and elon musk broadens his political influence beyond the us, endorsing germany's far—right afd party in the run up to february elections. hello, i'm carl nasman. welcome to the programme. we start off in moscow, where russia's president vladimir putin apologised to the leader of azerbaijan over what he called the "tragic incident" involving a passenger plane which crashed, killing 38 people on wednesday. he acknowledged that russia's air defences were "active" at the time but stopped short of saying his country was responsible. there's speculation that the azerbaijan airlines plane came underfire from russian air defence systems as it tried to land in the southern russian city of grozny. it later diverted to aktau airport in kazakhstan, where it crashed. our russia editor steve rosenberg has more on the apology from moscow.

it was an azerbaijan airlines flight. it had crashed in kazakhstan. but was russia responsible? a brief glimpse today of vladimir putin meeting his powerful security council, and then a kremlin announcement. president putin had telephoned azerbaijan's president to apologise for the fact that what he called the "tragic incident" had happened in russian airspace. according to putin, flight 8243 had made several attempts to land at grozny airport, in russia's north caucasus region. he claimed that grozny and other places nearby had been under attack from ukrainian drones and admitted russian air defence systems had been in operation. azerbaijan said that president aliyev had told president putin that the plane had been subjected to external, physical and technical interference in russian airspace.

so, words you very rarely hear from vladimir putin, "i apologise", but no public admission that it was a russian missile that caused this disaster. and also, no explanation why this plane was allowed anywhere near grozny airport during a ukrainian drone attack. aviation experts suggest the aircraft may have been hit by shrapnel from russian air defence missiles. officials in russia had initially claimed the plane had hit a flock of birds. remarkably, 29 people survived this. translation: the plane turned round, and at that moment, there was a blast outside the aircraft. my arm was hurt in that blast. a deep wound, as if someone had hit me in the arm with an axe. meanwhile, another funeral of another victim of this disaster.

mahammadali yeganov was just 13. in azerbaijan, they continue to mourn. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. for more on this, i spoke earlier with nina khrushcheva, professor of international affairs at the new school. nina, how rare is an apology from president putin? very rare. in fact, there was five—day, when the tragedy happened, five—days speculation that he is going to apologise, he is not going to apologise, and the bets were that he's not going to apologise because he never does. on the other hand, his relationship of azerbaijan is very important, and they need each other, and president aliyev of azerbaijan is a tough man, probably as tough as putin, and so putin had to at least pretend that there was some sort of parity in the relationship between russia and azerbaijan. so it is a very rare occasion

and shows that there is some rationale left, rational thinking left, in the kremlin. help us understand, actually, that relationship between the two countries. the kremlin actually said saturday that putin had called azerbaijan's president on the phone. do you think that this could end up affecting the relationship between these nations? absolutely. it is interesting because the kremlin was essentially silent for all these days, with others speculating what happened with the plane, who's responsible for its shooting down, whether it was shot down or it was just an accident. originally, they were saying that there were birds responsible. and you mentioned there, a rare apology from president putin. he of course stopped short of saying that russia was responsible in any way. can we learn from anything, can we read between lines of this statement and what was said and what was not said?

we still don't know whether russia was responsible. i mean, everybody on the anti—russian side jumped to that conclusion. it is possible that russia was responsible because it was shielding against the ukrainian drones that were attacking grozny at the time, and it is very, very possible that the russian defence system hit the plane, but we still don't know that, so that's why i actually find it slightlyjumping the gun when saying putin stops short of admitting. he can't admit it yet because it has not happened. it does not mean that he will. i think eventually, everything will be blamed on the ukrainian drones, as is, but aliyev is interested in a somewhat transparent investigation because he has his own international reputation on the line. so we'll see how they are going to dance around this, but we did hear even more about the apology in addition to the apology, which is rare and very important, because

