this is bbc news. i'm shaun ley and these are the latest headlines in the uk and around the world. mourners pay their respects to the last soviet leader, mikhail gorbachev, whose funeral is taking place. the head of the international atomic energy agency says the physical integrity of ukraine's zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has been violated several times by military activity. china warns of �*counter measures�* after the us approves a $1 billion arms package to taiwan — saying it's to maintain its self—defence capabilities. millions of people in england and scotland will be invited for their autumn covid booster vaccine from monday — with care home residents first in line for the jab.

ready for lift—off again. nasa prepares to make a second attempt later to launch its most powerful rocket to the moon — five days after technical problems scuppered its first attempt. (sot) it is not unusual for a rocket, it is not unusualfor a rocket, a new rocket to experience setbacks or delays but the team are confident they can overcome this and all eyes will be on the launch pad. we start in russia. mourners in moscow are queueing to pay their respects to the last soviet leader, mikhail gorbachev, who died on tuesday at the age of 91. later today, he will be buried in the city's largest cemetery, novodevichy, next to his wife raisa.

russian president vladimir putin is not attending the funeral. the kremlin says mr putin has no space in his schedule. these are live pictures from moscow. mourners are gathering at the hall of columns. he left office in 1991 as the country crumbled around him. he had been the leader of reform but the forces and desire for independence amongst the 15 nations that emerge from it, previous members of the ussr, was too great and boris yeltsin who became president of russia effectively consigned the soviet union into

history along with the presidents of ukraine and belarus who pushed hard for independence. president gorbachev was unusually well travelled for a russian leader and he had many contacts even amongst some who are critics of the soviet regime and his great campaigns were for openness and more knowledge about what was going on the soviet system and also for reform and change of the soviet many muscovites and russians rued the day these reforms became an because it became an economic free for all and the economy suffered in the aftermath. figures from across the world have been paying tributes to the last leader of the soviet union. our correspondent helena wilkinson looks back at mr gorbachev�*s life. mikhail gorbachev, a leader who will be remembered figures from across the world have been paying tributes for overseeing enormous changes.

mr gorbachev took power in 1985. he introduced political and economic reforms to kickstart the country's economy and he helped to end the cold war. to the west, he was a hero. he charmed on the international stage. here, meeting the then—prime minister margaret thatcher, on his first visit to the uk in 1984, before he became leader. he also opened up the soviet union to the world, but he was not able to prevent its slow collapse. many russians blamed him for the years of turmoil which followed. in his last years, mr gorbachev had been in poor health. more recently, he was said to have been unhappy with president putin's decision to invade ukraine. he was shocked, bewildered by what was happening. for all kinds of reasons, of course. he believed in, notjust

in the closeness of the russian and ukrainian people, he believed that those two nations are kind of intermingled. earlier this week, president putin expressed his deepest condolences but the russian leader will not attend mr gorbachev�*s funeral today. the kremlin says he has not got room in his schedule. his absence is widely seen as a snub. among the tributes this week to mr gorbachev have been that he opened the way for a free europe and that his legacy is one that will not be forgotten. helena wilkinson, bbc news. we can speak to our eastern europe correspondent, sarah rainsford, who's in vilnius in lithuania. i guess in lithuania because of what happened in 1991 there are mixed feelings about president gorbachev. very much so and i would say more

negative. certainly we have seen official statements here from the foreign ministry in particular, very strident statement saying gorbachev would not be glorified in n out but remembered as the man who headed the soviet union when soviet tanks rolled on protest for independency and soviet troops fired into unarmed demonstrators in 1a people were killed. when the world talks about gorbachev is a man of peace in lithuania many people remember something different. but he began the reforms, glasnost and perestroika reforming the political system and economy, those reforms that gave the independence movements their birth and allowed them to develop and allowed lithuania ultimately to achieve sovereignty and independence from the ussr. a very mixed picture but ijust spoke

to a couple here and the young man said he didn't remember much about gorbachev but she said she remembered him as the first soviet leader she had seen smile. the first human leader of the soviet union who like to have a walkabout the people, the first soviet leader to do that. and a man who travelled a lot around the world, presenting a much more humane face of the soviet union to the world. , . ., , the world. pretty much the only servin: the world. pretty much the only serving international— the world. pretty much the only serving international leader - the world. pretty much the only| serving international leader who people will recognise at the funeral todayis people will recognise at the funeral today is the prime minister of hungary viktor orban. he has good relationships with vladimir putin but is willing to go to moscow to pay respects to gorbachev. that

