident at a synagogue. the san diego sheriff bill gore says police were called to the chabad of poway synagogue just before 11:30am local time. sheriff gore has tweeted that there are injuries but adds that the situation is developing. details are still coming in.

i have a report coming in saying a man has been arrested, that is from the twitter feed of the sheriff's department. the synagogue were hosting the passover holiday celebration that was scheduled to begin at 11 o'clock and the shooting comes exactly six months after a gunman killed 11 people at a synagogue in pittsburgh, the deadliest attack on a situation community in the history of the united states. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come: we'll tell you why two days after the french government announced a response to the social crisis, the yellow vest protesters are still marching.

this is bbc world news today. the latest headlines: sri lanka has banned two islamic groups linked to the easter sunday bomb attacks — as security forces say six children were among 15 people killed during a police raid. let's stay with that story. a short time ago i spoke to amarnath amarasingam, an expert on extremism in sri lanka. he told me more about the organisation said to be behind the attacks. this particular organisation, the national thawheed jammath, is a breakaway organisation from the larger group known as the sri lankan thawheed jammath, lankan which in itself is inspired by the broader thawheed movements in southern india. this current one, the nt], was formed sometime in 2014. what exactly led to the formation of the organisation is not entirely clear but some suspicion is that it was shortly after the 2013 anti—muslim violence

where the leadership zahran hashim, believed that the broader muslim community wasn't kind of dealing with the threat that the muslim community was facing in the country in a radical way, that they weren't willing to respond with violence and that this kind of engaging with mainstream politics wasn't the right answer. but it sounds from what you are saying that the group was on the radar of officials to an extent. what you make of the link, therefore, between the so—called islamic state group and this organisation? they have said they played a role in these attacks as well. but at the very least, we can say that there was some network or some communication with somebody inside the islamic state. the reason we can be confident of that is that a lot

of the releases that came out from isis itself, from the first claim to the second claim to the photos to the videos to their discussion of the attack in a magazine that they put out all came through isis central channels. so it wasn't that they were just supporters in other parts of the world putting out this content but they are coming out of isis central channels online and therefore usually the to get that kind of access you would have to know somebody, you would have to have a trusted intermediary of some kind. now to france where two days after the french government announced a response to the country's social crisis, the "yellow vest" protesters are marching in strasbourg once again. protestors took to the streets in the capital paris as well. the numbers have reduced from the tens of thousands to a few thousand, but manyjust aren't convinced by the presidential speech calling his solutions "small measures" . rahuljoglekar reports. the government is surely but slowly

building a bridge over troubled waters in france, taking control. but that was not to be. this weekend, like many others since november last year, the yellow protesters were out again on the streets. the numbers have dwindled significantly of the highs of 300,000 last year but as the haze of tear gas lifted, a grim reality, the anger and thousands of protesters are here to stay. despite the government's announcements. he has done nothing, what is changing? things will change for two or three households, for two or three retirees, that is not what it takes, we need real measures, not small ones. his announcements were empty promises, nothing is based on numbers, nothing is for sure. from strasbourg to paris, the man facing

the music is a france's youngest president. emmanuel macron. he has tried everything, it may seem. higher pensions, civil service reforms, add a charm offensive on television. the latest proposals come on top of changes announced in december at a cost of 10 billion euros. money can buy you a lot of things but securing the peace on the streets of france for nowjust isn't on that list. let's get the sport. cardiff's premier league status hangs in the balance — after defeat at fulham and brighton's draw with newcastle. ryan babel with the only goal in that gane. cardif only have two games left and with a far inferior goal difference there will be some nervous faces in the welsh capital tonight. we are not out of it yet. i think we

had ten shots in the last ten minutes. i thought we could have been a bit more intense in the first half, if i'm honest, but probably a bit nervous, i don't know. i can't fault the lads effort, it is just one of those things. the one guy on the pitch who scores a goal like thatis the pitch who scores a goal like that is probably the one who is worth the most money, or a premier league player. we have had five or six great chances, really, and we can't finish one of them. let's ta ke a quick look at the rest of saturday's premier league results. spurs lost their first game at their new stadium — losing 1—0 against west ham. wolves got their revenge on watford, after that fa cup semi—final final defeat. they beat them 2—1— to go four points clear of watford. elsewhere, everton were held to a goalless draw by crystal palace at selhurst park. in spain — barcelona can clinch the title, with over levante. it's after 2nd placed atletico madrid won 1—0 against valladolid.

