welcome to bbc news. i'm vishala sri—pathma. our top stories: russia claims a strategic victory in ukraine, saying its troops have captured the eastern town of soledar. brazil's supreme court says prosecutors should investigate the role of former president, jair bolsonaro, in the storming of congress. in a meeting with president biden, japan's prime minister warns russia's invasion of ukraine could encourage similar acts elsewhere. and sportswear giant adidas loses a court case to stop a fashion designerfrom using a four—stripe design.

russia says its forces have completed the capture of soledar, a small town in eastern ukraine that's been the focus of intense fighting. moscow called it an important step in its offensive, which would allow russian troops to cut off ukrainian forces in nearby bakhmut. if russia's claims are true, it would be the first ukrainian town it has captured since july after six months of russian military setbacks. but ukraine's president zelensky says the battle in soledar is still under way. our ukraine correspondent james waterhouse reports. a salt mining town under russian assault, soledar has become a story of carnage and contradiction. after months of bloody fighting, an attempt by russia to give a clear message. for the first time, a claim to be in complete control, and that this town is the start

of something bigger. "the capture of soledar became possible due to the constant "destruction of the enemy," says russia's defence ministry. "by ground attack, aircraft, missiles, and artillery." but ukraine is saying... "fighting continues in soledar. "our troops are holding defence against the enemy." ukraine has resisted russia's attack here for months. the price is getting heavier. translation: we will never give up. - this is our soledar, our city, and we will not give it to anyone. ukraine is ours. as soon as we see the russian soldiers, we will hit them. the kremlin has not had anything to cheer about for the last six months since it last captured a major location. soledar would change that, but it's also why kyiv is hinting at a possible retreat,

and that is because the last time a city fell, russia made minimal gains and ukraine retook swathes of territory elsewhere. it's also why soledar is unlikely to alter the course of this war. we were in the nearby city of bakhmut last weekend, an urban battlefield that could not have felt further from the politics of control. ukraine is trying to portray its own momentum. translation: the aggressor must be defeated on the ukrainian - land where he came, so that it won't be necessary to fight on the lands of other european nations later. we need to do it now so that russia does not get a break, does not have time to adapt and restore its strength. this year is crucial. more western weapons are on their way to ukraine. the fear is, without them, russia's advance might not stop at soledar. james waterhouse, bbc news, kyiv. elisabeth braw, a resident fellow at the american enterprise institute, spoke to us earlier

about the significance of russia moving into soledar. it's important that russia has not been able to capture any sort of town, let alone city, for a long time, as the correspondentjust said. but even more important is the fact that now the kremlin can tell the russian population that things are going our way, and the russian population is not going to say, "how big was the town? "is it big enough for us to be satisfied?" they will see that the russian forces have captured, if that is indeed the case, have captured a town, and that will give them some hope and that will in turn encourage them or entice them to support the war, because we should remember that the war was not going to last this long. even in russia, people's patience will start wearing thin when young men just kept dying without any gains to show for it. what sort of reaction will this

development have in washington, for example, and across the european union in terms of how now the west will react in terms of supply and military? it is two parts to that. first of all, i don't think anybody is overly alarmed because the conduct of war works that there is sometimes the side that seems to be winning, that seems to have the momentum has to concede in a particular spot. and it regains momentum elsewhere. i don't think there is a lot of alarm in any western capitals regarding this, but it will also accelerate the desire in western capitals to send more weapons to ukraine. we've seen that just over the past 2a hours, there has been acceleration in the thinking in germany, for example, about whether to send tanks.

