the sri lankan foreign ministry has confirmed 27 foreign nationals have died but released no further tails. britain's high commissioner to sri lanka said some britons were among those caught up in the attacks. our south asia correspondent rajini vaidyanathan has the latest. they came here to pray, on one of the most sacred days of the year. butjust before nine in the morning, the sanctity of their easter service was shattered. as a violent bomb blast ripped through the historic st anthony's shrine in colombo, worshippers scrambled to escape. translation: i heard the explosion and then the roof fell on us. we took the children and ran out from the rear door. but when i came to the hospital, i saw my brother—in—law, and son on the ground. at almost the same time, two other churches in the area were also hit by deadly explosions. leaders speaking on behalf of the country's christian minority called for peace and harmony in the wake of these attacks. i would like to call upon all, to pray, that all those who are injured may be healed soon, and that all these families who have lost someone

number two is, what steps the sri lankan government is taking to prevent any ethnic religioios anglesviolence between muslims and -- both christians and buddhists. there are reports of certain attacks against mususlim shops in c certain part of f sri l la. that also should be raised. and most important, the final ,ne, ensure civivil liberties torture, disappearance are not takiking place in ththe contextf anti-terror operations the governmentnt will be inititiatig now. , asasngerer we are seeieing now jijim f the conflict and the wa, out.ngled they're going to be the suspects. leaves -- war, single i'm sorry, sri lankan security forces as well as the muslims had a cordial relationship. most of them were recruited as intelligence operatives because the muslims live among tamils. it ispeak the language so easy to be intelligence officers and get information. number two, sri lanka also as aited muslims paramilitary force against tamil - --s, the net armed group the f and armed group. the relationship to the muslimss in the military establishment was very, very close. there are so many se

sri lankan authorities say seven people have been arrested. they've imposed a nationwide curfew and restricted social media. christian worshippers in three churches were targeted as they celebrated easter. find out who is responsible behind this act. and also to punish them mercilessly. only animals can behave like that. there were blasts at four hotels. nine nationals from the usa, uk, netherlands and portugal are believed to have been killed. good afternoon. at least 200 people have been killed and hundreds more injured in explosions at churches and hotels in sri lanka — according to the authorities there. dozens died in blasts during easter services at churches in negombo and the eastern city of batticoloa. in colombo, worshippers were targeted at st anthony shrine. three of the city's major hotels were also hit — the kingsbury, the cinnamon grand and the shangri la. a short time later there were explosions at another smaller hotel and at a private house. they have confirmed 27 foreign nationals have died but have released no further detail

there are some reports that sri lankan muslim use were going to join. some reports that sri lankan muslimted that people could get radicalised at this level. even the community members, muslim community leaders are looking at the way these attacks were carried out and the day it was, this explosives are not easy to get on the market. sri lankan use would not have had youth for any kind of reach towards these explosives. they must have had reach outside of the country. they are pointing out some globaljihadist movements. we don't know at this stage who are responsible, but there seems to be some sort of link with outside groups because the community leaders are very, very strong that ordinary sri lankans would be able to plan such an act. 0k anbarasan ethirajan, we believe that there. thank you. dozens of firefighters are trying to control a moorland fire in marsden in west yorkshire. it's thought the blaze, which broke out last night, extends to over a square mile was started by a barbecue. it's the sixth fire in the area so far this year. absolutely sell and down there on the left—hand s

this has really no basis in sri lankan politics in the last decade.officials, but otherwise it is a complete and devastating shock. we are talking about a country that has seen relative calm since the end of the brutal civil war ten years ago. yes, it is almost a tenth anniversary of a civil war that lasted itself for 25 years. that war was horrific in many ways. there were suicide bomb blasts, atrocities committed on both sides for a long and protracted period. that came to an end in 2009. this kind of violence hasjust period. that came to an end in 2009. this kind of violence has just not been seen. it is not something anyone could have conceived of. in those last ten years, how would you have characterised the way the different ethnic elements that make up different ethnic elements that make up sri lankan society i've got along together? sri lanka has a majority of sinhalese and buddhists, about 7596 of sinhalese and buddhists, about 75% of the population, and also has hindus and muslims and christians, about 10% each. in the aftermath of the war t

