this is bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. the headlines... 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." russia launches missile attacks across ukraine. one struck an apartment block in the city of dnipro, killing at least five people. a further five classified documents have been found at the home of president biden in delaware. 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.

iam i am lu kwesa i am lukwesa burak. the us and the uk have condemned iran after it executed a british—iranian citizen accused of spying. washington says it's horrified by the execution, while british prime minister rishi sunak said the hanging of alireza akbari was "callous and cowardly" and would not go unpunished. the uk has imposed sanctions on iran's prosecutor general because — according to the government — he's at the heart of iran's use of the death penalty. our diplomatic correspondent, caroline hawley, reports. news of the execution came on state—run television early this morning, despite repeated last—minute appeals from the uk. alireza akbari is thought to have acquired british citizenship after investing here and to have lived in the country

for several years. his brother told bbc persia he had been enticed back to iran by his former boss, under whom he once served as deputy defence minister. the government responded swiftly, the prime minister saying he was "appalled by a callous act carried out by a barbaric regime." and we have made it absolutely clear that the actions of the iranian regime has taken are completely unacceptable and that is why we have taken the response that we have done today. on thursday, state—run media aired a heavily edited video featuring alireza akbari in which he appears to confess to working for britain. he has told his family he was tortured into doing this. for the past few months, iran has been cracking down on protests sparked by the death of a young woman in police custody, mahsa amini. in response, britain had already imposed sanctions, with plans to declare iran's powerful revolutionary guard corps a terrorist organisation. this could help explain the timing of the execution. mr akbari's nephew also sees it as part of an

internal power struggle. it has been a difficult few days. the character that i knew, the person that was devoted to the country and the regime itself, the person i knew that was involved with the system from the very beginning of its foundation, would not contemplate to do anything that would jeopardise or harm either... ..the regime, nor the population. whatever the exact motive, the execution sends a chilling message and marks a dramatic new low in relations between britain and iran. caroline hawley, bbc news. there's been a wave of russian missile attacks across ukraine. the city of dnipro at least five people in the city of dnipro at least five people were killed and dozens injured when an apartment building was struck. several children were among those hurt, according to the regional governor. rescue workers are searching the rubble for more victims.

officials say the death toll is likely to rise. much of ukraine is now under an emergency blackout after energy infrastructure was hit in other cities. ukraine's president, volodymyr zelensk, called volodymyr zelensky, called for all those killed by russia to be remembered, adding that the world needed to "stop this evil." after the latest missile attacks on the country, president zelensky said the only way to stop further deaths from "russian terror" was to send more weapons. rishi sunak has confirmed in a call with president zelensky that the uk will send tanks to ukraine. the initial commitment is understood to involve around a dozen challenger 2 tanks. the prime minister said the move would "send the right signal" but the russian embassy in london said the decision would drag out the confrontation. here's our defence correpondent, jonathan beale. britain is the first western nation to confirm it will provide ukraine

with modern main battle tanks. the prime minister told president zelensky in a phone call. the british army's challenger 2 is more than 20 years old, but it was designed and built to go up against russian armour. and ukraine says it needs more tanks to break the deadlock in the war and go back on the offensive. the british army's challenger 2 will provide ukrainian tank crews with more speed and accuracy and more protection than their own russian designed tanks. but the uk is only expected to send around a dozen challengers, when ukraine says it needs another 300 tanks. it hopes others will follow. germany's leopard tank is used by several european armies. some have signalled they are willing to supply them, but that still needs germany's approval. then there is the us made abrams. america has been ukraine's biggest military backer, but so far

hasn't sent tanks. but does britain's decision signal a wider shift? the provision of this small number of tanks is not a game changer in terms of whether it is going to change the course of the fighting everywhere in ukraine. it is a game changer in that it symbolises how the west, including the uk, is stepping up to provide the sort of equipment ukraine has been asking for for over a year, in order to win its country back on the battlefield. so far, in ukraine, tanks on their own have proven to be relatively easy targets, for drones and shoulder launched missiles. ukraine claims to have destroyed or damaged more than 1,000. but western military experts say tanks, combined with infantry, artillery and air support, will be essential to take back territory, with a shift from defence to offence. jonathan beale, bbc news. the white house has said five additional pages of classified

