welcome to newsday — reporting live from singapore — i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines. the abandoned city — we have a special report from bakhmut in eastern ukraine — where fierce fighting has forced people to flee. pretty much every second you hear the sound of artillery fire, you can tell every minute that this is a city that is being intensely fought over. if at first you don't succeed — try, try and try again. the hunt for a new speaker of the us house of representatives goes on. the european union is now recommending travel controls on visitors from china — where covid infections have exploded. and — feeling the impact of climate change —

why countries in east asia and the pacific region are among the worst affected. we start in ukraine where a battlefield commander in the eastern town of bakhmut has told the bbc that the fighting is ferocious. a us official has said russian forces have made incremental advances around the town, with mercenaries from the russian paramilitary wagner group heavily involved in the assault. the battle has been described as a �*meat grinder�* — with high numbers of casualties on both sides. almost all of the city's 70 thousand occupants have fled. russia is working hard to capture bakhmut — in the hope it could lead to the fall of sloviansk

and krama—torsk as well — the two most important cities in the donbas still under ukrainian control. but ukrainian forces are holding firm. the bbc�*s yogita limaye reports from the city. this is what the merciless bombardment of a city looks like. and how it sounds. once a quiet place known for sparkling wine, bakhmut is now a byword for war. and ukraine's resistance. russia is using all its might to try and dig at the city. we drove past abandoned buildings. 90% of the people have fled. this is what you can see everywhere in bakhmut, destruction. on the other side of the road coming you can see apartment

blocks completely destroyed, we are walking all over shards of glass pretty much every second you hear the sound of artillery fire. you can tell every minute of that this is a city that is being intensely fought over. and over the past few months, of fierce battle, even though it's had an important road intersection, it's the symbolic importance of this fight that has become greater than its strategic location. bakhmut of the home anatoly has known all his life. we see him barely react when a shell land is a few when a shell lands a few hundred metres away. he has come to a centre, a lifeline for those still here. why don't you leave, we asked him?

translation: i have nowhere to go. - i am alone. who would want to take an 86—year—old in? here at least sometimes when the soldiers give me food, ifind it and eat it and i get free bread. in my whole life, i've never seen anything like this. tatiana used to be a midwife before the war. now, she is a volunteer. translation: | stay l because i needed here. because i'm needed here. of course i'm scared. i have been caught in shelling three times. i suffered a concussion. but what use would i be hiding in a basement? people stay for different reasons. the explosions don't stop, but no one flinches. it is as if they have become numb. running from bombs every day, repeated trauma without an end. this woman told us she and her daughter live like mice running out quickly to get bread.

walking to this centre for a bit of food is a risk they take to survive. outside we met aleksei, the mayor of bakhmut. we can't show his location. translation: it is my job, | my life, my fate to stay here. i won't leave the people and i trust ukraine's military won't allow my city to fall. we went to see ukrainian defence, taking to a location we can't disclose. underground, to one of their command centres, in the city. the heart of the military operation. fewjournalists have been here. this is a live feed from drones beyond the eastern edge of bakhmut, where russian

forces are stationed. the men here are trying to locate the target. for an assault team thatjust gone out. this commander told us this is the toughest battle he has ever fought. translation: we haven't seen enemy troops like this before. l they are soldiers openly advance on theirfire, even on the ground with their bodies, even if only 20 are left of their 60 men, it is very difficult to hold against such an invasion. a few weeks ago we had to withdraw from eastern approaches to the city to save our soldiers. they showed us this video. the east of the city on new year's morning under russian attack. in the fields outside bakhmut, we see the daily grind to keep a hold on it.

the winter makes it harder to camouflage guns. we watch them fire soviet—era weapons. soldiers tell us they work well and do the job. but modern equipment would help push through the deadlock on the ground. on the other end isn'tjust the russian military, there are also thousands of mercenaries from the private groups. they expect incoming fire so we retreat to a bunker. why does it feel like it's deadlock on the ground? deadlocked on the ground? translation: it is stuck for many reasons. - the winter makes it harder to use equipment. we also have a shortage of weapons and ammunition. 21—year—old alexandre says. back to positions they go.

