welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines... an extraordinary day in washington — as congress fails to elect a house speaker in the first ballot — for the first time in 100 years. in brazil, thousands of people line the streets to say farewell to the football legend pele — who has been laid to rest. the european commission says there's majority support for eu— wide travel restrictions for people arriving from china. it comes amid a surge of covid cases there. and american football star damar hamlin remains in a critical condition — after suffering a cardiac arrest during a primetime national football league game.

live from our studio in singapore — this is bbc news. it's newsday. it's 8am in singapore, and 7pm in washington where the first day of the new us congress has been full of drama. after the swearing in of new members, the house of representatives is stuck at the very first hurdle — for the first time in 100 years the house failed to elect a speaker in the first ballot. the house has now adjourned until wednesday after three rounds of votes. the latest saw the republican kevin mccarthy fall 16 votes short of the 218 majority required. nothing can go ahead until a new speaker is elected. here is the moment when the latest result was announced.

the honourable hakeem jeffries of the state of new york has received 212.— honourable kevin mccarthy of the state of california has received 202. no persons have received a majority of the whole number of votes cast by surname, a speaker has not been elected. 0ur correspondent on capitol hill, will grant told me more about the significance of this deadlock. it is really significant. as you mentioned, it's been 100 years since this process has gone to a second round, let alone a third. ultimately what mr mccarthy was aiming to do was to avoid just four of his colleagues voting against him. he had 20. so that tells you the strength of feeling there is against him

among the hard right elemnet of his party, those who feel that he is essentially part of the establishment and unable to deliver the role of the speaker as they would want it. —— element. they have been trying to force him to offer them certain concessions, but they were not that be on the rules package so that it's easier for them to force him out if they wanted to orfor him to put them in key positions on congressional committees. none of it so far he seems to have been enough, if anything, it is moving further and further away from mr mccarthy. an extraordinary day in congress. so what happens now, will, given the fact that he has not been successful so far? well, certainly this will only go now to further rounds. they are adjourned for the night and we will then see what happens at a fourth round, and from there, perhaps maybe fifth and sixth, who can tell at this stage.

what might make going overnight is a certain amount of negotiation behind the scenes. 0ne presumes there's been a pretty serious amount to that already happening between the different rounds, but may be something significant will be able to shift in the next few hours. exactly what that might involve and what kind of concessions might be involved is hard to say at this stage, given that several important ones have already been made. the possibility of mr mccarthy actually dropping out is what is being positive in some quarters. he said he's not prepared to do that in any circumstances, his supporters don't want him to, but the rebels on the other side say they won't vote for him in any circumstance either, so it is a very entrenched intractable situation at the moment. the white house columnist with the hill, niall stanage, told me more about why kevin mccarthy is not as popular as he'd hoped with some republicans. kevin mccarthy has been unsuccessful because this

group on the hard right do not trust him. they don't see kevin mccarthy is one of them. they are basically right about that. kevin mccarthy is someone who at least initially hailed from the more moderate establishment wing of the gop. the complication for him is the republican majority is so small that those hard right members have a lot of leverage and they can frustrate them and have frustrated them today from any realistic chance of becoming speaker. so could he drop out? from what we have heard from kevin mccarthy before is that is not something he is planning to do, but at some point this becomes an indefensible position, doesn't it? it does at some stage. i mean, if there is no erosion in two opposition to mccarthy, he will have to drop out at some stage, if you can't get there, you can't get there, and wishful thinking does not change that. having said think that,

will make a good point in his report which is that because of the way that the maths lines up here, both the pro—and anti—mccarthy factions can each thwart the other, in other words, if the republicans trend to kick mccarthy over for a heart rate figure, than they are easily enough there mccarthy or mccarthy loyalists to stop that person from getting the speakership. so this is why we are in the middle of something of a debacle here, to be honest. my goodness, what you have described there, for people watching from other parts of the world, itjust seems so bewildering. what does it mean in terms of actual impact to everyday life for american citizens? the key point there is that nothing can get done in the house of representatives unless you have a speaker. it essentially freezes action in that chamber, the lower of the two parliamentary chambers here in the united states. that obviously really throws a wrench into any kind of legislative action.