that was the sri lankan defence minister speaking in colombo.xt president in a landslide victory against the incumbent petro poroshenko. he won 73% of the vote with no previous experience in politics, though he does star in a ukrainian television show as a fictional president. the european union says he can count on its strong support to fight corruption. from ukraine's capital kiev, here's our correspondentjonah fisher. this was the first time volodymyr zelensky was told he'd become president. it was three years ago and the first episode of his television show. servant of the people. last night, action became fact and the music from the tv show last night, fiction became fact and the music from the tv show was played as volodymyr zelensky was told for the second time. this time for real, that he was ukraine's next president. translation: to all former soviet countries, look at us. everything is possible. across town, the president poroshenko conceded while muttering darkly that the kremlin would be celebrating the comedian‘s when. that the krem

a recent programme run by interpol inbound training at 30 sri lankan forensic specialist and police officersinues, more than 20 arrests had been made and likely they are more people involved in the planning of this attack who are still at large. large amounts of ied materials had been recovered including 87 low explosive detonators come from a bus station, there are no verified claims of responsibility as yet, but so far 40 arrests have been made and counterterrorism activity continues. the sri lankan prime minister president had both said publicly that there will be a thorough investigation into the incident and weather information was handled correctly and it's important to let the process follow its course. mr speaker, to attack christian worshipers on easter, a celebration of peace and holiest day in the christian calendar, portrays in the attackers absence of the most basic value of humanity. just two days ago, the prime minister and i both noted in our easter messages of the dangers facing christians around the world. 300 of whom are killed every month. in response to such acts, we mus

sri lankan new year was just last week.it's a very easy—going atmosphere. sri lankans are generally open to foreigners and welcoming to them. it has boosted our tourism industry. in a few minutes, we'll be speaking to thusiyan nandakumar from the tamil guardian newspaper. sport — and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's olly foster. amir khan says he's not a quitter and wasn't looking for an easy way out of his world title fight against terence crawford in new york. he lost the bout after being caught with a low blow from the wbo champion khan was outclassed from the very start at madison square garden and was knocked down in the first round. he was then caught by an accidental shot below the belt by the american, in the 6th. khan said he was in too much pain to carry on, but he also seemed to be struggling with an elbow injury. crawford, a three weight champion, who remains unbeaten, was ahead on all the judges scorecards and retains his crown. i've never quit from anything. i'd rather be knocked out. i'd

sri lankan 's deserve praise for this. if you were to put into google "death by what's up".his is a machine today, you can kill people with one of these. lots of deaths through misinformation and fa ke of deaths through misinformation and fake news on whatsapp. they have problems with fake news, and the sri lankan authorities, being fearful, realising that all it takes is one oi’ realising that all it takes is one or two people who would make hay out of this, who would write in, watch out for people who look like this, i'm not even going to say it because they will take a clip from bbc news and say look, it was x, y, z, but... i have seen friends in whatsapp using the safety function to let people elsewhere in the world no that they are safe. it is better that they are safe. it is better that that safety was delayed than the amount of damage you can do with this. in southeast asia, and i have seen it in india, some innocent people are mob lynched. let's move on to vox. an extraordinary result in the ukrainian election, but maybe not so, because it became clearer and clearer

one death that had more media exposure is that of sri lankan celebrity chef sean to. take a look this is her facebook page right here this selfie was taken by her daughter as they had breakfast with family at colombo's shangri-la hotel mother and daughter . both killed the hotel leaders said three of its employees had died as well so we know that the pressure is growing to find those responsible for the attacks the sri lankan government has blocked access to social media as part of its campaign and investigation officials say it's necessary to stop the spread of misinformation which they fear could make a bad situation even worse is that what's happening there let's find out from conus and from our social media this girl let's talk about what exactly has the government or they shut down social media they shut it down this is day three now of the shutdown and we're talking about sri lanka's most popular platforms of facebook instagram youtube snap chat among others and also these all important messaging app so there's no whatsapp there's no viber in the country right n

