welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm arunoday mukharji. lets get you the headlines... joy in india as 41 construction workers are rescued from the tunnel they had been trapped in for more than a fortnight. our correspondent was there. this has been a moment 17 days in the making. twelve more hostages have been released from gaza as talks continue for a fresh extension to the truce. an escalating row between britain and greece over the parthenon sculptures or elgin marbles — as rishi sunak cancels a meeting with the greek prime minister. and aviation history in the making.

a jet, powered by waste fats and plant proteins flies from london and arrives in new york. live from our studio in singapore — this is bbc news. it's newsday. welcome to the programme. starting with news from india where 41 construction workers who had been trapped in a collapsed tunnel in the himalayas for 17 days have been rescued. they were greeted with applause as they emerged from a steel pipe that had been pushed through the rubble. they're said to be in good health but will now be fully assessed at a nearby hospital. the bbc�*s south asia correspondent samira hussain sent this report. this moment, more than two weeks in the making. 41 trapped workers finally rescued.

cheering. an eruption of cheers from workers and onlookers. people sharing sweets and hugs. these are the ambulances with the first workers that have come out from inside the tunnel. 17 days, they have spent inside that tunnel and now they are finally out and in those ambulances. rescuers spent the last several days pushing an 800—millimetre pipe through 60 metres of rubble and debris. once through, the men were pulled out on wheeled stretchers, one by one. it's been a harrowing experience for the men inside and those working to get them out. and how do you feel? 0h, after 12 days... he sobs.

chaudhary has been waiting for 1h days, watching the mouth of the tunnel, and waiting for this moment where he could kiss his son. translation: i am very happy. i'm 55 and i've seen life, but my son is very young and he has a long life. i want him to fight every storm in his long life. the rescue operation that gripped the country finally has its happy ending. samira hussain, bbc news, uttarakhand. lets turn to the latest on the israel—gaza conflict. twelve more hostages have been released from gaza in the last few hours— bringing the total number freed till now to more than 80. it comes on the fifth day of the extended truce between israel and hamas,

designated a terrorist organisation by the uk government. in the last few hours, a red cross convoy brought the latest group of hostages — ten israelis and two foreign nationals all now safely back on israeli soil — in return, israel has freed another 30 palestinian prisoners. well, in gaza, scores of hostages are still being held — and its believed the youngest of those is just ten months old as the bbc�*s orla guerin reports from tel aviv. it's a nerve—racking wait for hostages to come home, among them a baby. the truce is due to last until tomorrow. these are anxious hours. will baby kfir bibas be freed? he is the youngest hostage,

just ten months old. israel has taken him to its heart. kidnapped with him, his brother, ariel, who's four and loves his batman costume. their mother, shiri, held them in her arms, trying to protect them as hamas closed in. theirfather, yarden. surrounded and bleeding. all four now hostages. israel says hamas has passed them on to another palestinian militant group. their relatives are tormented by worry and by waiting. how difficult have the last few days been when each day has come and gone and each list has come and gone and they have not come home? it's dreadful. it's the worst scenario. having to wait for that list every night. seeing all those beautiful moments of reunion and hoping that ours will be the next day,

and it's not. relatives and supporters are gathered here once again. they want to keep the pressure on the government. for all those released in recent days, many more remain trapped in gaza. their families are hoping against hope that the deal between israel and hamas will be extended once again. that deal has freed almost 200 palestinian prisoners from israeli jails. here the latest group to be released, arriving to jubilation in the west bank tonight. it is mostly women and teenage boys who have been let out. in gaza, while the ceasefire holds, a chance to survey the wreckage.

the un says there is hunger, destruction and — especially for women and children — the risk of famine. "we see our homes getting destroyed and our dreams getting destroyed," says maryam. "they gave us a four—day truce, what good is that?" back in israel, balloons are released for kfir and ariel, in the hope that they will soon see the sky again. tonight there are hopes that the ceasefire could be extended even further. the difficult wait continues for severalfamilies in israel as they wait for news on their loved ones. the bbc�*s az—a—day moshiri is now getting us more on the israeli hostages released these are the ten israeli

hostages who have been released as part of this latest exchange. let's take a look at some of their stories. the eldest is ditza heiman, she's 84 years old and is actually one of the co—founders of kibbutz nir oz. she's a former social worker, and her late husband actually made it to the united kingdom on the kinder transport. that's the rescue effort during the second world war that saved children from nazi —controlled areas. the youngest is mia leinberg. she's 17 years old, and several of herfamily members were taken alongside her. they include her mother, also released, as well as her aunt, clara. now, they are an argentinian—israeli family, and a relative said that they were all hiding in a safe room when they were taken by hamas. another is riman kirsht. ——another is rimon kirsht. she's 36 years old and was taken alongside her husband. he's still captive of hamas today. she's also appeared in a video released by hamas alongside daniela, who was released a few days ago. finally, ada sagi,