the house is the chamber that has the most control over things that government spending. now, to be clear, there are things that president biden can do by executive action, but he is not a monarch, not an absolute ruler, there are limits on those powers. really this puts everything into a state of stalemates. a stalemate indeed. that was the columnist for the hell talking us about the events from the day earlier. let's leave the white house and take a look at some of the other stories in the headlines. russia claims eighty nine servicemen were killed in the ukrainian attack on makiiv—ka — with the unauthorised use of mobile phones meaning ukraine's military were able to determine the solider�*s location. the missile strike on new year's eve hit a building in the city where russian forces

a man charged with the murder of four college students in the us state of idaho has agreed to not fight extradition to the state following his arrest in pennsylvania. bryan kohberger is accused of killing three women and one man in the small town of moscow, idaho on the 13th of november. the phd crimonolgy student was arrested in pennsylvania last thursday. his public defender said mr kohberger was confident he would be found innocent and would not fight the extradition to idaho, which retains the death penalty. the founder of the failed cryptocurrency exchange, ftx, sam bankman—fried has appeared in court in new york and pleaded not guilty to fraud charges. he's accused of stealing billions of dollars from ftx to prop up another of his businesses, the hedge fund alameda research. sam bankman—fried was extradited from the bahamas last month and released on bail. we'll have more on this in asia business report for viewers outside the uk in a few minutes.

the un and the us havejoined international criticism of a visit by a new far—right israeli minister to a contested holy site in jerusalem. the compound that houses the al—aqsa mosque is a site that's sacred to both muslims, the third—holiest place in islam and tojews. national security minister itamar ben—gvir was seen touring the area with heavy security. it's currently only open to muslim worship but the minister tweeted that temple mount, as it's known tojews, was open to all. saudi arabia and the uae have accused the israeli politician of storming the site, whilejordan has summoned the israeli ambassador in protest. the us state department urged israel not to change the status quo. we are deeply concerned by any unilateral actions because, precisely because they have the potential to exacerbate tensions or worse, and that is why, you know, we can look back to 2000, we can look back to previous instances, it is also why

we call for the preservation of the historic status quo. it is a point we have made our israeli partners, it is a point we have made to them as recently as recent hours. it is the point they have also heard from their arab neighbours, including the hashemite kingdom ofjordan, again, whose special role as custodian ofjerusalem's holy sites we deeply appreciate. to brazil now, where thousands of people have lined the streets to say their final farewells to the football legend pele as his funeral procession made its way though the city of santos. 0ur south america correspondent katy watson has been watching events. as the wake drew to a close, the last few people queued to see pele's coffin to say their final goodbyes. pele was a huge soccer player here in brazil, and we love soccer, but he was also a huge human being.

he supported a hospital in our city called hospital pequeno principe, he donated a lot of money to research, and that is why we are here today. he is the most known brazilian person around the world. you know, pele is money. how many times i got into places in the the us and stuff just because i was brazilian and because people knew pele. this man was first in line at the wake yesterday and was queueing again to say another goodbye. translation: pele united us all. - he was humble, as well as being the best player in the world. he was a marvellous human being. and then one high—profile visitor sped through the gates. # 0le ole ole ola, lula, lula!# lula's first presidential event since taking power at the weekend — he was greeted with cheers and chants against him, the country's united in mourning but deeply

divided by politics. but when it comes to pele, he is the man who brings people together. the wake ended and the casket began it's finaljourney. and then the carnival started. what better way than samba to celebrate this brazilian legend? this is a day of mourning but it's also one of celebration too, wanting to send off their king of football, and they're doing it in style. pele's coffin paraded through the city of santos, passing by his mother's house, she turned 100 last year. the finaljourney now complete, and what a journey it was. laid to rest in his beloved city of santos. not a block of flats,

a necropolis fit for a king. with an enviable view over his old football stadium, pele's final wishes honoured. katy watson, bbc news, in santos. a remarkable legend of the football world there. if you wanyt to get in touch with me i'm on twitter — @bbckarishma you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme... the american football star damar hamlin remains in a critical condition — after suffering a cardiac arrest during a primetime national football league game. the japanese people are in