each side trying to wear the other down. wear the other down in this battle of endurance. bbc news, bakhmut. to other stories now and in the next hour the us house of representatives will reconvene to try and elect a speaker — one of the most important elected officials in the us government. republican kevin mccarthy earlier lost a sixth consecutive vote as a small group of far right republicans rebelled — and voted for somone else. the total number of votes cast is 433, of which the honourable hakeem jeffries of the state of new york has received 212. cheering and applause. the honourable kevin mccarthy of the state of california has received 201. cheering and applause.

the honourable byron donald is of the state of florida has received 20. applause. with one recorded as present. no member elect having received a majority of the votes cast, a speaker has not been elected. our washington correspondent gary o'donoghue gave us the latest from capitol hill. two days, six votes, nine and a half hours and they are still no closer to reaching a conclusion than they were at the beginning of this whole process. the problem is there are around 20 rebels, on the right of kevin mccarthy's party were implacably opposed to him, despite the numerous concessions he has given them over the last few days, and even with the intervention

of donald trump himself, the supporters for mr mccarthy, that made no difference whatsoever. they're breaking now for a couple of hours to try to do it all over again to mangle the words of one of western philosophers best known thinkers, doing the same thing over and over again, while it might not be the definition of idiocy when you expect a different outcome, but it is definition of highly embarrassing. let's take a look at some of the other stories in the headlines. france is to supply ukraine with armoured fighting vehicles — the first time western—designed fighting vehicles will be sent there. the two countries' defence ministers will soon discuss how many amx—io rc vehicles will be supplied. it's not clear when the consignment would arrive in ukraine. the deal was announced after telephone talks between presidents zelensky and macron. unseasonably warm temperatures have broken

records in eight countries across europe for the month of january. they include poland and the czech republic which registered nineteen degrees celsius on new years day; their average is usually below zero. the warm weather has affected ski resorts across the alps which don't have enough snow. the british prime minister rishi sunak has been outlining the government's key priorities over the next year. he has pledged to make changes to improve: the national health service, the cost of living and the economy. the european union is now recommending travel controls on visitors from china, where covid infections have exploded. the guidance includes passengers having a negative covid—i9 test before they depart from china, random tests on arrival, and wearing face masks on flights. they also want aircraft wastewater tested for the virus. it comes as the world health

organisation accused officials there of understating the true impact the recent surge in covid i9 infections is having on the country's health system. professor yanzhong huang, a senior fellow for global health at the council on foreign relations told me how effective he thinks these travel restrictions will be. it may be able to delay the spread of the virus to europe but certainly it is not going to contain the spread, we know that china, when they're implementing zero were implementing zero covid—i9 measures, that the most draconian policy of imported cases and still we imposed passengers from south africa when omicron and that did not work and unnecessary because we know

because it was such a high large number in that population. but we know that the virus they had was pre—existing and they will learn to coexist with the virus and causing a search in the cases. on the cases that have been seen in china, we heard from the who that they've come up with this morning about the lack of transparency about deaths and cases there, were you surprised by that? i'm not so surprised, given that during the zero covid—i9 era, china used its low—level infections and mortality level

to showcase the superiority of its political system and now, with the virus rising unbridled in china and significantly increase of the death toll number, it would be very difficult tojustify the superiority of its political system and certainly it's reason by the methods and the reporting of this especially the mortality and number. but the capacity also is another reason because they have dismantled the zero—covid regime and they do not have this massive pcr testing system to get an idea of how many people are infected or how many people died.

and they haven't popularised the test to actually know this know this status. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme. a warning from the world bank — east asia and the pacific region could be especially vulnerable to climate change. the japanese people are in mourning. thousands converged on the imperial palace to pay their respects when it was announced he was dead. good grief, after half a century of delighting fans around the world, charlie brown and the rest of the gang are calling it quits. the singer paul simon starts his tour of south africa tomorrow in spite of protests and violence from some black activist groups.

