this is bbc news — broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines... china sees a sharp increase in coronavirus cases days after beijing eased restrictions, following a wave of protests. international film actress, taraneh alidoosti, has been arrested in iran, as anti—government protests continue into a fourth month. ukraine says power has been restored to almost 6 million people after russian attacks on the country's electricity generating system. and croatia takes third place in the football world cup, beating morocco 2—1.

hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. china is seeing a sharp increase of positive covid cases just ten days after suddenly easing its strict lockdown measures, following a wave of protests — with the capital, beijing, being one of the worst affected areas. in china's largest city, shanghai, officials have ordered most of its schools to take classes online, as covid cases soar. the bbc�*s ijoema ndukwe reports. cars bearing the dead line the driveway of this crematorium assigned for covid—19 deaths. it is among dozens of such

facilities across the capital, beijing, struggling to meet a spike in demand days after china began to relax its pandemic protocols. workers and drivers at funeral homes have been calling in sick, as the disease spreads across the city, adding to a shortage of labour. the number of covid cases has not been confirmed, but according to an informal survey by chinese search engine baidu, 70% of beijing, a city of 22 million people, is infected. meanwhile, in china's largest city, shanghai, officials have ordered most schools to take classes online as covid cases soar. nurseries and childcare centres will close from monday, according to the education bureau. the authorities have stepped up vaccinations, including the option of inhalable boosters to speed up distribution. however, a past emphasis on lockdowns, rather than vaccinations, means that

older people are at risk. sufficiently vaccinated is the question, and unfortunately that is a relatively low percentage, particularly with elderly people. and, you know, to understand why, i think in the time of severe lockdowns, we have had nearly three years of china being severely locked down and that was the containment measure, so people had a sort of false sense of security. there are concerns that china's health infrastructure is not equipped to deal with the rapid rise in patients. analysts say chaos and confusion have followed the country's abrupt decision to drop its controversial zero covid policy. and it is still unclear how authorities will get to grips with this current surge in infections. ijoema ndukwe, bbc news. dr anne rimoin is a professor of epidemiology at the ucla fielding school of public health. i asked her what china is facing as cases continue to rise.

we know from our experience, when you have a surge of covid, everything gets stressed and that includes the health system, not onlyjust the primary health systems, but everything down the line that we have, skilled nursing facilities, places where you have older people also get stressed, so everything will get stressed and because this very rapid lifting of protocols and procedures and rules around covid, we canjust expect to see a massive explosion of cases. you know, on the one hand, it is a much less virulent strain than the very early strains and some of these other strains that they were, they were. . . not, that they did not suffer from, but the problem is it is more infectious, so even when you have more infectious variants and a lot of people who are vulnerable,

you're still going to see those hospitals being hit. professor, it has been three years of lockdowns. it has been ten days since the restrictions were lifted. some schools are certainly responding. those are recognised super spreader sites now. ten days, and the rate of cases, is that normal? i mean, we know that they have a very, very immune naive population, they don't have a lot of immunity from population immunity, from natural immunity from having had the virus, which are not as widely distributed and they are not as effective against the omicron variant, so we can assume that with omicron or with this particular strain that is circulating that we will see a lot of cases and spread exponentially over time.

you know, you have the population, the densely populated areas and lack of immunity, which are all setting the stage for a very dramatic rise in cases. and again, what we do know is when this virus has an opportunity to spread, it has an opportunity to mutate and when it has an opportunity to mutate then you do risk new variants and it is always a roll of the dice with what happens there, so i think this is going to be important to monitor it, very, very carefully and to do everything we can to make sure that their systems are able to handle the sure influx of cases and patients. that was dr anne rimoin of ucla in california. in iran, the well known film actress, taraneh alidoosti, has been arrested, as anti—government protests continue into a fourth month. an iranian news agency said, ms alidoosti — who's best known for her starring role in the oscar winning iranian film,

the salesman — was detained for publishing what it called "false and distorted content" and "inciting chaos". ms alidoosti publicly condemned the first execution of a protester earlier this month. meanwhile, the suspicious death of another young woman has provoked new outrage. 36—year—old aida rostami had been helping the wounded in the unrest in a sprawling neighbourhood in western tehran, one of the flashpoints in the protests that have been sweeping the country. our news reporter, azadeh moshiri, has been following developments — i asked her earlier what else we know about these women's cases. it is important to know that taraneh alidoosti is one of the most prominent iranian actresses who is still living in iran and that is why what she does get a lot of headlines, but it also attracts the attention of the islamic republic.