material have been found at us presidentjoe biden�*s family home in delaware. his legal team acknowledged this week it had found classified documents relating to his time as vice—president at his delaware home and aides previously found another batch of classified documents at his residence, and at a former office. an independent lawyer has been appointed by thejustice department to investigate whether these papers were mishandled. our north america correspondent, david willis, has been following this story. hello, david. iwonder hello, david. i wonder if we could start first with what do we know about this particular batch of documents? when do they relate to? they are classified, but what can you tell us. 17 they are classified, but what can you tell u— they are classified, but what can you tell ve— they are classified, but what can you tell us-_ they are classified, but what can outellus. a . , , , you tell us. ? as far as republicans are concerned, _ you tell us. ? as far as republicans are concerned, this _ you tell us. ? as far as republicans are concerned, this is _ you tell us. ? as far as republicans are concerned, this is the - you tell us. ? as far as republicans are concerned, this is the gift - you tell us. ? as far as republicans are concerned, this is the gift that l are concerned, this is the gift that keeps on giving. it really is. further revelations today of five

additional documents found atjoe biden�*s delaware home, in addition to one that was discovered in the garage of that home earlier in the week, in addition to the ten also that were found at an office that the former vice president occupied when he was serving as vice president under barack obama. it is all terribly embarrassing. joe biden has said that he wants to be open, that he has full respect for classified documents, but under the presidential records act, it is against the law for vigils who are not authorised to actually retain possession of these sorts of documents. these sorts of documents have to be referred to the national archive, that is the law. so president biden refines himself bogged down with questions about why he didn't declare the initial ten also documents earlier. they date back, you may remember, do the 2nd

of november of last year, the day before the midterm elections, to make life all be more embarrassing for the biden administration, so it is, as i say, for the republicans the gift that just is, as i say, for the republicans the gift thatjust keeps on giving. david, i know this is going to be a tricky one and i understand, but one thing that has just popped into my mind is there are lots of gaps in this timeline, but do we know why they are searching for the documents in the first place?— in the first place? well, that is a very good _ in the first place? well, that is a very good question. _ in the first place? well, that is a very good question. i _ in the first place? well, that is a very good question. i don't - in the first place? well, that is a very good question. i don't think they were so much searching for them, as they stumbled upon them and then, rather unfortunately, made the error of instead of confessing immediately, to keeping it under wraps for more than two months, in actualfact, in regard to wraps for more than two months, in actual fact, in regard to the first trove of documents. and such was the alarm, understandably, about the revelation that it prompted a search for other documents in places that joe biden is known to have inhabited, for example that office building in washington, dc which used to be the headquarters of a

think tank named after him. they found their about ten also documents, stashed away, locked in a cupboard, would you believe? in a file, just kind of lying around there, documents, which, as i say, our state secrets, in a way, we don't know exactly how classified and how important they actually are, but none the less they are the sort of documents that need to be part of the national archive, so a special council has been appointed to look into this under the purview of the us justice into this under the purview of the usjustice department and might i also add, the special council has also add, the special council has also been appointed to look into a trove of documents, more than 100 classified documents that were retrieved from donald trump's mara largo florida residents last august. the difference between these two cases that the white house has been cooperating, at least with the justice department and handing over the documents once they have come to light, that was not the case of course, with the former president.

david willis, thank you very much. you're watching bbc news. china has admitted that there've been 60,000 covid—related deaths injust over a month, following the government's sudden decision to end strict pandemic controls. it's the first time beijing has acknowledged the scale of fatalities caused by the covid wave sweeping the country. for weeks it's reported just a handful of deaths a day — figures which appeared inconsistent with the long queues seen at crematoriums. the who has welcomed the figures, saying they allow for a better understanding on the impact of the wave of covid in china. the operation to clear a site in germany that's been earmarked for new coal mining is in its fourth day. police have clashed with protesters near the village of lutzerath in the west of the country where the site for the coal mine is due to be. climate campaigner greta thunberg

has visited the protestors, saying, "germany is really embarrassing itself right now." here she is addressing the rally. how is this possible? in the year 2023, how can we still be continuing down this path that we know leads us nowhere?! how is that possible?! police in brazil have arrested the former head of public security, anderson torres, over accusations that he colluded in the storming of government buildings in brasilia last sunday. brazil's supreme court also says it will investigate the role of the former president, jair bolsonaro. 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, has more. 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 the 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 seven—year—old girl is in a life—threatening condition after a shooting close to a church in london, which left three other women injured. the three women — aged between 41 and 5a — are being treated in hospital after the attack, which happened during a funeral in the euston area in the afternoon. police say one woman suffered potentially life—changing injuries, while the other two women's conditions are not life—threatening. motor industry analysts are predicting a price war in the electric car market after tesla cut the price of some its vehicles overnight. the company hopes reducing prices by up to 20% will boost demand. but thousands of existing tesla owners have complained that the price cut has damaged the value of their cars. our business correspondent, marc ashdown, has the details.

