this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. our top stories... iran has executed british—iranian dual national alireza akbari on charges of spying for the uk — which he had denied. britain's prime minister calls it a �*callous and cowardly act�* and prime minister rishi sunak has confirmed the uk will provide challenger two tanks to ukraine during a call with president volodymyr zelensky. it comes as russian forces launched a series of missile attacks across the country including the capital, kyiv. climate activist greta thunberg joins protesters in the german village of lutzerath as police try to clear the area to make

way for coal mining. come here, protect life, and fight for survival. as long as people are here, lutzerath stays. takeaways, restaurants, and cafes in england will have to stop using plastic cutlery, plates, and bowls from october as part of a new government plan to tackle plastic pollution. and new hope — how hormone replacement therapy, which helps control symptoms of menopause, may reduce the risk of alzheimer's in some women.

iran's state media has reported that a british iranian national, alireza akbari, has been executed. mr akbari, who was a former deputy defence minister for iran, was detained three years ago and charged with spying for the united kingdom. the british government says the execution was politically motivated and will not go "unchallenged." in the last few hours the uk's prime minister rishi sunak says: "i am appalled by the execution of british—iranian citizen "alireza akbari in iran. "this was a callous and cowardly act, "carried out by a barbaric regime "with no respect for the human rights of their own people. "my thoughts are with alireza's friends and family." this report is from our diplomatic correspondent, caroline hawley. news of the execution came on state—run television early this morning, despite repeated last—minute appeals from the uk. ali razak belly is thought to have acquired british citizenship after investing here and who have lived in a country for several years —— alireza akbari. his government told bbc persian he had been enticed back to iran by his former boss, under

whom he had once served as deputy defence minister. the prime minister responded swiftly, saying he was appalled by a callous act carried out by a barbaric regime with no respect for human rights. on thursday, state run media in iran headed lengthy, heavily edited video featuring mr alireza akbari in which she appears to confess to working for britain. but in an audio recording given to bbc persian last week he speaks of the tyre pressure he was put under and accuses iran of trying to... in he was put under and accuses iran of trying t0- - -— trying to... in the uk. they tortured — trying to... in the uk. they tortured me _ trying to. .. in the uk. they tortured me for— trying to... in the uk. they tortured me for 3500 - trying to... in the uk. theyl tortured me for 3500 hours. trying to... in the uk. they - tortured me for 3500 hours. they broke my will, forced me to madness, and forced me to do whatever they wanted. . , ., , ., ., , wanted. the last few months iran has been convulsed _ wanted. the last few months iran has been convulsed by _ wanted. the last few months iran has been convulsed by process, _ wanted. the last few months iran has been convulsed by process, spite - wanted. the last few months iran has been convulsed by process, spite by i been convulsed by process, spite by the deaths of a young woman in police custody, mahsa amini. britain has been imposing sanctions on the so—called morality police who arrested herfor so—called morality police who arrested her for not wearing herjob properly. it is also preparing to declare iran's powerful

revolutionary guard corps a terrorist organisation. the execution carries a message both to the uk and iran whether it may be passed of an internal store power struggle. passed of an internal store power stru: ule. . , struggle. the uranium regime is -aassin a struggle. the uranium regime is passing a clear— struggle. the uranium regime is passing a clear message - struggle. the uranium regime is passing a clear message to - struggle. the uranium regime is| passing a clear message to those that work inside a van, even those that work inside a van, even those that work in the government, no—one is this safe —— iranians regime, work inside iran. it is a message that no reform is possible inside the islamic republic of iran. whatever the exact motive, his execution is a dramatic new low in the relationship between iran and the relationship between iran and the uk, which is now weighing its response. the ukrainian capital, kyiv, has been hit by a missile attack, with critical infrastructure apparently the target. journalists reported a series of explosions overnight — saying warning systems had failled to sound the alarm. the mayor of kyiv, vitali klitschko, urged residents to take shelter,

and said that missile debris had fallen in the west of the city. our ukraine correspondent has more from kyiv there were a series of reported of explosions from around 4am this morning. concerningly, the sirens didn't sound for a couple of hours, but what we are being told is that missiles have struck in the eastern flank of the city and the authorities are saying that infrastructure has been hit. we don't know where and we don't know what. now, kyiv and so many cities around ukraine are used to threats from the sky. at the moment, we don't know where this current threat is coming from. it can sometimes be missile strikes from the caspian sea. it can be through russian fighter jets in airspace in belarus, where they have stationed troops and aircraft. we just don't know at this stage. but even if... you know, the city's air defense systems are fairly effective, but not completely effective, so missiles can get through. even if missiles are intercepted, the falling debris poses