in this case, according to state media she has been arrested for spreading falsehoods, that is after she condemned the execution of the second, one of the two men who has been executed in connection to the protests. while he was charged with having wounded a paramilitary officer with a machete and having blocked a main road in tehran, what many human rights groups have said is that he like many others didn't have access to a lawyer and participated in what was really a sham trial, so she posted, "every "international organisation who is watching this bloodshed "and not taking action is a disgrace to humanity." before this, she said she was going to stay in iran and continue showing support for the protests, no matter the risks that she faces and that is why she posted that picture of herself without a hijab, with the words, "woman, life, freedom." so essentially she is a woman who is extremely prominent and extremely assertive and that is something that threatens the islamic republic. ok, we'rejust showing pictures of her there on the screens. there is concern of

unfortunately another death. it has been described as suspicious. her name is aida rostami. who is she and what do we know? yes, she is a reminder that there are different kinds of threats now for these protesters, some who have been arrested, some facing death sentences, some who have been executed already, but we still have people dying on the streets, hundreds we have reported previously. she is a young physician who has been treating protesters because many of them are terrified of going to the hospital and being connected with the protests and facing consequences. earlier this week according to reports with our colleagues at bbc persian we saw that police

turned up for her body at the families. according to her family, her body was extremely mutilated. the police said that she died in a car accident, but then the story changed, it was that she fell off a bridge, but again it didn't make sense with all these injuries and the report said that she had died from blows to the head, so then the state media reported she actually had an altercation with a man and then fell off a bridge, so these changes, the story doesn't make sense, so it is a reflection of where we are at now with these protests because islamic republic wants to scare these protesters because they haven't been able to get a handle on his protests so far. it was azadeh moshiri. let's turn to the war in ukraine now — and the kremlin says president putin spent friday holding meetings with military commanders running russia's war in ukraine. his visit to operational headquarters came a day after kyiv said moscow was planning a broad offensive early in the new year. russia's suffered a string of defeats on the ground in ukraine recently, with only minor advances in the east. meanwhile, in ukraine iteslf — following a wave of air strikes

on friday, emergency crews in ukraine have been struggling to restore power and water supplies that left millions without light, heat or water. russia fired more than 70 missiles at ukraine on friday in one of its biggest attacks since the start of the war, knocking out power in the second biggest city, kharkiv, and forcing the government to bring in emergency blackouts nationwide. speaking a short while ago, ukrainian president zelenskiy said that the country had managed to restore power to almost 6 million people in the last 2a hours. translation: the main thing today is the energy sector. - through the day we have managed to bring electricity back to almost 6 million ukrainians. repair works are ongoing. they continue without interruption after yesterday's terrorist attacks. russia spares no resources for the war against our people, it is specifically against all ukrainians, from lutsk to kharkiv, from sumy to odesa.

i am grateful to every leader and to every nation and to our partners who understand that such a large—scale russian investment in terror — just imagine, more than 4,000 missiles — that must be covered by an even greater support to the people targeted by this terror. that was president zelensky. one other line to bring you from ukraine at this hour — the country has chosen its eurovision song contest entry for next year. the qualifying competition was held in a metro station which had been converted into a bomb shelter in kyiv — and here are the winners who will represent ukraine at the contest in liverpool in may. they're called tvorchi — and they're hoping their song, heart of steel, will repeat last's years success by their compatriots, the kalush orchestra. take a listen.

# don't care what you say # don't care what you say # don't care how you feel # don't care how you feel # get out of my way # get out of my way # get out of my way # because i have got the heart of steel. # there has been a low turnout — just below 9% — in tunisia's parliamentary elections. it's the first election since a controversial new constitution was adopted earlier this year. the vote faced a boycott from opposition groups, who say it marks a power grab by president kais saied, who sacked the government and disssolved parliament last year. our reporter bassam bounenni sent this report from the capital tunis. tunisians are back to the polls to elect a new parliament in a very controversial vote. with no surprise, only a few voters

of the 9 million showed up to the polls, as most of the opposition groups in the north african nation called the electoral process. seven constituencies did not record any application, while in ten others only one candidate ran for a parliamentary seat. according to the constitution, the house will have little powers, compared to the almost unlimited ones granted to the president. this election falls on the anniversary of the eruption of the popular upheaval that in 2011 unseated the late president, triggering the arab spring. a 10—year transition succeeded in embracing deep and genuine political reforms. but failed in addressing major economic and social challenges.

president kais saied was deemed a populist leader, grabbed the power injuly 2021. he has since led unilaterally in the north african nation. that was bassam bounenni there with that report. let's get some of the day's other news now. the president of peru, dina boluarte, has rejected calls to resign, saying it would not solve the political crisis, which was created by the ousting of her predecessor, pedro castillo. he is currently in detention awaiting trial, after he tried to dissolve the congress. his supporters have staged protests across the country since he was removed from office. a man has been charged with the murders of a woman and her two young children in kettering in northamptonshire. officers were called to an address on thursday and found anju asok, jeeva saju, and janvi saju with serious injuries. they died a short time later.

