this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines today... iran has executed british—iranian dual national alireza akbari on charges of "spying for the uk" — which he'd denied. britain's prime minister calls it a "callous and cowardly act." russia launches missile strikes across ukraine. one hit an apartment block in the city of dnipro, killing at least five people. hello and welcome to bbc world news. 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, whilst the 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, accusing him of being 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 fresh wave of russian missile strikes across ukraine on saturday. in the city of dnipro at least five people were killed — and dozens injured — when an apartment building was struck. according to the regional governor, several children were amongst the injured. rescue workers are continuing to search through the rubble, as officials say the death toll is likely to rise. much of ukraine is now under an emergency blackout, after energy infrastructure was hit by russian missiles. ukraine's president, volodymyr zelensky, called for all those killed to be remembered — adding the world needed to "stop this evil." the white house has confirmed five

additional pages of classified information were found at us presidentjoe biden�*s family home in delaware. his legal team acknowledged it had uncovered the documents relating to his time as vice president — hours after a statement citing the discovery of one document in a storage area at his wilmington home. additional classified materials were identified at a former office used during presidential campaigning in 2020. an independent lawyer has been appointed by the justice department to investigate whether these papers were mishandled. a short time ago i spoke to our north america correspondent, 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 individuals 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 finds himself bogged down with questions about why they didn't declare the initial ten or so documents earlier. they date back, you may remember, to the 2nd of november of last year, the day before the midterm elections, to make life all the more embarrassing for the biden administration, so it is, as i say, for the republicans the gift thatjust keeps on giving. you are watching bbc news. more now from ukraine — and 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. 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. climate activist greta thunberg has joined protesters in western germany rallying plans to expand a coal mine. energy company rwe wants to demolish

a village it owns, luetzerath, so it can extend a huge open—cast lignite mine nearby. emer mccarthy reports. they came in their thousands, with a familiar face among the crowd. the fact that all of you are here is a sign of hope. this is only a part of a much larger global climate movement, a movement for climate and social justice and racialjustice. luetzerath, what happens in luetzerath doesn't stay in luetzerath. germany as one of the biggest polluters in the world has an enormous responsibility. but scuffles quickly broke out with police clad in riot gear wielding batons on demonstrators. the village of luetzerath is set to disappear to make way for the extension of an adjacent

coal mine owned by energy firm rwe. coal is the single biggest contributor to climate change. the protesters�* battle has been a long one. with demonstrators occupying the hamlet for almost two years. but it has recently intensified with the german government arguing that coal is needed in the short term to replace lost energy supplies from russia. because we want to have sanctions effective enough that leads us to foregoing gas and oil supplies from russia. we need to replace that. and how to replace it if not by coal? unfortunately, the kind of coal germany mostly has is lignite. which is the most polluting of all the kind of coals that you have. germany's economy minister has called luetzerath the final frontier and says it is the last place that ground coal will be made in germany. but for some that

are still not enough. the carbon is still in the ground, we are still here. luetzerath is still there. and as long as the carbon is in the ground, the struggle is not over. emer mccarthy, bbc news. 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 in the riot. the violence was carried out by thousands of radical bolsonaro supporters who continue to claim that 0ctober�*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 7 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, 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 north 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 — 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. sport now and cross to the bbc sports centre. it's all important so we had high drama in the premier league from top to bottom. there

were more blues at full time at goodison park. everton took the lead but lost to bottom side southampton. everton�*s board of directors were not there to see the defeat after what was described as a real threat to their security. they are only off the bottom of the table with goal difference with fans staging a sit in protest at full—time. the process is justified. in protest at full—time. the process isjustified. we in protest at full-time. the process is “ustified. ~ . in protest at full-time. the process is 'ustified. ~ . , isjustified. we have put in performances _ isjustified. we have put in performances like - isjustified. we have put in performances like that - isjustified. we have put in i performances like that week isjustified. we have put in - performances like that week in, isjustified. we have put in _ performances like that week in, week out. , , ., , ., out. theyjust need a bit of confidence. _ out. theyjust need a bit of confidence. we _ out. theyjust need a bit of confidence. we need - out. theyjust need a bit of- confidence. we need lampard, get out. theyjust need a bit of— confidence. we need lampard, get him going _ confidence. we need lampard, get him going i _ confidence. we need lampard, get him anoin. ~ , confidence. we need lampard, get him oiiin _ ~' , ., confidence. we need lampard, get him oiiin _ ~ , ., ., ., confidence. we need lampard, get him iioin. ~' , ., ., ., ., going. i think they have to have a chanie of going. i think they have to have a change of manager— going. i think they have to have a change of manager at _ going. i think they have to have a change of manager at this - going. i think they have to have a change of manager at this stage. | change of manager at this stage. sorry— change of manager at this stage. sorry to — change of manager at this stage. sorry to see _ change of manager at this stage.

