in an israeli strike on a hospital in gaza city. a period of national mourning has begun in south korea after one of the deadliest aviation disasters in the country's history. 179 people are now confirmed to have died. two people — thought to be flight crew — pulled from the wreckage. they are now being treated in hospital. the boeing 737 crashed during an emergency landing at muan international airport in the west of the country. authorities say a bird—strike may have caused the landing gear to malfunction. both the plane's black boxes which record flight and voice data, have now been found. our correspondentjean mackenzie sent this report.

this, the terrifying moment the plane lands at speed without its landing gear down, and careers down the runway unable to stop before crashing into the perimeter wall. it explodes, instantly engulfed by flames and thick smoke. none of the passengers stood a chance of surviving, the fire service told their families, as their bodies were slowly recovered. only the two air stewards at the back made it off alive, and to hospital. we're at the perimeter of the airport now, and this fence behind us — and wall — is what the plane crashed into when it overshot the runway. and just behind me you can see the blackened charred tail of the plane sticking up. now, this is the only part of the aircraft that is still intact — the rest has been so fractured and splintered that the fire service have said that it's unidentifiable.

inside the airport terminal, the families gathered to hear the terrible news. anguished scream. this is now a room full of incomprehensible heartbreak as they wait for the bodies to be identified. for mr mang, it was the first time his great—nephews had ever been abroad. they'd gone to celebrate the youngest taking his college entrance exams, he tells me. their father took them. the boys were so smart, and he wanted to treat them. "i can't believe the entire family has just disappeared. my heart aches so much." the head of the airline has expressed his deep regret — this is the first fatal crash in his budget carrier's 20—year history. translation: i want to give my sincere apology| and condolences to those who've lost their lives in the accident, and their families. at the moment, it's hard to presume the cause of the accident, and we have to wait for the official investigation result

from the authorities. it's thought the pilot couldn't activate the plane's landing gear. initial reports suggest a bird might have caused a fire in one of the engines. as the sun set, forensic teams were still searching the surrounding fields, while fire crews and engineers surveyed the little that's left of the wreckage — hoping to answer the many, many questions for a crash that's yet to make sense. jean mackenzie reporting. for the latest from the scene at muan international airport where the crash occurred, yuna ku from bbc�*s korea service sent in this update. right now i'm standing inside muan international airport. the day of devastating plane crash is almost setting. however, you can see so many people, especially hundreds of families of the bereaved and government officials to aid them is still inside the airport.

as you can see from my back, there are emergency shelters set up inside the airport to support those families who are staying up all night inside the airport. they are staying inside the airport because they are still waiting for the government authorities to identify the casualties. only a few hours ago, the government announced that there are total 179 deaths among 181 passengers who were inside the plane. however, dozens of them still needs to be identified, and these families are waiting for the identification result. and one of the family of the bereaved just told us that they, the government authority, has just started dna testing. so to go back a little earlier today, the plane operated byjeju air, which is the most popular low—cost airline in south korea, attempted emergency landing at this airport's runway. however, failed to slow down

and eventually crashed into the structure at the end of the runway, and this caused a big explosion which almost shattered the plane into pieces. and this is causing... this has been causing so much trouble for the authorities to investigate behind the reason of this accident. just a few hours ago, the government announced that they restored two black boxes. however, they admitted that there are they... they need to go through even more deeper investigation to sort out the exact cause of this accident. we have been getting various condolences and messages of sympathy from world leaders after this disaster. we have

just heard from the british prime minister who offers his deepest condolences to the victims in south korea and theirfamilies. he said his thoughts are with the people of south korea and thailand at this terrible time. that is from the prime minister of the uk. protestors have again taken to the streets of the georgian capital tbilisi with the swearing—in of the country's controversial new president, mikheil kavelashvili. there have been weeks of demonstrations against his governing georgian dream party and its victory in the recent disputed elections. the new president is a former manchester city footballer and also a hardline critic of the west. the four main opposition groups have rejected him over fears he will move georgia closer to russia, and they've boycotted parliament. they insist that the elections held in october were rigged. on saturday, thousands of protesters in georgia formed a human chain in the capital, tbilisi, to mark a month of daily pro—europe demonstrations. similar rallies have

been held in other towns and cities across the country. mass protests have gripped georgia since the government said it would delay talks onjoining the eu until 2028. the outgoing president, salome zourabichvili has left the presidential palace, but insisted she is still the legitimate holder of the office of president. translation: six years ago i swore allegiance to you on the constitution. and this allegiance will not change. wherever i am, in the palace or outside the palace, i will come out of here to you, and i will be with you. legitimacy comes from one source. and that source is you. and where there is no trust of the people, there will be no legitimacy. meanwhile, the new president mikheil kavelashvili addressed parliament after being sworn in.