who is 75 years old. she's the daughter of holocaust survivors and was meant to celebrate her birthday here in london the week after she was taken by hamas. now, there are plenty more stories and you can find them on our bbc website. we update them regularly with more information as soon we have it. so please read their stories. britain and greece are embroiled in an escalating diplomatic row tonight, after rishi sunak cancelled a meeting with the greek prime minister. the dispute is over these — the parthenon sculptures — also known as the elgin marbles, and once part of the acropolis in ancient athens. two hundred years ago, lord elgin brought them to britain and they're now in the british museum but greece wants them back. here's our political editor chris mason with more made almost 500 years before the birth of christ,

they've been here in the uk since the 19th century. pretty much ever since, greece has wanted them back. on the right the greek prime minister kyriakos mitsotakis beating the labour leader keir starmer, but then stood up by rishi sunak, prompting a domestic and international row. the greek government is baffled by what is happening and the argument is making plenty of noise increase. translation: for sure it's been translation: for sure it's been noted as an individual behaviour of the prime minister, a —1 which we express our intent dissatisfaction. here at the british museum in london, where the marbles are, they are considering lending them to athens and downing street claimed the greek prime minister making the case for this publicly at the weekend and rishi sunak to cancel his meeting with him, but on display also, skip falls

of domestic politics. this is a row about heritage and about culture, what is a british and is displayed in the uk, what isn't and shouldn't be. but primarily this is a row about politics, because the conservatives and labour have a different instinct on this. the government set out its position about the elgin marbles clearly which is that they should stay as part of the permanent collection of the british museum. we want to concentrate on what matters and on this issue i trust that the british museum and the greek authorities will continue to negotiate and come to a good agreement and that is what i back them today. in other words, labour would not stand in the way of the british museum if it does a deal to lend an end of the sculptures to athens. no argument against that any more. only that the british museum might not have any other interesting stuff to show us. others here criticise rishi sunak. it is quite unprofessional

and you would not expect that from a prime minister. as for visitors leaving the british museum today, what is your hunch? i think maybe they do belong back there. i would prefer the artefacts stay here rather than go back to their home country. maybe they should share them, that would be the fairest. - the risk is... when somebody has got them, they will not give| them back, exactly. chris mason, bbc news, at the british museum. a modern twist on a long—running dispute, dripping in ancient history and contemporary politics. chris mason, bbc news, at the british museum. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's take a look at some of the stories in the headlines in the uk. a court has been hearing how a plan to kill transgender teenager brianna jeye was found in the bedroom of one of the 16—year—olds accused of her murder. a girl and boy — who can't be named because of their age —

are alleged to have murdered brianna, stabbing her to death in a park earlier this year. the former boss of wilko has said she's devastated to have let down staff, suppliers and customers, when the retailer collapsed earlier this year. lisa wilkinson, who is the granddaughter of wilko's founder, has given evidence to mps about the difficulties faced by the chain. an inquiry has found that a maintenance worker who sexually abused dead bodies in nhs mortuaries was able to do so because of "serious failings" at the hospitals where he worked. david fuller abused the bodies of at least 101 women and girls over a period of 15 years. you're live with bbc news. a bit of aviation history in the making. a plane entirely powered by waste fats and and plant proteins has travelled

from london to new york. airlines see the flight, supported by uk government funding, as proof that a greener way of flying is possible. last year aviation accounted for about 2% of global carbon dioxide emissions. here's more from our transport correspondent katy austin. does this journey take us closer to guilt—free flying? there's no kerosene on board, only fuel made from fats and corn production waste. progress, but not a silver bullet for an industry that's particularly hard to decarbonise. short—haul people can, and most likely should, go by train. long—haul across the atlantic or across the pacific, they have no choice. and so, it's up to our industry to try to make it sustainable for them. airline bosses say this flight shows what can be done. it doesn't mean it's about to become the norm.

for alternative fuels like this to be used more widely, much more will have to be produced, and they're expensive. plus, other technologies will be needed to hit emissions reduction targets. we can't produce a majority of our fuel requirements this way because we just don't have the feedstocks. and even if you do, those fuels are not true net—zeroes. we have to treat it as what it must be, which is a stepping stone towards future genuinely net—zero technologies, which might be e—fuels, running conventional engines, it might be hydrogen. environmental campaigners say for now, people need to fly less. we need to reduce the amount we're flying, and then we can. potentially use those so—called sustainable fuels for— the remaining flights- that we are going to be taking in the future. the government disagrees. we want people to be able to continue flying, but we want to do it in a way that's consistent with the environment, which is why

