and finally, world chess number one magnus carlsen has quit a major tournament in new york after a row over his jeans. the grandmaster was defending his titles at the fide world rapid and blitz chess championships when officials objected to his choice of trousers. despite offering to change them for the next day, carlsen was fined and told he needed to change immediately. instead he decided to pull out of the tournaments altogether. the norwegian also hit the headlines last year after he settled a long—running legal dispute after accusing that's all for me. have a lovely evening. you are watching bbc news.

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. tech entrepreneur elon musk, has once again voiced his support for germany's alternative for germany party, publishing a guest opinion piece in the online edition of welt am sonntag. his contribution has prompted the commentary editor to resign in protest. in the article, the tech entrepreneur expanded on a recent post on his social media platform, x, where he wrote, "only the afd can save germany." the piece, made available to welt am sonntag, argued that the afd represents the hope germany needs as it

"teeters on the brink of economic and cultural collapse." the afd is currently polling second and could disrupt a centre—right or center—left majority, but germany's mainstream parties have pledged to reject any national alliance with the group. 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. 2sec gun and the ceremony included a 21—gun salute 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. our correspondent, arunoday mukharji, was at the funeral and says people of all political affiliations attended. it was a massive affair as you can see just by the crowd and also the heavy police presence here

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. just a short while back, the former prime minister dr in the georgian capital tbilisi, thousands of people 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 threat to poison english water supplies during the period known as the troubles in northern ireland is among the revelations in the latest release of irish state papers. each year, documents relating to the near 30—year conflict are declassified, as our ireland correspondent sara girvin reports. every year the irish state papers are released, and every year they give us a glimpse of previously secret government files dating back decades. this release details a threat received in 1999 to poison england's water supplies on behalf of what was called the republican revenge group. it threatened to introduce weedkiller into drinking water through fire hydrants unless the british government announced its intention to withdraw from what was described as occupied ireland. the plans may appearfar fetched, but the threat was taken seriously. it was thought most people who drank contaminated water would suffer nothing worse than a stomach upset, but media representatives

were asked by the government not to report the story for fear of causing panic over what could have been a hoax. the papers state that a man was arrested over the threats but never charged. other documents from 2001 show that the us administration, led by george w bush, was considering designating the real ira as a foreign terrorist organisation. briefing notes to irish politicians warned that the plans might give the dissident republican paramilitary group an unintentional boost by encouraging recruitment. the real ira was responsible for the 1998 0magh bomb, which killed 29 people. it was the single greatest loss of life in 30 years of violence in northern ireland, known as the troubles. ultimately, the us did add the real ira to its list. this release of documents also details a football it was the single greatest loss of life in 30 years of violence in northern ireland, known as the troubles. ultimately, the us did add the real ira to its list. this release of documents also details a football related gaffe from former

prime minister tony blair. he's reported to have asked a nationalist politician if his party would be supporting england in the 2002 world cup, after ireland were knocked out. sara girvan, bbc news. more than a thousand critically endangered snails — some of which were bred in captivity here in the uk — have been released onto a remote portuguese island. the desertas island land snails were believed to be extinct until an expedition team discovered a tiny native population, and set about growing their numbers. 0ur science correspondent victoria gill has more. this is a story with some very tiny main characters. these are desertas island land snails. they were rescued from the brink of extinction and brought here to chester zoo, where they've been living and breeding inside this converted shipping container. these were snails at risk of extinction or thought to be actually extinct in the wild, so we were lucky enough to have them brought to us, and this is where we've managed to breed up from very low

numbers to what we have here today, which is almost 1,400 snails ready for release. there are two snail species the team are bringing back to their wild island home off the coast of portugal — discula snails and the even smaller geomitra. they're prepared for their journey with a little scientific makeover. we have uv markers and literallyjust a metallic pen. why do they need to be marked? basically, so there are some individuals left in the wild and we just want to be able to distinguish the ones we have bred and released so we can track their progress. this is a discula snail. you can just see the shell is marked with a green mark and there is a uv mark in the middle. they are ready to go. the desertas islands, close to madeira in portugal, are their destination and their natural home. the largest of the islands

where the last snails were found has had its habitat decimated, eaten away by goats, rats, goats and mice brought here by people, so the team has transported the snails to the protected neighbouring island of bugio. it has meant a long and precariousjourney. after waiting for the ideal cooler evening conditions... they're quite active. ..it is finally time to set the snails free. we are going to release them really close under the rocks, which will be the perfect place for their new life, where they have protection, humidity and a lot of food. this is a small but significant part of a mission to restore the natural habitat and wildlife on these mountainous atlantic islands. if it goes well, more snails will be brought here next year, each bringing a small splash of colour back to their habitat. victoria gill, bbc news.

britain's longest serving postman has finally called time on his career. robert hudson — known as rocky to his friends — began working for the royal mail at age 16, delivering telegrams. he moved to nights when his wife died, so he could look after his family. this morning, at the end of his final shift after 60 years, he looked back on some of the interesting characters he met. yeah, you get chased by dogs sometimes but, you know, that happens to all of them. you carry a couple of biscuits in your pocket to keep them quiet. you get used to it, you try and make friends with them rather than enemies. yeah, i've thoroughly enjoyed it. i've had a good career there, i've met loads and loads of people. i've met the king twice. now here's the weather with darren 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.

live from london, this is bbc news. vladimir putin has apologised to azerbaijan's president over the passenger plane crash in kazakhstan. he called it a tragic incident over russian airspace, but didn't take responsibility. the health ministry in gaza

says israeli forces detained and interrogated around 100 medical staff from a hospital in northern gaza after they forcibly evacuated patients. thick fog continues to cause delays and cancellations at some of the uk's busiest international airports. and, thesejeans were not made for chess, in fact it led to the resignation of the world's top grandmaster. hello i'm anjana gadgil. 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