this is the briefing. i'm sally bundock. our top story: spain's socialists win most seats in the general election, but fall short of an absolute majority. we're live in madrid. i'm tim willcox in madrid. despite the celebrations by the left, a win also for the far right. sri lanka bans face coverings following the deadly easter sunday attacks. authorities say it's crucial for national security. combating climate change with cows — an unlikely way to capture carbon

and protect the countryside. in business briefing — boeing holds its annual shareholder meeting with its boss under intense pressure to regain public trust after two deadly crashes involving its 737 max jet. a warm welcome to the programme, briefing you on all you need to know in global news, business and sport. also in the programme: brits abroad. apparently we are going further afield to holiday and not choosing eu countries because of brexit. so, we'd like to know where are you going and why? has brexit influenced your holiday plans? do get in touch, just use the hashtag #bbcthebriefing.

let's get started. we begin in spain. spain's socialist prime minister pedro sanchez is hoping to form a new government after his party won the most seats in the general election. but he didn't get a majority, so will need the support of others, including the left wing populist party podemos to form a coalition. the right wing vox party won seats for the first time. live now to the bbc‘s tim willcox in madrid. tim, talk us through the outcome. the supporters of the socialist party haven't heard too much, but what is clear that even though the socialist have the largest number of seeds, they cannot form an absolute majority of government, they will have to have a coalition —— seats,

this illustrates still how divided spain is. the centre-right collapsed overnight, they had tucked further to the right than that vox party, but now you can see that even though the socialist will probably form a coalition with podemos, perhaps a harder group than some others, the country is divided because a lot of people here voted for the socialist rather than choose to vote for the ha rd rather than choose to vote for the hard right. the idea of going for a ha rd hard right. the idea of going for a hard right. the idea of going for a hard right party after the death of franco in 1975 was simply too much for many spaniards to bear. overnight though, celebrating pedro sanchez, the comeback kid, quite frankly has done it again. he lost two elections to the socialists, he was ousted as party leader of the socialist and in fact went on a tour

it's a comeback, he will be prime minister again. katie silva, it's a comeback, he will be prime ministeragain. katie silva, our reports are —— our reporter was in getting the atmosphere over there 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. what is clear also that moves by the catalans, what is clear also that moves by the catala ns, two what is clear also that moves by the catalans, two years ago and how the legal referendum according to madrid, still dominates spanish politics. the right use the separatist claims by the catalans andindeed separatist claims by the catalans and indeed elsewhere as a rallying call, trying to unite the right

against the powers given to the semiautonomous regions. spain has been both the most decentralised country in europe, what happened now though, there will be coalition talks. it's unlikely they make progress over the next two to three weeks, especially of mr sanchez need some of those independent parties as well, because in three or four weeks' time we have municipal and regional elections here and the parties won't want to be seen to be making any pacts with their political rivals or enemies before those elections take place, so i think there will be a period of 3— 4 weeks before the government reforms. this is the eurozone's fourth—largest economy, there are serious debt of them is due to gdp, which need to be addressed, and europe will be hoping for some sort of ability going forward now so they can put through some of the structural reforms that they haven't

been able to do in the past few yea rs. been able to do in the past few years. all right, thank you tim, for 110w. years. all right, thank you tim, for now. we will look at the spanish economy in more detail in around 25 minutes. as tim mentioned there, there was political turmoil therefore some time now but the economy has gone a rough time with unemployment, especially among the young, we will talk about that later. 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, though the niqab and burka that muslim women wear were not mentioned specifically. caroline rigby reports. a week on from the easter sunday attacks, people of every faith have been remembering those who lost their lives, praying for peace for their lives, praying for peace for the safety of their country, for the recovery of the injured. many here

hope the bombings which were meant to cause divisions will instead bring this country of 21 million people closer together. but in a move that some moves limbs perceived as an attack on their faith and culture, sri lankan authorities have announced they are outlawing any form of face covering that could stop people from being identified. the band, which comes into force on monday, makes no specific mention of the macabre or broker worn by muslim women, but it does seem to be aimed at them —— niqab or burka. women, but it does seem to be aimed at them -- niqab or burka. this could be seen as not a lateral does make unilateral action against these terrorist groups, but could increase these feelings of alienation that are already there. the government says it was from the bay national security needs, but even before the attack had been growing demand for

such a ban. a week after suicide bombers detonated their devices in churches and hotels, this country is trying to return to a new normal. the sides of the attacks remain closed to the public, but the hope is that some will start to be reopened later this week —— sites. caroline rigby, bbc news. let's brief you on some of the other stories making the news. brexit talks between the government and the opposition labour party will resume later today. among those taking part will be the chancellor philip hammond this and his labour shadow, john mcdonnell. it comes asjeremy corbyn's facing more pressure to commit his party to a referendum on any brexit deal. 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 metres 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.

