the last major hospital in the north of the territory. hello, i'm carl nasman. we begin with breaking news out of south korea. the news agency yonhap is reporting at least 28 passengers were killed after a flight carrying 181 people crashed at south korea's muan airport. thejeju airflight, which was returning to south korea from bangkok, reportedly crashed into a wall off the runway and caught fire. you can see some images you can see some images we are you can see some images we are just getting on of the incident here. witnesses reported hearing a large explosion after the crash, which happened shortly after 9:00am local time. fire crews are working to put

out the blaze on site. the cause of the crash is unconfirmed, but local media rpeorts that a bird strike may have caused the plane's landing gear to malfunction. we arejust we are just getting this story in. it is developing as we speak, so we will continue to bring you details and more information. we are hoping to get our correspondent in south korea for you in the next hour orso korea for you in the next hour or so as well. in moscow, 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 is 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, anotherfuneral 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?- from president putin? very rare. in fact, _ from president putin? very rare. in fact, there - from president putin? very rare. in fact, there was - from president putin? very rare. in fact, there was five days — when did the tragedy happen? five—day speculation that he is going to apologise, he is not going to apologise, and he was not going to apologise because he never does. on the other hand, his relationship with azerbaijan is very important, they need each other, and the president of azerbaijan is a very tough man, probably as tough as putin, 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, or rational thinking left, in the kremlin. yes, well, help us understand 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 those two nations? absolutely. putin continued to be silent. it was interesting because the kremlin was essentially silent for all those days, with as other speculating what happened with the plan, who is responsible for it's shooting down, whether it was shut down as just an accident. originally they were saying that there were birds responsible, and whatnot. find responsible, and whatnot. and ou responsible, and whatnot. and you mentioned _ responsible, and whatnot. and you mentioned there are rare apology from president putin. he of course stopped short of saying that russia was responsible in any way. can we learn anything? can be read between the lines of this statement and what was said and what wasn't said?— what wasn't said? well, we still don't _

what wasn't said? well, we still don't know _ what wasn't said? well, we still don't know whether . what wasn't said? well, we - still don't know whether russia was responsible. i mean, everybody on the anti— russian sidejumped on that everybody on the anti— russian side jumped on 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 stopped short of admitting. we can't admit it yet because it hasn't happened. it doesn't mean that he will. i think eventually everything will be blamed on the ukrainian drones, as it is, but aliyev is interested in a somewhat transparent investigation because he has his own international reputation on the line. so we will see how they are going to dance around this. but we did hear even more about the apology, in addition to the apology, in addition to the apology, which is rare and very

important, because putin never takes— he is always right, he never takes any responsibility for anything ever. but the two foreign ministers, the russian foreign minister and the 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 how russians will be dancing around their responsibility, if it indeed comes through that it happened because of the russian shots. , . ., �* , shots. yes, and that's the next question. _ shots. yes, and that's the next question, isn't _ shots. yes, and that's the next question, isn't it? _ shots. yes, and that's the next question, isn't it? just - question, isn't it? 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 are looking through the intelligence here. how confident are you that in the end we will get some sort of satisfactory answer about what took place? i satisfactory answer about what took place?—

took place? i don't really have a very optimistic— took place? i don't really have a very optimistic scenario - took place? i don't really have a very optimistic scenario in i a very optimistic scenario in this because, as i said, putin really denies responsibility always. and if there is a conclusion that the russian anti—missile system is at fault, it will eventually, as i said — and i believe it will be the case — will be blamed on ukrainian drones and chechnya, 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 their system which is called the carpet. the carpet is when no plans are leaving or entering that air space. so ultimately i think russia will find a way to absolve itself. 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 is 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, the 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.

as syria's new regime takes shape, i discussed the latest with firas maksad, senior director for strategic outreach at the middle east institute. let's start with those 70 syrian military personnel. they were kind of kicked out of lebanon, weren't they, and sent back to syria. these were believed to be part of the former assad regime. really one of the unanswered questions, isn't it, is how is syria going to be dealing with these sorts of people? yeah, carl. well, what happened today is very emblematic 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 in the way that they did is very encouraging and indicative of how the balance of power is changing between the two.

for the new emerging syrian regime, this is a very delicate balance to strike between on one hand justice for, dare i say, millions of the victims of the assad regime, but it's extremely important at this moment in time that this doesn't come across as revenge and retribution. we all remember those horrific photos of, for example, the lynching of saddam hussein in iraq. that looked like revenge, and that unleashes a cycle then that the current syrian regime should not, does not and could not have to deal with. how do you think, then, syria will go about this? because, like you mentioned, there are so many victims. you see them going through the former prisons looking for loved ones. they will want some form of justice, but at the same time, the country does need to move on. that's such a difficult thing to do, isn't it? absolutely, and also making news today is the fact that the new head of intelligence in syria made the announcement he's dissolving all the former intelligence services.