shows the quite complicated relationship over the legacy full stop at his policies didn'tjust affect the soviet union but the entire socialist bloc and for hungary and poland and other countries under the soviet yoke, if you like, gorbachev did not prevent them breaking away and he allowed opposition to communism to continue. i guess that is what viktor orban will pay his respects to, the fact his country today as a democracy. gorbachev really changed the entire eastern and western world. we are told he will not meet with vladimir

putin while in moscow so it is not a political visit but it is interesting so few political leaders and dignitaries are to be here and this is not a state funeral, partly because it is a time when many people do not want to stand shoulder to shoulder with vladimir putin. western leaders would not travel to moscow even if they could because sanctions make it very hard to travel to moscow in the first place. let's hear from vladislav zubok, professor of international history at the london school of economics. cani can i ask you about the way and manner in which these funeral events are being conducted because on the one hand he is denied a state funeral but there are some state honours for mr gorbachev. i keep thinkin: honours for mr gorbachev. i keep

thinking about _ honours for mr gorbachev. i keep thinking about the _ honours for mr gorbachev. i keep thinking about the great - honours for mr gorbachev. i keep thinking about the great funerals | thinking about the great funerals from the russian revolution and at the funeral of lenin where millions began to pour two look at him and the highly staged funeral of stalin where he laden date for a couple of days. —— he lay in state. gorbachev was a student then and he went to see him and risk of his life. i remember when leon and brezhnev died and after him vice president george bush came from the united states and some other dignitaries. despite the bad moment that was the called war so seeing only viktor orban coming and standing before the casket and coming to his daughters, that was

for me an act of decency and civility and respect in the fact that nobody else they are to do it for international reasons, i am sure they are grave reason, it makes me sad and indicates how low we are evenin sad and indicates how low we are even in comparison to the use of the cold war. ., ., �* ., cold war. you mentioned brezhnev and the men who — cold war. you mentioned brezhnev and the men who followed _ cold war. you mentioned brezhnev and the men who followed him _ cold war. you mentioned brezhnev and the men who followed him andropov i the men who followed him andropov and sharon his successor. a british diplomat said how refreshing it was to deal with the soviet leader whose face moved when he talked and he did engage. he still believed fundamentally in the soviet union, for many it seems a paradox.

sometimes fight before it gets telescoped into one moment, he wanted to preserve the soviet union, he failed, he was gone. but in reality through the last three years of his post he wanted to remove the party from the centre of the governance and to refine deeply the political system and he wanted above all to create a new union that would include his beloved ukraine where he had relatives and the russian federation and other republics willing to participate. in my opinion it was not a pipe dream because under different conditions, a better economy and less stressful situation, on otherfronts, he could have succeeded and he became very close to it in august 1991 but the

coup of his own government ruined his plans. so historians still debate how close he was to bringing the entire huge country minus the baltic states which i was wanted to leave to a democracy without bloodshed and ruinous consequences of political and economic collapse. for now, thank you very much. plans to reopen a key gas pipeline to europe have been scrapped by the russian energy giant, gazprom. the company claims it can't restart nord—stream—1 because of an oil leak in a turbine — and that it will remain closed for an indefinite period. however, the eu has accused russia of using gas as an economic weapon.

the head of the international atomic energy agency has said that military activity has violated the physical integrity of the zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in ukraine several times. zaporizhzhia, in southern ukraine, is europe's largest nuclear plant. it was occupied by russia soon after it invaded ukraine in february — there's been heavy fighting close by and the plant has been rocked by shelling. six members of the iaea team remain at the plant and have carried out a second day of inspections. our security correspondent frank gardner is in zaporizhzhia and told us more about the comment by the iaea that the plant's physical intergity has been violated several times. well, what it means is that it's taken incoming shell and mortar and artillery fire. nobody knows exactly for certain.

by whom? the russians say it wasn't them, it was the ukrainians. the ukrainians say vice versa. but that incoming fire potentially can affect the electricity power line. so there was an interruption to the power supply previously, backup generators kicked in. but the power supply is the key here because it's notjust the physical danger from shells coming in. and remember that this is a power plant right in the middle of a war zone. it's the threat to the power supply that keeps the reactors cool. interrupt that for long period of time and there is the risk of overheating and the accidental release of radiation.

so i'm speaking to you now from just outside a medical facility on the edge of zaporizhzhia, a southern town in southern ukraine. and they're going to be handing out potassium iodide tablets here as a precaution to the population against any radiation poisoning. nobody�*s suggesting it's about to happen. it's a precaution. you take it for 2h hours and it helps protect the thyroid gland from radiation poisoning. the fact that the monitors are in there now essentially acts as the eyes and ears of the world, of the international community on what is going on inside that nuclearfacility. because up until now, nobody has known for certain the ukrainian technicians have been keeping it going. the russian military are in control, but nobody�*s been getting a really clear idea of it. that's changed in the last 48 hours. that's a plus. but it's not a guarantee against future attacks because as i say, it's the middle of a war zone. and rafael grossi, the director general of the international atomic he's saying, look, great, that we've got them in there, but there is still the possibility of future violations, of physical violations. in other words, attacks, shells coming in.