52—year—old saju chelavalel will appear at northampton magistrates�* court on monday. germany's chancellor olaf scholz has opened the country's first liquid natural gas terminal. the facility was built in the last few months, and will be capable of meeting a third of germany's gas requirements. analysts say it should help the country ease its reliance on gas supplies from russia. a 33—year—old woman in london has died after being injured in a crush at a concert at brixton o2 academy on thursday. two other people remain in critical condition in hospital. the concert, by singer asake, had to be abandoned pa rt—way through. the met police say a "large number of people" tried to force their way inside. matt cole has more. this is rebecca ikumelo, a 33—year—old nursing graduate

and mother of two who came to brixton to enjoy a concert. now she is dead. these were the scenes on thursday night when what's believed to have been over a thousand people tried to force their way into the brixton academy. the concert, afrobeats star asake's third of three here, was a sell—out. but despite his request that people without tickets stay away, posted online before the show, hundreds and more still came. the pushing, shoving and trampling led to three people being critically hurt. you could see two people out here getting treatment from the police. police giving cpr to a young lady. it's pretty awful to see someone who went out for a night of fun and then they end up, you know, not spending christmas with their friends or family. this morning, rebecca ikemulo died from her injuries. her family have released a statement in which they hailed her care, kindness and love. they said she was an adorable mother of two children who loved working with kids.

the debris from the chaos here on thursday night still lines the street down the side of the venue, and police cordons remain in place. all day, officers from the met�*s specialist crime command have been working here at the site trying to figure out what happened, what went so badly wrong to cause this tragedy. with so many people at and around the venue here on thursday night, detectives think they could have around 4,000 potential witnesses and are keen to hearfrom them. they especially want images people took on the night in the hope they'll offer clues as to how matters unfolded. they've set up a website on which people can upload photographs and footage. a postmortem examination of rebecca ikumelo�*s body will take place tomorrow. meanwhile, two others remain critically ill in hospital. matt cole, bbc news, brixton. to the world cup now,

where we are just hours away from the final. france will take on argentina — with both sides hoping to secure a third title. on saturday, it was the turn of croatia and morocco, who took part in the third place playoff. with the story from doha, here's nestor mcgregor. for morocco this has been a tournament where the team has reached new heights, and every step of the way their fans have followed. meanwhile, runners—up from last time croatia trying to have a party of their own. but who would be the last ones dancing? it was a toothless 0—0 draw when the teams met in the group stage, butjust seconds into this one, croatia were nearly on the score sheet, keeper bono inches away from a huge error. i would like to say calmly done, but my goodness me! over! 0h! soon after, though, morocco were behind. the masked attacker turned out to be a defender — josko gvardiol one of the players of the tournament so far. gvardiol has croatia in front! in less than two minutes, the teams were back level, another defender, another

header — achraf dari underneath the pile of bodies. two goals in two minutes! on the stroke of half—time the game swung back in croatia's favour. mislav orsic might have to wait some time to score a goal better than this. mislav orsic with a great goal! midway after the break, croatia felt they should have been awarded a penalty. the referee and var ruled no foul. one of the worst decisions you could hope to see. that decision would have been even more egregious if morocco had scored in the final seconds. in the end, a night that belonged to croatia, second in russia four years ago, third at qatar 2022 and a country that continues to outperform, relative to its size. a word on morocco, though, the first african team to make it so far, the pride of the continent and the arab world. fans may well be celebrating tonight. nestor mcgregor, bbc news, in qatar. let's turn to sunday's final

now and the view from france. the team has the chance to become the first nation to retain the title for 60 years and that's something which is exciting fans across the country. lucy williamson reports. for french footballers, team loyalty is a way to win matches. for french fans, it is a way of life. for guillaume, practising his game near paris this week, not even argentina can shake his faith in the national side. nothing. because i know that we have the best team in the world and that will never change. i am only 19 years old and i will see my country win a second world cup. at this age, it is pretty incredible, so, yeah, it definitely means something. argentina's star player, lionel messi, already knows how the french play football. his dayjob is scoring goals for this french club. this match will pitch a france's footballing two of france's footballing

heroes against each other. kylian mbappe and lionel messi usually both play for the paris club paris saint—germain. but today they will be facing each other on opposing sides. mbappe as france's starstriker, lionel messi as argentina's. in the bar next to the paris ground, there is anxiety ahead of today's game. the french know how messi place football too. plays football too. i am super tense because we saw what argentina did and they have a mission, it is to win. but france has a mission, too. win twice. so, does france have what it takes? translation: of course. kylian, for sure. he's younger, he's faster, everything is possible. translation: it is going to be a battle because it is the only title messi doesn't have. we can tell they are nervous. they want to win the world cup, we want to win the world cup, too. the baguette is winning!

