welcome to bbc news. our top stories: president putin orders an investigation into the explosion that severely damaged russia's only bridge to the occupied crimean peninsula. more protesters take to the streets of iran as demonstrations against the country's hard—line islamic country's ha rd—line islamic rulers country's hard—line islamic rulers enter their fourth week. five teenagers have beenjailed in hong kong after being found guilty of plotting a violent revolution against communist party rule. funerals are held for the victims of a knife and gun attack on a nursery school in northern thailand. and from seed to space, how china is

pioneering a new way to launch rockets on board a ship. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. the russian president has ordered a full investigation into the explosion that destroyed part of his country's only road link to the occupied crimean peninsula. vladimir putin has also ordered the russian secret service to ramp up security on the kerch bridge. ukrainian officials have welcomed the explosion without officially admitting responsibility. our russia editor, steve rosenberg, reports. it is the bridge the kremlin built. and it was under attack. an explosion at dawn. this was the result.

russian officials claim a lorry had been blown up here and that the fire then spread to a fuel train. whatever the cause, you could see the damage. this is the bridge that links russia to annexed crimea, and parts of the road had collapsed into the sea. later, investigators announced that three people had been killed. they have opened a criminal case. the i2—mile long road and rail bridge is not only strategically important to the kremlin as a supply route, it is also a symbol of the russian annexation of crimea. vladimir putin opened it in 2018, getting behind the wheel to show that, as far as he was concerned, russia and crimea were joined for ever. very different scenes today. pro—kremlin commentators have blamed ukraine

for the explosion, but there has been no claim of responsibility from kyiv. it is noticeable how the situation has changed here, and the messaging. a few months ago, russians were being told — by their leaders and by the state media — that the so—called special military operation would be relatively brief and victorious. now they are being told that there are problems, that russia is losing ground, and today they learned about the attack on a hugely symbolic location — the crimean bridge. news of the attack has sparked concern amongst the public here. but the russians we spoke to had different ideas about how the kremlin should react. "it is worrying," stas says. "war is always bad. they should have done this differently, with negotiations." but olga says, "putin must respond. what a birthday present they gave him! we should blow up the train lines ukraine uses to get its military aid from america.

this is nato�*s fault." but from vladimir putin there has been no reaction yet to what happened here. no hint as to how he will respond. steve rosenberg, bbc news, st petersburg. joining us now is michael o'hanlon, thank you forjoining us michael. president putin has made multiple nuclear threat. how seriously should those be taken? i how seriously should those be taken? ~ , ., ., how seriously should those be taken? ~ ,, ., ., ., ~ taken? i think you have to take this kind of _ taken? i think you have to take this kind of a _ taken? i think you have to take this kind of a threat _ taken? i think you have to take this kind of a threat seriously l this kind of a threat seriously because we are talking about the ultimate weapon and the potential for apocalypse with the two greatest nuclear powers on earth. having said that, putin knows that a certain anxiety is going to be the inevitable result of any threat he makes and he is trying to play on our psychology so we don't want to somehow give

and/or feel like he's about to launch 5000 nuclear weapons tomorrow and we better somehow conceded the effort so i think what is important is to think specifically about what he might realistically do with those nuclear weapons and in the short—term i don't think he will use them all because he still has a chance to hold onto a good chunk of the ukrainian territory that he has stolen since fabry 24th. in fact, since fabry 24th. in fact, since 2014. and we are talking about all of these ukrainian advances and offensives and they are encouraging and i am thrilled to see them but they constitute retaking 10% of the land that ukraine has lost. is russia is going to hunker down and keep fighting and they will raise this nuclear spectre in the background but they are not really going to go there yet i don't think because they still have the potential to maybe not win this war conventionally but at least stalemate it's conventionally and that is a much more appealing option for luton than to risk his own and