sorry to see franco _ change of manager at this stage. sorry to see franco but _ change of manager at this stage. sorry to see franco but they - change of manager at this stage. | sorry to see franco but they need change of manager at this stage. . sorry to see franco but they need a change _ sorry to see franco but they need a change of— sorry to see franco but they need a change of manager, _ sorry to see franco but they need a change of manager, somebody- sorry to see franco but they need a change of manager, somebody to l sorry to see franco but they need a - change of manager, somebody to come in and _ change of manager, somebody to come in and the _ change of manager, somebody to come in and the team — change of manager, somebody to come in and the team.— in and the team. short term, lampard, _ in and the team. short term, lampard, clearly _ in and the team. short term, lampard, clearly not - in and the team. short term, lampard, clearly not good i in and the team. short term, - lampard, clearly not good enough to manage, he is not a penalty manager. the manager frank lampard was asked about the fans protest after the match and hsi own position. today we got beaten in the game. none of the board were here today because of safety concerns. what was your reaction to the news? it’s a your reaction to the news? it's a difficult period. _ your reaction to the news? it's a difficult period. so _ your reaction to the news? it's a difficult period. so much - your reaction to the news? it�*s —. difficult period. so much passion at this club for various reasons and the right reasons. everyone here wants the best for the club. we are in a relegation battle with this year. that's as much as i need to say on it tonight.

manchester united staged a stunning late comeback to beat manchester city 2—1 in a dramatic derby at old trafford. city looked to be closing the gap on premier league leaders arsenal after substitute jack grealish headed them in front. the equaliser was controversial with bruno fernandes scoring despite the pass intended for marcus rashford who was offside. the flag went up but the ref said the goal should stand, deciding that rashford hadn't interfered with play. rashford went on to score the winner a few minutes later, that moves united into third — just one point behind city. brighton are up to seventh, moving above liverpool after beating them 3—nil. nottingham forest are still on the up, brennanjohnson scored both goals in their win against leicester. wolves are out of the bottom three after beating west ham who drop into the relegation zone and brentford beat bournemouth. celtic are into the scottish league cup final —

the holders beating kilmarnock 2—0 at hampden. daizen maeda scored celtic�*s opener — albeit with some help of a poor clearance by kyle lafferty. kilmarnock did have chances to level it but celtic also had two goals disallowed before seal their place in the final with a goal in stoppage time from giorgos giakomakis. rangers and aberdeen play in the other semi final tomorrow. that's all the news for now. more on the website. 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 church 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. 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. 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 per cent of women who carry a particular gene linked to alzheimers. simonjones reports. hrt taken to help control symptoms of the menopause but could the therapy also have another benefit? that is what researchers at the university of east anglia are suggesting. they looked at the

results of cognitive tests recorded by mri scans and concluded the use of hrt is associated with better memory and larger brain volumes among women carrying the apo gene. about a quarter women in the uk are thought to have the gene which is considered a risk factor for developing alzheimer's. these were associations — developing alzheimer's. these were associations and _ developing alzheimer's. these were associations and they _ developing alzheimer's. these were associations and they were - developing alzheimer's. these were associations and they were done - developing alzheimer's. these were associations and they were done in l associations and they were done in an observational setting around 1200 people. 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 confirm entry randomised controlled trials. , ., , ., confirm entry randomised controlled trials. , ., ., ., trials. this was an observational study rather _ trials. this was an observational study rather than _ trials. this was an observational study rather than a _ trials. this was an observational study rather than a clinical- trials. this was an observational study rather than a clinical trial| 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 you make of this research? there is also a study, the study is

quite limited in number and we need bigger and larger studies in a higher number of women, a proper clinical randomised trial that is looking at the effect of hrt on a wider population. find looking at the effect of hrt on a wider population.— looking at the effect of hrt on a wider population. and more research seems inevitable _ wider population. and more research seems inevitable given _ wider population. and more research seems inevitable given the _ wider population. and more research seems inevitable given the clamour i seems inevitable given the clamour for treatment for dementia. simon jones, bbc news. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @lukwesaburak. time for the weather now. our forecasts are very much about the rain so far this january. we are not halfway through the month in some spots have already seen close to a month and a half's worth of rain. in the days ahead it will be drier but it is going to turn much colder. things have already started to become chilly across the uk, we have started to pick up a north

airstream. sunday into monday, arctic air. we 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. that will be looking out for snow. that will be our major forecasting headache. this system drifting its way south over night, the centre of our low pressure appear to the north—east, quite windy around that low, gales for the south west of scotland to the north of northern ireland, wintry showers into scotland, and out of this system perhaps a bit of snow across snowdonia, the lake district perhaps across the pennines. but generally still with the strength of the wind, not quite cold enough to see a widespread frost across england and wales so it will mostly be showers of rain on that system as it trickles south. it tends to fade out so quite a lot of sunshine to come across england and

wales away from western coast through the day on sunday. more snow showers for the far north—west of scotland, a chilly day for all. the greens is back through the day but highs, six and seven in the south of uk, some parts of scotland temperatures will not get above freezing. overnight sunday into monday you can see a weather system 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 something a little bit more significant for snow on monday, perhaps across the downs, the weald of kent. stay tuned because we will pin that down closer to the time. that big blow to the north—east, little features running around to the bottom of it making it very difficult to pinpoint where we could see wintry weather in terms of the timing in our forecast, but colder certainly for all this week.

a this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. 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 delaware home of us president, joe biden. four people, inclduing a seven year old girl, have been injured in a shooting near a funeral in central london. you're watching bbc news... now it's time for global questions: sri lanka: rising global civil unrest? welcome to global questions with me, zeinab badawi, from the heart of sri

lanka's capital, colombo. i'm outside the presidential office, and today, its pristine