mourning. thousands converged on the imperial palace to pay their respects when it was announced he was dead. good urief, announced he was dead. good grief. after — announced he was dead. good grief, after half _ announced he was dead. good grief, after half a _ announced he was dead. good grief, after half a century - announced he was dead. good grief, after half a century of i grief, after half a century of delighting fans around the world, charlie brown and the rest of the gang are calling it quits. rest of the gang are calling it auits. , ., ,, ., quits. the singer paul simon starts his — quits. the singer paul simon starts his tour _ quits. the singer paul simon starts his tour of _ quits. the singer paul simon starts his tour of south - quits. the singer paul simon | starts his tour of south africa tomorrow _ starts his tour of south africa tomorrow in spite of protests and violence from some black activist — and violence from some black activist groups. they say international artists should continue to boycott south africa _ continue to boycott south africa until majority rule is established. africa until ma'ority rule is established._ africa until ma'ority rule is established. �* ., ., established. around the world, eo - le established. around the world, peeple have — established. around the world, people have been _ established. around the world, people have been paying - established. around the world, | people have been paying tribute to the iconic rock star, david bowie, who sold 140 million albums in a career that spanned half a century. his family announced overnight that he died of cancer at the age of 69. ., , ., , 69. the worlds tallest skyscraper— 69. the worlds tallest skyscraper opens - 69. the worlds tallest | skyscraper opens later 69. the worlds tallest - skyscraper opens later today, easily overtaking its nearest rivals. this is newsday on the bbc.

i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. 0ur headlines... an extraordinary day in washington — as congress fails to elect a house speaker in the first ballot — for the first time in 100 years. in brazil, thousands of people line the streets to say farewell to the football legend pele — who has been laid to rest. philippine president ferdinand marcoer is in china for a three day visit and is due to hold direct talks with xijinping. the pair met in november at the apec summit in thailand. they are expected to discuss ways of boosting economic relations and also security concerns over the south china sea. the meeting comes as the philippines continues to balance relations with both washington and beijing. for more on this we can cross live to metro manila and join herman kraft who's a professor at the department of political science at the university of the philippines.

wonderful to get you on the programme. in the first instance, just talk us through what the agenda might be here for ferdinand marcosjunior, for ferdinand marcos junior, why for ferdinand marcosjunior, why is he visiting this time? the visit is actually intended, as you mentioned earlier, it's as you mentioned earlier, its intended to actually see through the economic relations between the philippines and china. i think part of the problem is that too much of the relationship has focused on the dispute over land features and the south china sea. this is partly a way of trying to reassure both sides that their relationship is more thanjust about the south china sea. professor, this comes as there's a covid surge in china — concerns about a possible new variant or how that might

affect the global coronavirus picture, how much will that be on the agenda? a bit of it will be there. because some of the things that the pandemic actually brought us, as far as the relationship goes, is that china is actually the principal source of vaccines from the philippines, especially when it started out. but the issue right now has to do with, and i think there is a public discussion in the philippines right now, as to whether or not stricter arrangements should be put into place, as far as visitors coming from china is concerned. right now, we have not yet barred chinese visitors from coming, but at the same time, there is a strong public discussion going on as far as this issue is concerned. yeah, those discussions _ this issue is concerned. yeah, those discussions happening i this issue is concerned. yeah, | those discussions happening in other parts of the world too, of course. how much do you

think the pandemic has left beijing on the back foot in terms of its isolation and relations with key countries like the philippines? i relations with key countries like the philippines?- like the philippines? i think as far as— like the philippines? i think as far as the _ like the philippines? i think as far as the philippines - like the philippines? i think as far as the philippines is l as far as the philippines is concerned, this is something that we are trying to ensure, and would not tolerate too much, but as i said to come up that discussion is going on. the idea, part of the idea behind his visit has tester but they do with focusing on economic relationships. china is one of our most important economic partners brought about by the close ties that the previous administration as far as our policies towards china is concerned. at this point in time, i think that is the agenda that is actually being emphasised as far as we are