they say international artists should continue to boycott south africa until majority rule is 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. the worlds tallest skyscraper opens later today, easily overtaking its nearest rivals. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. our headlines. a battlefield commander in the eastern ukrainian town of bakhmut has told the bbc the fighting there is ferocious. many have fled the city. the us house of representatives is still without a speaker — republican nomine — kevin mccarthy — has lost

a sixth round of voting. the funeral of the former pope — benedict the 16th — will take place on thursday. his successor, pope francis, will preside over the service. more than 60—thousand people are expected to attend. the pope's body has been lying in state since monday — and huge crowds have been filing past to pay their respects. our religion editor aleem maqbool reports from the vatican. in one part of the vatican, pope francis was making an appearance in his weekly audience. he started by paying tribute to his predecessor. his funeral, he will lead tomorrow. a very short distance away, thousands were taking their final opportunity to file past benedict xvi lying in state. after his burial, for the first time in nearly a decade, there will be only one pope

in the vatican. so what is having the former pope around been like for so what has having the former pope around been like for the current incumbent? we asked one of those closest to him. it does have an effect. there is a presence there which is undeniable. i don't think it has obstructed pope francis in any way. he has done, said and decided what he wanted to do. but it is a powerful presence, i think most of us have been in the situations where there is a bit of a shadow from our predecessor and may be people make comparisons and say, we did it differently in the past. in the recent months, pope francis has struggled with mobility. there was speculation he was reluctant to consider resigning while pope benedict was around and he might

now consider that option more freely. if we had three popes, that would be, we have to say a little bit difficult to manage, i would think. but now pope benedict has gone to the lord, i think, yes, pope francis will stick to those principles that he has established, he will continue in this ministry as long as he believes and says he is capable. pope francis has always shown immense respect for his predecessor. in the morning, tens of thousands of people will pull into st peter's square tojoin him in laying benedict xvi to rest. it might only be the very start of 2023 but thousands of people in the philippines are already feeling the effects of extreme weather as they move into emergency shelters following devastating

floods over christmas. the world bank estimates that 13 of the 30 countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change are in the east asia and pacific region. well, for more on this, we can speak to lauren sorkin who is the executive director of the resilient cities network. shejoins us live from singapore. we've just heard about people fighting to protect the environment in the philippines — why isthat country in particular so prone to climate related weather disasters? thank you for having me. the philippines, like other countries in the region as an immense amount of coastline, but we see extreme weather, we have vulnerability in coastal areas and also a highly urbanised population and what you have for urban development, there nowhere for the water to

go this presents a lot of danger in a country like the philippines, there are thousands of islands and you also see that there is a compounding of risk and vulnerability there and the right kind of infrastructures neededin right kind of infrastructures needed in place to manage such precipitation. needed in place to manage such precipitation-— precipitation. what kind of infrastructure _ precipitation. what kind of infrastructure do _ precipitation. what kind of infrastructure do you - precipitation. what kind of infrastructure do you thinkj precipitation. what kind of l infrastructure do you think is necessary and do asian countries that are most at risk after and the political will to do at this kind of infrastructure? is do at this kind of infrastructure? , ., ., infrastructure? is a great question _ infrastructure? is a great question and _ infrastructure? is a great question and we - infrastructure? is a great question and we need . infrastructure? is a great question and we need to | question and we need to remember them when we talk about asia and climate in asia, it is a massively diverse region. countries that rely on riverbed agriculture which can, because of climate change and precipitation and monsoon patterns, create impacts you're also looking at small island nations which we look at sea level rising due to warm

temperatures and racial —— glacial melts, there is an increased risk and that is the type of infrastructural measures that are needed. and we have the ability now to look at that risk in a much more sophisticated way and we look at climate models and see where the predicted increase in precipitation, the increases in temperature are going to most impact the population. the most vulnerable 38 countries to climate are in this region and we know that there is a high level of risk and even more than that, this risk is very urban. the cities that are most susceptible to climate change, 98 of those are at risk to climate disaster that are in this region. and that is