french pride and confidence have grown with every win in this tournament, the chant ringing across paris after their semifinal win, "we are in the final!" one game now stands between france and glory. 11 men who carried the hopes of this nation to qatar are within sight of carrying the trophy back home. lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. here are the all—important details. kick off is at 1500 gmt. and if you want the full story of all of the qatar world cup ups and downs — just go to our website — bbc.com/news — or check out the bbc app. also watching us. it is only weeks to christmas, around the world billions of people will

be celebrating and before then final prep and greek preparations are under way and it should be an especially busy time for one man. tim almen explains. you'd think, what with the big day rapidly approaching, father christmas might otherwise be engaged. but here in the bulgarian capital sofia, santa — or at least a lot of people looking quite like him — were out for a ride. this is an annual event where dozens dress up for the occasion and then bike around the city, raising money for a local orphanage. translate: we are on the eve of christmas and - what could be better than seeing the smiles of children? we have prepared gifts for them, so i think it will be a nice event. in the vietnamese capital, hanoi, father christmas isjust a passenger. he is also a dog. 13 of them, in fact,

all rescue animals travelling on this converted tuk—tuk. for their owner, they are her christmas chums. translation: to me, the dogs are like friends, true friends. they help relieve the sadness, the hardships of life, the worries. they made me let go of everything, hate, greed, delusion. ifind my life is more peaceful. it is a little less peaceful here in geneva, where the festive period seems to bring out the hardiest of souls. 4000 amateur and professional swimmers taking part in the traditional christmas cup. dating back to 1934, it involves fancy dress and a freezing cold lake. apparently there is already a waiting list for next year. tim allman, bbc news.

bonkers! cold! you can reach me on twitter — i'm @lukwesaburak and i am not bonkers! stay with us, more coming up here on bbc news. is this cold snap comes to an end, we have some really unpleasant weather to get through during the course of sunday, at least for a time, some disruption due to freezing rain in places, really quite icy almost anywhere in the uk, some sleet and snow, but rain and wind as well, all arriving with this quite threatening looking area of cloud, sweeping towards us as i speak and within this area of storm eunice you can see much milder air and the south—west of england during the early hours of sunday. it is on the leading edge of that transition between the cold and the mild that we

have the weather front. of it still freezing cold in the morning, city centre temperature is —4, —5 in places, a lot lower in the countryside and then that rain will override that frozen ground. in places sleet and snow across the hills, but freezing rain possible and an amber warning freezing rain possible and an amberwarning and freezing rain possible and an amber warning and forceful northern parts of england, is _4’ northern parts of england, is —4, —5 in places, a lot lower in the countryside and then that rain will override that frozen ground. in places sleet and snow across the hills, but freezing rain possible and an amber warning freezing rain possible and an amberwarning and freezing rain possible and an amber warning and forceful northern parts of england, so rain falling, on power lines as well, really quite dangerous. this is going to be around the peak district, the pennines, into yorkshire and possibly the cumbrian fells as well, but ice is possible almost anywhere. not necessarily in the south—west and the rest of the country. i think by the afternoon it will be a lot milder here, really quite blustery in cornwall and devon, 12 celsius. through the course of the evening into the night of the evening into the night of the evening into the night of the rain will come and go, the winds will be strong and

will be turning and wilder as we go into the early hours of monday morning. then on monday we have this large area of low pressure over a still, lots of isobars, some strong winds, the rain really could be quite heavy, particularly around western parts of the uk, the welsh hills, cumbrian polls, western parts of scotland, the least amount of rainfall will be further east you are, but look at those temperatures. positively balmy compared to what we have been having over the last couple of weeks, up to about 14 degrees, an extraordinary rise in temperature just a sort short space of time and as far as the weekend and next week is concerned stay is generally unsettled and generally on the mild side with temperatures in double figures, take care.

this is bbc news, the headlines... china is seeing a sharp increase of positive covid cases, just ten days after suddenly easing its strict lockdown measures following a wave of protests, with the capital beijing being one of the worst affected areas. in shanghai, officials have ordered most schools to take classes online. the award—winning iranian film actress, taraneh alidoosti, has been arrested after publicly condemning the first execution of a protester in iran earlier this month. an iranian news agency says ms alidoosti, was detained for publishing what it called false and distorted content and inciting chaos. president zelensky says power has been restored to almost six million people after russian attacks

on ukraine's electricity generating system. russia fired more than 70 missiles at ukraine on friday, knocking out power in the second biggest city