only a few days in the job. han duck—soc confirmed he will step aside to avoid more turmoil. the german president officially dissolves parliament — announcing a snap election on february 23rd. azerbaijan airlines suspends flights to seven russian cities following a plane crash in kazakhstan on christmas day. the world health organization says a un air crew member was seriously injured during an israeli air strike on the main airport in yemen — which killed six people. and a nasa spacecraft has made history by surviving the closest—ever approach to the sun. we start in south korea, where the political crisis has deepened in the last few hours

after mps voted to impeach the acting president. there was chaos in parliament. a majority of lawmakers voted in favour of impeaching han duck—soo — less than two weeks after he was appointed to the leadership, following the impeachment of former president yoon suk yeol over his failed attempt to impose martial law. han is accused of aiding and abetting that attempt and also of blocking the appointment of three judges that parliament had chosen to oversee the case against the former president. this man, choi sang—mok, the finance minister — will now become south korea's third president in two weeks. in the past few minutes he's said the government has ordered themilitary to step up vigilance amid fears north korea could take advantage of the political situation in the south. our correspondentjean mackenzie has more from seoul. there were these dramatic

and angry scenes in parliament earlier, as mps voted to remove the prime ministerfrom office, who has been standing in as the president ever since. in as the president ever since president yoon sung yeol was impeached himself less than two weeks ago. now it is the opposition party here in south korea that has done this. they have a huge majority in parliament and as they voted to impeach mr han, it was members of mr yoon�*s party, the ruling party, that leapt to their feet and surrounded the speaker of the house. they were shouting at him. they are angry that he's even allowed this vote to go ahead. this is the level of animosity here now between the two parties. so how did we get here? well, over the past couple of days, this row has erupted between the prime minister and the opposition party. mrhan has refused to appoint the judges that parliament had chosen to oversee mr yoon�*s impeachment trial.

this is the court case that is going to decide whether mr yoon is ultimately barred from office. and the opposition party have decided that mr han, by refusing to appoint thesejudges, has been protecting the president, and so he's no longer fit to run the country. what this means is that the country's finance minister is now in charge. he's the third in command. but people here are asking, well, where is this going to end? because if the finance minister comes in and he also refuses to appoint thesejudges, then the opposition party could impeach him too. and they could continue doing this effectively, leaving south korea without a government. and this is now the level of political deadlock in this country, with both partiesjust shouting at each other and blaming each other for the chaos. german president frank—walter steinmeier has announced a snap election for february 23rd next year after chancellor olaf scholz recently lost a confidence vote in parliament. here he is speaking a short time ago in berlin. translation: l have - in the past weeks spoken to leaders of the opposition

and the ruling coalition after the no confidence vote. i've explored options for another coalition but have not been able to establish a majority. therefore, i am convinced that for the good of our country, new elections are now the right way forward. azerbaijan airlines says it is cancelling seven of its routes into russia following the crash of one of its jets in kazakhstan on christmas day. 38 people died and 29 survived. a number of military experts have said the crash was likely caused by a russian air defence system mistaking the passenger jet for a ukrainian drone. russia's aviation watchdog insists the crew chose to re—route from their original destination in chechnya amid dense fog and a military alert. our bbc russian reporter sergei goryashko says azerbaijan airlines is not the only company to cancel flights.

they are already a third company, which has decided to cancel some flights to russia in regards with this air crash. so first was the israeli airline el al, which has cancelled all the flights to russia forfor the moment. and another kazakhstan air company decided to scrap its flights to ekaterinburg city in the russian urals until until further notice. azerbaijan airlines has cancelled all flights to russia. city will keep flying in moscow, saint petersburg, yekaterinburg and some other cities. but they won't be flying to the cities in the russian south and especially in grozny, where this plane which crashed has been directed to. and meanwhile, the investigation into what happened continues? uh, indeed. kremlin still does not comment

