welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is reged ahmad. our top stories: a win for spain's socialists, but no outright majority as talks begin to form government. but the far right makes gains too, entering parliament for the first time. sri lankans unite in grief a week after the easter sunday attacks. prayers in the street for the 250 victims of islamist extremists. here they espouse a kind humanity — the very notion dismissed by the bombers. aid workers in mozambique say they're struggling to reach thousands affected by cyclone kenneth as floodwaters continue to rise.

and an emotional farewell injapan as emperor akihito prepares to hand over the throne after thirty years. hello and welcome to bbc news. spain's governing socialist party has won the country's general election but failed to secure a majority in parliament. with most votes counted, the socialists have taken 123 of the 350 seats and will need the support of other parties to form a coalition. there was a collapse in support for the popular party which took 17% of the popular party which took 17% of the vote. meanwhile, the vox party took 2a seats —

the first time the far right has entered parliament in spain since the 1970s. our europe editor katya adler is in madrid. spaniards today were on a mission, crowding into polling stations. for them, this is no run—of—the—mill general election. with politics here polarised, today's vote, some here told us, was a fight for spain's soul. i'm nervous, because i want the people i support to win, but at the same time i'm kind of excited. translation: there is so much at stake in spain today, the unity of spain, the integrity of spain, the identity of spain. spain has suffered something of an identity crisis, triggered by the push for catalan independence. sales in spanish flags have shot up here over the last couple of years. now, for the first time since the death of spain's 20th

military dictator, francisco franco, a far right party has won seats — a sizeable chunk of them, it seems — in the spanish parliament. vox promises to make spain great again — that phrase sound familiar? it beats the nationalist drum, promising to preserve spanish culture, including more controversial traditions like bull—fighting. we need to be proud about our country, in a way that we haven't been for a long, long time, defending the unity of spain, the history of spain, your values, your systems, your flag. and the link with franco that's being made? what link with franco? franco's been dead for 45 years, we weren't even born when franco died, there's no link with franco. like populist nationalists in france and italy, vox is tough on immigration, on islam and on crime, but... vox is extremely spain—centric — it is pro—bull—fighting, pro—eu, anti—catalan independence.

but in this country, split left and right since the spanish civil war, vox, unlike other populist movements across europe, has failed to attract disaffected workers who traditionally vote for the left. in fact, exit polls suggest vox succeeded in splintering the spanish right and rejuvenating the centre—left — something spain's socialist prime minister was hoping for when he cast his ballot this morning. i caught up with madrid's mayor just after she voted. she fought against spain's fascist dictator in her youth. translation: nowadays, politics in spain is angry, people are disillusioned. but i voted here in madrid in spain's first democratic elections after dictatorship. we managed to end basque terrorism — we'll find a solution to divided politics. maybe, but deep political divisions seem to have become the new normal in europe — look

at france, italy, uk. if, as predicted, left—wing parties now form spain's new government, that will leave many in this country feeling alienated and resentful. katya adler, bbc news, madrid. 0ur news reporter katie silver is at the headquarters of pedro sanchez‘s socialist party in madrid and sent us this update earlier. a lot of celebrations here. we've been hearing screams like, "ista, ista, espana socialista!" it's really been a big windfall for psoe. also we've seen a win as well for vox, the quite hard right party, but the biggest losers in this election is partido popular. it was particularly, it used is to be basically centre—right but they have lost a lot of power in this kind of coalition to the right that they've made. here, on the other hand, we're seeing many celebrations. three of the celebrations, celebrators rather, are david, ruben and irma. tell us, you are... i'm loving the way you are

carrying your flags here. why is this a big celebration for you tonight? because we thought that fascism was going to get more votes. by fascists, you mean the vox party? we mean vox, the party, yeah. and we are happy because we know that spain has chosen human rights, has chosen human rights, has chosen political education, has chosen public health. she feels that the hard right has made them feel like they're inferior, but they're equal. the left here are feeling the celebration. perhaps the damage caused by the introduction and the seeming popularity of vox wasn't as bad as they had potentially predicted. and you can keep up—to—date with the post—election coalition talks on our website. you'll also find a feature on whether pedro sanchez will be able to form a government.