in tripoli, house—to—house battles have dominated weekend clashes between libya's government forces and troops loyal to commander khalifa haftar. his 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 defences in the south of the city. a 120 million eligible voters in india have an opportunity to cast their ballots in the staggered general elections. monday marks the fourth phase of polling. electoral contests will be decided in seventy two parliamentary constituencies, across nine different states. -- 72. almost 1,700 people have been evacuated from homes in the canadian province of quebec, where melting snow and heavy rain have caused widespread flooding. many rivers in the area are close to bursting their banks, and more rain is forecast for the coming days. donna larsen has the details.

this is the result of heavy rains and melting snow. spring flooding in eastern canada has already affected thousands of people will and properties. this damage else falls in quebec is dangerously overcapacity, and authorities have ordered anyone to evacuate. but such warnings came too late for the residents of one town near montreal, when more than six and a half thousand people were forced to leave their homes after floodwaters reached a diet, sending a five foot surge of water crashing through the area “— surge of water crashing through the area —— dyke. the canadian capital montreal and ottawa 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 homes. my basement is currently

flooding because the power is out as of today. my backyard is flooding too, because there is a swamp back there, i'm surrounded except for a little bit out the front. and a deposit minister has visited some of the affected areas, even helping to fill up sandbags, but it will take more than a carefully planned photo opportunity to solve the problem with justin trudeau opportunity to solve the problem withjustin trudeau is the result of climate change —— canada's. withjustin trudeau is the result of climate change -- canada's. we will see more and more of these extreme weather events more regularly due to climate change, we need to think about adaptation, mitigation and how we will move forward together. in some places, the floodwaters are starting to recede, allowing people to begin to assess the damage, but with more rain forecast over the coming days, others will have to watch and wait. donna larsen, bbc news, quebec. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: world tennis number five dominic thiem wins his first barcelona open title, and makes a splash celebrating.

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 help 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. you're watching the briefing. the headlines: spain's socialists have won most seats in the general election, but fallen short of an absolute majority. they're now set to form a left—wing coalition. sri lanka has banned face coverings following the easter sunday attacks that killed at least 250 people. let's get more on sri lanka. rebecca shah is a senior fellow from the american—based religious freedoms institute, and is an expert in the south and south—east asian region. thank you for being on the briefing. can you give us your reaction to the

ban in sri lanka? thank you for having me. well, it is a bit of a shock to hear about the band, and i quite understand why the government did this. this is some of the worst violence, terrorist violence, the country has seen since the end of the civil war —— ban. and what the ban will do is it will heighten fears, we feel, in the muslim community that are already feeling that they are sort of under suspicion, they are feeling that their religion is under suspicion, and perhaps even under attack. you may know that the number of women who actually wear the veil, the face veil, is actually very small, but they are part of a growing number of conservative muslims in south asia in general. i see this in my own native south asia, where niqab

wearing is a practice that is increasing in the community. so what the band might do is it risks making the band might do is it risks making the entire community feel besieged —— ban. the entire community feel besieged -- ban. do you think, though, that this ban is justified -- ban. do you think, though, that this ban isjustified on any grounds, from a security perspective in sri lanka, and also given the enormous attack that took place on easter sunday, and its aftermath? well, i quite understand why the government has done this. as i said earlier, it is an awful attack, it was a co—ordinated attack, and again i reiterate, some of the worst violence the country has seen since the end of the civil war. but i wonder whether this has... will have any positive or will have any benefits, security benefits. let me tell you why. at this point in time, government really needs the support and cooperation of the muslim