so, if these two things are combined, i think we'll get more urgency from western capitals to finally get enough weapons to ukraine so that they can achieve lasting progress and not have any of these setbacks anymore. do we have much detail on tanks? there are various media reports on who is sending what. do you have much more detail? so, what we are hearing is that the uk, to its credit, went first and said "we are sending tanks." until the uk said it was sending tanks, countries had been very reluctant to send modern tanks simply because they were afraid that russia would then see that as a step too far and would retaliate, and finally the uk said it would send some. now, germany seems to be on the verge of announcing that it too is sending tanks, its very highly respected leopard tanks that would make a big difference in ukraine, has been reluctant

to send them so far. another interesting development in germany is the defence minister, christine lambrecht, seems to be about to resign. she was somebody who was very reluctant to send heavy weaponry to ukraine, so the tide seems to be turning in germany as well. what about where you are in the us? yeah, so what's interesting is that there is obviously a new congress now, with newly elected members of congress, and it will be fascinating to watch whether the anti—ukraine coalition, for lack of a better word, is louder in this congress than the last congress, which if you remember, in the last congress, there was enormous support to ukraine in both parties, and some did not want to send weapons or wanted to very send limited amounts of weapons, was essentially the far left, and the trumpian right. so we will see how this new congress pans out. it's in its first days still, but considering how

overwhelming the support for military assistance for ukraine was in the previous congress, i don't think we need to worry that it has completely — that the majority has completely vanished in this congress. brazil's supreme court announced a short time ago that it will investigate the role of the former presidentjair bolsonaro in the storming of congress. the violence was carried out by thousands of radical bolsonaro supporters who continue to claim that october's election was rigged. mr bolsonaro briefly posted a video questioning the legitimacy of the vote, which was won by his rival lula da silva. the bbc�*s world service americas editor leonardo rocha gave me more details. this is a major step. what we have here is the prosecutors, they began an investigation on monday, the attack on the presidential palace, congress and the supreme court took place on sunday. on monday — on sunday and monday,

they changed the tone, the government's tone changed, and they opened an investigation. many other people are being investigated. businessmen, officials. the question was always — will it get to president bolsonaro? was he involved ? was there evidence? what happens now? prosecutors earlier today, they asked for president bolsonaro, the former president, to be included, and they said there was a video that he posted online, and took out straight after, in which he said the elections were rigged. and that, for him, the head of supreme court was also the head of the electoral commission, said by saying that the elections were rigged, without proof, he was committing a crime, he was attacking an institution, he was attacking the supreme court, and he was attacking brazilian democracy, which is safeguarded by the constitution. how can supreme court in brazil go about doing anything if mr bolsonaro is in the us? he is in the us, and there is a big question mark on whether he will come back to brazil. he left before the end of his term.

he is under another investigation, him and his children, who are politicians. he denies any involvement with that, said "i had nothing to do with that." but this battle over the electoral system has been going on for a long time, since he was elected. this is an electronic voting system, which is praised he has been questioning that and people say he has been preparing the attack in case he was defeated in the election which happened in october. so there is a question mark — will he be extradited if is eventually indicted? it's a long way off. he has also applied for italian citizenship. if he got italian citizenship and he went to italy, then he wouldn't be able to be extradited by italy. it's a big question mark and there is a question mark also by the government of luiz inacio lula da silva, the left—wing leader who has been in power for less than two weeks. the operation to clear a site in germany that's been

earmarked for new coalmining is entering its fourth day. police have clashed with protesters near the village of lutzerath in the west of the country. but at least one famous demonstrator has turned up to offer her support as tim allman explains. chanting for many, she has become the face of the modern climate change movement. so it was perhaps inevitable that greta thunberg would pay a visit to lutzerath. and as police continued clearing the site, she was not impressed. i think it's absolutely absurd that this is happening, the year 2023. it is clear — the most affected people are clear, the science is clear, we need to keep the carbon in the ground. and this — germany is really embarrassing itself right now. the german authorities disagree. they spent the last few days removing demonstrators from this abandoned village. once they're gone,

it will be demolished to make way for an expanded coalmine. but some of the protesters are dug in, quite literally. translation: the tunnel is a very effective form . of defence against eviction. it's much harder to clear a tunnel than a tree house. germany previously said it wanted to abandon coalmining, but russia's invasion of ukraine nd the energy crisis it caused has prompted a change of heart, hence this ongoing demonstration and the thorny issue of how to bring it to an end. translation: we tried i to convince them to leave, but they refused. now, we have to look at how we can safely recover the two people. chanting the last few protesters are still holding out. and a large rally is due to take place later on saturday. no surprises — greta thunberg is expected to take part. tim allman, bbc news.

