thick fog is causing travel disruption around the uk, with flights cancelled and drivers warned to be careful on roads. india pays respects to former prime minister manmohan singh. his last rites were held with full state honours. and these jeans were not made for chess, in fact it lead to the resignation of the world's top grandmaster. hello, i'm lucy hockings. president putin has apologised to azerbaijan's president for what he called a tragic incident in russian airspace involving the azerbaijan airlines plane that crashed in kazakhstan on christmas day, killing 38 people. there's no direct admission the plane was struck by a russian missile. a statement on the kremlin website says russian air

defence was repelling a drone attack while the plane was attempting to land. in the latest development, president putin has called for an objective and transparent probe into the crash. our russia editor, steve rosenberg, is in moscow to unpack the kremlin's statement. the wording is very important here in these situations. you have to look at the wording on the kremlin website in the readout of the conversation. so, yes, vladimir putin did apologise, but not for downing the plane, he apologised for what the kremlin calls a tragic incident which took place in russian airspace. he expressed condolences to the families of the dead. so, according to the kremlin readout, this plane, the azerbaijan airlines flight, had been trying to land in grozny in the russian north caucases several times on christmas day. at that time, according to the kremlin, russian air defences were repelling

a ukrainian drone attack, so you could put two and two together, but that is not clear from the kremlin readout. so, basically, the kremlin is blaming ukraine for attacking grozny airport with drones. that is the way i read it from what the kremlin has put out in that statement, that description of the conversation between the two presidents. steve, president putin never apologises for anything, though, and a lot of people will look at this statement and think is it as close that we will get to an admission that russia was responsible, given they said air defences were operational at the time? but what about the timing of this? there was a lot of pressure coming out of azerbaijan with people pointing the finger of blame very much at moscow. you are absolutely right, lucy. ever since this disaster, there has been growing evidence that the plane may well have been hit by a russian

air defensive missiles. azerbaijan airlines said i think it was yesterday that the plane was subjected to external physical, and technical interference as well. you had america also yesterday saying there were early indications that the plane may have been shot, hit by a russian air defence system. so the evidence has been growing by the day and that leads us to the kremlin's decision to have this telephone conversation between the two presidents and put out this statement. we don't know the full details of what was said in that conversation between president aliyev and president putin. we can see what the kremlin readout said. and this is the closest russia has come so far to accepting responsibility for the disaster. russia and azerbaijan are allies, how important is that relationship to russia?

yes, i think it is an important relationship. russia wants to retain influence in the former soviet space. azerbaijan has been a key partner, even though azerbaijan is also now a key partner of turkey. but clearly i think the issuing of this statement, the telephone conversation today between the two presidents is a sign that the kremlin does believe it is an important relationship to maintain. clearly there has been a lot of anger in baku after this disaster, and so that leads us to what the kremlin has said today and this apology, as i say, not for shooting down the plane, but for this incident taking place in russian airspace. but as we have been saying, this is the closest we have come to hearing an apology from russia for what happened on christmas day. meanwhile funerals have begun taking place for the 38 people who died in the azerbaijan airlines crash. relatives say 13—year—old

muhammedali yeganov was flying to grozny to visit his mother when the plane went down on wednesday. the promising young footballer was laid to rest in his home district in baku. the last major functioning hospital in northern gaza has been put out of service after it was evacuated by the israeli military. the kamal adwan hospital has been under siege by the idf for weeks and is now empty. the world health organisation said it was deeply concerned for the safety of patients who were forced to leave. the head of the hospital's nursing department told the bbc the army gave them only a is—minute warning to evacuate patients and staff before the israeli army entered the hospital and removed anyone that remained. palestinian health officials say around 100 medical staff were ta ken into an interrogating site and questioned last night. the director of the hospital was also detained. some of the medical staff who have been released have now reached the indonesian hospital. israel has confirmed it has ended its raid on kamal adwan hospital, which it said was being used by hamas as a command centre.