a real threat, as well. so we, like the rest of the city, we will stay down here and wait to hear more. that's james waterhouse. the strikes come as uk prime minister rishi sunak said britain would send tanks to ukraine along with additional artillery support, during a phone call with ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky. for more on that, here's our political correspondent david wallace lockhart the two leaders have spoken this morning and we've got a read—out from downing street with a spokesperson saying that they spoke about the success of ukrainian victories, and agreed that now was the time to seize the moment with an acceleration of global military and diplomatic support to ukraine. part of that from downing street will be sending challenger 2 tanks and additional artillery systems. my understanding is we're talking about around a dozen tanks being sent to ukraine. but if we think back to when this conflict was beginning, there was a big stress on the uk

would help with defensive weaponry. now, i think number ten would still say in the context this ultimately will be used, it is still defensive weaponry but we can certainly see the support in terms of weapons that the uk has been giving ukraine, certainly stepped up throughout this conflict. and will this latest tranche of weaponry make any significant or material difference to the direction of the war, actually on the ground? i think in isolation, the honest answer would probably have to be no. these are 12 tanks we think we are talking about. ukraine are talking about the need for 300 tanks. but where this could be significant is the uk is now the first nato country to pledge that it will give tanks to ukraine. european countries like poland would like to but there a slight complexity around, they are german—made tanks and germany has to sign off on that. there will be a meeting of european defence ministers this coming week, where there could be important implications there. the us, of course, another country

people will be looking at with interest to see what they do next. i think the significance of this will be all about the message this sends from the uk, and perhaps other countries then having to consider whether or not they are willing to make a similar contribution, which of course could then perhaps start to change things, or at least start to creep towards that 300 number that ukraine says they need. to pick up on something you said earlier, the uk will probably be framing this in terms of it being provided as defensive equipment. if russia does not see it that way, and russia sees it as equipment that is part of an offensive, it almost doesn't matter what the uk portrays it as. in that way, what response could there be to that? well, it's part of the complexities of this whole conflict, and from a russian perspective, it can see western nations consistently trying to aid ukraine with military help in order to fight

a conflict against russia — something, obviously, the russian state, the russian leadership, is not going to be particularly happy about, and i think when we look at what comes out of countries like germany that perhaps are quite sensitive around this area, we can certainly see that being a consideration. and obviously, the action the uk is taking directly against russia in terms of things like sanctions, certainly the uk is not pulling its punches on who it would like to see win this conflict, but certainly with this development, i think you have to watch with interest about how russia will perceive it. david wallace lockhart there. the operation to clear a site in germany that's been earmarked for new coal—mining — 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 in the year 2023. it is — the most affected people are clear, the science is clear. we need to keep the carbon in the ground and this is... germany is really embarrassing itself right now. the german authorities disagree. they've spent the last few days removing demonstrators from this abandoned village. chanting once they're gone, it will be demolished to make way for an expanded coal mine. 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 had previously said it wanted to abandon coal mining,

but russia's invasion of ukraine and 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 to convince i them to leave, but they refused. l 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. earlier i spoke to one of the environmental campaigners out at the rally in lutzerath, niklas hohne, about how long he thought the protestors in the village would hold out. today, there is a public protest, a very peaceful protest of people that are basically saying they have sympathy for more climate policy.

but i think the ones that are really in the village, they are prepared to stay as long as possible, and they're still in tree houses and things like that, and i really hope that it all will go well and nobody will be injured. i mean, this effort to mine for coal there, i suppose supporters, proponents of it would say it means germany would be less reliant on fossil fuels that it currently imports from russia, and thereby it means germany would not be indirectly, i suppose, funding the conflict in ukraine. wouldn't that be a positive move? the decision to expand the coal mine and basically get rid of this village, lutzerath, was done a few months ago, and it wasjust after the invasion of russia in ukraine, and people had a real fear where their lights will go out or people will freeze because we have no gas, and the idea was to save gas by firing more coal. and that's why at that time, people thought it's absolutely

necessary to do this. now we are a few months later and we have seen we could save a bit more gas and, actually, there's new studies around, and the picture, or the scientific picture right now is that we don't really necessarily need it. and that's why people are now calling for basically a moratorium and saying to wait and stop this, sit together again with the government, with the civil society, with science, with the electricity company, and rethink this decision. that's the whole conflict here. but then, if there's a push to phase out nuclear energy in germany, which is well established and a direction of travel, what are the alternatives? i mean, renewable energy is an aspiration, but in the meantime, given the energy shortage, what would you see as an alternative? there's many alternatives to this very particular coalmine here. for example, you could, if you want to keep the village, you could basically dig the coal

a little bit to the left and then the village could still be there. that wouldn't help the climate but it would help this conflict. you could also use different power plants, ones that are not as emission intensive. this is the most emission intensive way to get electricity, so that's one thing. then you could indeed implement more renewables, but i think what the real best thing to do would be to save more energy, save more electricity, save more gas, and to invest all, you know, all time and money to do this, because that's the long—term solution. you can't do it by tomorrow but it's the long—term solution. some single—use plastics will be banned in england from october. takeaways, restaurants, and cafes will have to stop using plastic cutlery, plates, and bowls as part of a new plan by the government to tackle plastic pollution. sean dilley reports.