barca just have to match their result, and it's currently xxx... result, and it's currently 1—0. victory for them, would give them an 8th la liga title in 11 years. barca face liverpool in the champions league semi—finals, starting at camp nou on wednesday. in the bundesliga — dortmund have been dealt a crushing blow — in their hopes of securing the german title. they were beaten at home, in their derby game with schalke 4—2. dortmund two players sent off. victory for bayern munich over nurnberg on sunday, will increase the champions' lead over dortmund to four points with three matches to play. leipzig keep their grip on 3rd place, with a 2—1win over freiburg. mercedes capitalised on more mistakes from ferrari. they locked out the front row for sunday's azerbaijan grand prix. charles leclerc was the fastest driver until this crash in qualifying left him in tenth place. valtteri bottas then pipped teammate lewis hamilton to pole position. sebastian vettel, in the other

ferrari, will start third. the team has zero blame on that. the car felt quite the team has zero blame on that. the carfelt quite ok, it is a bit trickier. you are expected as a driver. first lap ok, second lap i thought all the potential was gone. only myself, my mistake, and nobody else to blame. so, yes, i will learn from it, come back stronger and hopefully tomorrow, especially tomorrow, i will try to recover from my stupid mistake today. rafa nadal‘s hopes of becoming the first player to win the same atp event 12 times are over, he's been knocked out of the semi finals of the barcelona open by dominic thiem in straight sets. nadal beat thiem in last year's french open final but he had few answers today, as he went down 6—4 6—4. dominic thiem will play

daniil medvedev in the final after he beat kei nishikori in three sets. world number one naomi osaka says she had to force herself out of bed on saturday morning because of adominal pain which ultimately led her to withdraw from her semi—final match against anett kontaveit at the stuttgart grand prix. the world number one ‘s had a similar injury in the past but remains upbeat about her chances of being fit in time for the french open. i don't feel depressed or sad about this. i think i was able to play two really good matches and for me, starting off the season that was what i hoped for. i have more tournaments to recover from this and more things to learn. that's all the sport for now. although most christians in the world celebrated easter last sunday, more than 200 million eastern orthodox worldwide have been marking holy week under

the julian calendar, with easter falling tomorrow. injerusalem's church of the holy sepulchre, thousands of worshippers have marked the holy fire ceremony. it is considered a miracle that occurs this day every year. the greek orthodox patriarch ofjerusalem, theofilis iii, lit a few candles with the holy fire, and passed them on to worshippers inside the church. in the united states, a man has been detained for questioning in san diego after a shooting incident at a synagogue. the san diego sheriff bill gore says police were called to the chabad of poway synagogue just before 11:30am local time. sheriff gore has tweeted that there are injuries but adds that the situation is developing. details are still coming in. we're hearing that multiple people have been injured. waiting for confirmation on the numbers. the synagogue was hosting its passover holiday celebration. that's it for now, thank you for

watching. storm hanna has made for a turbulent start to the weekend. we have wind gusts of 82 mph in north—west wales. you can see the deep area of low pressure that has been pushing eastwards as this load continues to clear eastwards, through tonight, it will weaken significantly. so things look a good deal, as we head through the second half of the weekend. for the second half of the weekend. for the rest of tonight, the winds will ease, they will be some showers but a good deal of dry weather is starting to show its hand as well. the rain we have across the north and southern scotland will continue to ease, a few showers left here by the end of the night. some showers

clipping into eastern england. for most places, temperatures between four and most places, temperatures between fourand 7 most places, temperatures between four and 7 degrees, there may be a touch of frost in northern ireland. tomorrow starting off quietly, and a big morning in london, the marathon taking place overhead there is likely to be a lot of cloud, there may be the odd passing shower at times, equally some glimmers of brightness. but for the participants, temperatures of 11 to 14 degrees, fairly comfortable. for the rest of the uk, there will be a lot of dry weather, and increasingly some sunshine through parts of scotland, down into northern england, the midlands, showers clipping east anglia and kent. more cloud further west, a weather front trying to push in with patchy rain in the south—west of england and northern ireland. not as windy as it has been and with more sunshine, temperatures is a bit higher, between 12 and 16 degrees. quite a complex weather pattern as we head

into next week, high pressure will be broadly in charge, a lot of fog under the hires we start monday morning. frontal systems trying to push on from the west but initially they won't make much progress, parts of west wales and northern ireland, elsewhere early felt were left unclear and will cmh that makes —— makes of sunny spells and showers. a lot of dry weather to be had through the week ahead. nothing especially windy, just a chance of some rain at times, particularly in the north and west.

this is bbc world news. the headlines: police in the us state of california say a man has been detained for questioning in san diego after a shooting incident at a synagogue. there are reports of some injuries. sri lanka has banned two islamic groups linked to the easter sunday bomb attacks, as security forces say six children were among 15 people killed during a police raid. the operation followed a gun battle with security forces. the united nations says some of the villages hit by cyclone kenneth in northern mozambique have been entirely wiped out. it folllows an aerial assessment of the area. the uk government is being investigated over its decision to cancel the visas of thousands of foreign students accused of cheating in english exams.