israel has not provided any evidence to support this. patients and medical staff have described what they witnessed during the evacuation. translation: at around 4am, the army came to the hospital. and asked all the medical staff and patients and people accompanying them to go into the court. then, they grouped everyone. the medical teams alone, the patients alone, then they got ambulances to get us and sent us through the main gate. translation: the patients that were evacuated now have been i the army asked us to move my

father asked me to move. translation: the patients that were evacuated now have been i held for interrogation for 24 hours, despite their injuries. the army didn't care that they were injured, and left them out in the cold that 24 hours, and they were left on the roundabout and we, as paramedics, got to the closest point, despite the dangers, and evacuated a large number of patients. a spokesperson for unicef injerusalem said the fate of the babies and children evacuated from kamal adwan hospital is still unknown. kamal adwan had the only peadiatric facility in northern gaza. we are trying to get some details, to be honest, about what happened to the babies. exactly as you said, kamal adwan hospital is the only hospital that had a paediatric unit. the information is coming in slower manner and in parts. i cannot confirm exactly what took place with the babies in kamal adwan hospital. all what we know is actually

according to the who, that it is empty now — 15 critical cases and probably 50 healthcare givers and some staff were moved to the indonesian hospital nearby which already has a lack of medical supplies and enough staff so it is really challenging in that area and in kamal adwan right now. are there any hospitals in operational anywhere in gaza at the moment that can cope with some of the paediatric needs on the ground? according to the who, there is not even one single hospital that is fully functional in the gaza strip, out of 36 hospitals. we are talking no less than probably 16 of them that are partially functional, not even one single that is fully functional. what does that mean for babies and children that need care? it means that they will continue, sadly, to pay the highest price of the conflict, just like any other children in the world. we are coming to the end

of the year and it doesn't seem that this will come to an end. the health system in the gaza strip is on its knees, really, it is on its knees, and the highest price will continue to be paid by civilians and by children, mainly. one of the big concerns at the moment is just how cold it is, and we have heard reports of babies dying of hypothermia in gaza. are any supplies getting in to address just that one need, in terms of better shelter, warmer clothing or blankets? we are trying to handle this particular challenge. not only to diseases and to bombardment or lack of adequate shelter, now the cold weather is also taking the lives of the newborns. we are trying to push into the gaza strip some blankets and some tarps to help, together with our partners, but the overall size of aid getting into the gaza strip is very far away from being enough, in terms of everything that is needed by the gazans.

what percentage of aid, would you say, is actually managing to get in at the moment? well, let me give you the following number. prior to the war, the gaza strip used to have 500 trucks full of different kinds of aid every single day. now, we are talking about tens. maybe 50, 60, 70 per day. so that's the difference. so, 500 prior to the war, as in prior to the damage and increasing needs, and now you are talking about tens tens of aid trucks getting in, if they ever make it actually to their final destination in the gaza strip. the head of the world health organisation has told the bbc that it was public knowledge he was in yemen on thursday when israel launched air strikes at houthi targets. this footage reportedly captured the incident from inside the airport. dr tedros adhanom ghebreyesus, who's now injordan, said the main target, the international airport in sanaa, was a civilian facility and should not have been hit. at least six people were killed. israel says it was targeting military infrastructure.

it was very chaotic, you know, people were in disarray and running everywhere. there was no shelter. we were completely exposed. it's a matter of luck otherwise if the missile deviated slightly it could have been on our head. so, my colleague said, after all that, we escaped death narrowly. it's a civilian airport. i think there are rules to engagement and that has to be respected and that's why we have international laws. what we're saying is international law should be respected. air passengers are facing delays and cancellations after fog enveloped the uk, severely disrupting international flights. with visibility as low as 100 metres, many flights out of gatwick, one of europe's busiest airports, were either cancelled or delayed for several hours.

and weather forecasters say the fog which blanketed much of england and wales will persist. well let's cross to gatwick airport, one of europe's busiest, and our reporter barry caffrey is there... you are how things looking at the moment?— the moment? really quite difficult- — the moment? really quite difficult. a — the moment? really quite difficult. a very _ the moment? really quite difficult. a very difficult i the moment? really quite l difficult. a very difficult day for passengers at gatwick today. there have been delays of at least two hours, in some cases three or four hours or more. there have been cancellations by various airlines, but it is notjust here at gatwick, heathrow airport has experienced significant delays and cancellations today, manchester airport, birmingham, london luton, stansted and london city all experiencing delays today. the bad news is it is set to continue over the coming hours.

