us secretary antony blinken says they have met direct contact... prince andrew says he "ceased all contact" with a businessman accused of being a chinese spy — after the uk government raised concerns. hello, i'm kasia madera. a former manchester city footballer has been elected in a vote in georgia's parliament, despite condemnation 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 kavel—ashvili

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. rayhan, 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 speaking to me from tbilisi earlier. mari kapanadze is a lawyer and activist in georgia — she was at the protests today and joins me from tblisi. i know that you, like all of those protesters today, are concerned about the allegations that though was vote rigging in

that though was vote rigging in that october election where georgian dream won once again. just in terms of that election process, we know thatjoint observation missions, including from the osce, they were observing those elections in october. they said that those elections were marred by an uneven playing field, there was pressure and tension but ultimately, they said voters were offered a wide choice. that is international observers. just help us understand whether these allegations of vote rigging come from? 50 allegations of vote rigging come from?— come from? so i was also personally _ come from? so i was also personally involved - come from? so i was also personally involved in - come from? so i was also personally involved in the| personally involved in the observation mission so i have observed the whole process through the election period and i can say for sure that georgian dream have used the full package of falsification and kind of methods to falsify the results of the election.

it's hard to explain in a couple of minutes but we have actually gathered different kinds of evidence that proves that the election has been falsified through various means including an the most important part of our claim, was that the election was open, everyone knew who people had voted for, which is one of the gravest breach of constitutional rights to vote and therefore, that is why we demanded from the national courts to declare the results of the election. sadly i did not happen because of all of the state institutions, including the justice system, is captured and not independent, but we have provided all of that information to the observation missions, that proves that georgian dream actually

falsified the elections. did ou see falsified the elections. did you see any _ falsified the elections. did you see any evidence of russian interference? the you see any evidence of russian interference?— interference? the russian interference, _ interference? the russian interference, we - interference? the russian interference, we are - interference? the russian interference, we are say l interference? the russian - interference, we are say every day. it became especially obvious as the ukraine war has started and we see how slowly and now already very quickly, we are moving towards russian influence. the very last decision that the government of georgia, self—declared government of georgia, has made, around two weeks ago was one of the biggest demonstrations of this choice. and that is why lots of people who are in a majority in this country are protesting this decision that goes against the will of georgian people and against the obligation that we have under the constitution of georgia. and because europe has always been a historical choice of georgian people and we are not going to adapt to this

reality, where we will have a dictatorship in georgia, which will be rolled under russian influence and we will be deprived or the democratic principles and human rights. i strongly believe that this kind of influence has been also in election day as well, but it has not started on that day so is it every day and i can at least, more than 50 different kind of examples when we see this kind of interference and this kind of interference and this kind of collaboration between russia and the georgian dream. one of the first of these examples happen back in 2019, where a russian member of parliament visited georgia and this led to one of the biggest protests in the streets of tbilisi because people saw that the government of georgia at that time was very loyal to what those who actually

breached the occupation and allowed russian member of parliament to enter the georgian border. unlike the fact that it was against georgian legislation. mari kapanadze in georgia, thank you forjoining us. thank you for talking us through that. we are going to turn 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. us secretary of state antony blinken has met with the turkish foreign minister hakan fidan, as they and other top diplomats held talks injordan to discuss the fallout from the overthrow of bashar al—assad's regime in syria. in the last hour antony blinken has given a statement in thejordanian city of aqaba, in which he said the talks have agreed the need for �*inclusive and representative' syrian government. let's listen back. we agreed that the transition process should be syrian led and syrian owned, and produce an inclusive and representative government. the rights of all syrians, including minorities and women,

should be respected. humanitarian aid should be able to reach people who need it. state institutions should deliver essential services to the syrian people. syria should not be used as a base for terrorist groups or others who threaten syria's people, its neighbours or the world. chemical weapons stockpiles should be secured and safely destroyed. syria should have peaceful relations with its neighbours. blinken also said the us had made "direct contact" with hayat tahrir al—sham, the group leading the rebel alliance in syria. these talks injordan come as diplomatic moves are gathering pace to stabilise the country, where mass rallies have been taking place to celebrate the end of five decades of authoritarian rule by the assad regime. thousands of people packed into the main square in damascus on friday setting off fireworks, sounding their car horns, and waving a new nationalflag — that of the rebel forces. in aleppo, residents danced

