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
it s 7:00 in the morning in singapore, and 4am 5am in pakistan where the government says a third of the country is now under water. millions of homes are now destroyed and much of its richest farmland is now flooded. the disaster has killed over 1,100 people and affected 33 million and the catastrophe isn t over water is still surging down the indus river and will flood the low lying sindh province even further over the next few days. latest reports say 45% of the country s cotton crop has been washed away. pumza fihlani reports from the city of sakur. a moment of quiet in the middle of chaos. inside a crowded hall, families that have been displaced by the floods in northern pakistan have found temporary refuge. for many, it was a narrow escape. translation: our houses have collapsed because - of the floods. we had a home and it was enough for us. now all our belongings are buried under 12 13 feet of water. when i left with my children, i saw my house collapse. the river
hello, good afternoon. the funeral is taking place of mikhail gorbachev the last president of the soviet union, who helped bring the cold war to a peaceful end. he died on tuesday at the age of 91. russian president vladimir putin is not attending due to what he described as constraints on his schedule. our russia editor steve rosenberg reports. it was the final farewell to the man who changed the world. in the columned hall of the house of unions, mikhail gorbachev lay in state. a steady stream of mourners filing past his open casket. there was a guard of honour, but the last leader of the soviet union had not been honoured with a full state funeral. a sign that today s kremlin has little interest in guarding mr gorbachev s legacy. many russians blame gorbachev for the fall of the ussr, the collapse of their superpower. yet out on the streets muscovites were queueing up to pay their respects. gorbachev had given many here their first taste of freedom and democracy. in
more than three million households in england and wales were still waiting for their £150 energy rebate at the beginning of last month. europe is on course for its worst drought in at least 500 years. that s the stark warning from a new eu report. stranded for hours under the english channel. passengers tell of what happened after their eurotunnel service was evacuated. services are now back to normal. a former twitter executive turns whistleblower to testify that the firm misled users and regulators about gaps in its security. hello and welcome if you re watching in the uk or around the world. it has been six months since vladimir putin decided to wage a war on ukraine, on a scale not seen on this continent in half a century. the true cost of this war in human life is difficult to estimate. ukrainians claim around 9,000 soldier lives have been lost. it s estimated russia has lost around 80,000 troops during the invasion either killed, wounded, captured or deserted. meanwh