sustainable aviation fuel matters, hydrogen matters, electric flight matters. all of those things are part of this journey. airlines and ministers insist fuels like these can play a big part in making the industry greener, but there's still a long journey ahead, and it's likely to mean passengers pay more. katy austin, bbc news. let's take a look at some of the stories in the headlines around the world. the philippines says it's restarting formal negotiations to end a decades—long armed conflict with the communist rebels.there have been no official talks for six years, though unofficial negotiations have continued. the goal is to transform the new people's army into a peaceful political movement, but no ceasefire has been agreed and the government says security operations will continue. chinese president xijingping has called for greater legal protection forforeign companies that invest in china, as he seeks to lure back

overseas investors. the president said it was vital to help foreign companies to operate inside china and to safeguard their intellectual property rights. western businesses have warned beijing that confidence in the chinese system is declining. australia has announced a ban on importing disposable vapes from the start of january. the health minister, mark butler, said the goal was to reverse what he called a disturbing increase in vaping among young people. legislation is due next year that will further restrict disposable vapes, by prohibiting the manufacture, advertising or supply in australia. australian prime minister anthony albanese is apologising in parliment to those people whose lives have been impacted by thalidomide — the ingredient in a morning sickness drug that caused significant birth defects in babies.

the drug was issued to expectant mothers in the early 1960 s — but was later found to cause deformities in unborn babies — including damage to internal organs. the australian government says 146 people are officially registered with the thalidomide survivors support programme, but its unclear how many more people have been impacted. one of those survivors is trisha jackson — who will be at parliament house to hear the apology today. ive been speaking to her ahead of the prime ministers speech. i think the apology is...it won't change anything. it qon�*t change that i've got no arms. it won't change the pain that i live in. but it's recognition that, you know, we have suffered at the hands of the government

from protecting us from thalidomide. and i think it's a good chance to remember all those that haven't made it to this far and all the parents that have passed away that will never hear the "i'm sorry," cos no one's ever said sorry to the parents at all. and i think it'sjust...| hope it finds a little bit of closure to some people and especially to my parents, who are 96. you know, they live with so much guilt and i hope it gives them a bit of peace. you talk about closure. how do you feel about the time that it has taken for this apology to finally come? well, it should have been done years and years and years ago when, you know, people were alive. the mothers were alive. the parents were alive. and and sadly, some of the survivors have died at a very young age. and they never got to hear this apology. and that's sad. and we should remember them. it was the greatest pharmaceutical disaster, and it should never have happened and it should never happen again. what more, in your opinion, should the government be doing to help thalidomide survivors? well, as we said, you know, the government hasn't acted for 60 years,

so they have a lot of catching up to do. and the apology is fantastic. and we're very appreciative of the help that they have started to give us. but the apology means nothing if they don't help the survivors. and what the health fund that they have set up for is it is so physically demanding on us as a disabled person. it's highly inaccessible. and a lot of survivors don't bother claiming what was promised to them because it's just too hard to get anything from it. there has to be an easier way for us. you talked about the guilt that your parents have had to live with, and that's an important aspect to address as well. you are one of the youngest survivors of thalidomide. how has your life been impacted physically and emotionally? it has. it's, watching my mum's guilt for taking that tablet has been very hard to watch for 60 years. she will have that guilt until her last breath.

and it wasn't her fault. and it doesn't matter how many times i, you know, isay, mum, it's not your fault. i don't blame you one bit. it doesn't matter. she has that guilt and it will not go away. and it's notjust mum, it's, you know, i say thalidomide has a ripple effect so it affected mum the minute she took the tablet, then it affected me and then it affected my whole family. on that note, trish, i want to ask, thalidomide changed the way pharmaceuticals were approved around the world, really. do you see the revolution in drug testing and approval regimes to be one of the critical achievements in a way that has come out of all the campaigning by people like you? i think it's a good thing and the reason we have such stringent testing in australia now is because of thalidomide. and if we can get one good thing out of thalidomide, well that's probably a good thing to do. trisha jackson on the australian prime minister's upcoming apology over

thalidomide. in fact, the prime minister has been speaking there in parliament. ukraine's military says its forces continue to repel russian attacks on various fronts near the embattled eastern town of avdivka. russian troops have been trying to encircle the town, close to donetsk city. the area is witnessing a struggle that some have compared to the battle for bakhmut. a fierce storm that's brought heavy snow to the region and damaged infrastructure has impacted combat on the front lines. nasa managed to land a spacecraft on this asteroid and then brought rock and dust specimens back to earth. now some of those samples from the four and a half billion year old asteroid have arrived in the uk. they could shed light on the origins of our own planet. here's our science editor, rebecca morelle. a piece of asteroid from deep space has finally arrived at london's natural history museum. we've separated out these little biggerfragments

