people given credit notes for cancelled package holidays due to the covid—19 pandemic, are being reassured by the government that they'll still be honoured — even if firms go bust. the announcement covers breaks booked by uk agents both at home and overseas disrupted between march the tenth and the end of september this year. our business correspondent, katie prescott, has more. summer holidays, a distant dream for the hundreds of thousands of people who have seen them cancelled because of the pandemic. such as jennifer and john who were supposed to travel to las vegas to marry injune. like so many others, they are still waiting for a refund. we need that money to pay for the wedding that we have rearranged. so, we're just chasing them. we keep asking them, "please, will you refund us?" but they are saying there is a queue. £6,000 which is what ours cost is not a small amount of money to anybody, to normal people like this, especially my partner has been furloughed for three months. travelers who see their holidays cancelled should get a refund within14 days.

given the sheer number of cancellations that have happened over the past few months, many travel companies have struggled to meet that, and so have instead been issuing credit refund notes for holidays at a later date. the concern is, though, if those companies go under, travellers would lose both their money and their holiday. the government is changing this, pledging to underwrite all refund credit note issued between the 10th of march and the 30th of september this year, for atol—protected holidays cancelled because of covid—19. it gives consumers that confidence to accept these credit notes if they don't want to accept a refund. they can still take a refund if that is what they want. but it also gives companies the opportunity to encourage those customers to book with them in the future. but customers are advised to do their homework before accepting them over a cash refund. by accepting a refund credit note, you are locked in with that holiday company. when you come to rebook, you have to rebook with them.

it means you can't shop around, you won't necessarily get the best price. we also know some tour operators have increased prices for 2021. so, you may end up having to use the refund credit note and paying a bit more as well. the government won't say how much they expect the scheme to cost but as 12 travel firms have already gone under this year, the burden of paying for cancelled package holidays will fall on the taxpayer. katie prescott, bbc news. now on bbc news, our world, and jane corbin returns to sri lanka where she meets three people whose lives were changed by a number of terror attacks. a warning, this film contains scenes which some viewers may find upsetting. sri lanka: a paradise island of many faiths, popular with tourists all over the world. but the peace is about to be shattered by a series of terror attacks. this is the story of the minutes

that followed and how they changed the lives of three people from thousands of miles away. when you walk on a day like today, it's a holiday today. the people are here, looking at the beach, in a way, for hope. the only way we as a family and i think, as a world can recover, is if something good comes out of something so evil. easter sunday 2019, the luxury shangri—la hotel in the capital, colombo, was packed with visitors enjoying their holiday. i looked through the window, it was a beautiful morning, just like any other normal morning. i opened the door and could hear the nice music in the background. it's very zen—like in shangri—la. kieran from london was staying in the hotel while on business.

haneke and a friend from australia had booked a last—minute holiday here. everything was done really well. the service, the quality, everything was done at a really high quality. i loved it, those first few days. i was walking through the corridor to the lift and i pressed the button and the lift opened and i got in. two local men had also checked in. they were caught on security cameras on their way to breakfast. we walked into the restaurant past all of the stations of food. these two men brushed past me, they were swinging around these big backpacks that i found quite odd at the time. one guy was looking quite intently around the area. he got quite close to my face and i remember finding that very uncomfortable.

the two men had sworn allegiance to the islamic state group and were here to kill tourists. i heard the big thud, the bomb underneath. everything goess silent, you don't hear any sound anymore. literally for a moment, you freeze. all i remember was hearing a sound coming from my right and i remember feeling a pressure. the next thing i knew, iwas... 0n the ground. it must‘ve been about five seconds later, you can hear the screaming in the lift next to me. kids were screaming and you could see the jerk—stopping of the movement. the door opened and this is when you saw all of the carnage just in front of you. it was as if there was ash coming from the ceiling.

i just saw the wires dropping out of the roof with the walls all shattered. you can hear the water sprinklers. you can see people with blood all over them running around. they were trying to escape. as i looked down and saw that, i noticed that i was from head to toe covered in blood. i saw the destruction in the room that had been caused and i saw the terror in other people's eyes. i basically thought that we were definitely going to die. david lindsay was in london that day, but his father and brother and sister were staying in the shangri—la hotel. he's american and my mother's english. they are all pictures of them. how old is amelie here? she was probably 1a.

this is amelie and dan on the beach in california which is where we went every year. amelie was the glue that held the entire family together. she was as close to everyone. dan was the most selfless person you could ever have asked for. david, amelie and daniel's older brother, had stayed at home to study for his exams. they were just on holiday really because they were very adventurous people, they wanted to get to know the world better, develop a global view, really, on how things worked as much as possible. they were caught up in the attack on the shangri—la while they were at breakfast. they had gone to get something from the buffet when it happened. and just because of the way they were standing, you know, my dad made it out with barely a scratch, but they didn't.