we have heard from the uk's main air traffic control provider that says temporary air—traffic instructions are in place while there is this low visibility and it says they are doing this for safety. it is in constant communication with both the airports and the airlines in order to try and minimise the disruption. the advice for any passengers intending either travelling tonight or tomorrow is to check with your airline before making the journey to the airport. the met office is advising passengers to allow a little bit longer for theirjourneys given the weather, but it does say that the fog is expected to start to clear by later tonight. the state funeral of the former indian prime minister, manmohan singh has taken place in delhi. india's first sikh premier died on thursday at the age of 92. mourners turned out across the

capital to pay their respects as mamohan singh�*s coffin was placed on a flower—decked carriage pulled by a ceremonial army truck. and the ceremony included a 21—gun salute and was attended by india prime minister narendra modi, members of mr singh�*s congress party as well as other politicians and foreign dignitaries. 0ur correspondent, arunoday mukharji, was at the funeral and says people of all political affiliations attended. behind me is the cremation ground where the former prime minister dr manmohan singh was cremated with full state honours a short while back. people are now slowly starting to disperse. it was a massive affair as you can see just by the crowd and also the heavy police presence here because there were leaders from various political parties to several politicians of opposition parties as well. that is testament to who the former prime minister was, serving as the leader of the country from 2040 2014. prior to that, known primarily for being the finance minister

and crafting india's economic policy which liberalised the indian economy, opening it up and many say that was the time that india's economic growth story really began. that's what he is known for. an academic in, a scholarfirst and then a politician. that's why you see the kind of condolence messages that have been pouring in right from various political parties, including the prime minister who said that india today is morning one of the country's most distinguished leaders. condolence messages continue to fall in. we seem politicians and dignitaries and citizens and various supporters who have come in to pay their respects. mihir sharma is an economist in kolkata. he shared his thoughts on manmohan singh�*s legacy... he ensured, essentially,

that we opened the economy in 1991, as finance minister. he, as prime minister in the period between 2004 and 2014, ensured that we revised our international orientation to become more westward leaning by pushing through a very controversial at the time nuclear deal with the us, that sort of normalised india's nuclear programme, and repaired relations with the us. and i think that in many ways the india that we see now, which is quite outward—looking, very integrated into the world economy and quite confident, is the one that he began to build a 1991 as finance minister and continued as prime minister. what about his belief in political consensus, something he talked about a lot? do you feel those kinds of sentiments have changed in the india we have today? i think that in 2014, one of the reasons why there was a political reaction to manmohan singh�*s ten years in power were that people had grown tired of this 25—year

search for consensus that we had had to endure in india during a period of large and extensive coalitions in government in new delhi. but the fact is that the kind of discussions that lead to the building of consensus at a federal level are vitally important to keep countries like india united and in the same direction. in fact, over the past ten years, we have occasionally seen the dangers of not building sufficient consensus before major reforms are launched. for example, prime minister modi had to take back some of his major reforms, including of agriculture, because there was a failure to build consensus in advance. sir keir starmer has written to the uk's major regulators asking them to submit proposals for reforms that could boost economic growth. the prime minister wants each watchdog to come up with ideas by mid—january. these could include removing regulations and other potential barriers to growth. labour is under pressure after downgraded figures

revealed the uk economy flatlined between july and september. you in the georgian capital tbilisi, thousands of people are have formed a human chain in support of the country's bid for eu membership, marking the second month of their daily pro—europe rallies. since november 28th, protesters across georgia have been holding mass rallies after the ruling georgian dream party announced it would delay seeking eu accession talks. the demonstration took place just one day before the inauguration of mikheil kavelashvili, a loyalist of the ruling, pro—russian, georgian dream party as the country's new president. mr kavelashvili has been labelled illegitimate by current leader salome zurabishvili and the pro—western opposition. a ukrainian official has told the bbc they hope a new year prisoner exchange with russia will happen any day, although arrangements could fall through at the last minute. there have been just 10 exchanges this year, the lowest number since the full—scale invasion in 2022. ukraine doesn't publish numbers of prisoners of war

