hello, i'm kasia madera. a former manchester city footballer has been elected in a vote in georgia's parliament, despite denunciations from the incumbent president and the pro—eu opposition that the process is illegitimate. mikheil kavelashvili is a former mp from the increasingly authoritarian ruling georgian dream party and was the only candidate for the job. it comes after 17 days of pro—eu protests across the country's towns and cities. this was the scene outside parliament earlier. the four main opposition groups have rejected kavelashvili and have boycotted parliament, insisting that the elections held in october were rigged. our south caucasus and central asia correspondent rayhan demytrie has been outside parliament in

the georgian capital, tblisi, where protestors have gathered. she told us what they are saying. these protesters, kasia, they do not recognise mikheil kavelashvili as their country's next president. the voting took place earlier today. it was the electoral college, which consists of members largely loyal to the ruling georgian dream party, and when the ballots were counted, we were there. pretty much everyone voted in favour of mikheil kavelashvili. he's the candidate who was proposed by the ruling party and currently in georgia's parliament, there's only one party. it's the georgian dream, the ruling party, because the opposition is boycotting the parliament, citing vote rigging in october parliamentary elections. it's really cold in tbilisi, the georgian capital. but despite that, we're seeing

more and more peoplejoining the protests and there have been nightly protests here for more than two weeks. earlier, some people were kicking the football as a kind ofjoke and saying that mikheil kavelashvili, perhaps he was a good footballer in his previous career, but they do not believe that he is fit to be the country's next president. they were holding red cards and also people here are saying that he is not qualified to be the next head of state. all of this is happening with the incumbent president, salome zurabishvili, who earlier today walked past the protest area and she was cheered by the crowd. she has said that she won't be stepping down, and she won't be leaving her office because she considers the current parliament illegitimate and anti—constitutional. and the main demand from the protesters here in the streets,

from the opposition and president salome zurabishvili, is to hold new elections to, they are saying this is the only way out of the current political crisis. reyhan, just in terms of this vote by the georgian parliament, this has been a change to the way that georgian presidents are elected. can you just help us to understand how that has been changed because, of course, previously this would have been a popular vote, whereas now it's an electoral college? that's right. mikheil kavelashvili is the first president to be elected via the electoral college, but he's the third presidential candidate who has been nominated by the ruling georgian dream party. this party has been in power since 2012, and two previous presidential candidates that were nominated by the party and became presidents through popular vote, they, over time became critics of the governing party and particularly of the founder of the ruling party,

billionaire founder bidzina ivanishvili. so mikheil kavelashvili is seen by the ruling party as a loyalist. and a short while ago, the country's prime minister said that for many years, this country did not have a president who is mentally and psychologically, as he said, was fit to be the head of state. and he said that mikheil kavelashvili will be such president. rayhan demytrie there in tbilisi. much more on georgia on our website. now to south korea. thousands of people have been celebrating on the streets of seoul after south korea's parliament voted to impeach the president. yoon suk yeol�*s future was thrown into crisis earlier this month when he tried to impose martial law on the country. the move was seen as the biggest test south korea's democracy has faced. our correspondentjean mckenzie is in the capital seoul. cheering in a moment, a protest

erupted into a street party as the people of south korea rejoiced in the downfall of a president many have long despised. they'd accused him of being authoritarian, of eroding their democracy. yet no one could have guessed what he had planned. when mr yoon suddenly stole from the playbook of past military dictators, dispatching troops to storm the parliament, placing this country under martial law, he committed his final unforgivable act. the biting temperatures would have been enough to force many indoors. but armed with hot packs and glow sticks, they came in mass for the 11th day in a row. young women leading the protests. 100%, he must be impeached. as the vote to impeach mr yoon got under way, a solemn warning

from parliament speaker. "the weight of your ballot is heavy today. it carries the weight of history, the weight of democracy," he says. enough mps heeded his words. the motion passed by just four votes. the irony here tonight is that president yoon always said that he didn't care about being popular with people or with his party. he wanted to do things his own way, and he didn't mind who he upset. but people in south korea have shown him tonight that in a democracy, in their democracy, you cannot act alone, however much you might try. a dictator. president yoon is now disappear. so happy. translation: i'm so emotional. his presidency has been so hard and i'm glad we don't need to suffer in this cold anymore. today's verdict doesn't mean the president is gone for good. for now, he's suspended.