on the investigation and on any versions which appear now on the both on the social media and in the news. according to some sources, the kremlin spokesperson dmitry peskov told that they have seen the statements coming from baku, azerbaijan capital, saying that russia should admit the they accidentally shot down the plane. but he insisted that the investigation is still ongoing. it's still under way and until, it's concluded the kremlin would not comment on the situation. and on the russian tv, the version that the plane could have been shot down is not discussed at all. it's just basically ignored. uh, the only two, uh, two versions of what has

happened with the azerbaijani plane is that either it encountered some technical problems or it hit some birds. that's what's discussed on russian tv now. nato says it will step up navy patrols in the baltic, after russia was accused of deliberately cutting an undersea power cable. the estlink2 carries electricity between finland and estonia, but stopped working on christmas day. finnish police say a ship operating on behalf of russia dropped its anchor and dragged it along the sea bed to sever the link. here's the president of finland speaking about the incident. we were able to get the situation under control and locate the ship in question, bring it to finnish waters and begin a criminal proceeding. our message is quite clear. we've got the situation under control, and we have to continue to work together vigilantly to make sure that our critical infrastructure is not damaged by outsiders.

it's too soon to draw conclusions yet why this happened? we know who did it. and now to london, where a man has been charged with four counts of attempted murder after four pedestrians were hit by a car in the capital's west end. it happened on christmas day when police were called to reports of a car being driven on the wrong side of the road in soho in the early hours of the morning. the man charged, anthony gilheaney, has also been charged with causing serious injury by driving while disqualified, driving a motor vehicle dangerously, and possession of a bladed article in a public place. one victim remains in a critical condition in hospital. people living in sudan's capital, khartoum, have welcomed the first convoy of food aid to arrive since the break—out of civil war in april last year. these are pictures of food trucks being unloaded in khartoum on thursday. the delivery of supplies was arranged by united nations agencies and local sudanese support groups, who negotiated

with the warring sides. although aid has reached other parts of the country since the start of the war, more than 2a million people are in urgent need of food aid, that's about half of the entire population. experts warn that the country is sliding into a "widening famine crisis" that has been marked by worsening starvation and a surge in acute malnutrition. duaa tariq volunteers for a local community initiative, emergency response rooms, which has been helping with the distribution of food aid. she updated me on the situation in khartoum. we're actually here in khartoum in desperate need of this aid. we've been waiting for it, and we've been trying so many ways and methods to go around this. but the only way to help reduce the famine effect in khartoum right now is to receive this aid. how much aid has been delivered? what are your figures on that? um, so right now, this aid we received, this was the first

time in south khartoum, which is one of the most affected areas in khartoum since, um, the three cities of the capital, two parts of them have received aid before. but this is the first time the aid comes through our area, which is, um, south khartoum. and this aid, which is, will hopefully help around 15,000 families in south khartoum and along with aid and kits for the children from the unicef that is supposed to help around 200,000 children. how bad, then, is the situation in khartoum? how badly needed is this aid? we have very severe malnutrition cases. we have so many. i mean, dozens of children died from malnutrition. um, we're trying we've been trying to intervene, but we cannot do anything because we need these ready meals to support the children.

and since the absence of the health... ..and the collapse of the health system, we cannot operate and we cannot help the few hospitals. there is no capacity to help those in malnutrition. and most of the people, the majority of the people in khartoum depends on this communal kitchen that we run in khartoum with the emergency response rooms, and it cannot cover the whole population because it can only offer one meal a day. so that's very catastrophic forthe, um, i mean, like for the entire population here and especially for the children. the world health organization says a un air crew member was seriously injured during israeli air strikes on yemen, which killed at least six people. the international airport in the capital sanaa was among the locations hit. the injured man was part of the crew about to fly the head of the who out of yemen.