has country's survival in world war three. 50 has country's survival in world war three-— war three. so what action if an do war three. so what action if any do you _ war three. so what action if any do you think _ war three. so what action if any do you think the - war three. so what action if any do you think the us - war three. so what action if any do you think the us and nato should or could take to deter him? i nato should or could take to deter him?— nato should or could take to deter him? ~ , ., , deter him? i think we should be talkin: deter him? i think we should be talking about _ deter him? i think we should be talking about the _ deter him? i think we should be talking about the kinds - talking about the kinds of things we might realistically do if we were ——if he were to use a nuclear weapon, and i propose some ideas anything from international criminal court indictments of putin meaning he could never travel outside of russia again to even something more dramatic like trying to rebuild the united nations without russia and that would require some diplomatic gymnastics but we could think of ways to do that or even putting nato troops temporarily on ukrainian soil to make sure that putin doesn't get some delusion that by throwing around nuclear weapons or threats they can somehow reverse the course of battle and take care of and eliminate ukraine as an independent country. these are the kind of ideas we need to have in the mix, we need putin to know they are in the mix and we need him to know we are serious but i think in the short term we also

need to keep our calm and i think this means giving weapons to the ukrainians, helping them make modest tactical ongoing gains on the battlefield and then thinking to 2023 when the war is going to resume after a winter of rearming on both sides and we have to see how well the ukrainians do but then potentially also get a little more creative diplomatically. so i think all these pieces need to be part of the equation. should not be capitulating to any russian nuclear threat, capitulating to any russian nuclearthreat, i capitulating to any russian nuclear threat, i don't think putin really intends to go there because he still thinks he might win the fight conventionally.- he might win the fight conventionally. he might win the fight conventionall . ., ., ~ ., conventionally. you talk about bein: conventionally. you talk about being diplomatically _ conventionally. you talk about being diplomatically creative, | being diplomatically creative, is it possible to expel russia from the united nations? i have been looking — from the united nations? i have been looking at _ from the united nations? i have been looking at the _ from the united nations? i have been looking at the un - from the united nations? i have been looking at the un charter. been looking at the un charter and i think you would essentially have to have most of the world's countries withdraw from the existing united nations and then agree to build a new one, call it something else without a russian veto at the security council. i think do that. you

would need china to go along. that would be the big difficulty, so it presupposes a pretty horrific event like a russian nuclear attack and this is one more reason why i think need to be resolute and firm in dealing with china but also not turn china into an enemy because we may need china's help in this sort of thing but yes they actually think in a world where we wake up one day and russia has used a nuclear weapon, all sorts of new things become possible that were not previously unimaginable. interesting stuff, thank you so much for your time. that is michael 0'hanlon foreign policy research direct at the brookings institution. three more people have reportedly been killed in around in protests. this report from our diplomatic correspondent caroline hawley contains images that some viewers may find distressing.

chanting. there's a target to their anger, and he's inside the building. these students in tehran are shouting at the country's president to "get lost" as he visits their university. inside, ebrahim raisi recited a poem, likening the protesters to flies. a receptive audience here. but elsewhere in the capital, there were chants of "death to the dictator" — a reference to iran's supreme leader — with protests reported in many cities across the country today. video posted on social media shows riot police close to tehran's main bazaar in the centre of the city, in normal times seen as a bastion of support for the regime. but many shopkeepers had shut up their stores in support of the protesters, who set

fire to a police kiosk. and this was the eastern city of mashhad today, where new protests brought new grief. screaming. here, a young woman has been shot in the neck by iran's security forces. distressed cries. it was the death last month of mahsa amini, arrested for being improperly dressed, which ignited this wave of unrest. her family say she was beaten in custody. her gravestone reads that her name will become a symbol, and it has, as iranians find new ways of resisting the regime. the billboard here reads that the police are the servants of the people, but this man, cheered on by others, changes it to read, "killers of the people," and calls for the death of the supreme leader. and this banner draped over a main road reads, "we are not afraid any more. "we will fight." after nightfall, the protests continued. no—one knows quite where they will lead, but the crisis of legitimacy facing the islamic regime is deepening

by the day. caroline hawley, bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news stopping the israeli army say a police officer have died of her injuries following a shooting, a security guard remains in a serious condition. 0ne remains in a serious condition. one person has been arrested stopping there has been an escalation in violent incidents between palestinians and the israeli curative forces on the occupied west bank in recent months. austrians are preparing to vote in a presidential election to choose their new head of state. incumbent and clear favourite is the former leader of the greens. he is hoping to secure a majority to avoid a run—off vote. the president has largely had a ceremonial role but has sweeping powers in overseeing times of change and turbulence. trains in germany are still getting back to normal after major disruption on saturday in the north of the country. the disruption was caused by what