tesla has had a difficult year, from a stock market slide to trouble sourcing vital parts. now the electric car giant is taking drastic action, slashing prices in a bid to woo customers. take the model 3 and the model y, tesla's bestsellers in the uk. a model 3 will cost you £43,000, a model y £45,000. a lot of money, but that is a price reduction of £5,500 and £7,000, compared to last year's prices. good news, then, for would—be customers. frustrating, though, perhaps, for the 16,000 or so motorists who bought one of these models in december. tesla has been hit by the global energy crisis and post—pandemic issues with its supply chain. after the company's rapid rise in recent years, some see this move as a change in tactics. tesla have always been seen as quite a premium brand. these are expensive cars, despite their popularity, and i think this is going to send some shock waves right across the industry because what

this signals is that they do want to become more mainstream. similar price cuts in china led to protests from angry drivers. the uk electric car market is growing every year and some feel that reducing prices could boost it further. we are heading towards a bit of a price war in the electric car market. tesla have taken the first step, they have made a bold move by cutting the price of those cars. other traditional manufacturers are going to have to try and make steps to keep up with them and cut their prices as well. despite lingering reservations about the uk's charging infrastructure, one in five new car sales last year was electric. the race is on to convince more motorists to switch. marc ashdown, bbc news. in the czech republic the retired nato general petr pavel will face controversialformer prime minister andrej babis in a vote to become the country's next president. mr pavel emerged from this weekend's first round with just over 35% of the vote, narrowly defeating mr babis by 20,000 votes.

the two men will have to meet in a second round runoff in two weeks' time. a funeral mass has been taking place in the vatican for cardinal george pell, who died of heart failure after hip surgery this week, at the age of 81. cardinal pell was jailed in his native australia on child abuse charges in 2019. the convictions were quashed the following year. preparations for his funeral were overshadowed by the revelation that he was the author of a previously anonymous memo that described the leadership of pope francis as "a catastrophe." earlier, we spoke to 9 news australia's europe correspondent, brett mcleod, who gave us his assessment of the service. in many ways, it was just the standard service for a cardinal, as was carried out in previous

times when cardinals have been farewelled, but of course there was one major difference. no other cardinal has ever been convicted of child sex abuse charges. of course, as you mentioned, those were overturned, but it was mentioned in the homily by the dean of the college of cardinals. he saw it as completely unfair and unjust, he called it "the persecution of cardinal pell," saying that "he bore it with great reverence and showed great strength" in how he bore his time in prison, about 1k months. it was notable as well that the pope did arrive at the end in a wheelchair, again looking frail, but he stood to deliver the final word to send off george pell and it was here quite a different scene to what we are seeing in australia. he had george pell lionised and of course for many child sex abuse survivors in australia, he is demonised. it is yet to be determined when there will be the repatriation of george pell�*s body.

there will be another funeral mass to be held at st mary's cathedral in sydney. the latest we are hearing from those organising it say it will probably take place in february. there are those who speak very highly of george pell for his efforts to reform finances here at the vatican, as well as send the church, in many ways, what some people saw as backwards when it comes to the issues such as the ordination of women, issues such as homosexuality, and there are those who are survivors of church sexual abuse who say that he deliberately turned a blind eye, was involved in moving around priests and ignoring evidence presented to him directly that priests were abusing children. and that as well was the finding of the royal commission into institutional sexual abuse. so for many people, news of his death has actually triggered deep feelings of anger at their own treatment by the catholic church. let's turn now to the new second

world war memorial focusing on some of the lesser known stories from the war, including those of the thousands of caribbean service personnel who came to britain as volunteers. families of those who served at raf hunmanby in east yorkshire hope to change this by creating a memorial that recognises their contribution. i'm so sorry. clears throat. the bbc�*s leanne brown has been finding out more. the sacrifices made by british servicemen and women during world war ii are well documented and recognised. but thousands of volunteers who came over from other places like the west indies seem to have been forgotten. edwin samuels and gil marlaska were among thousands who made the journey from the caribbean to england, serving at raf hunmanby, on the east yorkshire coast. family members have been campaigning for a plaque to be placed inside the war memorial gardens in filey, but the council won't allow it. we want this plaque really to serve as a reminder to all people of the contribution made to the war