amelie and daniel were amongst those rushed to sri lanka's national hospital. dr indika de lanerolle was one of the medical staff trying to save the wounded. a lot of casualties were there, a lot of dead bodies around me. and i still remember ambulances were coming, so people were shouting to each other. there was quite a lot of foreigners who were affected, a lot of tourists and they were shell—shocked. a lot of people from european countries who have not seen something like this happen. amelie and daniel lindsey could'nt be saved — two of the 35 people who lost their lives in the shangri—la that morning. but it wasn't just three luxury hotels that were bombed on easter sunday. the islands christian community was also a target on a day when churches were packed.

it is a special day for christians, especially. it is a celebration day. at the zion church on the island's east coast, a young man arrived wearing a large rucksack. brother stanley, who was helping at service, spoke to him. he was very young and he had a bag. he was very calm and then later on, i was thinking in different ways how he was looking. i spoke to him and he refused to come in. then, at that time, i didn't feel any danger. i went inside. the zion church recorded the sound of their service starting.

explosion screams a huge sound, all the ceilings, from the stage — one side fall down. this church was one of three bombed that day by other young men in the terorr group operating on the island inspired by the so—called islamic state. it was terrifying, terrifying scene. i've never, never seen in my life that way because i have seen many wars, but i have never seen... i have never seen this kind of terror. across the island, another easter

service was just finishing at saint sebastian's church in negombo. chandrani and herfamily, devout christians, were in the congregation that day as another suicide bomber detonated his device. explosion

115 people are believed to have been killed at saint sebastian's — 27 of them children. it was the worst loss of life in the nine bombings that day. as sri lankans tried to rebuild their lives, the lindsay family was also trying to come to terms with their devastating loss. david was determined to do something positive for sri lanka, so the family established a charity in memory of amelie and daniel to provide support for the hospitals

that were so overwhelmed that day. doctors in sri lanka are very good because they've dealt with the civil war for 30 years. so they really did everything they could. there weren't enough trolley beds for people, people were being carried into the hospital and treated up against the wall. as good as the doctors were, they couldn't... there was no way they could save everyone. now, nearly a year on, david has come to colombo to see a delivery of new hospital beds paid for by his charity fundraising in britain. here they are, the trolley beds. and you are in sri lanka to see them? what do you feel? yes. i feel really a deep feeling of pride and gratitude for actually managing to get something done and for everybody who has helped us and allowed this to be possible.

these were made in a localfactory and we wanted to source as much of the equipment locally as possible because the country has been hit very hard. every dollar of business we can give to local companies is helping more than just bringing them beds. the fact that you're in this hospital where you have actually seen the place your brother and sister were brought. yes. this is very tough to deal with? very tough. of course, when i saw that place last time, it was very, very upsetting. it is somewhat comforting to feel that upset replaced with a bit of pride with bringing the trolley beds. providing beds is just the start for the charity. then we go to bigger pieces of equipment and, if we get the funding, we could even build our own hospital. but we'lljust have to see what we can get and how things work out operationally. but i'm very optimistic. the charity is also working with the authorities to improve practical trauma care. and there are plans to help

the wider community. we want to try and aid the recovery of the country, both socially and economically. and there's a number of ways we're looking at doing that. we're looking at education, we're looking at skills training, and we're are looking at direct mental health and counselling help. in its purest form, the charity exists to carry forward amelie and daniel's values because they're no longer here to do so. for kieran, now back in sri lanka, the shangri—la bomb was a flashback to the civil war he experienced growing up here as a child. for me, the civil war left a profound mark on my life. i remember as a child it was normal, you know, you look around, you see bombing at night, the middle of the night,

you'll hear a shell coming from a big camp. and you'll think that was a very normal event. the war raged for 25 years as tamil insurgents sought to establish an independent state in sri lanka. the conflict killed tens of thousands of people and wounded and displaced many thousands more. few families were left untouched, but kieran‘s was torn apart, caught in the crossfire between insurgents and the sri lankan army. my brother, he was six years older than me. i must have been 11 or 12 at the time. i can see him coming from the senior school, running towards me and i was running towards him. i see him being shot, falling down.

so i ran to him and there was a moment of shock, there was a moment of — i was very young. i didn't know what to do. but my father, he loved his son and he said, you know what, i do not care. and he walked into the camp to see the body. and they arrested him. and they kept him for six months for asking that and they tortured him. kieran‘s father paid smugglers to get him out of sri lanka to britain and safety. kieran claimed asylum and lived with a tamil refugee charity in london. he excelled at school, went to university, and worked with prestigious firms in the city of london. then i decided that there must be a reason that god somehow saw me through this death and destruction on one side and somehow brought me all the way through this

journey to england. kieran had set up an educational charity, aiming to help train young survivors of the civil war in technology. surviving the easter bombing gave new impetus and urgency to his plans. kieran, too, is determined to help sri lankans get back on their feet after his own lucky escape from the shangri—la. this is a country that has given me everything in my life. and ifeel that this kind of enforces why we must — we can only overcome evil by education and empowerment. his charity is now focusing on high—tech training to provide employment and opportunity for the young. how are you? i'm all right. i want to make sure they are learning the machine