on a visit to washington, japan's prime minister has warned that russia's invasion of ukraine has opened a dangerous new era for the world. fumio kishida said russian aggression could encourage similar acts elsewhere, including asia, and that china remained the central challenge for both the us and japan. earlier, i spoke to our north america correspondent peter bowes. he told me about the importance of the meeting. i think it is very significant and, clearly, the major backdrop to this is what is happening in europe — the war in ukraine, russia's aggression, which the japanese prime minister suggests that it could lead to a dangerous new era in the world and that there could be similar acts elsewhere, and specifically asia. i mean, to put it bluntly, what he is suggesting is that asia could become the next ukraine and the concerns relate around aggression from china, obviously, directed at taiwan —

which is of great significance to japan — but also possible aggression from north korea as well. so, this is why the relationship — and it's been a long—term good relationship with the united states — this is why going forward, it is continuing to be very important, and perhaps crucial now, because japan is planning to spend more on the military, doubling its spending over the next five years, procuring long—range missiles as well, which makes it a much more of a major player in terms of military on the global stage. and how do we think that will affect the us—chinese relations, which clearly is quite important in lots of spheres of american life? well, i think every move that the us makes with whichever country as it relates to china is obviously going to affect the relationship, maybe just the fine print, in terms of the united states and china. but china will be looking on at this with interest

and following these developments because, as you suggest, there has been quite a tense relationship between china and the us going back over the last few months, and especially as it relates to taiwan and the united states' rather complex relationship with china and taiwan. but knowing that there is this close relationship with japan and in terms of the us military — in fact, there was an announcement very recently about us military marines that are based injapan regrouping to put them in a position where it's easier to respond to any aggression. all of that is going to be of interest to the chinese. you are watching bbc news. the headlines — russia claims a strategic victory in ukraine, saying its troops have captured the eastern town of soledar. brazil's supreme court says prosecutors should investigate the role of former president jair bolsonaro in the storming of congress. more than 30 tornados have struck the southern united states, killing at least seven people

in alabama and georgia. an emergency state has been alerted. officials are searching for bodies in ruined buildings and the full extent of the damage is being assessed. james clayton reports. america's extreme weather shows no sign of abating. here in alabama, a scene of devastation as a tornado ripped through communities. the deadly tornado focused on the area of selma, famous for its civil rights march. the billowing winds blew off roofs and destroyed homes. it tore off the chimney. hit the car. it's bad out here. it's bad. others have come back to find their properties destroyed. well, i think i was blessed with enough sense to get out of here before the tornado hit. i've lost everything that i own but other than that, i've got my life and i'm in good health. the ferocity of the winds here caught people off guard. there are reports of several mobile homes being launched into the air. on the west coast in california, the heavy rains

continue to fall. roads have been swallowed by rivers and landslides, causing disruption and even isolating communities. here in monterey, the salinas river burst its banks, flooding the surrounding area. there are concerns that entire towns could be cut off here. here in san francisco, itjust keeps raining and raining and raining. the ground here is totally sodden. there is just nowhere for the water to go. and with plenty more rain forecast, there is expected to be furtherflooding, too. james clayton, bbc news, san francisco. let's get some of the day's other news. ajudge in new york has ordered donald trump's family real estate company to pay a fine of $1.6 million after being found guilty last month of tax fraud. the manhattan criminal court imposed the sentence after jurors found two trump organization affiliates guilty of 17 criminal charges last month.