israel's millitary said the air strikes targeted sites used by the houthi movement to fire missiles towards israel. the houthis have been carrying out attacks in response to the war in gaza. elsewhere in the region, one of the last functioning hospitals in northern gaza — has been forcibly evacuated by the israeli military. the kamal adwan hospital has been under siege by the idf for weeks. staff say airstrikes overnight that targeted the area killed 50 people. the head of the nursing department at the hospital told the bbc the army had given them a 15 minute warning to evacuate patients and staff into the courtyard. the israeli army subsequently entered the hospital and has been removing the patients that remained. israel has not commented on the evacuation. a short time ago i spoke to our correspondent injerusalem, emir nader, who told me more about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in gaza and the last

remaning hospital there. this is a hospital that its staff have been issuing desperate pleas in recent weeks, saying that their hospital has been hit repeatedly by the israeli military in, uh, on various departments of its hospital. and we heard previously from an israeli official who said they intended to relocate the hospital, its staff and patients to another hospital that itself had been, uh, has been evacuated earlier this week. now, kamal adwan, as you said, is one of the last remaining hospitals in an area of northern gaza which has been struggling under what the un calls a near—total siege, where the israeli military has been restricting the delivery of aid supplies to that area. we spoke to some of the medical staff there this morning who, as you said, described it around 7:00 this morning being

told that all of the patients and staff must leave. and we now understand that the military is facilitating the removal of patients, including those in the icu, who the medical staff are telling us need specialist equipment in order to be moved so that they aren't harmed, including ventilation equipment. we haven't yet heard of any injuries during that evacuation, but it does come after those air strikes in the vicinity of the hospital overnight, which has led, as the director of the hospital said, to around 50 deaths, including five of the medical staff there. the idf, the israeli army, have said they are unaware of those strikes in the vicinity of the hospital, but they are looking into the reports of the staff being killed. and just briefly, because of course, gaza isjust one of the the theatres that the israeli military

are fighting in yemen to just bring us up to date on that. yes. so we've seen this escalation in what was previously a sort of a marginal dimension of the israeli gaza war. we've seen it now become front and centre. the houthi rebels in yemen have been launching hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones towards israel over the course of the war, in a campaign of what they say is solidarity with the palestinian people in gaza. one strike on the weekend led to the death... ..sorry led to the injury of a number of people in tel aviv, around 16 people there in tel aviv. now, yesterday evening, we saw this very heavy series of air strikes by the israeli military on the main airport in sana'a and other public facilities there in yemen. the un is calling for restraint, saying that those public infrastructure, public infrastructure there in yemen is extremely vital for delivering the much needed aid to people in yemen, where around 80% of the population there are dependent on aid. but obviously both sides are both using very belligerent

language and saying that they intend to escalate in theircampaign. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

irish government papers have been released in which the late queen — elizabeth ii — spoke about northern ireland's annual orange order parades. in the documents she's reported to have expressed her relief that the "silly marching business" was quieter than expected when the former irish ambassador to the uk visited in 2000. almost 25 years later the report has now been cleared for release. for more details i spoke to our ireland correspondent sara girvin. not much reaction yet. we will explain why those reported comments would have raised eyebrows and been

controversial back into the year 2000 and even still now. it is a lot to do with what was going on in northern ireland at the time. in 2000 northern ireland was just two years post good friday agreement which had brought peace after 30 years of violence known as the troubles. things were still very delicate and throughout the 19905 orange orange order marches in which tens of thousands of orange order members come out onto the streets of northern ireland to commemorate the historic battle. associated protests and counter protests with those marches would have erupted in violence across northern ireland. it threatened the peace process. so to hear the british monarch describe it as silly marching business can come across as dismissive as to what was a serious situation at the time. i should explain it will raise eyebrows because of the organisation but the orange order is, it is a deeply unionist organisation, meaning it