the final decision rests with the courts. and tonight, mr yoon has said he's determined to fight on. this is the biggest threat korea's young democracy has everfaced and its past. their persistence has paid off. the politicians have listened. and tonight, this is their victory. jean mckenzie, bbc news, seoul. prince andrew says he "ceased all contact" with a businessman accused of being a chinese spy after concerns were raised by the uk government. in a statement, the duke of york said the pair met through "official channels" and had never discussed anything of a "sensitive nature". the man in question lost an appeal over a decision to bar him from entering the uk on national security grounds. graham satchell reports. once again, prince andrew is underfire.

hisjudgment called into question after he was targeted by a suspected spy working for the chinese communist party. a statement issued by the duke of york's office said the duke of york followed advice from his majesty's government and ceased all contact with the individual after concerns were raised. the duke met the individual through official channels, with nothing of a sensitive nature ever discussed. he is unable to comment further on matters relating to national security. prince andrew has a long history of promoting trade links with china. the revelations that he was in a close working relationship with a man who worked for chinese intelligence have been made public after the man, known only as h6, was barred from the uk on national security grounds. when mi5 became suspicious of h6, they searched his phone. they found a letter from prince andrew's senior adviser, dominic hampshire. it said, "outside of the prince's closest internal confidants, you sit at the very top of a tree that many, many

people would like to be on." and in a note he'd written to himself, the alleged spy said, "manage expectations. "really important to not set too high expectations. he is in a desperate situation and will grab at anything." in what may be a significant escalation in this story, the times is reporting that the suspected chinese spy attended events here at buckingham palace, at saintjames's palace, and at windsor castle. it raises the question — how much influence did he have at the very highest levels of the british establishment? mi5 has become more worried in recent times about china's influence and intelligence gathering in the uk. we see the chinese authorities playing the long game in cultivating contacts to manipulate opinion in china's favour, seeking to co—opt and influence not just prominent parliamentarians from across the political landscape, but people much earlier in their careers and public life, gradually

building a debt of obligation. the chinese embassy has called the allegations of spying a baseless smear, but there are now growing calls from some politicians for h6 to be named in the interests of national security. it was his girlfriend that was the key element in this. prince andrew stopped being a working member of the royal family after details were revealed of his friendship with convicted sex offenderjeffrey epstein. ever since, questions have been asked about how the prince has been funding his 30—room mansion in windsor. and while there is uncertainty about the prince's finances, it is his judgment that has once again come under the closest scrutiny. graham satchell, bbc news. let's speak to professor of us—asia relations at the harvard kennedy school, rana mitter. of course, we are talking about a suspected chinese spy here butjust broaden this out for

us. we know, we had the head at the mis they're being really concerned about how china is increasing its intelligence gathering. arguably, the cia are also concerned about this. how prolific is china when it comes to spying on western nations? �* , ,., ., nations? are very important section has _ nations? are very important section has been _ nations? are very important section has been made. - nations? are very important l section has been made. when nations? are very important - section has been made. when we talk about the sorts of activities, the distinction between classic espionage, which is stealing secrets that are locked up somewhere and what is called being an agent of influence, in other words, not necessarily doing anything illegal but getting to know people and putting thoughts on their mind that would put the more in favour of your country. and china is a country that has done this on many occasion. there is a particular organisation called the united front work department which has worked for pretty much a century now, it was set up to influence elites in western and foreign countries in general. it looks like that is what has