community, it needs the support and the cooperation of the conservative muslim community, those communities where niqab wearing is increasingly common. they need to enter into enclaves of conservative islam, like eastern sri lanka, where there are large numbers of these types of conservative muslim communities, and where it is said that the mastermind of the bombing lived. so, by banning this face veil in this community, one wonders whether the ban actually i’u ns one wonders whether the ban actually runs the risk of alienating this community when the government needs them the most. thank you, we really appreciate your insight. there is more detail on our website and that move on the part of sri lanka. tell us move on the part of sri lanka. tell us what you think about that as

well. a prominent scientist says improving the quality of soil is vital in order to tackle climate change. sir bob watson wants more action from governments to limit the release of airborne carbon particles from poor soil, which happens when land is badly farmed or forests are cut down. here is our environment analyst roger harrabin. soil erosion — a double problem. here in the east of england, this isn't smog in the air, it is soil on a hot, windy day. losing soil like this lowers our ability to grow crops. it also releases carbon trapped in the earth, and that contributes to climate change. in parts of the south of england, some carelessly farmed fields are steadily running into the rivers. soil degradation is a problem that do affect almost half of the world's people. look at this cloud of dust

last year in phoenix, arizona. it is the result of a spectacular storm. for most farmers, soil loss is a creeping problem that is only noticed too late. soils are really important for climate change, as well, because they store a lot of carbon. there's three times as much carbon. there's three times as much carbon stored in soil than there actually is in the atmosphere. so you imagine, if all of that carbon is released from the soil into the atmosphere, we would have — this is the runaway climate change that people are worried about. so what to do? well, we know how is‘ burps are a problem for climate change, but their dung also helps put carbon back into the soil. so this mobile dairy in the south of england may prove pa rt of dairy in the south of england may prove part of a solution. it means cows s p rea d prove part of a solution. it means cows spread their dung across the fields, not leave it in the farmyard. that way, nutrients and carbon from the pastor returned to the soil. we were worried that the soil was becoming dead. there was no vitality in the soil, there was no resilience in the soil. so we

realised we needed to put grass back into the system, and to manage the grass, we brought in dairy cows. here is the evidence. this field, with its light, stony soil, is depleted from crops grown with chemical fertilisers. depleted from crops grown with chemicalfertilisers. see depleted from crops grown with chemical fertilisers. see the depleted from crops grown with chemicalfertilisers. see the much darker, carbon rich soil in the ploughed field previously fertilised by cows. the simplest way of combating climate change and improving the soil is to turn all of this farmland into woodland. but that wouldn't feed the people, would it? perhaps a form of farming like this can be gentler on the environment, while keeping milk on the table. but capturing carbon in the table. but capturing carbon in the earth is hugely complex. the uk alone has 700 types of soil. it's ha rd to alone has 700 types of soil. it's hard to make policies to solve climate change when you are dealing with billions of farmers. now it's time to get all the latest from the bbc sports centre. hello i'm tulsen tollett, and this is your monday sport briefing,

where we start with the footballing news that manchester city stand just two victories away from retaining their premier league title, after sergio aguero's second—half goal gave them a scrappy victory over burnley at turf moor. the one goal was enough, as pep guardiola's side celebrated another vital step forward on the road to the title. these kinds of games you play with the tension that's going to happen at the end of the season. but you know, we have two points, which is incredible. the same was said in the last month. it's in our hands, so we have to win our two games. next one is leicester. valtteri bottas is back on top of the formula one drivers championship after winning the azerbaijan grand prix. it was a mercedes one—two, as bottas, who has now got two race wins, finished 1.5 seconds ahead of his teammate lewis hamilton. that is a record four consecutive one—twos for hamilton and bottas now, while ferrari's sebastian vettel finished third.

world number three petra kvitova beat anett kontaveit in straight sets, 6—3, 7—6, to win the stuttgart grand prix on sunday. it was the czech‘s second title in 2019, following victory at the sydney international injanuary, and comesjust a month before the start of the french open. while dominic thiem defeated daniil medvedev 6—4, 6—0 to win the barcelona open. the austrian third seed cruised to victory for his second title of the year, adding to his triumph in indian wells last month, and celebrated in a unique way. the toronto raptors will again look to kawhi leonard as they take on the philadelphia 76ers in game two of their nba eastern conference semi—finals series later. leonard scored a career playoff—high 45 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the game one 108—95 victory, receiving a standing ovation when taken off, with just minutes remaining.