wants northern ireland to remain as part of the uk. it is also a deeply royalist organisation and holds members of the royal family and the monarch in very high regard. so for members of the orange order to hear the queen reportedly dismissed their traditions as silly marching business will be really disappointing for members of the orange order. just very briefly, did we learn anything else about the late monarch's thoughts on northern ireland? there were some other interesting details. she was said to be very interested in northern ireland and what was happening about the peace process and very optimistic and the possibility of a visit to the republic of ireland was discussed in 2000. the irish government was said to be cautious about that at the time and in fact it would be more than a decade in 2011 when that historic and symbolic visit would take place, which really set a new tone at the time in anglo—irish relations. lots of interesting

details in these papers, but nearly 25 years later it still is interesting to hear how those issues of identity and tradition are as delicate here in northern ireland as they were then, more than a quarter of a century ago. australia's prime minister anthony albanese has sent his condolences to the two people who were killed whilst taking part in the annual sydney to hobart yacht race. police say both crew members died in separate incidents on different boats after being hit by the boom — that's the large horizontally pole attached to the bottom of the sail. the race, which started in sydney on thursday continues, with the first boats expected to arrive in hobart, tasmania, later on friday or early on saturday. several crews have already retired because of bad behaviour. —— bad weather.

david jacobs from the cruising yacht club of australia said it's a very sad day for the sport. the sailing community is very close community and there's about 1,000 sailors on the water in this race and to lose two in this fashion is just devastating. as i am sure you will know there were two separate boats and in both cases we believe that the member of crew was hit by a boom. i have no other information as to how that came about and what the circumstances were. nasa says its solar probe is safe and "operating normally", after making history by flying closer to the sun than any other spacecraft. the parker solar probe came within 6.1 million kilometres of the sun's surface — enduring temperatures of up to 1,000 degrees celsius. scientists says data collected by the probe will help forecast space—weather events that can affect life on earth. let's speak to the astronomer royal of scotland professor catherine heymans.

tell us why this mission and this probe is so important? i was so excited, i got up early this morning to see if the beacon message had been received to see if it had made it safely around the sun. it made its approach on christmas eve but it was on the far side of the sun so it took until this morning before it came back around the earth to be able to communicate. and five o'clock this morning radio station in canberra got the message that it was safe and sound which is an absolute joy for us as astronomers, because this really is the finale of this really is the finale of this mission and it has been up the last seven years looping, doing an orbit between venus and the sun. each time it's gone past the sun it has got closer and closer. this is the first time it is reaching temperatures of 1000 celsius. amazingly it has survived. it was built to survive this but

it has worked. the electronics on broad have not been fried by this journey, on broad have not been fried by thisjourney, they on broad have not been fried by this journey, they have on broad have not been fried by thisjourney, they have been protected by an outer shield and it has been recording data about the magnetic field on the sun, the high energy particles that are there. it has been taking images and has also been looking at what is happening there. the biggest question that there is that we still want to find out the answers to is why the atmosphere around the sun is so extremely hot. and that is what we are hoping this last finale of this mission is going to be able to tell us. 50 mission is going to be able to tell us. , , mission is going to be able to tell us, , , ., mission is going to be able to tell us. , , ., ., , tell us. so this is a really important _ tell us. so this is a really important scientific - tell us. so this is a really - important scientific mission? it is looking for some really interesting and important answers to key scientific questions?— answers to key scientific cuestions? , ., , , questions? yes, absolutely. one lanet questions? yes, absolutely. one planet earth. _ questions? yes, absolutely. one planet earth. if— questions? yes, absolutely. one planet earth, if you _ questions? yes, absolutely. one planet earth, if you go _ questions? yes, absolutely. one planet earth, if you go up - questions? yes, absolutely. one planet earth, if you go up in - planet earth, if you go up in an aeroplane and you fly higher and higher in our atmosphere it gets colder and colder. but the opposite is true with the sun. the atmosphere around the sun