the penalty was the maximum thejudge could have imposed. neither the former us president or any family member was personally charged. a gas pipeline connecting lithuania and latvia has been hit by an explosion, but the fire that broke out has been extinguished and gas supply is back to normal. no injuries have been reported. a spokesman for the pipeline's owners, amber grid, has said that so far, there's no sign that the explosion was caused deliberately. the moroccan national football team has pulled out of the african nations championship after failing to get permission to fly direct to algeria, where the tournament is being held. the defending champions, who last month became the first african or arab team to reach the world cup semifinals, had been waiting for hours at rabat airport for expected approvalfrom algiers, which was denied. pope francis will deliver a final send—off at a funeral mass for cardinal pell on saturday, as is custom

for cardinals. australian cardinal george pell was lying in state on friday with funeral preparations overshadowed by revelations that he was the author of an anonymous memo that branded pope francis' pontificate a "catastrophe". pell, who spent more than a year in jail before being acquitted of sexual abuse allegations in his native australia, died on tuesday of heart failure. let's now go live to sydney to speak to our correspondent phil mercer. so, what did the cardinal have to say about the pope? we don't know for sure _ to say about the pope? we don't know for sure but _ to say about the pope? we don't know for sure but what - to say about the pope? we don't know for sure but what we - to say about the pope? we don't know for sure but what we do . know for sure but what we do know for sure but what we do know is there are reports that under a pseudonym, cardinal george pell what a memo for a vatican blog site last year with a scathing assessment of the papacy of pope francis, saying that he was silent, allegedly, on moral issues such

as human rights in hong kong and mainland china and also russia's invasion of ukraine and more recently it is alleged that the cardinal wrote another note closer to his death with another scathing assessment of reforms within the catholic church, saying that the church's teachings on sexuality and women were toxic, toxic nightmare, so even posture mostly from australia's most powerful catholic ever continues to be an extremely controversial figure.- controversial figure. how do australians _ controversial figure. how do australians feel _ controversial figure. how do australians feel about - controversial figure. how do australians feel about it - controversial figure. how do | australians feel about it all? this is a man who has presided over the catholic church with his authority for many, many years. george pell was the archbishop of melbourne and sydney and he is a polarising figure to many. he has been a great servant of god, it was once upon a time a senior

financial advisor to the pope. he returned to australia to face those child abuse allegations. he was convicted in 2018 but cleared unanimously by australia's high court in 2020. during that time, he spent over 400 years, 400 days, i should say, in prison. and to his detractors, this is a man who ignored sexual abuse in the clergy and it's worth noting, too, that authorities in the state of victoria, cardinal pell�*s home state, will not be offering his family a state funeral. they say it's to avoid further distress to victims of predatory priests. so as we say, an extremely devising, polarising figure here in australia.— polarising figure here in australia. ~ . australia. we will leave it there, thank _ australia. we will leave it there, thank you - australia. we will leave it there, thank you for - australia. we will leave it i there, thank you forjoining us. phil moser in sydney. —— mercer. adidas has lost a court case

to stop a fashion designer from using a four—stripe design. the sportswear brand argued that luxury brand, thom browne, inc's design, was too similar to their three—stripe design. browne responded, arguing that consumers were unlikely to confuse the two brands, partly due to the different number of stripes. well, earlier, ispoke to fashion and retail intellectual property attorney deborah greaves. i asked does whether she felt adidas' aggressive approach in defending its trademark was counterproductive. that's correct and in fact, they have been primarily successful in doing it. find successful in doing it. and with this _ successful in doing it. and with this case _ successful in doing it. and with this case that's - successful in doing it. and with this case that's been going on for a couple of years but actually, their relationship with thom browne, they've gone for this sort of line of you are copying what we are doing for a few years. why is it? why is a very hard for them to win a case, do you think? well, i think stripes are not something that are particularly unique in fashion, just like maybe polka dots or a heart. and while adidas has

dominated three stripes, they're trying to dominate four stripes and all kind of stripes and it's just such a basic element in fashion, it's difficult to claim ownership in every variation of a stripe. it also prevents competition and is generally expanding their trademark beyond what they have registered. adidas have pursued sort of a couple of hundred cases like this before. why do they keep doing that, then, if given that it's quite hard to prove its uniqueness? well, i think some of those cases were actually probably very similar to the adidas 3—stripe trademark. so, in those cases, there was a likelihood of consumer confusion. they could've been counterfeit cases as well.

so, the combination of infringement and counterfeit. there are some cases where the other party mayjust not have had the resources to fight with adidas. maybe it was two stripes, maybe it was three stripes in a different direction but whatever the case, it was going up against a huge mega corporation and not everybody has the resources to take on adidas. do you find, in your line of work, is this quite common, this pursual of intellectual property in the fashion world? well, i think it's very common but i don't think that there are — i believe that adidas has more than average cases enforcing their intellectual property, especially the 3—stripe mark. there is a lot of enforcement in the industry but it is quite robust.