that's all at bbc.com/news, or you can download the bbc news app. to sri lanka now, where people have been marking a week since the bomb attacks which claimed the lives of at least 250 people on easter sunday. the attackers were islamist extremists who targeted christian worshippers in church services as well as people in some of colombo‘s biggest hotels. the sri lankan president has announced that he's using emergency powers to ban any form of face covering in public to ensure national security. very few church services were held on sunday as a precaution but a nationwide service was televised. clive myrie reports from colombo. the bombers may have killed and maimed, but they haven't diminished the devotion of worshippers to venerate their god, even though on the streets. here, they espouse a

kind humanity, the very notion dismissed either bombers. but some have had a crisis of faith. lighting a candle for his own family, this man, hejust a candle for his own family, this man, he just left the church with two of his sons when the suicide bomber struck. his wife and other son, and baby daughter were still inside. translation: i believed in god, he told me. but some in my family have no life. i prayed to god he will heal them. his four-month daughter, lakshika's body was badly burnt. her mother and brother are in intensive care. three mother and brother are in intensive ca re. three reasons mother and brother are in intensive care. three reasons perhaps, for someone care. three reasons perhaps, for someone to lose faith. in all, 19

children ended up at this hospital after the bombings. many others died. this girl is five years old —— dedunl died. this girl is five years old —— deduni. her mother and brother are dead at the hands of the suicide bombers. her throat is badly scarred by the blast but will recover. but how scarred is her mind? she still hasn't been told, her relatives are dead. this is the alleged mastermind behind the senseless murders. and this is the result of his conspiracy, the bombing of saint anthony's. hashim died while blowing up anthony's. hashim died while blowing upa anthony's. hashim died while blowing up a hotel, while his father and two brothers are dead after a police raid. today, we were allowed inside the still damaged saint anthony's church, members of the sri lankan navy tried to clean away the stain of violence to restore this house of

god. they reckon it will be about a month, maybe two, before this place is handed back to the people for worship. and what happened here is destined to be passed down through the ages, along with all the other of religious intolerance. this country will move on. like others darkened by fanatics, the fervent hope is that the trauma of one week ago will unite through anchor, rather than divided. asthmatic sri la nka rather than divided. asthmatic sri lanka —— sri lanka. let's get more on the sri lankan government's decision to ban people from covering their faces. the measure is being seen as aimed at muslim women. earlier i spoke with an expert in asian religions — professor ben schonthal — about the possible repercussions. it's important to note a few things. first, muslims in sri lanka have been as horrified and outraged

as everyone else and in fact some of the loudest condemnations of the attacks have come from muslims. there's a danger here with this kind of act that it could be seen as a unilateral action targeting not these violent fringe groups that committed the attacks, but muslims at large, and that that could add to feelings of prejudice and alienation that are already there for a group that has faced a considerable amount of that in recent years. i think the design behind the ban could be perceived as targeting muslims generally as opposed to targeting some of these fringe groups, and in the past when proposals like this have happened in parliament or by other groups, the spirit was one of targeting muslims. i think in this particular case, i haven't seen the text of the bill yet, but that's certainly the danger now, that it could be perceived that way. there's likely a security element to it, to the introduction of this law, but could it actually have the opposite effect? could it ostracise muslims and make

it more difficult for them to potentially co—operate with security services? absolutely. my feeling about these sorts of measures are that the most effective responses are those that work towards generating trust and a sense of mutual responsibility among sri lankans of all backgrounds. let's not forget this particular group who committed the attacks were reported to security months — if not more than a year ago — not by the police or government officials but by concerned muslim communities themselves. so if the goal is to stop another attack of this type then certainly the best measures will have to include ones that cultivate trust and inclusiveness among the island's muslim community and doesn't lead to further alienation.