is called the corona. it is 1000 times hotter than the surface of the sun. the sun is already incredibly hot, it is 5500 celsius. but in the middle of this corona we believe it is “p of this corona we believe it is up to 1 of this corona we believe it is up to1 million of this corona we believe it is up to 1 million or 2 of this corona we believe it is up to1 million or 2 million celsius and we don't understand why, what is causing that to get so much hotter than the surface of the sun. the early results from the parker solar probe suggest it is to do with the magnetic field, it is all turned and twisted on the surface, which we see as sun spots which create these big solar flares that we get to appreciate here on earth as those gorgeous northern lights, the aurora we have had a lot of this year. but there is a lot we don't understand about how it works, how this could be fuelling this hot atmosphere around the sun and this new data from this very incredibly close approach to the sun, just touching the surface of the corona is going to hopefully give us a lot more information

about exactly what is going on in our beautiful, beautiful sun that heats up and gives us light. that heats up and gives us liuht. , , that heats up and gives us liht. , , ., that heats up and gives us liuht. , _, ., light. yes, it is a fascinating mission and _ light. yes, it is a fascinating mission and it _ light. yes, it is a fascinating mission and it is _ light. yes, it is a fascinating mission and it is really - mission and it is really looking, as we say, for some very important answers. thank you very much indeed for explaining that so beautifully. thank you for your time. you are welcome. _ stay with us here on bbc news. hello. the fairly mild and settled spell of weather

is set to continue through today and for many of us into the weekend too. but we have got some mist and fog patches, and for some of us through the day, that fog is going to linger all day, especially over the higher ground. so could bring a bit of travel disruption. but it's high pressure that's keeping things largely dry and settled. this frontal system across the north of scotland brings a little bit of rain later on today. we're in that mild air coming in from the atlantic. not much of a breeze to help break up the cloud or lift the fog around. so yes, it's pretty murky for many central and southern areas in particular some brighter skies for north east england, eastern scotland, perhaps parts of northern ireland and north wales could see some glimpses of blue sky as well. there's that rain sitting across the far north west of scotland. temperatures seven or eight if you're underneath the cloud, but we could see 12 in any sunshine. through tonight. then rain continues across the north and west of scotland again. mist and fog will form, particularly across parts of england and wales. so another murky morning here saturday morning. temperatures between four to nine degrees. so we're not looking

at a cold or a frosty night. into saturday then another similar day for much of england and wales. still fairly cloudy. some breaks in the cloud to the north and east of higher ground. here's the waving front. and that sits across northern ireland and central scotland tomorrow. so a bit of patchy rain to come. some brighter skies across the north of scotland, with a few blustery showers in the far north west and temperatures again between about seven to 11 degrees, depending on whether you see that cloud breaking up. second half of the weekend sees this weather frontjust starting to push a bit further south. a bit of a squeeze in the isobars. so a slightly breezier day on sunday for scotland in particular, and further south to just a bit more of a breeze to help break that cloud up. so perhaps a few more sunny spells by sunday compared to recent days, and perhaps a little bit warmer as well. ten or 11 degrees for most of us, but that rain quite persistent across scotland. and then as we fast forward into monday, you can see more wet weather and brisk winds. some snow perhaps on the higher ground here. it's turning colder across the north too, just two degrees there in lerwick, whereas further south, mostly dry and settled again. variable amounts of cloud

ten or 11 degrees. that colder air in the north, though, looks like it could work its way further south as we head towards wednesday, new year's eve, at least for a time, and potentially some unsettled weather with the colder blast as well. so still fairly mild as we start next week. wet and windy in the middle of the week and then colder later next week. bye— bye.

now on bbc news — bbc 100 women in conversation: nadia murad. screams.

nadia murad is a nobel peace prize winner, a campaigner, and a survivor of the yazidi genocide. it's been ten years since she was taken captive by the islamic state in iraq and thousands of her people were massacred. but since she's escaped, she's been campaigning relentlessly for victims of war, lobbying governments, top politicians and even hollywood celebrities. so, we've come to norway, home of the nobel institute, to speak to nadia about her work, fighting forjustice for the yazidi people, and trying to eliminate sexual violence in war. hi. nice to meet you. so nice to meet you. thank you so much.