transport minister called a deliberate act of sabotage. cables were cut through and two different locations and police are continuing their investigation into the act. funeral services are being held for dozens of victims of a knife and gun attack on a nursery school in northern thailand. 24 children and 12 adults were murdered by a former policeman on thursday. 0ur south east asia correspondentjonathan head sent this report. all these young faces as they were in life, as theirfamilies would like to remember them. 0ne wall of the temple has been turned into a shrine to what is now a lost generation for this village with loved toys, stuffed animals and, for this boy, a school uniform he'd onlyjust begun wearing. kanjana and sittipong are saying goodbye to their only child, three—year—old hubet,

one of the youngest victims. they rushed back here on news of the attack from another province where they've been working. translation: he was a very cheerful boy. i everyone admired him. i see you've been holding this blanket ever since we first saw you. and tell us about the blanket. you know, this is the blanket he really loved. it always had to be a red blanket. he loved the smell of it. floral tributes have come from all over the country. arranging them properly is one of the manyjobs taken on by volunteers in the village. then, the start of a funeral which is expected to last for four days. this is a holy water pouring ceremony for which people queued on their knees inside and under a fierce tropical sun outside. funerals in thailand are always a community affair, and it seems that pretty much all the residents of this

village have come to be a part of this one. it is a way of sharing the grief, of course, of consoling the parents, but also of acknowledging that these dreadful killings have affected everyone. then, it was the turn of kanjana and sittipong. this young couple left their village in search ofjobs they hoped would provide a better life for their son. those hopes have been cruelly dashed by an attack no—one could have foreseen and which no one can understand. jonathan head, bbc news, north—eastern thailand. this is bbc news. our main headlines — president putin orders an investigation into the explosion that severely damaged russia's only bridge to the occupied crimean peninsula. more protesters take to the streets of iran as demonstrations against the country's hard—line islamic country's ha rd—line islamic rulers country's hard—line islamic rulers into their fourth week.

teenagers in hong kong have beenjailed for rising teenagers in hong kong have been jailed for rising up against the state. earlier, i spoke to our news reporter as a missionary and asked her what we know about this case. according to what was said in court, they were advocating for a violent revolution and the prosecutor said this was on social media, on websites like instagram, as well as on street boots and by distributing certain pamphlets. now, this was possible because of the 2020 national security law that made it easier to prosecute protesters. but what's different here is it's the first time that it's been used against teenagers. now, the judge, in their sentencing, the bigger take into account the age of the protesters and that that's why the sentence has been capped at three years detention and why they are

being sent to a detention centre for young people, also known as training centres, as opposed to a jail, but they said the issue was that even if they managed to influence one person, that would have undermined the stability of hong kong as well as the safety of the residents. find hong kong as well as the safety of the residents.— of the residents. and as a day, can ou of the residents. and as a day, can you remind _ of the residents. and as a day, can you remind us _ of the residents. and as a day, can you remind us of _ of the residents. and as a day, can you remind us of the - can you remind us of the context of the national security law and why it was introduced?— introduced? you will remember there were _ introduced? you will remember there were widespread - introduced? you will remember there were widespread protests in hong kong in 2019, those were ignited by an extradition bill that was introduced that allowed it, allowed china to extradite people from hong kong and have them prosecuted in mainland china. now, those protests lasted a long time and there was a violent crackdown against those protesters and china believed that this would make it easier to quash those protests, as well as safeguard their influence over hong kong. now, it did things like mix secession, undermining the government, colluding with

foreign forces, it may those things are illegal and meant that they were able to put protesters as well as opposition lawmakers in jail for the rest of their lives. it also was the political tool because then those people could not stand for office ever again. and from the looks of it, it has worked. those protests did diminish and now, many, more than 100 people, have been put injail many, more than 100 people, have been put in jail because of it. is have been put in “ail because of it. , ., have been put in “ail because ofit., ., of it. is it a missionary speaking _ of it. is it a missionary speaking to _ of it. is it a missionary speaking to me - of it. is it a missionary| speaking to me earlier. of it. is it a missionary - speaking to me earlier. --is at speaking to me earlier. ——is at a missionary. ten people, including a young child and two teenagers, are now confirmed to have died after an explosion at a petrol station in county donegal in ireland yesterday. police say they believe it was a tragic accident. from the scene, the village of creeslough, our ireland correspondent chris page reports. this small community has been caught up in a wave of devastation and desperation. the rescue efforts became a recovery process as the day went on.