—— theirs is quite robust. we leave you with a chilly reminder that winter is just getting started in many parts of the world. take this example from eastern russia that's been making the rounds on social media. as you can see, noodle soup is no match against the siberian winter. this dish froze before the person could even take a bite. this weekend the temperature will continue to drop to as low as minus 65 degrees celsius. that's a bit chilly, isn't it? a reminder of our top story. ukraine is continuing to dispute russian claims to have captured the eastern salt mining town of soledar in what would represent a rare victory for moscow after months of reverses on the battlefield. in a video address, president zelensky repeated ukraine's insistence that fighting for soledar and other towns in the donetsk region was continuing.

that's it from us for now. you can reach me on socials on instagram and twitter — i'm @bbcvishalasp. thanks for watching. hello there. well, so far, january 2023 has been very wet indeed with above average rainfall for many. we've seen some localised flooding. river levels running very high, some of them breaching their banks altogether across southern and western parts of the uk, so a number of flood warnings continue to remain in force across the uk. head online to see where they are. however, as we move through this weekend, the rain will clear away. it will turn a bit brighter but a very different feel to the weather. for part two of the weekend and into next week, things are set to be much colder — the risk of ice, snow and frost. now, this area of low pressure brings wet and windy weather across much of the uk to start saturday. early on saturday, that rain will be very heavy and persistent across southern and western areas — up to 70 millimetres of rain, in fact. the northern half of scotland will see clear spells and scattered showers

which will be of a wintry flavour as it will be cold here but milder further south. so, a very wet, windy start to our saturday morning across much of the country. eventually, that rain will tend to clear away but it'll leave a legacy — standing water, atrocious road conditions exacerbated flooding as well across some southern and western areas. but it brightens up into the afternoon. plenty of showers rattling through the northern half of the uk. wintry on the hills. it'll be colder here. the last dregs of the milder air hold on across the south—east but it doesn't last. through saturday night, the colder air wins out. clear spells, blustery showers, long spells of rain across the northern half of the country. increasingly wintry, notjust to higher ground — even down some lower levels across northern scotland. it will be a chillier night across the board. so, sunday's looking colder. we're all in that arctic air. then, you can see from the blue colours here, the white speckles indicating snow showers which will be affecting primarily the northern half of scotland. this weather front will bring a mixture of rain, perhaps a bit of sleet over higher ground for parts of northern ireland into parts of north wales, north west england,

into the midlands as well. elsewhere, plenty of sunshine, top and tail of that weather front, but there will be some snow showers feeding into northern scotland, some of these down to lower levels as it will be a cold day right across the board — single—figure values there. factor in the wind, it'll feel even colder than that. so, into next week, it stays much colderfor a time. the risk of overnight frost and ice and increasing chance of snow in places. some of that snow might be disruptive sunday night into monday, particularly across central and southern parts of the uk, so stay tuned to the forecast. but the general theme is as we move through the week, temperatures begin to recover again towards the end of the week.

this is bbc news. the headlines: russia is claiming a rare victory in what's become a war of attrition in ukraine. it says it's captured the eastern salt—mining town of soledar, though ukraine says fighting is continuing. the town had been pummelled for weeks in one of the most intense battles of the war. brazil's supreme court has decided that prosecutors should investigate the role of the former president, jair bolsonaro, in the storming of congress. the violence was carried out by thousands of radical bolsonaro supporters who continue to claim that october's election was rigged. the former president is in florida. on a trip to washington, japan's prime minister has warned that russia's invasion of ukraine has opened a dangerous new era for the world.

fumio kishida said russian aggression