in the streets and set fire to a huge billboard depicting the assads. let's speak to aaron david miller, a former us state department official and adviser on arab—israeli negotiations to both republican and democratic administrations. welcome to bbc news. ijust wonder if we could start with those words from antony blinken, the fact that direct contact has been made with hts. this much be a nightmare for world leaders because it is detonated still a terrorist group by many countries. how does the international community talk to such a group? it is going to be very difficult. the aspirational gender sentry laid out as truly aspirational and i think we have to be very realistic. whether it has the capacity to

govern a multi—syria, a country of 22 million 23 million people who has literally been broken in so many ways, psychologically, militarily and liberated from the legacy of the assad, remains to be seen. by the assad, remains to be seen. by american statues, hts was designated a terrorist organisation. there is no law that says the united states, if it is perceived to be in us national interest, cannot engage directly with hts. to gather information from the turks or some other party that does have the capacity to engage directly with hts is properly not otherwise approach. the problem, of course, is the us cannot begin

to funnel humanitarian or reconstruction assistance to syria without delisting. that will end up being the decision the administration will be faced with. fix, the administration will be faced with.— the administration will be faced with. �* . . faced with. a challenge there. of course. _ faced with. a challenge there. of course. you _ faced with. a challenge there. of course, you are _ faced with. a challenge there. of course, you are the - faced with. a challenge there. of course, you are the former| of course, you are the former us state department official adviser to arab—israeli negotiations was that we had antony blinken there say that he wants syria to have good relations with its neighbours. we also know that israel has been targeting various former military sites of the assad regime. it is antony blinken basically calling for israel to stop? basically calling for israel to sto - ? ., basically calling for israel to sto? ., . , stop? not directly. probably not even _ stop? not directly. probably not even indirectly. - stop? not directly. probably not even indirectly. in - stop? not directly. probably not even indirectly. in the i not even indirectly. in the waning days of the biden administration, there is a perception both in washington and among the israelis that the netanyahu government has neta nyahu government has annexed netanyahu government has annexed ordinary wide margin in

which to manoeuvre. the israelis have made a decision to be safe than sorry by eliminating as much military equipment, particularly long—range missiles and chemical weapons, assuming they know, and i'm assuming they don't, where the stocks of chemical weapons exist. i am a little more concerned about the israeli effort to enter the buffer zone. according to the agreement, they claim that this is a temporary deployment of israeli forces but they have gone beyond that into. gone beyond that i israeli forces but they have gone beyond that i think what is temporary could become more permanent unless the israelis deal with a situation in syria. no one can not be happy that it is gone. the israelis will now

be dealing with a more fractured syria and islamist elements, notjust isis but hts. where they hts will make israel in issue or not, it is not clear but they will clearly work to preserve syrian sovereignty. and israelis policies over the last days and weeks have undermined a concept. among many other obstacles and challenges that the new syrian faces, will be the new syrian faces, will be theissue the new syrian faces, will be the issue of how to reconcile a deal with a very proactive risk ready israeli government. 50 ready israeli government. so many challenges. thank you so much for talking us through that. . ~ much for talking us through that. ., ~ , ., ., ., that. thank you for having me. of course. _ that. thank you for having me. of course. we _ that. thank you for having me. of course, we have _ that. thank you for having me. of course, we have much - that. thank you for having me. j of course, we have much more that. thank you for having me. i of course, we have much more on our website as well. let's bring you up—to—date with all the weekend's sports. 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. andreas perreira giving fulham the early lead. liverpool then had andy robertson sent off. cody gakpo with the equaliser. arsenal our goal is against everton. into the second half for all those games. jacob murphy gave newcastle the lead at home to leicester. wolves and ipswich have both lost their last three in a row in the league. matt doherty own goal giving ipswich the lead. that still remains 1—0. nottingham forest play aston villa in the late kick off with a place in the top four upfor grabs. rangers and celtic are playing