putin never takes... he's always right, he never takes any responsibility for anything ever, but the two foreign ministers, the russian foreign minister and azerbaijani foreign minister, in fact spoke and made a statement together that this incident, this accident, has been resolved in terms of relationship and the countries will continue to work together. so it will be interesting to see what the actual investigation of the tragedy will reveal and the many countries involved in it. so it will be interesting to see how russians will be dancing around their responsibility, if it indeed comes through that it happened because of the russian shots. just briefly, if you don't mind, but we do know there will be a russian investigation, there are brazilian investigators there on the scene, us officials looking through the intelligence. how confident are you that in the end, we'll get some sort of satisfactory answer

about what took place? i don't really have a very optimistic scenario in this, because as i said, putin really denies responsibility always, and if there is a conclusion that the russian antimissile system is at fault, it will eventually, as i said, and i believe that would be the case, be blamed on the ukrainian drones. and grozny, the capital of chechnya, where the plane was flying into, will be excused because they already announced when the plane was approaching, they announced this system which is called the carpet. the carpet is when no planes are leaving or entering that airspace, so ultimately, i think russia will find a way to absolving itself. a ukrainian official tells the bbc it's hoped a new year prisoner exchange with russia will happen "any day", although arrangements could fall through. there have only been ten exchanges this year, the lowest number since the start of russia's full—scale invasion in 2022. ukraine doesn't publish numbers of prisoners of war being held by russia, but the total is believed

to be more than 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. translation: 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. the last major functioning hospital in northern gaza

is now out of service after it was forcibly evacuated by the israeli military. the kamal adwan hospital has been under siege by the israel defense forces for weeks, and it now stands empty. the world health organization said it's deeply concerned for the safety of patients who were forced to leave. the head of the hospital's nursing department told the bbc that the israeli military gave them only a is—minute warning to clear patients and staff before troops entered the hospital and removed anyone that remained. palestinian health officials say about 100 medical staff were taken in for interrogation. the director of the hospital was also detained. israel said the raid on the hospital is now over and claims it was being used by hamas fighters as a command centre, without providing evidence. our correspondent emir nader is injerusalem and sent this report. sirens blare throughout gaza, patients forced out of the kamal adwan hospital by the israeli military are arriving to seek treatment. some brought in with assistance, others arriving by foot, bringing with them stories of how they were interrogated.

translation: they took us one or two at a time - to the school's bathroom, ordering us to remove our pants and lift up our shirts. when we refused, they beat us. this happened three times, and each time, we were beaten for refusing. eventually, we were forced to comply because they aimed their guns at us and threatened to shoot. for weeks, kamal adwan staff issued desperate pleas for the israeli military to stop targeting the facility, situated in an area of northern gaza the united nations says israel has placed under a near—total siege. then on friday morning, the military gave staff and patients 15 minutes to leave. some were marched, nearly naked, to be interrogated. this evening, the israeli military said 240 terrorists have been arrested from what they've called a hamas stronghold. weapons, they say, were found at the hospital. dr hossam abu safiya,

a well—known director of the hospital, israel is calling a suspected terrorist, though without offering evidence. reports we can't verify say he has been beaten. fatima and her daughter were also being treated at the hospital, and forced out and told to walk south. translation: this is my injury. they hit our house with three rockets. after we went out of the house, they destroyed it, and its four floors collapsed on top of each other. for those who remain in besieged northern gaza, the closure of kamal adwan heralds an even darker chapter, where an injury can now become a death sentence. emir nader, bbc news, jerusalem. lebanon has expelled dozens of people — including military personnel — believed to have entered illegally from syria. many senior syrian officials close to the former ruling family of bashar al—assad fled the country to neighbouring lebanon after assad's regime was toppled earlier this month. the expulsions come after syria's new ruling