concerned. although, of course, thoseissues concerned. although, of course, those issues that concern covid as well as the security issues are actually going to be part of that agenda.— are actually going to be part of that agenda. herman kraft, the department _ of that agenda. herman kraft, the department of— of that agenda. herman kraft, the department of political- the department of political science at the university of philippines. thank you so much forjoining us on newsday. thank you. the european commission says there's majority support for eu—wide travel restrictions for people arriving from china amid a surge of covid cases there. beijing has threatened reciprocal action against countries that impose restrictions. the picture in shanghai is getting worse — officials there say that cases in the city are up to 30 times higher than the previous wave, and that 70% of residents may have contracted the illness. all of this comes as covid continues to spread globally, and reports of rising concern over a new variant.

i spoke to professor andy pekocz, a virologist atjohns hopkins university in the us and asked him if he thought the restrictions on chinese travellers actually work. where much better off focusing on the core problem, but we really want to know it's more about the types of variants circling in china and things we can do to help get a better insight into that is really the important thing at this time. professor, we have heard from the world health organization haven't we, who have consistently asking for more data, more transparency from china. are you optimistic we are going to get that kind of data? ~ ., , ., data? well, we have seen over the ast data? well, we have seen over the past couple _ data? well, we have seen over the past couple of _ data? well, we have seen over the past couple of weeks - data? well, we have seen over the past couple of weeks and l the past couple of weeks and increase in the amount of virus sequences that have been coming out of china. so i am hopeful that trend will continue, but to what we have seen so far isn't nearly enough given decisive china and the number of cases presumed there. i am hopeful that trend will continue, but to what we have seen so far isn't nearly enough

given decisive china and the number of cases presumed there. but it is a step in the right direction. i am but it is a step in the right direction. iam hopeful that they will continue to share some of this virus more effectively.— some of this virus more effectively. from a public health perspective, - effectively. from a public health perspective, what| effectively. from a public i health perspective, what are the sorts of things fact, you know, authorities need to be aware of right now, both people who are dealing with this in china and other countries who are trying to manage covid surges as well?— are trying to manage covid surues as well? ~ i. ~ ., surges as well? well, you know, hospitalisation _ surges as well? well, you know, hospitalisation rates _ surges as well? well, you know, hospitalisation rates are - surges as well? well, you know, hospitalisation rates are the - hospitalisation rates are the most important thing, see have to keep an eye on hospitalisation rates and in still other public health interventions as quickly as possible. if you start to see those rates reach levels that are causing medical infrastructure to be stressed, i think from a virus perspective, you know, a variant can appear anywhere in the country, anywhere in the world, what we want to really pay attention to is limited to case numbers so the virus doesn't get the opportunity to

replicate and accumulate these mutations, which may result in a variant that can spread more easily or even aid immunity induced by infection or vaccination. that is a critical part from the virus perspective. part from the virus --ersective. ., ., perspective. professor, how worried should _ perspective. professor, how worried should we _ perspective. professor, how worried should we be? - perspective. professor, how worried should we be? so . perspective. professor, how- worried should we be? so much of the world has been vaccinated now and has been dealing with this for sometime. how should people be?- how should people be? well, i think we really _ how should people be? well, i think we really need _ how should people be? well, i think we really need to - how should people be? well, i l think we really need to embrace the most recent batches of booster vaccines here in the us and in europe that have been available. it's clear that getting a booster shot is protecting people from hospitalisation, although the variance are getting resistant to some of that community and therefore we are not seeing the same effect on case numbers. the tools we had in place, could vaccines, good anti—virals. those two things should be utilised to keep severe case numbers down.

the virologist atjohns hopkins university speaking to me a little earlier. in other news for you today, the american football star damar hamlin remains in a critical condition after suffering a cardiac arrest during an american football game. the buffalo bills player fell to the ground after colliding with an opponent, watched by millions on prime—time tv. his injury has highlighted concerns about the safety of american football. 0ur washington correspondent, gary 0'donoghue, has been following the story. something no sports fan wants to see — a player rushed off to hospital following a serious injury. it was in the first quarter of the game that damar hamlin made a tackle and was struck in the chest by another player's helmet. after getting up for a moment, he then collapsed, suffering a cardiac arrest. medics then rushed onto the field, 0ther players clearly distressed at what had happened. the game was soon abandoned. fans gathered outside the hospital to express their concern. you feel like you need to do something.

