this is bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm rich preston. 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, is arrested in iran, as anti—government protests continue into a fourth month. german police recover some of the precious items stolen during the country's biggest art heist three years ago. and, argentina or france? we look ahead to the world cup football final.

hello and welcome to bbc news. china is seeing a sharp rise in positive covid cases, just 10 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. 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. they stopped counting asymptomatic cases, there has also been a transition to use of antigen tests which are not associated with the labradorian, they are being done at home so just like the issues we've been having in the united states and globally, when you switch to antigen tests you don't have that situational awareness so our best bet is going to be understanding what is happening in the hospitals. 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.

for more insight to this story let's speak to eric feiglding, he is an epidemiologist and co—founder of the world health network. originally from shanghai, but today he joins us live from washington dc. thanks very much for being with us. if i can ask a personal question to begin with, your family are still in shanghai, what are they saying to you about the situation where they are at the moment?— about the situation where they are at the moment? thanks for havin: are at the moment? thanks for having me- _ are at the moment? thanks for having me. there _ are at the moment? thanks for having me. there is _ are at the moment? thanks for having me. there is definitely i having me. there is definitely concern because shanghai, for example, not only are inaudible but there are a lot of worries, a lot of my elderly relatives are worried and a lot of my cousins, some of them are teachers, also worried. they had to close _ teachers, also worried. they had to close all _ teachers, also worried. they had to close all schools, - teachers, also worried. they| had to close all schools, they just announced, basically for the next month until mid—january. so there is a lot of concern in shanghai and i think it is also justifiable concern because if you look at where china is going, and now we have very little mitigation,

china is under vaccinated, i think china is headed towards a couple of hundred million infections and likely millions of deaths and potentially economic fallout from this in 2023 next year. so with your professional hat on, why is china unravelling its zero covid policy so quickly? could it have not done this at a more measured pace? i it have not done this at a more measured pace?— measured pace? i think they were trying to _ measured pace? i think they were trying to do _ measured pace? i think they were trying to do it - measured pace? i think they were trying to do it in - measured pace? i think they were trying to do it in a - measured pace? i think they| were trying to do it in a more measured pace. obviously the protest, i understand people are very tired of them, the protests accelerated i think was eventually going to be a matter of when not if china released, because china was already planning to relax its international flight rules in over, way ahead of any of the protests had started, i think china was hoping to roll out its inhaled mucosal vaccine, the vaccine in which you inhale it from a cup. that is, i think their linchpin but the rollout

of these inhaled mucosal vaccines which are potentially one of the game changing vaccines that is why more effective than the muscular vaccines we have been having, it has been very slow and china was originally hoping to wait a few more months before that was happening but now that they released a lot of these measures, these relaxation measures, these relaxation measures, in the middle of winter, china does have a winter, china does have a winter as well, it is all pretty severe, it is basically a perfect storm right now. find a perfect storm right now. and other parts _ a perfect storm right now. and other parts of _ a perfect storm right now. and other parts of the _ a perfect storm right now. and other parts of the world where covid has been allowed to spread, we've seen the virus evolve and we have seen these different mutations and different mutations and different area. in china where it has not been allowed to spread, are they seeing these variants or are they seeing a more original strain? the oriainal more original strain? the original strain _ more original strain? the original strain is - more original strain? the original strain is almost l original strain is almost extinct. they are seeing different omicron some variant, bh seven which is a subtype of

the a5. china has not rolled out any updated boosters, unlike the us and many european countries, although in the uk for example they have been using ba one bivalent which is also very outdated, so i think theissueis also very outdated, so i think the issue is that the virus has mutated substantially and the vaccines currently are just not, the muscular vaccines are just not very good against infection anymore against omicron. they are still good and decent against hospitalisation but china has a very low booster rate especially in the elderly and i think the mucosal vaccines are not rolled out enough, the thing is, masks, n95s masks are still used in china and then edit infection as a variant diagnostic and china isjust not using the ventilation air

disinfection aspect. these are also very key pillars of controlling covid, notjust testing and notjust reliant on vaccines because we know those strategies are not enough by itself against these highly evasive in some variant. thank ou ve evasive in some variant. thank you very much- _ 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 people wounded in the unrest in a neighbourhood in the west

of the capital tehran. our reporter azadeh moshiri started by telling me more about ms alidoosti's arrest. when the protest had just began she posted a picture of herself without a hijab with a banner that said he said women, life, freedom. so she already had a lot of attention from the government and the time she has been arrested because she, according to state media, has been spreading falsehoods. this comes after she condemned the execution of one of the two men who has been executed in connection to the protests and in his case it was because he was accused of having blocked a main road in tehran as well as having attacked a member of the paramilitary force with a machete but what rights groups have pointed out is that he along with other protesters are involved in what are essentially sham trials, they don't even have access to their own lawyers and so that is what led