sri lankans who may have gone to syria and come back to you know this in forty of islamist terror. is it possible that the government we know was this really government monitoring these people i mean did they they have these possible troublemakers on their radar this is not clear at the moment i think this will be part of the law in best occasion lankan government really has to see and how far these people have really been monitored it would also be when they have come come back over thought so countries so it could also not be so easy for sri lankan authorities. to really follow these individuals but i think this will be all part of. the investigations that we will see in moving forward. the coexistence of different religious groups in sri lanka is that threatened by what happened yesterday i think one of the biggest challenges will be for the government to provide security to muslim population for the simple reason that we have seen retaliation. against muslim minorities and if the link is proven to be cold i think it would be a major challenge for the government to award it does

responses are those that work towards generating trust and a sense of mutual responsibility among sri lankansall 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 a concerned muslim communities themselves. 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. we can already point to certain initiatives you can already see on the ground in sri lanka, recently, a select committee of parliament has introduced a declaration outlining the amount of points designed to enhance religious harmony and communal on the island, things like dialogue and trilingual education. that is i think a productive step. there have been a lot of meetings and steps taken by religious groups and steps taken by religious groups and religious leaders around the country. i think we have also been —— which have also be

those religions are spread across sri lanka's major ethnic groups about three quarters of sri lankans are sinhalese. with tunnel groups totaling more than fifteen percent and sri lankan mors making up most of the rest. when nationalist thomas pushed for independence in one thousand nine hundred three it sparked a devastating civil war over the next twenty six years it's believed more than one hundred thousand people were killed the war ended in two thousand and nine with an all out government offensive that crushed the remaining tunnel strongholds human rights watch later said the fighting constituted genocide. despite small scale acts of interethnic violence since tree lanka has been mostly at peace a tourism boom has bolstered economic growth and sri lankan officials are keen to shield the sector from instability and violence for more now i'm joined by. expert christiane wagner he works with the german institute for international security affairs here in berlin mr wagner it's good to have you on the show his government has apologized for failing to act on warnings about a possible a

of the sri lankan government and why he had not been aware of the warnings of the attacks.. what do you do when you are out of the loop? you are talking about not being in the loop. you are the prime minister, you are number two at the national security council. that is the critical issue, we have to find out why i wasn't in the loop, who was and who wasn't in the loop at the st anthony's shrine in colombo targeted in last weekend's blasts the clean—up is under way. but the catholic church across the country has cancelled all matches scheduled for this sunday amid concern there could be more attacks, a sign that the threat to sri lanka and its people's fear remain. ——cancelled all masses. rohan karr, the general manager of the cinnamon grand hotel, targeted last weekend, told the bbc‘s martin patience that the bomber had checked into the hotel the night before and the staff were not suspicious of their guest. a warning, some viewers may find some of this interview distressing. he behaved like a normal customer. he walked in the night before and we served him a welcome drink

sri lankan officials have believed they're all sri lankan citizens, but we do know he studied in the southeast of england in 2006 to 2007, a short before. it's not known exactly where he studied or precisely for how long, but this has a slightly better traveled more worldly picture of that group of nine bombser pictured in the isis video in which they used to try to suggest their responsibility for this horrifying act of mass murder. i should also point out the one security person i spoke to here in the uk says that it is highly likely frankly that isis was