been going on here in a broad sense. ~ ., ~ sense. when he had the mis talkin: sense. when he had the mis talking about _ sense. when he had the mis talking about this _ sense. when he had the mis talking about this debt - sense. when he had the mis talking about this debt of. talking about this debt of obligation that potentially could be raised when that kind of influence happens, what we mean by that? it of influence happens, what we mean by that?— mean by that? it could mean different things _ mean by that? it could mean different things in _ mean by that? it could mean different things in different l different things in different places. we don't know much about this particular case and i think it would be unwise to comment until we have full details but in general, if someone is financially vulnerable, might be the case that they think they might be able to benefit from a bet business contact. what perhaps going to a place and getting no people there, could be seen as building a relationship that could be useful in business in future. rememberthat could be useful in business in future. remember that china has a lot of different interests around the world in different areas, trade, international diplomacy. it's worth remembering that china also is

keen to make sure that interests of its ruling party, the chinese communist party, which is authoritarian one—party system, is propagated both at home and abroad. it is very well known, it is not secretive about that but the many people who have come into contact, they are very aware of how china's medical system works for this thing can come as price them.— as price them. when it is described _ as price them. when it is described that _ as price them. when it is described that china - as price them. when it is described that china is i as price them. when it is - described that china is playing the long game, we are talking about years, potentially generations of this building? potentially, yes. the ideas when it comes to business or political relationships, you build up a set of connections. many other people who know china better start of those relationships with a frank but robust sort of conversation, in which there are certainly willing to talk about things with a mutual interest. climate change, international banker, for example. these are areas where china has a perfectly legitimate interest in the uk. by legitimate interest in the uk. by starting to try to be put on

a pathway by they damp down their criticism of china or basically skate over ideas such as human rights, that is something that a lot of people fear, that the press or media might become needed on these questions because they feel that they are favoured to china. there is no immediate sign that this happening. china does not have a very good reputation and made at the moment. reputation and made at the moment-— reputation and made at the moment. ., ~ , ., , . reputation and made at the moment. ., ~ , . ., moment. thank you very much for s-ueakin moment. thank you very much for speaking to _ moment. thank you very much for speaking to us- — moment. thank you very much for speaking to us. fascinating - speaking to us. fascinating insight there. i am is take your life to aqaba because we are just monitoring the your life to aqaba because we arejust monitoring the podium shot where we are expecting antony blinken to be amongst those to speak. this is foreign ministers who have been meeting from across eight different countries in order to express

support for a peaceful transition process in syria. these talks being held in aqaba in jordan and these talks being held in aqaba injordan and like i say, we arejust keeping an injordan and like i say, we are just keeping an eye across that so that when they do come up that so that when they do come up to speak, especially we are interested to hear what us secretary of state antony blinken will say, following on from those talks. they have also been condemning israel's air strikes on syrian military assets in syria following the full of basher al—assad. the moment we get anything concrete from this we will bring you it. now it's time for a look at today's sport with chetan. we start with football and there's five matches in the premier league on saturday with four of the top six in action. four of the matches are already under way with around 15 minutes gone. just one goal and it's come at anfield for the visitors who lead i—o.

from the corner of my eye, it looks like liverpool had a player sent off as well. more pressure on wolves manager. no goals at newcastle. the late game is first against villa. rangers and celtic are playing the league cup final at hampden tomorrow. three matches taking place in the premiership. they're all underway. ross county leading as her bernie n. fourth place dundee united at fifth place motherwell where it's 1-1.