in our stones of interest. scientists here have been waiting years for the chance of a close—up look, and to get their gloved hands on this precious extraterrestrial material. i think it's beyond our wildest dreams. it's an incredibly beautiful rock. it's very, very black, but with some tiny, little white bits in as well. and we found that each little grain looks a bit different to the other grains. so it's going to keep us busy for years, trying to figure it all out. the sample comes from a 500—metre—wide space rock called bennu. it was collected by a nasa spacecraft in a smash—and—grab manoeuvre, packed into a capsule and brought back to earth, landing in the utah desert. it's incredible to see this material up close, grabbed from an asteroid hundreds of millions of miles away. now, there isn't much in here, just a few milligrams, but for scientists, this is a treasure trove. every single tiny grain will be analysed, and the hope is they could answer some

of the biggest questions we have about our solar system. within this sort of polished section, we have a tiny little particle that, when we look under this microscope, we can start to see all the information. the ultra close—up view provides a map of the minerals and elements within the rock. bennu is a relic from the early solar system and scientists are finding it's rich in carbon and water. we know that we have water here on the earth. how did it get here? and so, we think things like bennu could have potentially brought that water. and so, we're going to study the water in bennu, see if it's similar to the water we have on the earth. and if we find similarities, that gives us a really good idea that asteroids like bennu were helping to deliver at least some of the water to the earth when it was just starting out 11.5 billion years ago. the uk has a teaspoon of material, but there

might be more to come, because some of the space rock is stuck in the sample container at nasa h0. its screws are proving tricky to undo, so new tools are being developed to retrieve every last bit of bennu. the material that's here is being shared with uk universities, so expect a slew of discoveries and some out—of—this—world surprises along the way. rebecca morelle, bbc news. before we go, let's look at these pictures. have you ever wished there was something to keep you entertained while you were stuck in your car — waiting for a light to change? well this traffic enforcer from manila might have the right idea. ramiro hinojas has been strutting his stuff — dressed as father christmas — to help ease people's boredom. his aim is to bring cheer to commuters in the notoriously gridlocked city — by showcasing his dance moves as he guides traffic. that's all for now — stay with bbc news.

hello there. well, emperatures will be plunging even further, still, as we head through the rest of the week. there's more snowfall always possible, particularly across the north of scotland, such as here in aviemore, but even potentially to some lower levels as well, with wintry showers feeding into north sea facing coast. there'll be some icy stretches here. but for most of us, it is expected to stay dry. but just temperatures really struggling by day to get out of mid single figures, widespread air frost by night. and that's how we're starting off wednesday morning, with temperatures widely below freezing, maybe as low as —7 to —9 degrees celsius across parts of scotland, a little milderfor the south and the west underneath some areas of cloud, and with a few rain showers around. there'll also be some patches of freezing fog. and where we see those, they'll be slow to lift and clear. there'll be some more wintry showers just feeding into northern scotland for these north sea facing coasts as well.

possibly a few accumulations a little further inland. those showers as far south as lincolnshire, but for most, sunny spells, temperatures not getting much past three to five degrees, but of course, milder in the far south and the west underneath all of that cloud. and that's where we look to find this low pressure system that's been really quite troublesome through the week. but now, it does look much more likely that this is going to be falling as rain towards the channel coast as we head through thursday, could possibly lap onshore at times given more clouds and outbreaks of rain towards the south coast, and maybe a bit of wintryness over the tops of the moors in the south or west with the elevation. further north, though, some sunny spells again, wintry showers for north sea facing coast. temperatures once more unlikely to make it much past three to five degrees celsius. let's take a look at friday because not a lot is set to change. we've got more of an easterly wind possibly feeding some showers through parts of the thames estuary, over the downs, perhaps

the higher ground here. but for the most part, i think it should stay dry. again, there'll be some sunny spells and quite a bit of added wind chill as well. as you can see from the temperature anomaly map, temperatures are well below the seasonal average marked in the blue here. all of that cold airjust sweeping down from scandinavia. and there's no real improvement in the temperatures, either, as we head through the weekend and into the start of next week. still feeling bitterly cold. here's the temperature outlook for our capital cities, possibly a bit of wintryness on saturday night, again, into sunday further south. bye for now.

american tech giant amazon unveils a range of new ai—related products to challenge its rivals in the market. plus — un climate talks begin this week, but can it achieve much with the oil—producing giant uae as its host? hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm arunoday mukharji. our top story this hour is amazon, because the american tech giant has unveiled its own ai assistant called "".0 meant to help its business customers, the chatbot, which will cost $20 per month, can summarise documents, manage cloud services, and power business apps. but that wasn't the only

new release from amazon, as the bbc�*s michelle fleury reports from new york.