in the nhl, dallas stars will look to take a lead in their western conference semi—final series when they host the st louis blues in game three later on monday. roope hintz scored twice as the stars beat the blues 11—2 on saturday in game two, to level it at one each. ding junhui will take a 9—7 lead into the final session of his last—16 match againstjudd trump at the world snooker championship later. ding had been 5—3 down against trump before sunday's session, but he made breaks of 81, 55 and 60 to establish a two—frame lead going into monday evening's final session. it may have been a kenya double at the london marathon, as eliud kipchoge won the men's and brigid kosgei the women's event, but this coming up was a guinness book of world records effort. completing a marathon dressed as big ben, but then you can't get across the finish line.

this athlete was attempting the fastest marathon time dressed as a landmark, and encountered some difficulty at the finish line. maybe a lesson for us all there — don't forget your measuring tape next time. you can get all the latest sports news at our website. that is bbc.com/sport. but from me, tulsen tollet, and the rest of the team, that is your monday sport briefing. well done to all those marathon runners. i bet they are feeling it this morning as they try to get out of bed. let's have a look at today's talking points, apparently fewer brits are choosing to go to eu countries for holidays this year. and thomas cook, who has drawn this research, is concluding it is because of brexit uncertainty, so if you are choosing

to go to popular destinations such as spain, et cetera. actually, spain ‘s remaining popular but other destinations within europe are not. turkey is a bear, but also more and more people are booking holidays to places like mexico, asia, indonesia, those kinds of places. so i asked you, where are you going, and why? and has brexit impacted your choices this year or influenced you at all. graham says it is nothing to do with going to eu countries, it is the price to get to eu countries. a 5—star holiday in spain is £1500, whereas you can go to mexico to a 5—star resort for £1400. others agree with him, one says are used to holiday in mainland europe a lot, brexit has not influenced my choice, but places which used to be really cheap are no longer, and that is because of the value of the euro. david says because the eu will

continue to homogenise the countries in europe, food and culture is changing and it is not as attractive. thank you for your comments. i will see you soon. hello. a weekend that started with wind and rain ended on a relatively quiet node across most parts of the uk, and that is how we start the new working week, with some dry weather. there will be some rain in the west. that will slowly spread eastwards over the next few days. some patchy fog to contend with as well. it will turn warmerfor a time, but i can't promise that is going to last all week long, as i will show you in a moment. this is the satellite picture from earlier on. you can see

a couple of stripes of cloud trying to push in from the west, frontal systems, but not making a lot of progress, so this frontjust dangling its way and across the far west of the uk. elsewhere, high—pressure is in charge so it is a dry start to the day, mist and fog patches clearing readily and then spells of sunshine. the best of the sunshine across scotland. further west, this pesky front affecting northern ireland, the west of wales, the far south—west of england, some patchy rain to come here. away from these areas, temperatures in the mid and high teens across parts of scotland, 18 or 19 degrees. as we go through monday night, cloud and patchy rain in the west. heavy rain arriving in northern ireland by the end of the night. further east, largely dry with clear spells, mist and fog, low cloud lapping onto the east coast. not an especially cold night but a little bit chilly for some parts of the east. maybe a touch of frost in one or two spots. into tuesday, again some early mist and fog tending to clear. still these frontal systems in the west, making a bit mock progress into western scotland, and maybe western

wales in the south—west later on tuesday. before that front arrives, temperatures between 17 and 20 degrees. as that front continues to slide its way through as we move into wednesday, moving erratically eastwards, not many winds to push it along, it will eventually usher in a big change in the feel of the weather. this is wednesday's charts, a band of cloud and patchy rain working its way eastwards. could be the odd heavy shower breaking out in the odd heavy shower breaking out in the afternoon. ahead of that frontal system, some warmth, 17— 19 degrees. behind the front, things started to turn a little bit cooler. it turns cool with steel through thursday into friday, a decidedly chilly end to the working week with northerly winds across the country.

this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. a win for spain's socialist party, but for the new government a battle to overcome an economic slowdown, chronic unemployment and poor public finances. boeing holds its annual shareholder meeting today with its boss under intense pressure to regain public trust after two deadly crashes involving its 737 max jet. and on the markets, asian stocks are mixed at the start of a week that's packed news that may provide clues on global economic growth.