most of the dead a sri lankan many including at least church north of the capital which children. dozens of foreigners were also killed among them nationals from the u.s. britain turkey india china portugal and denmark. alongside the sadness it's also a growing sense of outrage. and this is a very sad thing this is happening. it's not just an attack it's a pretty gross to some extent. in the aftermath of the carnage sri lanka is a nation in shock and looking for. or each we want to get more now from the capital colombo i'm joined on the telephone by journalist. i mean it's good to have you with us let's talk a little bit about what is happening right now we understand the country is now under a state of emergency and security forces we understand today initiated a controlled asked does all this all of that mean that the threat still remains intro longer tonight. so as a. country state of emergency and as you were a correctly set the date evening that the kerry people if. they. have to call again and then been very. very close to the fan that to me read the first bomb went off on s

veils how in your opinion can targeting them make a difference to sri lankan security. well first of all your premises actually wrong in the first instance the bomb is on all have coverings let's get it right it's on all head coverings so it's not just on muslim women it would have played with anyone else who were something that covers you know their entire their entire face and in the second instance let's get real you know over two hundred fifty people have been massacred. in sri lanka and the i fully support the sri lankan president for this temporary security measure and if it helps save lives my question would be why would anybody oppose that and might i the other fundamental point to make it's been supported by the largest muslim group in sri lanka so where is the argument most of them supported sure like and supported i supported who wouldn't support it well i'm alone do i mean david said let's get real get it right face coverings but actually there aren't any other religions are there that use the face covering apart from islamic women and again i stress as a sm

now, you and others have h reported that the sri lankan government initially called this local. now, do you think this is a discrepancy that is just understandable in the aftermath of something like this, or is there something more to it? >> i don't think there's that much of a discrepancy. what they are saying when it's local is that the people who carried out this attack were clearly sri lankan nationals. it seems to be that there were sri lankan nationals per their assessments and at the same time they have also suggested that there had to be some kind of external assistance for this. there's no precedence for this kind of radical mobilization within sri lanka in terms of this kind of -- the scale of this coordinated attack and, yes, i think both the sri lankan government and as you just said the u.s. intelligence assessments included that this -- that this militant outfit clearly either was inspired by isis or had some kind of substantive links to isis-afill the grouped elsewhere. >> why sri lanka? mean this, kind of attack unfortunately probably could have happened in any c

let's return to sharanjit in the sri lankan capital, colombo. thanks. mbings were the deadliest violence the country has witnessed since the end of its civil war in 2009. joining me now from singapore is nicholas fang, director, security and global affairs at the singapore institute of international affairs joins me now from singapore. just how different were these attacks on sunday from what has happened in sri lanka before?” think there were some interesting new features of this particular attack which surprised many people. historically, the protest violence we have seen in sri lanka, or at least ten years ago when the internal conflict finally entered into thousand largely focused on the conflict between the liberation tigers, which was a separatist movement, what we saw was different on easter sunday, just two days ago, was the attacks targeting tourists as well as, of course, christian churches. those are two particular target groups that haven't really featured very high in any type of violence within sri lanka in the past. and that's why some of

the blocks seem to make sense just not to those actually affected sri lankans my c.v. some western media what i see is someone going well you know just because of hate speech means to get its act together in reality these are not democratic decisions what happens is the sri lankan government just block someone's mean jerk reaction and you know people just have this way of information you have to sort of weigh the risks that come with social media and how it can be used to sort of incite violence and further violence which are like i seen in the past however in sri lanka you know most folks actually communicate through like what's up and viber and when you block those makes it very hard to access information about what's going on and the fact that the news is being broken and through social media rather than through official media channels first and you know without any government statements right away i think cause people to really sort of panic. beyond the question of whether a social media blockage is in the societal interest is the question of how effective blockage

accused the sri lankan army, actually there were war crimes committed on both sides.s repeated in case of this recent operation against these suicide attacks, or whether the muslim minorities, so we have sufficient reason to be concerned and obviously we will... it is necessary to take action against terrorism but obviously there must be respectful to the international humanitarian law principles, must be properly target and should not be indiscriminate. we have already found that there are six children found that there are six children found during this attack and it is terrible and under international treaties convention on rights of child, and also geneva convention, committed to protecting the lives of children during armed conflict. i don't know whether it was unavoidable or not, but obviously the authorities should be careful of this and respectful to that international humanitarian law principles during the sort of armed conflict. thank you very much for being with us today on bbc news. thank you very much for inviting me to this programme. here in the uk, arou