learning of the world, the ai, the blockchain, whatever we think the future is going to be. two former students of kieran‘s have come to colombo to help him set up his high—tech academy. so i brought someone from india to teach augmented reality, because i'm very... augmented reality? that's quite — that's pretty advanced. that's right, because you know — one of my things that my passion for these guys were that — when i was studying in sri lanka, if i wanted to learn about hearts i need to go and read like five or six books before i can understand, but because the technology, the augmented reality, you know, you can literally see the heart just literally in front of you. so i wanted to create that curiosity into education. you know, one of the things, guys, you know, when i listen to you guys, it's that — we have this grit within our culture, as a country we have this

resilience, amazing resilience. another shangri—la bomb survivor, haneke, like kieran, has her roots in this island. i was born in melbourne, australia, and my family is sri lankan. the first time i ever went was after the end of the civil war. i've been going back on holidays ever since. there's a weird sense of home when i go back. when you have an experience like this, where you think you're about to die, suddenly, all the things that you thought were important to you become quite clearly not that important. i never could have imagined how horrific these things could be and how much devastation it can cause. and we're all human, and seeing other people's pain firsthand... and so i started dine for lanka, which is a not—for—profit fundraiser.

and it's focused on food because i think food brings people together, regardless of their race or religion or political view or gender. we supported a local sri lankan charity called kind hearted lankans. they're doing all the hard work on the ground, working with us and distributing to help people in terms of their medical needs, people who were impacted by the attacks, in terms of their financial needs, livelihood, assistance that they require. whether we help by providing prosthetics or beds for people so if they were paralysed they can get out of hospital and move back to their homes. an electric bed where they are not at risk of further spinal injuries. one thing i'm very aware of is that we can't undo what happened. and there's this entrenched pain and grief that a lot of people are dealing with.

we can't undo that. butjust bringing a little bit of positivity or hope can keep someone going for a little bit longer. like many sri lankans, chandrani and her daughter are struggling to cope after the loss of the family breadwinner, diluk. they depend on local people who've rallied around to help. those whose lives were destroyed by the bombings still struggle to comprehend

these acts of hate. the attacks were an attempt to stir up religious conflict in this multifaith nation. but appeals for calm by christian leaders helped stop further widespread bloodshed. that is much important, to live together, because they still love, you know, all the communities. as a christian, we love everyone, even we love the people, you know, who hated us.

the shangri—la bombing brought three people from thousands of miles away together, with one aim — to let sri lankans know they won't be forgotten. this isn't the sri lanka that i knew and it's certainly not the sri lanka that i know now. this could have happened anywhere in the world and it's — it's really important when things like this happen to move forward and learn lessons. a lot of the young people are hoping we can put all of this behind and move forward. and if you walk on a day like today, it's a holiday today and people are here on the beach. in a way, for hope. when something terrible happens, you're left with a huge hole in your life. our ultimate hope is that the only way we as a family, and i think as a world, can come to recover is that something good can come out of something so evil. and we've made a start.

hello. a weather front which first moved into scotland and northern ireland on thursday night is still bringing some cloud and rain across parts of southeast england in the day ahead. whereas elsewhere it's a fine sunday on the way. here's a weather front which has clearly been very slowly moving south across the uk. in fact, won't clear away from southeast england until tonight. so this is how things are shaping up first thing. another warm, muggy start to the south. any rain clearing away from wales, maybe still a bit towards parts of the midlands.

certainly into east anglia and into southern england as the day starts. whereas elsewhere it's a fine and quite cool start to the day, but you get the sunshine. a few showers run in across scotland, mainly towards the north and west. but for northern ireland, northern england, wales increasingly so into the midlands, gradually so into southwest england, there'll be some sunshine. but across much of east anglia and southeast england still cloud, even at this stage of the afternoon. still some patchy rain around for some of us here too. and for the most part temperatures just into the teens. quite a change where yesterday was so very warm and humid. quite a change at old trafford compared to saturday's washout. plenty of play with the sunshine in the day ahead. as we go on through sunday evening, still a bit of rain towards essex and kent. that will finally clear away, along with that weather front at last, keeping a few showers across parts of northwest scotland, as much of the uk will be dry going into monday morning, and cooler across the board. many of us will be into single figures as monday begins.

with a ridge of high pressure building in for monday and for tuesday, for that matter, giving a lot of dry weather. not dry everywhere, because still around that ridge of high pressure there'll still be a few showers coming in, especially into scotland. but during monday there's a chance of catching a few running on through northern ireland and parts of northern england as well, whereas the bulk of england and wales will stay dry. another cool start to the day. temperatures recover in some sunny spells, but we're still mainly talking temperatures into the high teens. just a few spots getting into the low 20s. so, most staying dry again on tuesday. by wednesday, we'll see a bit of rain into parts of northern ireland, especially scotland, whereas much of england and wales, bar the chance for a shower later in the week, will be staying dry.

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