really, a nuclear plant is not the place to be firing mortars and rockets and artillery. this plant is relatively well protected. it's much more modern than the chernobyl one that blew up in1986. it's got protective shields around the reactors. but the biggest threat is really the interruption of the electricity supply. and ukraine has been accusing russia of doing what it calls nuclear blackmail, of worrying the world and the west in particular, that there is a risk that there could be a huge, great, big accident. nobody�*s talking about a mushroom cloud of an explosion, but the accidental release of radiation. interesting he mentions chernobyl because it was that nuclear accident that allegedly allowed president

goirbachev to get rid of some of the people he said were responsible. the headlines on bbc news: mourners pay their respects to the last soviet leader, mikhail gorbachev, whose funeral is taking place. the head of the international atomic energy agency says the physical integrity of ukraine's zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has been violated several times by military activity. china warns of �*counter measures�* after the us approves a $1 billion arms package to taiwan — saying it�*s to maintain its self—defence capabilities. china has warned it�*ll take "counter measures" unless the united states revokes a one point one billion dollar arms deal with taiwan. it comes amid rising tensions between washington and beijing over the island. the deal includes anti—ship missiles, air—to—air missiles and support for taiwan�*s surveillance radar programme. our north america correspondent peter bowes has more details about the deal. this is a major investment in the

defence system of taiwan. this is indeed a large package, $1.1 billion, and significant in investment in surveillance radar system, system, an early warning system for incoming missiles. it comes at this extremely tense time, we have had months and months of chinese military exercises close to taiwan things came to a head

about a month ago when nancy pelosi visited the island and express her own personal support of democracy, it continued support of independence, she was not representing joe biden and that is a significant point, she represents a different branch of government, nevertheless she was a senior figure from the us visiting taiwan and at the time china said america was playing with fire. there is no sense that the us will revoke the package and there is clear support for it but clearly tensions between united states and but also taiwan. a spokesman said increases tensions in beijing. from monday, millions of people in england and scotland will be invited for their autumn covid booster vaccine — with care home residents first in line for the jab. although infections have been falling since earlyjuly, health bosses are predicting a resurgence of covid and flu this winter — and are encouraging those eligible

to get vaccinated. and in the next hour we�*ll be speaking to virologist professor paul hunter about the rollout. the boss of the train operator avanti west coast, has announced he is stepping down — after facing criticism for introducing a reduced timetable that has caused chaos for passengers in recent weeks. london euston and manchester services are the worst affected, this comes as the mayor of greater manchester, andy burnham, threatens to call for the company to be stripped of the franchise. he spoke to the bbc earlier today. they couldn�*t give us a plan and people haven�*t been told the true story about why these failures happening. just listening to the passengers there it is not fare — the prices people are paying. when this broke the company said this was all down to the workers so they try to blame the workers. i think that was to shift blame from managers. the government went along with it as it represented

an opportunity for union bashing. the truth is this is a serious management failure and a very serious issues because this is the most important where we in a country linking the big cities and critical every day this chaos continues is a day of damage to the greater manchester economy and a day of misery for passengers and that is whyi cannot accept the position we in. the tennis star serena williams is out of the us open in new york, after losing what is expected to be her final match before retirement. she lost to ajla tomljanovic of australia in a three set thriller. after the match, a tearful serena williams thanked her family for their support throughout her career. our sports correspondent, laura scott, is in new york. she has a story for the ages. she appeals to every generation and the fans we were speaking to here, whether they were soaking up the match in the sun or watching it in the stands, they all wanted more from this farewell tour. and serena williams came out fighting. she really produced an astonishing first set. she was leading 5—3

she looked to be sailing to the set when the tide turned and her opponent from australia silenced the crowd as she raced to the next four games and stole that first set. a rejuvenated serena williams did then go through to a four—love lead in the second set. she had a few set points, but she squandered those, and soon we were taken to a tiebreak. with so much at stake, serena williams did win that. the noise here was absolutely deafening. people starting to believe she could do it again, ahe could turn it around and keep this swansong going. but in that third set, tomljanovic simply wasn�*t holding back and seemingly undaunted by what she was about to do. she took it on the sixth match point. serena williams putting up a valiant fight to save five of them. but tomljanovic did in the end win this and pull the curtain down on a phenomenal career for serena williams.