thank you so much that's just in one huge goodness a car a medical doctor for the sri lankan red cross in colombo we're going to cross over now back to jamila national indian who's the editor of news in asia and a journalist in colombo sri lanka do you hear esther miller yes radio clearly n.p.r. fantastic you've been on the ground all day obviously covering this is this event do you have any more details about the suspects who've been arrested thus far. basically do not have any further information as to the organization of the seven suspects who belong to but just the shock when i let go of the police spokesperson in promise that they did not need a lodging any clothing from mansion. investigations as part of the company so we will just have to wait and see investigations going into tomorrow or the after before actually knowing who has been disposed to vote for this attack so i imagine given that last bit of information that authorities are not in the position to say whether they're confident that david to be detained all the main suspects or if the search is ongoing for more sense ye

been they have come come back over thought thought country so it could also not be so easy for sri lankan authorities. to really follow these individuals but i think this will be all part of. the investigations that we will see and moving forward. the coexistence of different religious groups in sri lanka is that threatened by what happened yesterday i think one of the biggest challenges will be for the government to provide security to a muslim population for the simple reason that we have seen retaliation of top line against muslim minorities and if the link is proven to be coach wrecked i think it would be a major challenge for the government to a white these kind of retaliation to take place in the next one month. christiane wagner we certainly appreciate your insights tonight thank you welcome. there is criticism tonight over how political leaders have expressed condolences to sri lanka compared to the new zealand attack last month here's an example for after the christ church shootings former u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton talked about an attack against the muslim community

posts helped trigger mob violence against muslims there and it got so bad brand that a group of sri lankan organisations wrote this open letter to mark zuckerberg. calling out facebook for failing to take down quote explicitly genocidal material and other content inciting hate and we're even seeing this information now on social media in sri lanka one example here a fake police account on facebook it's spreading fake news of course this is not the police from sri lanka but it is pretending to be so and look right this isn't just in sri lanka you are hinting at this right other countries are seeing this too recently during the fire at the notre dame cathedral youtube algorithm suggested videos about nine eleven made sickly implying hey the fire was also an act of terror at this time in christchurch the shootings there they were live streamed on facebook as well so i think the sri lankan government has a reason to worry yeah the prime minister today at the press conference he was asked about social media being shut down and when it was going to be reopened he was just he didn't want to discu

one is on may 18, 2019, next month, the sri lankan conflict would be ten years anniversary. the former defence minister of sri lanka had civil cases filed against him in the united states in terms of torture charges. that is also significant. since last year, we have had purity, beauty, sporadic attacks against muslims. that is also significant. —— periodic, sporadic attacks against muslims. what might you expect authorities to do in response over the weekend?” think the real risk for civil society is to have civil and political rights being clamped down on it. probably the scene that the government has banned social media, not allowing free exchange of information. of course, security concerns must be addressed but i think given the countries past history, that is a real danger of a free expression of grief that is definite and important part of the repetitive process in terms of the conflict is not allowed to take place in the aftermath of these attacks. that is a call for calm yet there is a because you are in place, there is a because you are in place, the two really cont

laura: sri lankan authorities said that foreign terrorist organizations may edve been invo what is thery of jihadist activity in sri lanka? alyssa: there is not much of a history of jihadist activity in sri lanka, and that is why this is so worrisome. if this is all true -- the details are trickling out and there are still a lot ofs questiout what transpired -- but if it turns out to be thd case, that wertainly open up a new front. let me take you back - long-running conflict in sri lanka that ran from 1983 to 2009 was not a religious conflict. this was primarily an ethno-linguistic conflict. sri lanka has not historically been a place where religions were at each other. there had been the emensence of tensetween some groups of buddhist extremists and muslims, but the easter attacks were something we have not seen before. colaura: whad be the motivation behind the explicit targeting of christians in this way? alyssa: i do not know, and i think everyone you ask would sa they do ow. there is speculation rampant right now and that is part of the problem, too muchou speculation wiactual de