authorities vowed to find former regime members who committed human rights abuses. meanwhile, syria's embassy in lebanon has suspended consular services "until further notice", at the order of the syrian foreign ministry. no reason was given for the suspension. with me now to discuss is firas maksad, senior director for strategic outreach at the middle east institute. always great to have you here. let's start with those 70 syrian military personnel. kind of kicked out of lebanon, or they not? and send back to syria. these are believed to be part of the former assad regime, really one of the unanswered questions, isn't it? just how is syria going to be dealing with these sorts of people? dealing with these sorts of --eole? ~ . dealing with these sorts of ..eole?~ ., ., ,, dealing with these sorts of n-eole?. ., ., ,, ., dealing with these sorts of n-eole?. ., ., , people? what happened today is there in the _ people? what happened today is there in the medic _ people? what happened today is there in the medic of _ people? what happened today is there in the medic of the - there in the medic of the changing nature of the relationship between these two countries. lebanon for many years was under syrian occupation and these intelligence services in lebanon were heavily infiltrated by both hezbollah

and its ally in the syrian regime, so to see them hand over these officers the way they did is a very encouraging and retelling of how i —— how, again, the balance of power changing. forthe —— how, again, the balance of power changing. for the new emerging syrian regime, this is a very delicate balance district and on the one hand, justice for dare i say millions of victims of the assad regime, but it is extreme important in this moment that this does not come across as revenge and retribution. we all remember those horrific photos of the lynching of saddam hussein in iraq, right? that looks like revenge, and that unleashes a cycle. the syrian current resume should not, does not, could not have to do with it. how do you think syria will go about this? because as you mentioned there are so many victims, we have seen them going through the former prisons, looking for loved ones. they will want some sort of justice, ones. they will want some sort ofjustice, but at ones. they will want some sort of justice, but at the same time, the country does need to move on. that is a difficult

thing to do, isn't it? absolutely, and also making news today is the head of syrian intelligence is evolving all the former intelligence services —— is dissolving. those who have blood on their hands, those in charge of that mentor is saydnaya prison where many were tortured at industrial level, industrial scale, those will be brought to justice,, but there is a need to deal with the minorities of syria, the alawites, the christians who were in many ways, some of them, the back pillar of that assad regime. you cannot have retribution to target entire communities. again, a very fine balance to strike there.— strike there. syria's new administration - strike there. syria's new administration carrying l strike there. syria's new. administration carrying out these crackdowns, there were about a dozen people killed during one of these raids, how tough is it going to be do you think for this new regime to try to keep the peace? it does not still control the entire area of syria, does it? it

not still control the entire area of syria, does it? it does not come _ area of syria, does it? it does not come and _ area of syria, does it? it does not come and syria _ area of syria, does it? it does not come and syria is - area of syria, does it? it does not come and syria is a - not come and syria is a tapestry of various communities and various regions, so the fact you control the masses doesn't necessarily mean that you control the coast or you control southern syria, or you have a very large community, an offshoot of shehere islam, and then you have an overly of regional interferences, iran wanted to make a comeback, being accused of wanting to undermine the regime, support counterrevolutionary forces, wanting to exert dominance now. israel answering southern syria in a major way, pushing further, in an incursion into southern syria, language it says will be a temporary occupation. all these things make for a very difficult situation for the leader of syria. it situation for the leader of s ria. , ., ., , syria. it is going to be interesting _ syria. it is going to be interesting how - syria. it is going to be interesting how all. syria. it is going to be i interesting how all these factors lay out going forward. i want to switch gears here, because i know you were

recently in lebanon. this cease—fire deal between israel and hezbollah was signed. i want to hear from you, based and hezbollah was signed. i want to hearfrom you, based on what you saw on the ground, how that cease—fire is holding up a. that cease-fire is holding up a. ., ., ., , _ ., a. carl, in a holding up by a thread is— a. carl, in a holding up by a thread is how _ a. carl, in a holding up by a thread is how i _ a. carl, in a holding up by a thread is how i would - a. carl, in a holding up by a thread is how i would put . a. carl, in a holding up by a| thread is how i would put it. that and —— netanyahu and his people have won. the only reason that cease—fire has not completely fallen apart is because hezbollah and also its sponsors in iran, after the fall of the assad regime, are so weak. israel in some cases pushing further in southern lebanon today than the time when the cease—fire was announced 20 days ago. it is pushing further into syria, taking strategic locations, so should there be a new war when this succeed a cease—fire ends, israel is at a great advantage in the on the reason this has not fallen apart is because hezbollah understands it is at a very precarious position. briefly before let _ precarious position. briefly before let you _ precarious position. briefly before let you go, - precarious position. briefly before let you go, we - precarious position. briefly before let you go, we are i before let you go, we are hearing the idf still very