and then she actuallyjust let serena williams take the microphone. serena gave a wave to the crowd, did her trademark twirl, and then we heard from her afterwards. nasa will once again attempt to launch its most powerful rocket ever later, after technical problems hampered plans to get the mission off earth on monday. engineers now believe they can achieve a clean countdown, as rebecca morelle reports. ready to try again, the second attempt to get nasa�*s new rocket off the ground and on its way to the moon. the hope is it will do better than monday, an issue with an engine and a valve halted the first attempt to launch, but after some repairs, the team says it is all set to fly. one thing we are very good here at nasa is identifying problems, why they were there, coming up with mitigation measures going forward, and then ways to test the system is to say, why did this happen? all of that has happened over the week and i am confident in the call that the engineers and management teams have made and that we are ready to go. they will release a small

capsule called orion, it will go into orbit around the moon before returning to earth. this is a test flight so no crew is on—board this time, but nasa�*s astronauts are watching closely. they will be joining the next ride, and they are aware of the work that has gone into the artemis mission. there is no crew but human handprints all over it. it doesn�*t look like people belted, but they did. people put that together. that is what i see. i see the work of thousands of people all of the world, right was not part of it is made by the european space agency, that is what i see, i see that team. the rocket has taken more than a decade to design and build and has cost £20 billion. there is a lot at stake for nasa. so will it be second—time lucky? it isn�*t unusual for a new rocket to experience setbacks and delays, but the team is confident they can overcome this, and all eyes will be

on the launchpad as the countdown clock ticks down. radio: houston, the eagle has landed. history was made with the apollo moon landings, but it was 50 years and is people were lost on the lunar surface. if the launch is a success, the artemis mission will be the first step in our return. now it�*s time for a look at the weather with darren bett. hello there. chaotic skies this weekend. it really is a very mixed picture. there will be some sunshine, some warm sunshine, mainly across the eastern side of the uk because further west, this is where it�*s going to be wettest. some heavy rain and the wind picking up as the weekend goes on as well. the reason for this very mixed picture is a big area of low pressure that�*s just sitting there to the west of the uk and around it we�*re pushing in these bands of showers or longer spells of rain and some freshening breezes as well. so we do have some sunshine across eastern areas through the rest of today, but maybe picking up some heavy thundery showers as we head through the afternoon. wetter weather out towards the west

into western parts of england, wales parts of england, wales, affecting southwest scotland and northern ireland. these areas particularly wet and cold too, 15 or 16 degrees in northern ireland, probably making the low 20s in northern scotland and the mid 20s in east anglia and the southeast where there should be very few showers. we�*ve got more rain though, continuing into tonight, again pushing northwards across more of scotland and returning into northern ireland over the irish sea into western parts of england and wales. southerly breeze tends to pick up overnight so it�*s going to be quite a warm night and temperatures in the south now and temperatures in the south no lower than 16 or 17 degrees. but tomorrow we�*re going to find some rain this time across northern parts of scotland and we start wet in northern ireland. that rain gets pushed further north into scotland. and as the breeze picks up, we�*re going to find some showery bursts of rain affecting some western parts of england,

wales again, looks pretty dry for eastern areas of england. so temperatures here again reaching the mid 20s. but after the early rain in northern ireland, we should see some sunshine. so it�*s going to be a warmer day than today. but that low pressure is not really going anywhere at all. it continues to spiral around to the west of the uk early next week, continuing to dominate our weather. the details are going to change a bit, but we look like we�*re going to have some heavy rain, perhaps thundery pushing northwards into scotland. the winds picking up here in the southwest. gales are quite possible and this rain will turn heavy and thundery. there�*ll be some sunshine around elsewhere, maybe a few sharp showers breaking out as well. but because it�*s a southerly breeze, it�*s quite warm for this time showers breaking out as well. but because it�*s a southerly breeze, it�*s quite warm air for this time of the year. temperatures the low to mid 20s, but with low pressure dominating through the rest of next week, it�*s still unsettled. some showers, longer spells of rain, some sunshine. and slowly it will be turning a bit cooler.

hello. this is bbc news. i�*m shaun ley and these are the headlines: mourners in moscow have been paying their respects to the last soviet leader, mikhail gorbachev. the head of the international atomic energy agency says the physical integrity of ukraine�*s zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has been violated several times by military activity. china warns of �*counter measures�* after the us approves a $1—billion arms package to taiwan — saying it�*s to maintain its self defence capabilities. millions of people in england and scotland will be invited for their autumn covid booster vaccine from monday — with care home residents first in line for the jab. ready for lift—off...again.

nasa prepares to make a second attempt later to launch its most