heavy rains and winds continue in northern mozambique in the wake of cyclone kenneth. floodwaters are rising and rescue workers are struggling to reach remote areas. up to two meters of rain are expected in the coastal town of pemba. five people have been confirmed to have died but that figure is expected to rise. the bbc‘s lebo diseko has this update from the country's capital maputo. heavy rain is expected to continue to fall over the coming days in the north of mozambique. the wf e, world food programme is telling me asthmatic wfp, says that cyclone kenneth could dump twice as much raina kenneth could dump twice as much rain a cyclone is dated in the coming days and they also expect being a quarter of the yearly rainfall over just the being a quarter of the yearly rainfall overjust the next being a quarter of the yearly rainfall over just the next few days —— cyclone idai did. in one of the most northernmost provinces here, the united nations has been evacuating people after several houses collapse and in the

neighbouring province, they have also been more evacuation is under way. we are hearing that it could be in the tens of thousands, the real fear is that these areas, the area that was affected by cyclone kenneth, is much more sparsely populated than that affected by cyclone idai, there fear is that there could be pockets of people in difficult, remote areas. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: kenya's eliud kipchoge beats a field of 40,000 to win the london marathon in the second—fastest time ever. nothing, it seems, was too big to withstand the force of the tornado. the extent of the devastation

will lead to renewed calls for government to build better housing. internationally, there have already been protests. sweden says it received no warning of the accident. indeed, the russians at first denied anything had gone wrong. only when radioactivity levels began to increase outside russia were they forced to admit the accident. for the mujahideen, the mood here is of great celebration. this is the end of a 12—year war for them. they've taken the capital, which they've been fighting for for so long. it was 7 o'clock in the morning, the day when power began to pass from the minority to the majority, when africa, after 300 years, reclaimed its last white colony. this is bbc news. the latest headlines:

spain's socialists come out on top in the country's election. they're celebrating into the night, but prime minister pedro sanchez‘s party faces an uphill struggle to form a government. sri lanka is banning face—coverings following the easter sunday attacks that killed at least 250 people. thousands of people in eastern canada have been been forced to evacuate, because of flooding. the provinces of ontario, new brunswick and quebec are worst affected. more than 6,500 residents were forced out of their homes, near montreal, after a breached dyke, following heavy rainfall. caroline rigby has the details. this is the result of heavy rains and melting snow. spring flooding in eastern canada has already affected thousands of people and properties. this is the result of heavy rains and melting snow. spring flooding in eastern canada has already affected thousands of people and properties.

this dam at bell falls in quebec is dangerously over capacity and authorities have ordered anybody down river to evacuate, but such warnings come too late for the residents of one town near montreal where more than 6,500 people were forced to leave their homes after floodwaters breached a dyke, sending a five—foot surge of water crashing through the area. the canadian capital 0ttawa and montreal are among the places which have declared states of emergency. and hundreds of soldiers have been deployed to the hardest—hit regions as residents do what they can to shore up their houses. my basement is currently flooding because the power is out as of today. my backyard is flooding too because there's a swamp back there, so i'm pretty much surrounded except for a little bit in the front. canada's prime minister has visited some of the affected areas, even filling up sandbags, but it will take more than a carefully planned photocall to solve the problem whichjustin trudeau says is a result of climate change. with climate change, we're going to see more and more

of these extreme weather events more regularly. we need to think about adaptation, mitigation and how we will move forward together. in some places, the floodwaters are now starting to recede , enabling people to assess the damage but with more rain forecast over the coming days, others can only watch and wait. caroline rigby, bbc news. the former us republican senator, richard lugar, one of washington's most prominent foreign policy voices, has died in virginia aged 87, he was awarded the presidential medal of freedom in 2013, by barack 0bama. the former president said richard lugar‘s legacy was the thousands of missiles, bombers, submarines, and warheads that no longer posed a threat. mr lugar served six terms in the senate for the state of indiana. he also made a presidential bid in 1996.