active in northern gaza, this raid on the last functioning hospital there. what will palestinians, do you think, do? there are still tens of thousands in northern gaza. presumably now there is nowhere left to receive medical care. it is an absolutely horrific human situation. i also came back from jordan cabrera met king and —— where i met the king and head of general intelligence. they are not mincing words. they're calling it a genocide. the total of human pain that has happened in northern gaza is terrific and very difficult to overstate. the israelis, also hamas on its back foot, determined to stay in gaza and one shape or another, and the cease—fire talks that are ongoing in qatar and in egypt and and flow, but at the end of the day, have not made much progress. == at the end of the day, have not made much progress.— at the end of the day, have not made much progress. -- at and flow. made much progress. -- at and flow there _ made much progress. -- at and flow. there was _ made much progress. -- at and flow. there was some - made much progress. -- at andl flow. there was some optimism, but we are not sure where that stands. firas maksad, thank you

as always. mr; stands. firas maksad, thank you as always-_ tech entrepreneur elon musk has once again voiced his support for the german far—right political party the alternative for germany, orafd, publishing a guest opinion piece in the online edition of the german paper welt am sonntag. the paper's commentary editor resigned in protest after the piece was published. in the article, musk expanded on a recent post on his social media platform, x, where he wrote, "only the afd can save germany." he argued that the afd represents the hope germany needs as it "teeters on the brink of economic and cultural collapse. " the party is currently polling second in the run—up to a general election in february and could disrupt a centre—right or center—left majority. for more on this, i've been speaking to our correspondent, rowan bridge. look, even a commentary editor of the newspaper resigning after this was published, it seems like a pretty big deal there. can you explain what's going on here? why is this so controversial? i mean, ithink you have to understand german history and the history of german politics and the history of the nazis,

which casts a long shadow over german politics and still resonates to this day. and so in the afd, you have an extreme right—wing party which german intelligence agencies have labelled as a suspected extremist group, and so for elon musk to come out and write an opinion piece in support of them is really touching on a really sensitive piece of german history and the third rail, if you like, of german politics here. it's interesting, too, isn't it? because we know elon musk as a billionaire — with spacex, tesla — someone who until recently really had stayed away from politics, and now we see him wading into the us election too. what's been going on with elon musk, who all of a sudden seems to be wading into just about every election around the world? he really has. it's notjust in the us. in the uk, he has been critical of keir starmer, now we've got him wading in about german politics, and he has been very prominent in the 2016 campaign.

we've seen him by donald trump's side in mar—a—lago. he waiting, in congress, on the spending row recently. he has changed his personality and has gone all—in on this thing. he is known for his extremely long workdays and all—in persona and he has taken that really towards politics in the last few month and over the last year or so. we have really seen him front and centre, and his influence on those events as well, if you look at american politics in particular. that influence, of course, includes owning x, one of the most influential social media platforms. he has got a lot of money too. he donated a lot to donald trump. when it comes to influence, how much do you think you might have on germany's upcoming elections? we know those are just a few months away. that's right. elon musk has 209 million followers. ijust i just checked. that is a very large megaphone to shout with. and clearly the social democrats are somewhat

concerned about it because one of the most high—profile members came out the other day talking about the need for an antitrust investigation into elon musk. i don't think that's likely to happen, but the fact that opposition politicians are saying those sorts of things, it shows they are clearly worried about the influence that elon musk might have. i think we'll see going forward much he really does impact on that germany election, but clearly we saw he had a significant effect this time around in the united states. the world's top ranked chess player, magnus carlsen, has quit a major tournament in new york after being told he could not continue playing while wearing jeans. carlsen says he offered to change trousers for the next day — but was fined and told to change immediately. patrick gearey has the story. even by magnus carlsen�*s standards, this was an unorthodox move. the world's best chess player summoned to see the ref. a man widely admired for his mind was now condemned for his jeans. organisers told him he was breaking the dress code. he wouldn't change and, instead, quit the tournament. honestly, my patience with them