translation: georgia has faced numerous storms over _ the centuries and our people, having endured many hardships, have achieved what once seemed impossible in their quest to protect their homeland and dignity. they have fought tirelessly against the world's largest empires and countless enemies for millennia, surviving and preserving the values upon which our nation was built. everyone knows we are one of the most distinctive and historic nations whose formation began in ancient times. i spoke earlier to laura thornton in washington who is the senior director of global democracy programmes at the mccain institute, and the former head of the national democratic institute in georgia. looking at the wider picture, iasked her whether it is a battle for georgia's future direction. that is the key question, and i'm not sure if we're at a pivot point right

here with this new presidency. obviously, as president zurabishvili said, quite clearly, she has a popular mandate. she has the legitimacy of the public. georgians voted for her, while in contrast, kavelashvili, he has been appointed only by one political party and sworn in in a parliament with an isolated party, without any public support, without any public participation and diplomats not present. so the contrast between these two presidents is quite clear. so what happens next? i mean, we've seen these largely peaceful protests, but are there fears that georgia could once again slide into violence, do you think? i mean, of course we hope it will not slide into violence, but it already has been a very violent period. these police forces and people associated with georgian dream have been torturing their own people. there are 500 people in jail. there are 350 people that have

described widespread and systematic violence and abuse at the hands of georgian dream regime, so it's already been quite violent. i am amazed at the resilience of the georgian people. they continue to go out into the streets, they continue to demand for new elections and i don't see them quitting anytime soon. so right now it's one of those periods where we don't know which direction the country is going to go in. is georgian dream going to capitulate or slowly crack and then come to the negotiating table and we have new elections, or are they going to crack down even more violently? and we head into a horrible place like belarus, where you have a very closed, autocratic society? we just don't know at this point. syria's new islamist leader has said that it may take up to three years to draft

a new constitution, and four to organise elections. ahmad al—sharaa admited that could be a year before syrians saw any real change and improvement after the overthrow of bashar al—assad. he said his armed group would be dissolved at a forthcoming national dialogue conference. the gathering will be the first big test of whether syria's new leadership can achieve the promised goal of uniting the country. azerbaijani president ilham aliyev has told state television that the passenger plane that crashed in kazakhstan, killing 38 people, was shot at from the ground in russian territory. but he said it was not intentional. the russian leader vladimir putin has spoken to mr aliyev and apologised for what he called a tragic incident in russian airspace, but he didn't admit responsibility. president aliyev mentioned the apology he received but said russia has covered

up what happened. for analysis of president aliyev�*s comment, i spoke to the editor of bbc azerbaijani service konul khalilova. very strong words from president aliyev and very interesting language he chose to use. yeah. he said it was clear that the russian side wanted to cover up the issue. he said azerbaijan heard only absurd versions from russia for the first three days of the crash. he was referring to the versions by the russians about the plane crashed because of bird flock or some explosion inside the plane. president aliyev called this dishonesty and stupidity. that's what he said. and he said, admitting the guilt, apologising in a timely manner to azerbaijan, which is considered a friendly

country, and informing the public about this, all these were measures and steps that should have been taken. but for the first three days we heard nothing from russia except for some absurd theories. that's what president aliyev said. he also revealed that his government clearly expressed their demands to the russian side. these demands were officially communicated to them on december 27th, he said, which is two days after the crash, which happened on 25th. and he said that he had three demands from kremlin. first is the apology, which has been already fulfilled. yesterday, president putin called azerbaijan leader and extended his apologies, but he didn't say who shot down the plane. that's what azerbaijan wants from him. they want he, putin admits it, because azerbaijan believes it is russia. aliyev said said

that russia must acknowledge its guilt. and he also demanded that those responsible must be punished, brought tojustice and compensation must be paid to the azerbaijani state. as we hearfrom president aliyev, these are azerbaijan's conditions. now we see in the news that putin initiated another phone call today and had a conversation with president aliyev again about the plane crash. this is the second call since yesterday. we don't know the details yet as they have not been made public. so what do you think all of this means in political terms for relations between the two countries and the two leaders? well, yeah, azerbaijan is one of the strongest countries in the former soviet union. some commented...commentators say, and it has never trusted russia 100%, although it always maintained good relations, which may be some with some ups and downs, and has been an ally, as the leaders would like to