being held by russia, but the total is thought to be over 8,000. from kyiv, will vernon reports. a christmas concert for ukrainians exhausted by war. dancer liliya keeps her pain hidden. her boyfriend bohdan was captured by russian forces two and a half years ago. she hasn't heard from him since. translation: the christmas holidays are a painful time. . if you want to celebrate, then you should. but without forgetting that we need to support our soldiers. bohdan is very kind. he really loves cats, just like i do. liliya still sends messages to bohdan's phone... messages for him in the future. ..knowing he can't see them.

translation: i miss him a lot. he needs to be saved and have his freedom back. freedom for ukrainians held by russia, that's what liliya and thousands of others are demanding. they hold regular street demonstrations. this one calling on the world not to forget the prisoners at christmas. many of the relatives here have no idea where their loved ones are or what condition they're in. russia provides prisoners with almost no access to communication with relatives, which only intensifies the suffering of families here in ukraine. for this family, the wait is finally over. andriy and lena served in the ukrainian military and were both captured by the russians in 2022. lena, who was pregnant, was set free after two weeks, but andriy was freed only recently after two and a half years in captivity.

translation: they beat us mercilessly with sticks - and their fists and feet. the food was horrifying — rotten fish heads and sour cabbage. i thought about my wife constantly. i remembered her smell and was desperately hoping to receive a letter from her. here, andriy meets his son, leon, for the very first time. translation: i constantly wrote him letters, saying l he would finally have the child he had wanted for so long. later, i learned that he hadn't received a single one. we want to spend these holidays together and feel the warmth of being a family. the russian authorities told us allegations of mistreatment of prisoners were false and captured ukrainian militants were treated humanely, according to the geneva convention. will vernon, bbc news, lviv. and here's proof that chess takes its dress code seriously

— reigning world number one magnus carlsen has quit a major tournament — all over a pair ofjeans. the tournament's governing body said he couldn't continue playing unless he swapped them for something more formal. but carlsen, who's usually known for his sharp mind and cool demeanour, pulled out on the spot. he later put this picture of his offending outfit on social media — captioning it 00td an abbreviation for outfit of the day. the world of chess is rather staid, it seems in the united states. they actually find carlsen $200 straightaway for turning up in this pair ofjeans. then they said, you have to change it. he did actually offer to change into different clothes for the next day, but they said, no, you have to change immediately. at which point he said, well, it's a matter of principle. and he said that they could get lost. 0r actually, i have to say, he used words which i'm not going to repeat on television, but with his usual frankness and gusto.

i mean, should we really be surprised he's got a bit of a reputation? indeed. i mean, to explain to people who don't know, magnus carlsen is someone who very self—consciously has tried to change the image of the chess grandmaster. you know, the stereotype image, let's face it, of slightly geeky people, perhaps a little introverted. he is someone who enjoys life. he for a start, he used to have quite a reputation for consumption of alcohol. he went by the nickname doctor drunken stein. i interviewed him when he came to london. he's a nice guy. he's very confident but not arrogant. but yeah, clearly someone who knows that there is more to life than kings and queens and bishops. i should say there is a serious side to this. a lot of people are big fans of carlsen, because they say that by changing the image of the chess grandmaster, he's encouraged people into the game who might otherwise have been put off. you may remember a few years ago there was this television drama series, queen's gambit, that encouraged a lot of women and girls to play in chess, who might have been thinking, well, it's such a male thing. and magnus carlsen was very much part of the same