ms alidoosti to post "every international organisation who was watching this bloodshed and not taking action is a disgrace to humanity," but she did say before all of this, "i am still staying in iran," despite the risks to her own safety because she believed in defending her fellow iranians. so obviously an assertive woman like this who is gaining a lot of prominent and makes a lot of headlines for the sorts of action is going to attract the ire of the islamic public. what are we hearing about the death of this young woman? so, aida rostami really exemplifies some of the other risks here stopping you have —— you have protesters who are caught up being arrested, who are facing charges, who are even being executed but you still have protesters who are being killed out on the streets. we know that hundreds of been killed so far, we have reported on that before. when it comes to aida rostami, she is a young physician who was treating protesters who were injured and that is because a lot of protesters are afraid of going to the hospitals because they could face consequences for having participated in the first place. according to reports and the work of our own

colleagues at bbc persian, police went to her family earlier this week with aida's body and it was heavily mutilated and injured, according to the family, and the story kept changing — the police at first said that she was involved in a car accident, then they said she fell off a bridge and then afterwards state media reported that actually she was in an altercation with a man and then fell off the bridge and so these are obviously really concerning circumstances, they don't make sense and it highlights the fact that we are in a really crucial point in the islamic republic's crackdown when they are trying to inspire fear in protesters as they try to get a hold of a movement that they simply cannot contain so far. 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 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 1,000 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. meanwhile, in ukraine, following a wave of airstrikes on friday, emergency crews 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 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. ukrainian president zelensky said that the country had managed to restore power to almost six million people in the last 2a hours. translation: 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. 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 get what you say. # don't get how you feel. # get out of my way, because i've got a heart of steel... in the republic of ireland, leo varadkar has returned as prime minister after he and his predecessor, micheal martin, swapped roles. the transfer of power was agreed in a coalition deal in 2020 and is the first

of its kind in the history of ireland. chris page has this report. this christmas in dublin, it's notjust gifts that are being exchanged. there's been a swap at the top in politics. applause. micheal martin has resigned as taoiseach, as he agreed to when he began thejob in 2020. leo varadkar has replaced him. it's the outcome of the deal between his party, fine gael, and mr martin's fianna fail, which ended almost a century of intense rivalry. mr varadkar will be influential in the talks between the eu and the uk over brexit arrangements for northern ireland. the democratic unionist party is blocking the formation of a power—sharing devolved government in belfast in protest against the trade border with great britain. the new taoiseach is hoping for better relations. we must set aside our

differences, forgive past mistakes on all sides, and seek a new beginning in a spirit of friendship. the next general election here is due in about two years' time. currently the left—wing republican party, sinn fein, is well ahead in the polls. sinn fein's main aim is irish unity, but its immediate focus is taking on the taoiseach. fine gael and their friends in fianna fail have been in powerforfar too long. they are out of touch, out of ideas and out of time. the political tempo is increasing in ireland, and that matters in london and brussels, as well as in this city. chris page, bbc news, dublin. football fans are preparing themselves for the final of the world cup on sunday. it's argentina against france. each country has won the tournament twice in the past, but france are hoping to become the first country since brazil in 1962 to win in consecutive

competitions. our paris correspondent lucy williamson has this report. for french footballers, team loyalty is a way to win matches. for french fans, it's a way of life. for gion, practising his game near paris this week, not even argentina can shake his faith in the national side. nothing, no fear, because i know that they are the best team in the world and that will never change. i'm only 19 years old, and i would see see my country win a second world cup. at this age it's 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 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'll be facing each other on opposing sides. mbappe is france's star striker, messi is argentina's. in the bar next to the paris ground, there is anxiety ahead of today's game. the french know how messi plays football too. i'm super tense because we saw what argentina did, and they have a mission — it's to win. but france has a mission, too — it's win twice! so does france have what it takes? translation: of course, kylian mbappe, for sure. l he's younger, he's faster. everything is possible. translation: it's going to be a battle because it's the only l title messi doesn't have. we can tell they're nervous. they want to win the world cup, we want to win the world cup too. oh, the baguette is winning, the baguette is winning! - all sing.