around europe, serie a leaders atalanta are currently in action away at cagliari. into the second half, its goalless. meanwhile, napoli in second will hope to take advantage of any slip up when they face udinese. in germany, league leaders bayern are currently being led 1—0 by mainz in the bundesliga, while defending champions bayer leverkusen are 2—0 up at augsburg. you can keep across all of us on the bbc sport website. barcelona are in la liga action on sunday when they take on leganes, looking to arrest an indifferent run of form. the catalans beat borussia dortmund in the champions league midweek but have only one win in their past five domestic games: isaid to i said to the team that it is “p i said to the team that it is up to us. we have to play ioo% focused and i think every team try to find a weakness in our team, so it is normal. so they will fight to the end to get some points or to get a point here but it is up to us so i want that the team is 100% focused on that, that they

respect the opponent but we have to play our match, our game, how we want to do it and it is up to us. to cricket, where england have already won their test series in new zealand but they are hoping to make it a 3—0 clean sweep. on the opening day of the final test in hamilton, their bowlers have been chipping away — taking nine wickets. gus atkinson once again shining, taking 3 for 55 — the same number of wickets that fell to matthew potts — 3 for 75. the best moment of the day was when the world's best batter harry brook showed his juggling abilities, taking a superb catch on the boundary, but the new zealand tail has dug in — mitchell santner unbeaten on 50 — a half century earlier from tom latham too. the hosts 315 for 9 at the close of play. there's periods where we do go through a phase of not taking any wickets, but if you look at the fielding input and the energy that they give to all

the seamers that are toiling away and perhaps not doing the nicejob, kind of grafting away, as you would say, and not being rewarded for it, it's backed up by the fielders. and we know that if we do stick to our guns and we are meticulous with it, that it will come our way eventually. and, you know, kind of wrestled the day back a little bit for ourselves. the second round of group stage matches in this season's european rugby champions cup is continuing with six games being played. one has just finished, english champions northampton saints overcoming a late surge by the bulls to win 30—21. later, there's another two england south africa clashes as leicester host the sharks and harlequins take on the stormers. leinster, runners up in the last three tournaments, welcome clermont auvergne. against bordeaux. i will have more than you later. that is all the spot for now. thank you so much. there's confusion over persistent reports of drone sightings in the skies over

the eastern united states. the governors of new york and newjersey say they're in touch with federal officials over eyewitness concerns. the president—elect donald trump has taken to social media to demand either an official explanation or for the objects to be shot down. white house officials have played down the reports. barry caffrey reports. another drone. these are the drones that have been reported by people living in new jersey. loud, low—flying objects with unusual lighting. it all started a few weeks ago with reports of a drone flying over an army base, and in the days that followed, officials were inundated with reports of mysterious objects in the skies. it didn't concern me at first. i just didn't think anything of it until it started becoming like every night, the same time, same places. so i figured, ok, they must be doing some kind of military drill. i've seen clusters last night. i've seen clusters. last night, i saw clusters of about eight up over here and. but normally i see them a little spread out and they're sporadic. the low—flying objects

are often reported to be flying very close to each other. on thursday, the white house said these sightings were probably unmanned aircraft or helicopters and said they're confident there's no risk to the public. we have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or a public safety threat, or have a foreign nexus. officials in newjersey are pushing for more information to be disclosed to the public about the mysterious sightings. the question i believe the fbi and dhs needs to brief the public on right now is what do they know where these drones are from? are they authorised or unauthorised? right? are they licensed or unlicensed? where are they from? speculation on social media has increased in recent days, with people wanting to know where these objects have come from and who they belong to. barry caffrey, bbc news. it's no secret that

cycling is good for your physical health — but could it help with loneliness too? that's exactly what it did for one sudanese refugee living in glasgow. when nahla abdulla, settled in the city she felt isolated and alone — until she learned to ride a bike. aileen clarke has this report. when nahla abdulla fled the war in her home country of sudan, she arrived here knowing no—one. at glasgow's kelvingrove, as the art project boxes of hope goes on show, she told me how it was learning to ride a bike that gave her hope of a brighter future. when i arrived it was difficult. i was alone, i don't have family here. ijust i left my family in sudan. the bike, it helped me to see the beauty of this city and to discover the life here. i was not a cycle person or i start from the scratch as our culture is forbidden for girls to cycle.