the sight of ambulances leaving — a sign that there was no expectation that more survivors would be found. from the moment it happened, blown—out walls, a crumpled roof and tonnes of rubble showed this was a lethal explosion. like a bomb going off and a sonic boom accompanying it that shook us to the core and immediately, wejust — the people who were there, we alljust waded in to try and help and try and get people out of the building. the building was very precarious. it was very, very dangerous. there were flats above the garage shop, which largely collapsed. several times, the emergency services asked for silence so they'd be able to hear anyone who was trapped. eight people were taken to hospital. one is in a critical condition. what's really striking in the village is the quietness, the stillness, even. the emergency services are continuing to carry out their search and people have gathered to watch, wait for news, but you get the sense that they can't really take in that some of their friends, relatives, neighbours went to the local shop on a friday afternoon and lost their lives

so suddenly. all those who were killed were from the area. there are no outstanding reports of unaccounted—for persons. the ten casualties are four men, three women, two teenagers — a boy and a girl — and a youngergirl. this evening, the leader of the irish government came to meet firefighters, police and paramedics. he said the nation was mourning. words on their own will not console someone who has lost a loved one. and i think wejust have to be with them. our thoughts and our prayers are with you, and will be with you for quite some time. rural county donegal is often thought of as the essence of tranquillity. an idyllic retreat. tonight, widespread grieving has begun, coupled with an intense feeling of disbelief. chris page, bbc news,

creeslough. the bbc has been given more details of an incident which led to the sacking of british parliamentarian, burns is an international trade minister. an eyewitness said that he had touched a man's site at a hotel bar on tuesday during the conservative party conference in birmingham. the bbc has not been able to speak to the man. esther burns denies any wrongdoing and has criticised a rush tojudgement by wrongdoing and has criticised a rush to judgement by party officials. before mr here in the uk, rail union leaders have insisted their strikes will continue for as long as it takes to get what they see as a fair deal. only about a fifth of train services operated across britain on saturday as more than 40,000 members of the rmt union took action in a long—running dispute. mark ashdown reports. for the second consecutive saturday, rail services have

ground to a halt. just one in five trains were running today — the impact felt across england, scotland and wales. picket lines at manchester piccadilly have become an all—too—familiar sight, as has disruption for passengers. i do understand about the strikes but it is causing a lot of complications — especially with going to work and travelling and things like that. it is making it a lot harder to get around, more than usual. we took a... we took a bus instead. we took a bus from london to manchester. yeah. to manchester, because of the rail strike. - and then the bus... it was about... eight hours. yeah, it was supposed to be a four—hourjourney, - and then it turned into eight hours. i we're going to take a taxi to blackpool, so that'll cost us like, that'll cost us 120 quid. 40,000 members of the rmt union at 15 rail operators walked out for the day — mainly guards and signalling staff but, crucially, also those at network rail, which operates the tracks and signals. it's all part of a long—running series of disputes involving various unions overjobs, pay and working conditions. there have now been 11 strikes

with no obvious end in sight. the issues are the same now as they were at the start of the dispute. we've got nothing from these employers, who are acting on behalf of the government. and so, until we get an agreement, we will have to continue with this dispute. and that could go on well into next year? well, we don't want it to, but it could go on, you know, for an undefined period, but we'd like to get a settlement and we'll be saying to the companies next week make us some offers that we can consider and then we can put to our members. unlike the rail operators, network rail has tabled a pay offer, which it says amounts to 8% over two years. we have significantly changed what we were proposing originally and we'll continue to have discussions, but i think what we need to see is compromise from the other side as well — and some realism, frankly — about the state of the railway and that hurting our passengers is never going to make it easier — make it possible for us to make a pay award. all this is having a wider impact on britain's economy. obviously, the passenger railway is really important

to us, but the freight traffic is exceptionally important to us. keeping the lights on at a time when we're talking about blackouts for other reasons, the last thing we want is for critical freight to not be able to get around the network as well because of this disruption. the new transport secretary, anne—marie trevelyan, says she's confident a deal can be brokered, but only with compromise on both sides. the rmt is about to re—ballot for a fresh strike mandate, which means industrial action could run well into next year. mark ashdown, bbc news. the south korean military has condemned north korea's latest launch of two ballistic missiles, calling at provocative and an obstacle to achieving peace on the peninsula. the missiles were fired towards the sea of japan landed outside japan's exclusive economic zone. the japanese coastguard confirmed the launches without specifying where they landed. incident