the league cup final at hampden tomorrow. three matches taking place in the premiership. they're all into the second half. all square between hibernian and ross county while motherwell are 3—2 up at home to dundee united. 1—1 between stjohnstone and st mirren. around europe, serie a leaders atalanta beat cagliari 1—0 to extend their lead at the top to five points before napoli face udinese. in germany, league leaders bayern are currently being led 2—1 by mainz in the bundesliga, while defending champions bayer leverkusen are 2—0 up at augsburg. in spain, real madrid can move above barcelona in la liga with a win. 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. i said to the team that it is up to us. we have to play 100% 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 three for 55 — the same number of wickets that fell to matthew potts — three for 75. the best moment of the day was when the world's best batter harry brook showed hisjuggling 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 nine at the close of play. so we have to, you know, bowl extremely well tomorrow where i think the pitch will probably potentially, usually flattens out a little bit here. so, you know, new ball could be key and then kind of trying to build pressure, which is, you know, tough to do against the english with, you know, i guess the way they come about it. it was a frustrating day for australia and india, as the opening day of the third test in brisbane was abandoned due to rain. the weather meant only 13 overs were possible, as openers usman khawaja and nathan mcsweeney, guided australia to 28 without loss. the five—match series is level at 1—1 after australia's10—wicketwin in adelaide last week. the second round of group stage matches in this season's european rugby champions cup is continuing with six games being played. one hasjust 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. meanwhile, ulster lead bordeaux 19—14 that is all from me. 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 m15 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? m15 has become more worried in recent times about china's influence and intelligence gathering in the uk. i will be back at the top of the hour of much more news. we are continuing to monitoring the protests once again on the streets of tbilisi, the georgian capital where a former footballer has been selected and voted in by the georgian parliament as president. do stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. the sunshine made an appearance across much of the country, certainly england and wales, for the start of the weekend, but it's all change for part two of the weekend. skies do turn cloudier again with a stronger breeze and a little bit of drizzle here and there, but what you will notice, it will be milder for all.

so there's that window of sunnier weather which we had through today pushing off into the near continent, and we see this warm front start to edge into western areas. that will introduce the cloud, outbreaks of rain, but also stronger breeze and as the name suggests, it will introduce some milder air as well. so temperatures by the end of the night up to double figures across western scotland, northern ireland, perhaps around irish sea coasts. seven to nine further east, but even that's milder than what we've had of late. sunday, then, a rather grey picture for many. limited sunny spells here and there. probably the best of it across east of england, certainly east of the pennines, north east scotland, but it will be windy across the north of the uk, gales for northern scotland and heavier rain, persistent rain beginning to pile into the north and the west highlands there. further south, a bit of drizzle over western hills, but mostly dry. and look at these temperatures. a lot milder than it's been of late — around 11 to 1a degrees. sunday night, the rain continues to pile into northern and western scotland. it stays windy here. furthersouth, drier, variable cloud, a few clear spells and all areas will be

mild with, i think, double figure values for most places. so monday, then, similar story. we've got high pressure to the south, lower pressure to the north with weather fronts here bringing more rain for northern scotland. more isobars for the northern half of the uk, so here it'll stay windy with gales again across the far north of scotland. rainfall totals really mounting up for the northwest highlands. further south, not a bad day. closer to the area of high pressure. for england and wales, we should see some sunny spells around, a few showers across western areas. there'll be some sunshine, i think, for northern ireland too. and again in that milder air, 11 to 13 or 1a degrees, so well above where we should be for the time of year. and then as we push deeper into the week, we can see that low pressure dominates the scene. in fact, deeper areas of low pressure could start to bring gales and heavier rain to more of the country through tuesday and wednesday. but we'll still be in that mild airmass as you can see here. from thursday onwards, things turn a little bit fresher with north westerly winds, sunshine and showers. in fact, temperatures returning a bit closer to the seasonal norm.

take care.

this is bbc news, the headlines... the former manchester city footballer mikheil kavilashvili is elected as georgia's new president by the country's disputed parliament. it comes amid weeks of mass pro—eu 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". us secretary of state antony blinken says the country has made direct contact with the hts group that has taken over syria. 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. now on bbc news, one of the most successful bollywood actors, aamir khan, talks to the bbc about his hopes for an oscar for lost ladies, his wide—ranging career and his future plans. actor, producer and director, aamir khan is one of india's

biggest bollywood stars. it's really lovely to have your work appreciated.