but here it helped me to to feel a sense of belonging. let me feel like there is many things to discover here in this city and it pushed me to go out. it was a glasgow cycling group who got nahla peddling and it's touching for them to know the huge difference they've made. people don't realise just the impact of something so simple as teaching someone to ride a bike, but it's really great to know and just really kind of heartwarming to think that that's the impact that you've had on someone. and as a group, that that's what we can do and can help other people do as well. out on the bike, nahla's confidence was built up and it gave her a community. meanwhile, she was granted refugee status. she's able to work and she's working with a charity helping ethnic minority women. and guess what? she's asking them to get on their bikes. it made me be happier.

it helps physically and mentally, emotionally, giving my friends, of course. all from a bicycle? yes, all from the bicycle. from getting on your bike to getting on a keyboard... east 17 singer tony mortimer has surprised commuters at london's st pancras station by performing the christmas number one — stay another day. you have got to love a bit of that. backed by the london community gospel choir, the performance celebrated the song's 30th anniversary. i feel old now. afterwards tony said it was a "magical experience". loving the puffer jacket loving the pufferjacket as well. just back to that life shot that we are monitoring here at the bbc, this is in

aqaba injordan where we are awaiting the us secretary of state to give us some word following foreign ministers meeting injordan. a number of arab countries also joining that because they are looking at the situation in syria. they want to support a peaceful transition process in syria after the fall of basher al—assad. we have been watching this podiums for a while now but soon we will be getting some concrete words from those world leaders. we will bring them to you. hello. after a week of gloomy weather, it does make a difference to see the sunshine. we start off the weekend with sunshine for many today. but tomorrow, the cloud makes a return, quite breezy but you will notice it will be turning milder with winds from the southwest. here is a sunnier slice of weather across england and wales for the rest

of today, cloudier skies in scotland and northern ireland with patchy drizzle, but it is a warm front so temperatures will rise. the rest of the day, england and wales will see the best of the sunshine. some showers in the south west, wales and the north west, with rain starting to get into northern ireland and western scotland as the warm front pushes in. temperatures lifting here, turning breezy but chilly for most despite the sunshine. tonight, the cloud and patchy drizzle and low cloud push in across all areas. the winds pick up, especially across scotland and northern ireland and by the end of the night, turning milderfor most, temperatures into double figures. sunday starting on a mild note but cloudy once again. the best of the sunshine towards high ground, eastern scotland, east of the pennines, but turning wetter across the north and west of scotland and very windy with gales in the north. a breezy day further south but rather cloudy. look at these temperatures — looking at 12 to 14

or 15 degrees, so mild for the time of year. high pressure to the south, low pressure to the north as we get into monday, bringing more heavy rain across scotland, persistent rain, and windy again with gales here. further south, breezy but drier because you are closer to high pressure, so some sunny spells breaking through from time to time. western hills rather grey, some hill fog and patchy rain at times, but mild for the time of year — temperatures in the low teens widely. moving through the week, staying mild and unsettled for the first half of the week. we could see deeper areas of low pressure from the southwest, so heavy rain and gales at times, interspersed with some drier and brighter moments, but looking unsettled for the upcoming week, staying mild. just hints of it beginning to turn cooler again as we push closer to next weekend. take care.

live from london. this is bbc news. the former manchester city footballer mikheil kavelashvili is elected as georgia's new president — amid weeks of mass protests by the opposition. mps in south korea vote to impeach president yoon

over his failed attempt to impose martial law. speaking after the vote, he vowed to never give up. prince andrew says he "ceased all contact" with a businessman accused of being a chinese spy after the uk government raised concerns. his office stated that no sensitive information was ever discussed. and the mystery is continuing to grow in the us — after repeated sightings of unknown drones in several states on the east coast. the governor of newjersey has urged president biden to investigate. we will go live tojordan, where we are monitoring a press conference of arab countries in who our meeting together in order to agree to support a peaceful transition process in

syria after the fall of bashir al—assad.