first of all, what you think richard lugar‘s legacy will be. first of all, what you think richard lugar's legacy will be. there were several things he got himself involved in when he was elected to the senate in 1977, many of them concerning global peace and in those areas, ended up challenging his own party but he was a loyal republican. in1986, he party but he was a loyal republican. in 1986, he voted to override a veto by ronald reagan on a bill that would have imposed sanctions on apartheid era south africa. he also persuaded reagan to drop his support for the philippines president ferdinand marcos which led to the end of the marcos irra and he challenged george w bush over the rock wall but what is most remembered for is what he did to get rid of the nearly 8000 nuclear warheads that had been left in eastern europe after the end of the cold war which could have potentially more than into the hands of terrorists or hostile states. working with a democratic senator, sam nunn, he pushed for a bill which meant the us would pay for the

decommissioning of all those weapons which was a massive contribution to global peace and helped earn him that presidential medal of freedom awarded by barack 0bama. that presidential medal of freedom awarded by barack obama. but is quite a legacy. we knowjohn mccain has passed away recently, another republican. is this also partly the end of a bipartisan era, these statement —— statesmanlike men disappearing. despite richard lugar, many people will be mourning a more gentle way of doing politics because —— because because he was loyal to his party, he did deals with democrats, but he was regarded by many who met him as somebody who is fair, polite, civilised. heels also stuck in his ways ——he was not a lwa ys stuck in his ways ——he was not always stuck on his way. it was his strength but also led to his downfall because when he tried to get the nomination for the seventh term, he was beaten by somebody in

what used to be called the tea party wing of the republican party who we re wing of the republican party who were unhappy with the way he made deals with the democrats. that was the end of his political career. today we will be seeing people who remember notjust today we will be seeing people who remember not just him today we will be seeing people who remember notjust him but a different way of doing politics in the united states as well. the end ofan era, the united states as well. the end of an era, at the moment anyway. indonesia's electoral commission says many people have fallen ill, and some have died because of fatigue. many were counted by hand often outdoors. in tripoli, house—to—house battles have dominated weekend clashes between libya's government forces and troops loyal to commander khalifa haftar. haftar‘s libyan national army,

which is allied to a rival administration in eastern libya, mounted an offensive on tripoli three weeks ago, but has failed to breach defenses in the city's south. for the first time in more than 200 years, a japanese emperor is about to resign. on tuesday afternoon emperor akihito will enter a ceremonial room in the imperial palace in tokyo and formally give up his throne. under japan's constitution emperor akihito is not allowed to retire, so the government had to pass a special one—off law to allow him to do so. rupert wingfield—hayes reports from tokyo. in a lush forest on the western outskirts of tokyo, the japanese emperor is on a final, solemn mission. standing before the vast tomb of his father, 85—year—old emperor akihito has come to tell him that he is relinquishing the throne. 0utside, crowds have gathered with shouts of "banzai", as the emperor and empress pass. this is one of the very last public appearances that the emperor and empress will make before the abdication, and you can see the huge number of people that have turned out this morning, thousands of them,

for this last opportunity to see the emperor and empress in public. it gives you a real sense of the genuine love, affection and respect that is felt by people here for emperor akihito, and gratitude for the way that he has carried out this very difficult role over the past 31 years. they do so much good for the country. you see them in the news, doing this or that for the good of the people, and it really takes you here. i think that's why. translation: i am not from the generation that experienced the war, but the emperor is the one that has kept the peace injapan throughout his reign, so i wanted to come and see him to show my gratitude.