pakistani prime minister imran khan offered "profound condolences go to our sri lankan brethren", sayinganka in their hour of grief." eu commission presidentjean—claude juncker echoed those sentiments of condolence to those who ‘had gathered to worship peacefully or come to visit this beautiful country‘ adding "we are ready to support". monday is earth day — the annual day to promote activities for environmental protection. it's run by earth day network — the largest recruiter to the environmental movement with partners in nearly 200 countries. it says more than one billion people now participate in the event each year. monday is centred on endangered species but it also wants to focus attention on dealing with pollution in india. earlier i wasjoined by the president of the earth day network, kathleen rogers. i asked her why the organisation was focussing on pollution in india this year. we are actually focused on plastics, in particular, is one of our other major campaigns, and the ganges unfortunately is one of those very important rivers, it is a holy river, that is also terribly poll

the third day of mourning and grief for many sri lankans who have lost families and loved ones. are said to continue later today as well. tuesday, we know is a national day of mourning. we saw mass funerals take place, of course many others are due to happen over the course of the next few days. we know the government is blaming a small terrorist group here in sri lanka for these attacks, but the so—called islamic state has also claimed responsibility. white banners and streamers today greet those entering negombo. in the afternoon breeze, they dance as if heralding a fete or celebration. but in sri lanka, white signifies death. they pray. a meditation on the life of christ and remembrance of the dead. in this house, open caskets contain four members of one family, murdered as they prayed on easter sunday. a mother, two girls and a boy aged seven. then the quiet reflection is broken. she shrieks. "my golden daughter, my small son, why are you like this?" she wails. "get up, get up!" overcome, this grandmother still can't believe two generations of her family are gone. and next d

the third day of mourning and grief for many sri lankans and others who have lost families and lovede as a set to continue later today. tuesday, of course, we know was a national day of mourning. we saw a lot of the mass funerals take place, of course many others are due to happen to take place over the next few days. we know the government has blamed a small terrorist group here in sri lanka for these attacks but the so—called islamic state has also claimed responsibility. white banners and streamers today greet those entering negombo. in the afternoon breeze, they dance as if heralding a fete or celebration. but in sri lanka, white signifies death. a meditation on the life of christ and remembrance of the dead. in this house, open caskets contain four members of one family, murdered as they prayed on easter sunday. a mother, two girls and a boy aged seven. then the quiet reflection is broken. she shrieks. "my golden daughter, my small son, why are you like this?" she wails. "get up, get up!" overcome, this grandmother still can't believe two generations of her family are gone. and

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 pol

presentation tonight about the victims it's hard to get information about the sri lankans or the people in the people who were there who were killed is the government do you think is it right to be concerned that means social media been weaponized to this extent before we know in sri lanka there is a history of ethnic tensions of violence in a not so distant past i mean even last year the government had to shut down social media because facebook posts helped trigger mob violence against muslims there and it got so bad brand that a group of sri lankan organisations wrote this open letter to mark zuckerberg. calling out facebook for failing to take down quote explicitly genocidal material and other content inciting hate and we're even seeing this information now on social media in sri lanka one example here a fake police account on facebook it's spreading fake news of course this is not the police from sri lanka but it is pretending to be so and look right this isn't just in sri lanka you are hinting at this right other countries are seeing this too recently during the fire at the notre d