quick, convenient and no washing up — but from october, the government says it plans to ban restaurants and cafes in england from using some single—use plastics and polystyrenes. we've got a whole raft of measures on waste, trying to reduce waste in this country, and this new ban that we're announcing today is just one of a whole raft of measures to really tackle this issue. ministers are planning to ban single—use plastic trays, cutlery, bowls, balloon sticks and some polystyrene cups and food containers as part of england's 25—year environment plan to eliminate avoidable plastic waste by 2042. in 2020, single—use plastic straws, cotton buds and stirrers were banned for sale and distribution. it's estimated that england uses 2.7 billion items of single—use cutlery each year and the majority are plastic. the majority are plastic. in 2020, plastic cutlery made it to the top—15 most littered items. england, though, is playing catch—up with other uk nations. wales approved similar

measures last month — those come into effect later this year — and scotland introduced a similar ban lastjune. takeaway owners are concerned that new rules could add to their costs when bills are already high. campaigners welcome any move that reduces our carbon footprint and reduces harmful greenhouse gases but, for some, the government's plans don't go far enough. we're second only to the us in how much plastic waste is produced per person. that means we're the second—biggest producers of plastic waste in the world, so we really need transformative change to happen. we need the government to be showing real ambition and taking the lead. we're actually looking for a 50% reduction in single—use packaging, which would lead to the kind of change we need to see. the proposed ban in england only applies to cafes and restaurants and not to single—use plastic packaging for food and drinks sold in supermarkets. the government says it's working on separate plans for these retailers to cover disposal costs from 202a. sean dilley, bbc news.

i've been speaking to alisdair naulls who focuses on plastics pollution at the river trust, to see if he thinks these measures go far enough i don't think it's a move quite enough. i work with a group locally here in cheltenham, i volunteer with them and try to sort of move, help those businesses — small businesses and sole traders — move into a, sort of, less plasticised way of working. and they are broadly very, very supportive. and i find it interesting that where we haven't connected this announcement from the government is to the multinationals, and so i think we could go further. we just heard in your report we do have a real obsession with plastics, but it's hard to get away from it. i'm a dad of young children — it's really hard. when you go, and i'm sure you know,

as well, you go on your shop to your local supermarket — whichever one it might be — and it is really, really tough to shop as plastic free as we would all like. you say it doesn't go as far as you would like it to go. what more would you like to see done? well, ithink, you know, talking with a local cafe or a local shop, you know, in the local area, that's good and they do need to do that. we also need the big supermarkets to come on board and i think we also need to be looking at the plastics—producing industry, so we need to go and talk to the petrochemical industry to talk about reducing just how much plastics are being produced, and those very big, very well—organised, businesses will find ways to sell into market and this is where you need someone like me, taking my little coffee cup on a train, when i go to a meeting or wherever i'm going to or encouraging my kids

to take that to school, like all of our kids do, that's us squeezing from the bottom as an individual. with whoever that might be — it could be us at the rivers trust or your local wildlife trust, the marine conservation society, surfers against sewage, whichever group you join, but until us as individuals, these small groups that we join, can push up and get this push as well from the legislators at the top, and bring on—board through legislation the very big multinationals, i think this is... it's definitely a good move, i don't want to be negative about that. we're really pleased to hear this news, but we do need more. we need to take bigger strides forward in tackling what is the plasticene, not the anthropocene. alisdair naulls there.

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 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. and that, for him, the head of supreme court, who is 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. a new study has suggested hormone

replacement therapy — or hrt — a type of treatment originally designed to alleviate the symptoms of menopause could be �*potentially important�* in lowering the risk of some women developing alzheimer's disease. the paper, written by scientists at the university of east anglia and the university of edinburgh, says it has found evidence that hrt therapy reduces the incidence of the disease in women with the apoeii gene. you may be wondering what that all means? well earlier i spoke to professor anne—marie milihane from the university of east anglia who explained more. so apoe is a really important protein in brain function. it does all kinds of things in the brain. it is involved in the health of the neuron, it's involved in inflammation, glucose utilisation by the brain. it has many functions. but if you have the ell version rather than the common e3 version, it is less effective and in the long term it is associated with more accelerated cognitive decline and increased risk of dementia. in which case, how important are the findings of this study and when could they start potentially having an effect to benefit patients? yes, interestingly, even though our findings are quite convincing and internally consistent, in that we saw a benefit of hrt in ell women,