movement to change the image of chess. a lot of people think he succeeded in doing that. i think he has. and queen's gambit went a long way to doing that as well. huge surge in the number of peoplejoining platforms like chess.com. but what about the controversies that are around magnus ca rlsen? yeah, there's a there's another one, which is how can i put it even more delicate? two years ago, magnus carlsen was playing a match against a player called hans neiman. now, hans neiman was not regarded as being in the same league as magnus carlsen, but he beat magnus carlsen. big shock. at which point magnus carlsen made a rather extraordinary allegation. i'm going to choose my words carefully here. what magnus carlsen suggested was that his opponent had had certain very small objects inserted in a certain part of his body, and that these were being radio controlled, and would vibrate to tell his opponent what move to make. and hans then immediately sued magnus carlsen for saying this, and a couple of others who repeated the claim. the sad thing is, we don't know what happened about a year ago. they announced that this

dispute had been resolved. so what actually happened? we will never know. it's between magnus carlsen, mr neiman, and how can i put it? a certain bodily part of mr neiman? and if you want to know more you will have to go online. don't forget you can also go to the bbc news website to get all the bbc news website to get all the very latest on our top stories, including president putin apologising for a plane crash but didn't go as far to say that it was russia's fault. there's also recollections there from people who survived there from people who survived the plane crash. do stay with us here on bbc news. hello there, some higher parts of england and wales have again been sticking out above this misty low cloud today. it's quite gloomy and murky and a little damp in other parts of england and wales. the fog, though, probably not quite as extensive

as it has been. and through the rest of the weekend, the breeze picks up a little, that mist and patchy fog will be lifting, promising some brighter skies more widely tomorrow, although there will be some rain still in scotland. the mist and fog is closer to this area of low pressure which is affecting other parts of europe as well, that weather front weakening as it moves south, and another band of rain heading into northern scotland by the end of the day. but temperatures in scotland and northern ireland in double figures. where it's grey and gloomy through the midlands, south—east england, it's going to be a chilly 5 or 6 degrees here, again. and still some extensive low cloud, some patches of mist and fog into the night, tending to lift from the north, as the breeze picks up, and we see some rain arriving across more of northern scotland, particularly towards the highlands. where we do see a few breaks in the cloud further south, temperatures could get close to freezing once again. we may still have some mist and patchy fog to start with in southern parts of england and wales on sunday. that should tend to lift, skies brightening, there may even be a bit of sunshine across more areas.

further north, though, with those stronger winds in scotland we are going to find some further rain across the northern half of the country. but temperatures should be higher in england and wales with the promise of a little sunshine, temperatures reaching 9 or 10 degrees. we are going to find that rain, though, continuing in scotland and every now and again an area of low pressure develops on that, intensifying the rain. and it's bumping into colder air in the far north of the country, so we could well find some snow in parts of scotland. it's rain for the most part, but some of that rain will be affecting northern england and northern ireland on monday. further south, the breeze continues to pick up a little, and bring in a few holes in the cloud but lifting temperatures into 10 or 11 degrees. but it is colder in scotland, and this is where we could have some disruptive weather at the end of the year. monday into tuesday, from the central belt northwards, mainly some heavy rain, but there could be some snow for a while. as that melts it brings the risk of flooding and some travel disruption as well. but things could get even worse for new year's day because the next area of low pressure is going to be deeper,

it'll bring stronger winds, more widely, some heavy rain and some heavier snow in scotland.

this is bbc news. the headlines... russia's president vladimir putin has apologised to the president of azerbaijan for the downing of a passenger plane in kazakhstan.

he called it a tragic incident in russian airspace but did not admit that russian air defences shot it down. the health ministry in gaza says israeli forces detained and interrogated around one hundred medical staff from a hospital in the north of the territory after they forcibly evacuated the patients. the world health organization says it's the last major hospital in northern gaza now out of service. indians gather to pay their respects to former prime minister, manmohan singh. india's first sikh prime minister died on thursday at the age of 92. his last rites were held with full state honours. and — thick fog is causing travel disruption around the uk, with flights cancelled and drivers warned to be careful on the roads. now on bbc news — f1 in 10 years. this is formula 1. you're pushing, you're risking. you're finding that limit ofjust before you crash. it captures the world's imagination.

he mimics f1 car that sound. it's now a 40% female fanbase.