put this, the government always have pursued balanced foreign policy in azerbaijan. it maintains friendly ties with russia while strengthening ties with turkey, the eu and the us. because of various reasons. with turkey, it has strong cultural ties. language is similar. its geographical location makes it important to the west too. it has borders with iran and russia, and azerbaijan has maintained a neutral stance on russia's war in ukraine, balancing its relations with moscow and the west. it doesn't condemn russian invasion directly, but has been giving a lot of humanitarian aid and support to ukraine. it has also... the conflict has also reshaped energy dynamics. azerbaijan now plays greater role as the gas supplier to europe. three people have died after trying to cross the english channel

this morning, according to the french authorities. firefighters and law enforcement were deployed in a rescue operation after several dozen people ended up in the water off the coast of sangatte, near calais. the recovered bodies were transported by the french navy helicopter. four people were taken to hospital. it brings the number of deaths from channel crossings to 75 this year. almost 1,500 people have made the crossing in the past four days. with more on this, here's our news correspondent, frances read. in the past few days, more than

1400 in the past few days, more than 11100 people have arrived in the uk in small boats, hundreds a day over the christmas period and more than a50 on christmas day alone. there have been exceptionally calm conditions at sea, which means it is more favourable for people wanting to make the crossing, and that is despite the really foggy conditions that we have seen in the uk. the latest stats show more than 36,000 people have arrived in the uk in small boats this year, that is up 2a% on the year before. the channel is of course one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, more than 600 ships passing through it a day, so dangerous even when the seat seems calm. at the uk home office says it is aware of what has happened this morning. now it's time for a look at today's sport. hello from the bbc sport centre. the 2a—time grand slam champion novak djokovic has said he's frustrated at being kept in the dark aboutjannik sinner�*s doping case.

sinner still faces the threat of a possible suspension after he twice tested positive for an anabolic steroid in march. the world number one insists he didn't knowingly take any banned substance. djokovic says the way the case has been handled is not a good look for the sport. i believe that in the last 20—plus years that i have been playing, we have been one of the cleanest sports, at least i believe we have been. so i will keep on believing in clean sport. yeah, iamjust questioning the way the system works, really. and why certain players are not treated the same as other players. six matches in the english premier league. it's almost full time in the early game and manchester city look like their luck is changing — they're leading leicester city 2-0. savinho and erling

haaland with the goals. in the other matches, crystal palace are leading at home to southampton; chris wood has scored for nottingham forest who're away to everton, bournemouth have equalised at fulham, and an injury—hit spurs have taken the lead at home to wolves, through brennan johnson. west ham host liverpool in the late game. there's a full programme of games in the scottish premiership with both celtic and rangers in action. celtic, who began the day eight points ahead of second—placed rangers, are at home to stjohnstone,1—0. rangers have gone two goals down at motherwell. hibs are beating kilmarnock 1—0, hearts are a goal up at ross county. dundee are drawing 1—1 with st mirren 1, while it's fourth versus third in the late kick—off, dundee united take on aberdeen at tannadice. it's been a gripping day four of the fourth test in melbourne, where india have troubled australia. but the hosts eventually stretched their lead to over 300 runs at the close of play. australia started the day with a first innings lead of 105, but the wickets kept falling — jasprit bumrah taking four of them, the hosts collapsed to 91—6 at one stage. but marnus labuschagne dug in for a vital 70.

australia will start day five on 228—9, a lead of 333 runs. south africa secured their place in june's world test championship final by holding their nerve to beat pakistan in the first test in centurion. chasing 1a8 for victory, the proteas slumped from 96—a to 99—8. but the hosts found an unlikely batting hero in kagiso rabada, batting at number 10, he hit an unbeaten 31 off 26 balls as south africa won by two wickets. and that's all the sport for now. palestinian authorities say seven people have been killed in an israeli strike on the upperfloor of al—wafaa hospital

in the centre of gaza city. several others are injured with officials saying some of those are in a critical condition. israel says the hospital was being used by hamas as a command centre, but has not provided any evidence to support this. earlier this morning another hospital in gaza city, al ahli arab hospital, also known as the baptist, was also hit. it has the only ct scanner and ultrasound machine in north gaza and is being used as a radiology centre. there were no injuries and no equipment damage. our correspondent shaimaa khalil has more from jerusalem. smoke could be seen on the upperfloor of al—wafa hospital in gaza city. the whole facade of that floor was destroyed. you could actually see people moving inside. other footage showed a crowd on the outside gate of the hospital, and a man being pulled on a stretcher and moved into an ambulance. you could also hear sirens in the vicinity of the hospital. the gaza civil defence services said that some of those who were injured are in