and there is an effort to bring justice. it's very clear — those who have blood on their hands, those who were in charge of the notorious saydnaya prison, where many were tortured at an industrial level, an industrial scale, those will be brought to justice. but there is a need to deal with the minorities in syria — the alawites of western syria on the coast, the christians, who were in many ways, some of them, the main pillars of the assad regime. you can't have retributions targeting entire communities, so again, a very important balance to strike there. we also saw syria's new administration committing crackdowns against remnants of the administration in syria. there were about a dozen people killed in 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 doesn't still control the entire area of syria, does it? no, it doesn't. and syria is a tapestry of various communities in various regions, so the fact that you control damascus doesn't necessarily mean that you control the coast or you control southern syria,

where, for example, you have a very large druze community, an offshoot of shia islam. and then you have an overlay of regional influences — iran wanting to make a comeback, being accused of wanting to undermine the regime and support counterrevolutionary forces, turkey wanting to assert its dominance now, israel entering syria, southern syria, in a major way, pushing further in an incursion into southern syria, occupying land which it says will be a temporary occupation. so all these things make for a very difficult situation for ahmed al—sharaa, or abu mohammed al—jolani, as he now likes to call himself, the de facto leader of syria. it's going to be interesting to see how all these different factors play out as we move forward here. i do want to switch gears, though, because i know you were recently in lebanon. we know that this ceasefire deal between israel and hezbollah was signed. i just wanted to ask you, just based on what you saw on the ground, how well is that ceasefire holding up? well, carl, it's hanging

by a thread is a way to put it, because of that shifting balance of power. and let's not kid ourselves — netanyahu and israel have won. they have won in lebanon. hezbollah is very much defeated. as a result, the only reason that that ceasefire 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 fact, in some cases is pushing further in southern lebanon today than at the time the ceasefire was announced, 20 days ago. it is also pushing further into syria, taking strategic locations. so should there be a new war when the 60—day ceasefire ends, israel is at a great advantage. and the only reason this hasn't fallen apart is because hezbollah understands that it is in a very precarious position. and then briefly, before i let you go, we're hearing obviously the idf is still very active in northern gaza, with 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's nowhere left to receive medical care.

it's an absolutely horrific human situation. ijust also came back from jordan, where i met the king and the head of general intelligence there, and they're not mincing their words in calling this a genocide — obviously a very controversial and legalistic term. but the toll of the human pain that is happening in northern gaza is terrific and very difficult to overstate. the israelis there, also hamas on its back foot, determined to stay in gaza in one shape or another, and the ceasefire talks that are ongoing in qatar and in egypt ebb and flow, but at the end of the day, haven't made much progress. the head of the world health organization has told the bbc it was public knowledge he was in yemen on thursday when israel launched air raids against houthi targets. this footage from the international airport in the capital, sanaa, shows the moment where it came under israeli fire. dr tedros adhanom ghebreyesus, who is now injordan, said the airport is a civilian facility and should not have been targeted. at least six people were killed in the raids. israel says it was targeting military infrastructure,

but dr tedros says he only survived through good fortune. it was very chaotic. you know, people were in disarray and running everywhere, and no shelter. we were completely exposed. it's a matter of luck. otherwise, if the missile deviated just slightly, it could have been on our head. and so my colleague actually said, after all that, "we escaped death narrowly." and it's a civilian airport. i think that there are rules to engagement, as you know. 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 center—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 sort of the third rail, if you like, of german politics there. 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 here we see him wading into the us election too. i mean, 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 ? yeah, he really has. it's notjust in the us. in the uk he's 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 weighed in, in congress, on the spending row recently. he's changed his personality and has gone all—in on this thing. he is known for his extremely

long workdays and sort of all—in persona, and he has taken that really towards politics in the last few months 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 — 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 their 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 shows they're 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. let's turn to some other important news around the world. thousands of protesters in georgia have formed a human chain in the capital, tbilisi, to mark a month of daily pro—europe demonstrations. mass protests have gripped georgia since the increasingly authoritarian government said it would delay eu accession talks until 2028. opposition anger has grown since parliament chose a government loyalist as president. he is due to take office on sunday. three quarters of all ports in peru have been closed because of huge waves lashing the coast. as you see here, waves up to four—metres high are sweeping away boats and deluging coastal towns. beaches have also been closed while authorities blocked fishing boats from heading out to sea. the peruvian navy says the waves are being generated by strong winds off the coast of the united states, thousands of miles away. 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 hisjeans. 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 has 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 is not smart enough. patrick gearey, bbc news. before we go, a reminder of a rapidly developing story out of south korea. the news agency yonhap is reporting at least 28 passengers were killed after a flight carrying 181 people crashed at south korea's muan airport.

that is in the south of the country. thejeju air flight was returning to south korea from bangkok, when it reportedly crashed into a wall off the runway and caught fire shortly after 9:00am local time. the fire was suppressed by 9:46am, 43 minutes after the initial call, the fire agency said. two people have been rescued. the cause of the crash is unconfirmed, but local media reports that a bird strike may have caused the plane's landing gear to malfunction. we'll continue to bring you developments on this as they become available. stay with us 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 and 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. now, 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 drier 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 fronts 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 of monday into tuesday, which is new year's eve, another area of low pressure moves through to bring a blustery, 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 in 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.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. on the edge of the canadian arctic, a community lives alongside the largest land predator on earth. they call it the polar bear capital of the world. but it's so much more interesting than that. a place that's been defined by remoteness, beauty and danger. there's a bear there! it's crossing the road. we heard crackers going off, and now the polar bear alert team are moving around, so we're going to get back in the car. the bear was up on this deck here. it was testing the door. we don't want him going back to town.