it is important for the sri lankan economy. ng something that threatens that stability and peacefulness, sri lanka has a lot of problems. they had a tremendous political dispute, but it has been free of violence relatively in the last decade. and so this is very woe. laura: thank you for joining us. alyssa: thank you. laura: more than 220 people have been killed in figing in the of. -- in libya. the battles are between forces loyal to the un-backed government and a pow general from the east. general khalifa haftar launched his offensive two weeks ago but his army has becom tbogged down outskirts of tripoli. our international correspondent orla guerin reports from the front line. orla: in a tripoli, the specter of war has returned. instead of a planned u.n. peacce conferen, there is a fight control over the capital. lwe were taken to the froine in the southern suburbs. this is a key battleground, e desertedxcept for the defenders of tripoli. and here they are. brigade 191. there are resounding echoes of the revolution of 2011. bu

bring a positive result at the end of them. 15 bodies and bomb making equipment are recovered by sri lankanity forces, who're hunting those behind the easter sunday attacks. accused of fuelling a mental health epidemic. england's top doctor warns cosmetic clinics of their duty of care to vulnerable clients. jeremy corbyn is being urged by nearly 100 labour mps and meps, including shadow ministers, to back another referendum on any brexit deal. and the dateline london panel asks if islamic state will global again? that's in half an hour — here on bbc news. the catholic priest father martin magill, who criticised northern ireland's political leaders at the funeral of the journalist lyra mckee, has told the bbc that people want results from new talks next month to restore power—sharing at stormont. power—sharing broke down more than two years ago. our ireland correspondent emma vardy reports. at lyra mckee‘s funeral, the words of father martin magill received a standing ovation when he shamed politicians for failing to reconcile their differences to restore devolution. why, in god's name, does

sri lankans were in the process of consolidating peace and taking forward a reconciliation process whenve to again say that we are in shock andi to again say that we are in shock and i think the government's reaction is very measured and careful. i must say that having gone through a difficult period for 30 yea rs, nearly through a difficult period for 30 years, nearly 30 years, i think the sri lankan government has the capacity to deal with these kinds of incidents in a very professional manner so incidents in a very professional manner so i hope that with the support of the international community we will be able to address this. alan keenan — sri lanka project directorfor the international crisis group — joins me now. he has been travelling to sri lanka for the last 20 years and spending a lot of time there. first of all, just how unexpected are attacks of this kind in sri lanka these days? many have said it before today but i think this is unprecedented, the level of carnage and coordination in multiple attacks, even in the worst days of the war with the tamil tigers, whose terroris

one thing was that after two thousand and nine when the sri lankan conflict ended. and after a couple of years there are a lot that. need to try to force us had what's taken out under their recent act and in yesterday by the president under emergency under the emergency law six. force us gone. into good and doing a stupid and even if. it cannot interest and. even questioning what sort that force the prevailing situation of the military chief yesterday and. so now teens will be settling down i mean a whore and a president has assured that subject x. will not happen in the coming month and so anything there dick necessity policy. thing that's reassuring for the public came for sure lankans in general because a curfew has been imposed i mean that would suggest that perhaps there is a fear that there could be further attacks or is that going to. never to see an obvious going to go if you was important one last through a stop backlash. because there are a large number of so and all saw. on the street and if such devices gets activated like the ease and reach the military

that he learned that one group, which he didn't name, had warned of possible attacks, but that the sri lankanrnment. of course, we will bring you any new developments out of sri la nka you any new developments out of sri lanka as we get them. just before we 90, lanka as we get them. just before we go, iwant lanka as we get them. just before we go, i want to leave you with these pictures of the eiffel tower, which is usually lit up, but this is the moment it went dark at midnight in a touching tribute to the victims of the sri lanka bomb attacks. that's all for now, stay with bbc world news. goodbye. hello. there are weather changes on the way this week, but we're going to see out the last day of this holiday weekend with plenty more sunshine and warm. and what we can it has been. good friday 2a degrees, saturday 25.5 and then for easter sunday in the sunshine it was the warmest easter sunday on record. in scotland, northern ireland and in wales. the record in england, 25.3, still stands. it claimed close to that, topping out at 24.6 at wesley in surrey. as i indicated earlier, another fine da