or we saw an association between hrt use in ell women and things like overall cognitive function and brain volumes and memory, these were associations and they were done in an observational setting of around 1,200 people, so a relatively small sample size. but they give us great confidence now to say this is a real effect and to go on and do the confirmatory randomised controlled trials which we're planning at the moment. i know that hrt, of course, by its nature is designed to alleviate symptoms of the menopause, so it's prescribed for women, but is there any potential application of this that would help prevent men develop alzheimer's, or is it very specifically a benefit to women? well, it's very specifically an oestrogen replacement therapy, so in the first instance it is highly likely that it is going

to be a therapy that will reduce risk in women, rather than men. so for now that's our plans. i mean, that is an interesting concept but likely that the benefits will be more specific to women. vienna's famed ball season is in full swing after two years after covid cancellations. with hundreds of balls organised this winter, the debutantes, and the revenue, are back. the bbc�*s azaday moshiri has more. ballgowns, white gloves and copious amounts of hairspray — vienna's winter balls are back. the debutantes showed off their practised routines — the elegant nods, the hands above the waist and the excitement of courtship. well, maybe. the legendary ball season dates back to the 19th century. it took various forms as it was open to the general public and notjust austria's aristocrats. today, it's big business.

vienna is known for the hundreds of balls it throws every winter, but the covid pandemic shut them down for two years. translation: the ball is not sold out. - of course, we hope for more guests. there are about 2,400 people in the house now. there's space for 3,600, but i still think it's good for the ball. a lot goes into an event like this. the flower ball showcases floral arrangements crafted out of thousands of blossoms, and some of the attendees said they've taken dance lessons every week since september. and with moves like this, it clearly paid off. azaday moshiri, bbc news. let's bring you some live pictures now from luzerath.

these are some of the protesters there who have gathered to protest plans for a new coalmine. hello. compared to the grey conditions most woke up to this morning, a bit more sunshine around almost uk—wide. but we'll still feel the effects of last night's rain, and flood warnings continue to go up in some areas. the bbc weather website has all the latest details. and if you're on the move, bbc sounds to find your bbc local radio station, they'll keep you up to daate. it's this area of low pressure responsible. the main rain—bearing weather front moving eastwards, but we still have a hang—back of rain through orkney this afternoon and showers, and some longer spells of rain and hill snow pushing in to western scotland and northern ireland. in east anglia and south—east of the channel islands, it may take until maybe late afternoon to see any glimpses of sunshine. staying a bit wetter here for longer. but for all, temperatures actually dropping relative to this morning. around 5—ii c through the afternoon.

the strong winds in the south will start to ease a little bit, but they will pick up across some parts of northern ireland and south—west scotland, and we could see gusts of a0 to 50 mph here, if not a bit more, to end the day and to go into the night. and it's here where as winds start to go more northerly, it will bring rain into more sleet and snow territory across parts of northern scotland. and this band of rain — across northern ireland, into northern england and, eventually, north wales — will have some sleet and snow in the hills as well. north of it, the risk of frost and certainly some ice. all of us, a colder night than last night. so, as we go into sunday, a change is afoot. colder weather for all. the real coldest air — the darker blue colours here — waiting in the wings to push their way southwards through sunday night and into monday. it's to the north of this zone of cloud and outbreaks of rain, and also, hill, sleet and snow which arrive through parts of wales, the midlands and east anglia through the day. south of it, sunshine, a few showers, more of a westerly wind to the north of it. a northerly wind making it feel increasingly chilly. lots of sunshine around, but frequent snow showers

in the north of scotland and a sub—zero wind chill to go with it. as you go, then, into sunday night, a bank of rain — as it pushes through the english channel — could turn to sleet and snow in the south—east. but northern england, northern ireland most likely to see a covering of snow as we start monday morning. but across the board, very cold start to monday morning. maybe as low as —8 through parts of scotland. and that risk of frost and ice, which will be with us for a time next week, with that colder air in place. and there will be a chance of snow in places. frost and ice the most widespread risk. temperatures, you can see, in the capital cities staying in the mid, if not lower, single figures. rising, with some rain returning later in the week.

this is bbc world news. i'm ben boulos and these are the headlines: iran has executed the british—iranian dual national alireza akbari on charges of spying for the uk, which he had denied. britain's prime minister calls it a "callous and cowardly act". the uk has confirmed it will provide challenger 2 tanks to ukraine during a call with president volodymyr zelensky. it comes as russian forces launched a series of missile attacks across the country including the capital, kyiv. climate activist greta thunberg joins protesters in the german village of lutzerath, as police try to clear the area to make way for coal mining. it's the fourth day of officers trying to forcibly remove demonstrators. takeaways, restaurants and cafes in england will have to stop using plastic cutlery, plates and bowls from october