and so this is a way ofjust showing that you care. life's more important than a game and people are more important than a game. i hope he's 0k. his mom is here, buffalo is praying for him. and whatever you believe in, like good vibes and positive energy towards them and hopefully he's 0k. the club have said on social media that the player spent last night in intensive care and was in a critical condition. they praised the outpouring of support they received. it was during the european championships 18 months ago that denmark's star, christian eriksen, collapsed during a game against finland. he suffered a cardiac arrest as well, but wasn't involved in any collision. fellow stars are all too aware that it can happen in any sport. the safety of our of players in all sports is always the most important. so, you know, it was a terrible thing to see. and i wish, you know, nothing

but the best for that kid. american football, like other sports, has become much better at monitoring the risks of head injuries and concussion in particular. but doctors say heart injuries are still a risk. football players, they don't start out having head injuries before they start playing. all of those occur during play, and all of all of the players are at risk for that. the cardiac screening is a little bit of a different situation because you're looking for people that may have relatively rare underlying cardiac conditions. most athletes don't have any underlying heart conditions. damar hamlin�*s family have praised the actions of the paramedics and doctors and have asked everyone to keep the football star in their prayers. gary 0'donoghue, bbc news. the saudi football club al—nassr has laid on a lavish reception in riyadh for their new star signing, cristiano ronaldo. the portugal captain said his work in europe was done and he hoped to break new records in saudi arabia. it's been reported that ronaldo's salary could be more than $160 million a year.

that's all for now — stay with bbc world news. hello there. wednesday morning will be getting off to an exceptionally mild start given we are in earlyjanuary. mild is a feature of the weather through the rest of this week. it will also be windy, and there will be spells of rain because on the satellite picture we can see various weather systems heading in our direction, various areas of cloud moving our way to bring further rain at times. a very mild start to the morning. double digit temperatures first thing in many places, even in the north of scotland, where tuesday was quite cold, wednesday will dawn on a slightly milder note. some outbreaks of rain here, also some rain in the southeast corner. that tending to clear, then it's really a sunshine and showers day. most of the showers will be found across northern ireland, southern scotland and the far

north of england. cloud will thicken in the far south west of england later with some spots of rain, and it will be quite windy, but temperatures north to south, 7—14 celsius. through the night, we will continue to see some showers through northern ireland, southern scotland and the far north of england. and a bank of cloud will be rolling its way in from the southwest with some spots of patchy light rain and drizzle. clear spells elsewhere, overnight lows, two 2—10 celsius. now into thursday, we'll start off under the influence of this very weak ridge of high pressure. so a decent amount of dry weather around first thing, low pressure, though, you'll notice approaching from the west, that low actually deepening as it approaches our shores. so we'll see a lot of cloud rolling north eastwards through the day. some patchy rain for england and wales, some heavier rain getting into northern ireland and western scotland through the afternoon with a strengthening wind. but, again, it will be mild, 8—13 celsius. now as our area of low pressure passes to the north west of scotland, as we go through thursday night, see the white lines, the isobars squeezing together,

a swathe of gales likely to affect western parts of scotland, could turn very windy through the central belt for a time on friday morning. still some showers around on friday, but this is a window of somewhat drier weather, some spells of sunshine, perhaps a little less mild, but only a little. still seeing highs between 8—12 celsius. and then for the weekend, saturday will bring outbreaks of rain eastwards. further showers on sunday. it will remain quite windy throughout the weekend.

this is bbc news. we will have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk from oakland, california. i'm stephen sackur. this city has long been a cradle of the struggle for black freedom and equality. black 0aklanders know the reality of systemic discrimination. back in the 1960s, one response was the creation of the radical and controversial black panther party. it was founded by men. some of its key leaders were women.

one of them, my guest today, ericka huggins.