comes amid simmering tensions — led military exercises in the region. it's the latest in a series of launches this week. on tuesday, gunn yang fired a missile overjapan followed by another two launchers on thursday —— pyongyang. china has successfully launched two new satellites. the authorities say they will be used to help global navigation and communication. although the launch was fairly routine, where they launched from was a little out of the ordinary. as tim allman explains. when you think of rocket launchers, this is probably the sort of thing you have in mind. a big controlled explosion. and tons of metal heading into space. but when it comes to

slipping the surly bonds of earth, the earth bit has always been a fairly important part of the equation. tell that to the chinese. they are now launching rockets from on board a ship. this giant vessel heads out to the loc a few kilometres off the loc a few kilometres off the coast, providing both innovation and flexibility. translation:— translation: there are different _ translation: there are different launch - translation: there are different launch sites - translation: there are different launch sites to l different launch sites to choose from for a cebon lodge, making it easier to find a safe area for rocket debris, therefore it's more convenient than from land. it therefore it's more convenient than from land.— than from land. it also helps that the launch _ than from land. it also helps that the launch site - than from land. it also helps that the launch site is - than from land. it also helps that the launch site is not i than from land. it also helps that the launch site is not al that the launch site is not a fixed point. taking off from different latitudes mean you can choose different orbits which saves costs on fuel. the sea has long been an important part of the space exploration journey. with splashdown often the final chapter of each mission. but now, china has turned that on its head, from the high seas to outer space. tim allman, bbc news.

thank you for watching. you can reach me on twitter. you are watching bbc news. after what's been a wet week for some, saturday was a lot quieter. 18 celsius in the south, nearly ten hours of sunshine and only around nine millimetres of rain and the reason was this area of high pressure ruling the roost. but these weather fronts are now starting to nudge that high pressure system out the way, so for the day ahead, increasing amounts of cloud, wind and rain. but ahead of it, we've still got starry skies and through the night, temperatures have been tumbling away — within two or three degrees of freezing in some rural areas by morning, notably of england and wales — so a touch of grass frost, a little bit of mist and some fog around where we've got the light winds but the winds far from light further north and west — gales or severe gale—force winds are forecast for the day ahead — that's gusts of 60 or 70

miles an hourfor parts of the western isles, the northern isles, too. starting to throw in this really quite heavy rain, several hours of it, across scotland and northern ireland. with it, some squally winds and hill fog, eventually pushing into north—western parts of england and wales. ahead of that, we've got the early morning mist and fog to clear but we should hold onto hazy sunshine across central and eastern areas. 17 or 18 and feeling quite pleasant but clearly, with the cloud, the wind and the rain elsewhere, temperatures will be held nearer 13 or 14. now, the progress of that weather front will continue through the evening and overnight, becoming stuck across southern and eastern areas, but it will be milder through the coming night so, as we go towards monday morning's rush, we may well have a band of wet and relatively breezy weather to contend with in southern and eastern areas. it'll be pretty miserable during the day ahead with that rain. then, showers follow on that north—westerly breeze, so temperatures taken down a degree or two but some good spells of sunshine and just the odd shower coming through on that brisk wind, which will start to ease away. it will initially be really quite windy across even the north on monday morning and then that eases away

and we've got temperatures falling low once again with a touch of frost potentially in a few spots as we head towards dawn, so that'll be more widespread. but then later in the day, we'll start to pick up more cloud and then by wednesday, the next weather front arrives to bring rain, particularly across the northern and western half of the uk — that's this weather system here. but it's all eyes out to the atlantic for later in the week when it looks as if we could have a very deep area of low pressure moving in with a lot of wind and rain associated with it. we'll keep you posted.

this is bbc news, the headlines. president putin has ordered the russian secret service to tighten security on the kerch bridge hours after the kerch bridge hours after the fire destroyed at. he also ordered a full investigation into the incident stopping ukrainian officials have welcomed the explosion. there's been reports of at least three more deaths on another day of mass protest against the iranian authorities that have a right that after the death and custody of a young woman. videos have emerged e—mail students shouting go back when president ibrahim re see visited a women's university. five teenagers in hong kong

have been felled guilty of