i wanted to tell him thank you. quiet and modest he may be, but in his 31 years on the throne, akihito has revolutionised the japanese monarchy, comforting people in times of disaster and distress, and reaching out a hand of reconciliation to the countries japan invaded and brutalised under his father. akihito is a huge figure, and so he created a new role for the emperor, and that was as the nation's chief emissary for reconciliation, criss—crossing the region, making gestures of atonement and contrition, remarks of remorse, basically trying to heal the scars of the wartime past. at times, this has brought conflict with right—wingers at home. there were violent protests ahead of the emperor's historic visit to china in 1992. his steadfast support for pacifism has put him increasingly at odds with the country's political elite, particularly with prime minister shinzo abe. everything is quite subtle when it comes to the emperor, but clearly emperor akihito and shinzo abe have frosty relations. they totally disagree about the wartime narrative.

akihito has, you know, referred to the tragedies of the war, and the need for pacifism. abe is trying to rehabilitate that era and promote a stronger military role forjapan. at 85, akihito is now increasingly frail. for nearly a decade, he has been pushing to hand the throne to his son. on wednesday, he will get that wish. crown prince naruhito will become the 126th emperor of japan. more than 40,000 runners have been taking part in the london marathon.

a kenyan athlete took the women's race as well, brigid kosgayo tookjust two hours and 18 minutes to reach the finishing line. a weekend that began with wind and rain ended on a relatively quiet note across most parts of the uk. that is how we start the new working week, with some dry weather for most of us. western areas will see some rain, and that will slowly spread eastwards over the next few days. could be some fog patches to contend with, and for a time, butjust for a time, it will turn a little bit warmer. this is what's going on — the view from space, the satellite picture from a little earlier on. you can see a few stripes of cloud pushing in from the west, but all these frontal systems making very, very slow progress, so this monday morning really only dragged across the far west of the uk. elsewhere, high pressure in charge, very light winds, hence we have some mist and fog patches around. they should tend to clear

through the morning, and in most places monday will bring some spells of sunshine. best of the sunshine likely to be found across scotland. but remember, that front in the west still dangling its way down into northern ireland, west wales, the south—west of england, with some patchy rain at times. here, relatively cool — 12 in belfast, 13 degrees in plymouth, but come further east we'll be up into the mid—teens, maybe 18 or 19 degrees across some parts of scotland. then we go through monday night, and we'll continue to see these areas of cloud and patchy rain in the west. perhaps some heavier rain reaching northern ireland later in the night, elsewhere some clear spells, some mist and fog patches, also some low cloud rolling in from the north sea. most of us not having a particularly chilly night, maybe parts of eastern england and eastern scotland getting relatively close to freezing. so we get down into tuesday,

and it's more of the same, to all intents and purposes. still some rain in the west, heavier rain for northern ireland, maybe fringing into northern scotland, the far west of wales and cornwall later in the day. further east some spells of sunshine, and for many tuesday will be the warmest day of the week, with highs between 17—20 degrees. tuesday will be the warmest day of the week, because that warmth is not going to last. out of tuesday into wednesday, this front which will have been in the west eventually moves its way eastwards, taking cloud and showery rain with it. rain will be quite sporadic, quite on—and—off, there's some uncertainty about how quickly this band of cloud and rain slides its way eastwards. but ahead of this band of cloud and rain, this frontal system, there will still be some holding on across the south—east corner. temperatures here could get close to 20 degrees. but behind the weather front, this is where things start to change. much cooler and fresher from the north—west, that cooler feel extending to all parts on thursday, friday it could potentially feel very chilly indeed,

with northerly winds across the uk, and showers for some of us.

this is bbc news. the headlines: spain's governing socialist party have won the most votes in the general election, without securing a majority. prime minister pedro sanchez‘s party now faces an uphill struggle to form a government. the far right party vox has entered parliament for the first time with 2a seats. emergency measures to ban sri lankans from covering theirfaces are coming into force on monday. the announcement said people's faces should be fully visible to allow identification — but the niqab and burka that some muslim women wear weren't mentioned specifically. the easter sunday bombings killed at least 250 people. aid workers in northern mozambique say they've not yet been able to reach many of the people affected by cyclone kenneth, three days after the storm hit. save the children said roads were impassable because of rising floodwaters and helicopters had been grounded.