the sri lankan government says the militants must have had international support.re has been another explosion today in the capital, colombo, as security forces were defusing a bomb inside an abandoned van, as our correspondent yogita limaye reports. another explosion near one of the bombed churches, in a country that's already on the edge. a van blew up when the police tried to defuse explosives inside. no—one was hurt. but on easter sunday, hundreds died, many of them here at st sebastian's church. it's believed to be the site of the deadliest bombing. the hall was packed with families who'd come here to pray. a priest who was at the altar has told me thatjust before the service ended, a person entered through one of the side doors and detonated a bomb. such was the impact, it destroyed everything inside. but even here outside, shattered glass everywhere, roof tiles that are broken. and all around, a strong smell of blood and death. people have begun to say goodbye to loved ones. this family is from thailand. they were on holiday in sri lanka. these boys lost the

sri lankan authorities say eight people have been arrested in connection with the attacks. not yet clear who is responsible for the attacks. police in west yorkshire have arrested three men in connection with fires burning on ilkley moor. dozens of firefighters are still dealing with the blaze, which covers six acres. a comedian and actor, volodymyr zelensky, has won ukraine's presidential election defeating the incumbent, petro poroshenko who has conceded victory. hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. with me arejohn rentoul, chief political commentator at the independent and the sun's chief sports reporter martin lipton. many of tomorrow's front pages are already in. and one story dominates most front pages. in the guardian, there's a dramatic picture inside one of the churches

example we found it's a fake police account on facebook it's spreading false news it claims to be the sri lankan police of course is not and look this is a problem in other countries too not just sri lanka during the fire at notre dame cathedral you tube algorithm linked videos about the fire to the attacks on nine eleven. and falsely maybe linking the fire to an act of terror and of course the mass shooting at christ church that was live streamed on facebook so it can be a problem the government maybe has a right to be concerned so that they make the right decision by pulling the plug on social media well that's the debate a lot of people are discussing that i mean the war on the one hand blocking social media as you mentioned it it can really just stop the spread of misinformation altogether it can calm tensions especially when when you're at the height of emotion right after an attack on the other hand this is a blunt instrument you're not just talking misinformation you're blocking all informations relock as a place where it's very difficult to find reliable information social media for many

but sundays blast will be adding a new dimension to that, bringing back memories many sri lankans bringingi lanka ns would rather forget. mia bloom is professor of communications at george state university who studies terror groups. she's in atlanta, georgia. you have a new book out, i know you've done field research in sri la nka you've done field research in sri lanka itself, what is your thinking about what happened here? it's a terrible tragedy and part of the reason the tragedy could have been avoided is as we know, indian intelligence agencies and the american intelligence agencies want to anchor and part of the reason nothing was done is the fact that the president and the prime minister are barely speaking to one another and the prime minister could have done something, he has been excluded from security briefings. that does seem an from security briefings. that does seem an extra no situation, doesn't it? it does and because the president and the supreme court reinstated the minister, he has been frozen out and it's unfortunate because how they acted on information they received t

the vast majority of those dead are sri lankan. hundreds of families in this country in grief.hef sha ntha mayadunne, seen here on the left, and her daughter nisanga, to the right, posted this photo just before they were killed at the shangri—la. some, like this woman, are still searching. today, a sri lankan minister apologised to his people. we are very, very sorry as a government. we have to apologise to the families and the other institutions about this incident. several people have been arrested, and the government has blamed a local hardline islamist group for the attacks. there are questions about whether warnings about the bombings were not passed on. the intelligence never indicated that it was going to be an attack of this magnitude. they were talking about one or two isolated incidents, not like this. and also besides, there is no emergency in this country. we can't request the armed forces to come and assist us. we can only depend on the police, so we informed the police. for a people that have endured war, these attacks are a sudden reminder of more violent times.