effort by people of colour. there are many young people today who simply don't know that their forebears came to this country long before windrush and helped in the war effort. alfred gardner was an raf mechanic who came over from jamaica and, after the war, he stayed here. when we went to filey, it was the first time... ..90% of people had seen black people. so many lads. so many of us passed through filey. it is very, very important that people remember and, you know, there were beautiful days and there were rough days. the design of the plaque in memory of those who served is ready, but it had no home until a local resident stepped in to help. i'm glad to say we've had a fantastic response from people all over the country, but particularly from people from filey, many of whom didn't know about this history and certainly didn't know about our campaign. one lady in particular has come forward, and she owns property

in filey and she has kindly allowed us to put the plaque on her property. and i can say it's going to have a fantastic location, just on the cliff path. the plaque will be unveiled in april, finally honouring those who crossed oceans to help britain. leanne brown, bbc news. new research suggests hormone replacement therapy, which helps control menopause symptoms, could reduce the risk of alzheimer's in women. the study found hrt was linked to improved memory and cognitive function in the 25% of women who carry a particular gene linked to alzheimer's. simonjones reports. hrt, taken to help control symptoms of the menopause. but could the therapy also have another benefit? that's what researchers at the university of east anglia are suggesting. they looked at the results of cognitive tests and brain volumes recorded by mri scans and concluded

that the use of hrt is associated with better memory and larger brain volumes among women carrying the apoeii gene. about a quarter of women in the uk are thought to have the gene, which is considered a risk factor for developing alzheimer's. these were associations, and they were done in an observational setting in around 1,200 people, so a relatively small sample size. but they give us great confidence now to say that this is a real effect and to go on and do the confirmatory randomised control trial which we're planning at the moment. this was an observational study, rather than a clinical trial, and it didn't look at dementia cases but cognitive performance. the researchers say it is too early to say for sure that hrt reduces the dementia risk in women, and one charity told me caution is needed. what do you make of this research? the results of the study are extremely encouraging but are the first step for further research.

indeed, the study is quite limited in number, and we need bigger and larger studies with a higher number of women enrolled in the study, a proper clinical randomised trial that is looking at the effect of hrt on a wider population. and more research seems inevitable, given the clamour for treatment for dementia. simon jones, bbc news. 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 are announcing today is just one of a whole raft of measures to really tackle this issue. 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. the majority are plastic. in 2020 plastic cutlery made it into 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 are 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 are 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. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @lukwesaburak. now on bbc news, the weather forecast.

this is susan powell. hello. our forecasts are very much being about the rain so far this january. we're not even halfway through the month and some spots have already seen close to a month and a half's worth of rainfall. cardiff, for example. in the days ahead, though, it will be relatively dry, but it's going to turn much colder. things have already started to become chillier across the uk through saturday as we've started to pick up a northwesterly airstream. late sunday into monday, though, into a direct northerly airstream and arctic air, we all go. we still have a lot of water lying about and numerous flood warnings in place. so do keep up to date with those on our website. but instead of rain, it's going to be looking out for snow, i suspect, in the days ahead. that will be our major forecasting headache. we're going to have this little weather system drifting its way south overnight, the centre of our low pressure up here to the north—east, quite windy around that low gales for the south—west of scotland, to the north of northern ireland, wintry showers feeding in to scotland, maybe even down to lower levels. and out of this system, perhaps a little bit of snow across snowdonia for the lake district,

perhaps across the pennines, but generally still with the strength of the wind, it's not quite cold enough for us to see a widespread frost across england and wales. so it'll mostly be showers of rain we see on that little weather system as it trickles its way south through sunday morning and tends to fade out actually. so i think quite a lot of sunshine to come across england and wales away from western coasts through the day on sunday. some more snow showers for the far north—west of scotland. a chillier day for all. the winds actually ease back through the day, but highs, sixes and sevens to the south of the uk, some parts of scotland away from the coast, temperatures will not get above freezing. and then overnight sunday into monday, you can see a weather system there rolling through close to the south coast. the cold air at this stage is digging its way south. as the two come together, there is uncertainty where we may see perhaps something a little bit more significant in the way of snow for first thing on monday, perhaps across the downs, the weald of kent. please stay tuned because we will be able to pin that down

closer to the time. same story though, monday night into tuesday, that big low up there to the north—east. but these little features running around to the bottom of it, making it very difficult to pinpoint exactly where we could see wintry weather in terms of the timing in our forecast, but colder certainly for all this week.

this is bbc news, the headlines. 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'. russia launches missile attacks across ukraine. one struck an apartment block in the city of dnipro, killing at least five people and injuring at least 27. a seven year old girl is in a critical condition after a shooting near a funeral in north london.