a critical condition. we got confirmation from the israeli army who said that they conducted a strike on the hospital building and that they were targeting hamas fighters who were using the building as a command and control centre, and that the building itself was not serving as a hospital at the time. now, israel has made similar allegations that hospitals were being used as command and control centre for hamas. they said the same thing when they raided and forcibly evacuated the kamal odwan hospital further north in gaza, northern gaza's last functioning hospital. they then detained and questioned some of the medical staff and its director. claims, hamas refutes these allegations. they have called on the un aid to protect medical facilities, but also to send observers to see if hospitals are being used for military purposes. the who said that they were appalled by the kamal adwan raid. they said the systematic dismantling of the health system and the siege of over 80

days of north gaza puts the lives of tens of thousands of palestinians at risk. artificial intelligence is being used in more and more walks of life, including the justice system where there are hopes it could make the law less expensive and more accessible. a seniorjudge has predicted it could help deliver swift and cheap justice to the most disadvantaged in society. dominic casciani reports. every day in our courts, witnesses swear to tell the truth, and it takes a skilled barrister to pull at the threads of lies. that costs time and money. but is all that about to change, thanks to artificial intelligence? the caseworker will subsequently... ai now helps advisers find the key legal points in their client's story that could help them win their case. we can actuallyjust spend a couple of minutes going through and redacting the the client's personal information, then ultimately upload it onto an ai model that

can come back and give us all that information, and it'll usually shoot it back in about. . . maybe ten to 15 minutes. so it saves us hours' worth of time. big law firms are already using ai tools, but the judge overseeing guidance in the field says they could, in fact, benefit the poorest. when people have claims which they can't resolve, it creates a huge economic loss to our society. and so we in the justice system really do want to find ways in which we can resolve people's problems more quickly and at lower cost. and so i think artificial intelligence in time will be one of those tools that we will use. so how far could ai go? this is a demonstration of courtroom software. the tool listens to the witness. it then compares what they say to other evidence, and it aims to spot inconsistencies or lies quicker than a barrister could. so will my learned friends soon

be all out of a job? the truth is, the technologies we're looking at here will enable one lawyer or two lawyers to do the job of ten or 20. it's going to massively change access to justice, and massively reduce down legal costs. judges are backing ai, but want strict controls. they want the courtroom focused on real people, with technology helping in a human drama. dominic casciani, bbc news. stay with us here on bbc news. the weather is starting to change and take a turn for the worse in the new year, very different from what we had over christmas. different from what we had over christmas-_ different from what we had over

christmas-— christmas. dominated by fog, that is getting _ christmas. dominated by fog, that is getting squeezed - christmas. dominated by fog, | that is getting squeezed away. the weather front continuing to bring rain into scotland, and as we head further into the night, that rain is going to turn more widespread across the northern half of the country and bring with it some heavier rain and snow for caithness and sutherland as we hit the colder air. elsewhere, looking dry, variable cloud, minimum temperatures five or six. but the focus of the bad weather through monday and tuesday is going to be in scotland and the central belt northwards. the combination of heavy rain but also snow leading to flooding and some travel disruption. we start wet in many parts of scotland on monday morning, the worse of the wet weather moves away and patchy rain moves into southern scotland, northern ireland, the far north of england where it could be very windy in the northern pennines. strong winds further south helping to break up the cloud with sunshine and temperatures close to double figures. although it will become drier in northern scotland, the areas colder here. overnight and into new year's eve, the next area of low pressure is going to hit

the same sort of areas bringing more heavy rain to scotland. another wet start to the day on tuesday, the worst of the rain does move through and we see bands of rain sweeping across northern ireland into england and wales this time, with some stronger winds, particularly windy across this part of the country. we may well find some more snow falling in northern scotland, politically for the northern isles, that will bring disruption here. it is cold in northern scotland, but elsewhere it will be mild from new year's eve, 11 or 12 degrees. then we get another area of low pressure, this one is deeper and tracking over more of the uk, so it will bring more disruption more widely, i think, for new year's day. very windy weather for england and wales, and for wales in particular, heavy rain leading to flooding. further north, heavy snow for northern ireland, scotland and developing in northern england, likely to bring problems as the day progresses. the wild weather will continue overnight before the low pressure clears

away by thursday allowing arctic air to come sweeping down across the country and dropping the temperatures.

this is bbc news, the headlines. a plane carrying 181 people has crashed on landing in south korea, killing all but two of those on board. thejeju airflight from bangkok skidded off the runway at muan airport, crashed into a wall and burst into flames.

protests in georgia after the new president, mikheil kavelashvili, was sworn in. the former manchester city footballer is a hardline critic of the west and the four main opposition groups have boycotted parliament. palestinian officials in the gaza strip say seven people have been killed in the latest israeli strike on a hospital there. israel has said that the strike was aimed at hamas three people have died while trying to cross the english channel. four people were taken to hospital after several dozen people ended up in the water off the coast of sangatte near calais. now on bbc news — a look back at some of the biggest stories of the year.