was not very big to begin with, and it's. . . it's ok. like, they can enforce their rules — that's fine by me — and my response is that, fine, then i'm out. like... bleep you. there are, of course always two sides in chess, and fide, who organise the world rapid and blitz chess championships, say the rules are fair and were drawn up in consultation with players. carlsen, they add, was given time to find a new outfit. in round number eight, we gave him the chance to change out of the jeans, into something else. he didn't take that chance and he wore jeans again. it's only a pair ofjeans. it may be. i don't write the rules, ijust apply them. if not quite the bad boy of chess, carlsen�*s attracted attention for more than his trousers. last year, he settled a legal dispute after accusing an opponent of cheating. but his genius is undisputed. the norwegian was a teenage grandmaster and is a five—time world champion, who can outmanoeuvre anyone. indeed, this might be the only time magnus carlsen is told he's not smart enough. patrick gearey, bbc news.

more than 1,000 tiny, critically endangered snails — some of which were bred in captivity 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. you see some of those tiny, kind of cute, got to say, snails raid there! i am carl nasman here in washington. lots more coming up at the top of the hour right here on bbc news. hello there. as we push into part two of the weekend, it looks like we should see that fog issue lifting. that's because the stagnant air associated with the area of high pressure is pulling away into the near continent,

and we're picking up a fresher westerly breeze through sunday. that should help disperse the clouds to give more sunny spells. but it will stay unsettled across scotland, with this weather front bringing persistent rain. you'll see more isobars on the charts for sunday, so that breeze will be strong, especially for the northern half of the country. here, it stays cloudy and wet pretty much all day, but southern scotland, northern ireland, large parts of england and wales will see the sunshine breaking through as we head into the afternoon. so a grey start and then a brighter afternoon. temperatures still in single digits across the south—east, a bit milderfurther north — up to around 11 or 12 degrees in central/southern scotland. as we head through sunday night, it stays wet across the northern half of scotland. some cold air engaging the system could turn some of that rain into snow over the hills across northern scotland, so a real wintry mix there. but elsewhere, further south, it'll be dry with clear spells. but throughout monday into new year's eve, with further rain and hill snow across scotland, we're likely to see some travel issues.

it could be bringing some localised flooding to places, so stay tuned to the forecast to keep up to date with all the weather forecasts and head online to check out all the latest weather warnings. this is the picture, then, for monday. we've got low pressure to the north of the uk, active weather front across scotland, bringing heavy rain, further hill snow here. could see some showers pushing into northern and western england and wales, but i think much of england and wales will see the sunshine and stay largely dry throughout the day on monday, but more of a breeze and a milder day to come for all, cold in northern scotland. as we head out to monday into tuesday, which is new year's eve, another area of low pressure moves through to bring a blustery, a windy day for all. outbreaks of rain, particularly in the north and the west. once again, there will be some hill snow across the north of scotland, so some travel disruption is likely. so, that rain moving across england and wales later on the day on new year's eve, so you have to stay tuned to the forecast if you have travel plans, of course. another mild day to come away from northern scotland. another low pressure system hurtles across the country on new year's day, and as it pulls away, it allows the floodgates to open

to a northerly arctic air flow. so after a disruptive day of weather on new year's day, the first week of january 2025 is looking colder, sunnier, with some wintry showers and frosty nights.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. hello from new york. i'm tom brook and welcome to our talking movies review of the year in film in 202a. looking back at the year in cinema, there have been some high points and low points, but what did the movie—going public make of it all? my favourite film of 2024 was dune: part two. the visuals were remarkable.

fly me to the moon with scarlett johansson