french pride and confidence have grown with every win in this tournament. the chant ringing across paris after their semifinal win, "we're 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. that is the view from france. earlier i had a chat with argentine monica barragan, who lives in the usa. i wanted to know how it feels to count down the hours to the game when she is thousands of miles from home. i'm feeling very happy, very excited. i don't know how am i going to do to be able to sleep tonight. most likely, i'm going to be up all night. well, yeah, because of course this is an early kick—off for you, albeit 7:00am in the morning los angeles time. how confident are you feeling about the game? i am feeling very confident,

because all the argentinian fans, we hope that messi's going to do his best show tomorrow. and we have an incredible team, an incredible coach, and we know that we can beat france. we are very strong. i'm glad you brought up messi, because he has been one of the heroes of the tournament, really. he has dozens of accolades to his name, but he's not won a world cup before. do you think he could be taking this trophy home? yes, yes. he has that desire, very strong inside of him, more than ever. he grown a lot inside, and he's prepared. he's ready to bring this home. he can't wait. he is argentina's strongman. but the french's secret weapon — not so much of a secret, really — is kylian mbappe. when the two men meet on the pitch, it really

is going to be, you know, a tussle of the talents. can argentina get past mbappe, and some of the skills he has displayed so far? it's going to be very a big challenge, but argentinian defenders, they have been working very hard to stop him. we're very confident that it can happen, and with messi's skills, he will be able to play them and show his talent. ok, final question — what do you think the score is going to be? uh...we are going to win 3—1. in the third—place playoff match, croatia beat morocco by 2—1. croatia opened the scoring after seven minutes with this header from josko gvardiol, who just managed to keep the ball inside. they equalised two minutes later, another header, this time after a rebound off a defender, achraf dari this shot.

in off the post from mislav orsicjust before half—time turned out to be the winner. all of that means croatia, beaten finalists last time, will take the bronze medal home. just the final between france and argentina is left. much more on our website, bbc.com/news, or check out the bbc app. let's get some of the day's other news: 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. post—mortem examinations found all three died

as a result of asphyxiation. 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. police in germany say they've recovered some of the precious items stolen during the country's biggest ever art heist three years ago. it happened at the green vault museum in the eastern city of dresden. gareth barlow reports. it was the robbery that shocked germany back in 2019 as masked men forced their way into the green vault museum inside dresden castle and left with priceless pieces from the collection of the saxon ruler augustus the strong. to get to the jewels, they had started a fire nearby to cause a power outage then cut through iron bars to get inside the museum.

the lost treasure included a diamond—encrusted sword and a series of 18th—century pins and necklaces. local police vowed get the jewels back but, despite their best efforts, the trail went cold. translation: what's the chance of finding this treasure again? - we showed ourselves always decidedly optimistic, but now i can be honest — it was a bit of a fib. the longer the investigation lasted, the more our confidence melted. therefore, we're very happy to be here right now. and right now the whole case has flipped, with police saying most of the items have been recovered in berlin, but not all of them, after information came to light during an ongoing trial. around a0 people were thought to be part of the heist, with six members of a known crime syndicate facing charges for it currently. the exact details of the deal made with prosecutors were kept secret, but a total of 31 items are now on their way back to dresden, where they will be examined by experts to confirm their authenticity and where security are sure to be confirming some new

security measures. that's it from us for now. thanks for watching. goodbye. hello. as this cold snap comes to an end, we've some really 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 too, all arriving with this quite threatening—looking area of cloud which is sweeping towards us as i speak. and within this area of storminess, you can see much milder air sweeping towards ireland and the south—west of england during the early hours of sunday. and it's on the leading edge of that transition between the cold and the mild that we have the weather front. now, ahead of it, it's still freezing cold in the morning.

city centre temperatures — minus four, minus five in places, a lot lower in the countryside, and then that rain willjust override that frozen ground. in places it'll be sleet and snow across the hills, but freezing rain possible. and an amber warning in force for northern parts of england. so rain falling on frozen ground — that could lead to very icy conditions, ice accumulating on pavements, on cars, on power lines as well. really quite dangerous. now, this is going to be around the peak district, the pennines, into yorkshire, and possibly the cumbrian fells as well. but ice is possible, as i say, almost anywhere — not necessarily in the south—west and the west of the country. i think by the afternoon it will be a lot milder here. really quite blustery there in cornwall and devon, 12 degrees celsius. and then basically through the course of the evening into the night, the rain will come and go, the winds will be strong and it'll be turning milder and milder as we go into the early hours of monday morning. and then on monday, we've got

this large area of low pressure over us. still lots of isobars, so strong winds. the rain really could be quite heavy, particularly around western parts of the uk, welsh hills, cumbrian fells, western parts of scotland. i think the least amount of rainfall the further east you are. but look at those temperatures — positively balmy compared to what we've been having over the last couple of weeks or so — up to about 1k degrees. an extraordinary rise in temperature in just a short space of time. and as far as the week ahead is concerned, you can see it stays unsettled and generally on the mild side, with temperatures typically into double figures. take care.

this is bbc news. the headlines: china is seeing a sharp increase of positive covid cases, just 10 days after suddenly easing its strict lockdown measures following a wave of protests, with 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. leo varadkar has become prime minister of ireland, returning to the top job as part of a power sharing deal between the country's two leading parties. he's taking over

from micheal martin. the pact brought together the two rival parties that have