created political will and the good news is that the data is there a better way than before and we can look at these multiple hazards in the same frame and direct the kinds of investments that we need to have multiple benefits. that is an optimistic _ have multiple benefits. that is an optimistic way _ have multiple benefits. that is an optimistic way to _ have multiple benefits. that is an optimistic way to frame - an optimistic way to frame things in thank you so much. the executive directorjoining us on this day. the executive director joining us on newsday. the author fay weldon — whose best—known works included the life and loves of a she—devil — has died at the age of 91. the prolific writer published more than 30 novels during her career, as well as collections of short stories, films for television, and pieces ofjournalism. our arts correspondent rebecca jones looks back at her life. fay weldon wrote playful, punchy tales in which women were exploited by men though they often got their own back. the pregnant heroine in praxis received an awful warning from an older woman.

you'd better keep that. it's only the fear of pregnancy which keeps girls on the straight and narrow. she first made her name as an advertising copywriter. "go to work on an egg," was one of hers. after marrying again she began writing tv plays and novels while pregnant. she wrote about class, the sexual revolution and the supernatural. you are clumsy. i am not, it did it by itself. you'd better keep that. but it is your wedding ring. her best—known novel in which a woman takes

revenge over her unfaithful husband cemented her reputation as one of britain's for most feminist writers. one of her best novels later became a film, puffball, yet as she got older her view of women's roles shifted. it wasn'tjust feminism that changed things, it was technology, birth control, all kinds of other factors. sometimes, i think feminism was just a sort of cloak under which capitalism sort of crept up on us all and turned it into a consumerist society and made us all go out to work and exhausted us. later in life, she urged women to pick up their husbands socks. some feminists accused her of betrayal. she felt herjob was done. "what drove me to feminism 50 years ago was the myth that men were the breadwinners and women kept house and looked pretty," she wrote. "that myth finally exploded and i helped to explode it." fay weldon, who's died at the age of 91. that's all for now — stay with bbc world news.

hello again. there wasn't that much in the way of rain around yesterday but despite that, there was actually still 2a flood warnings in force, most of them in southern england. i think that is a sign that the ground remains pretty saturated. in the atlantic, things are looking quite busy. we've got an area of cloud that's going to be bringing low pressure to the northwest of the british isles and some wet and windy weather on the way from that. then near canada, this area of cloud is going to be bringing another belt of heavy rain in friday night and into saturday, and they could bring some area of localised flooding, i think. for the time being, a mostly dry picture. the brisk winds we had during the day on wednesday are lightening all the while, and those temperatures staying on the mild side for most,

eight to ten degrees, even an 11 across england and wales, a few patches of frost possible in well—sheltered areas in north scotland. tomorrow, the best chance at seeing the sunshine will be in the morning across the north—eastern areas where it should be a fine start to the day. the cloud will thicken up pretty quickly and we'll see some rain moving in across northern ireland and particularly scotland where it will be quite windy as the day goes by. the wind still coming in from a south—westerly direction, hence the double—figure temperatures that many of us will have. highs again could hit 13 or even 1a degrees, that's around six or seven degrees above average for this stage of january. beyond that, thursday night, the low pressure winds up and we start to get a zone of strong winds affecting the northwest of the uk. gales, yes, but there probably will be some severe gales around the far north—west, a band of rain sweeps across the country with blustery showers continuing to feed in close to that low pressure centre then will be to the north of scotland. here on friday, it would be quite blustery with further showers and lengthy spells of rain in scotland but otherwise, friday is a decent day but for most of the country, its bright with a bit more the way of sunshine.

turning a bit cloudy northern ireland through the course of the afternoon. still relatively mild, temperatures 11 and 12 across southern portions of the uk. this band of rain going through friday and into saturday could bring some area of localised surface water flooding, the rain looks heavy but what follows is a mixture of plenty of heavy showers, quite blustery conditions, it is going to be windy through the weekend, and some of those showers could merge together to give some lengthier spells of rain. temperatures edging down just a degree or two. it is still on the mild side but pretty wet at times too.

this is bbc news. we will have headlines and the news stories for you at the top of the hours straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. in russia, voicing opposition to putin's war in ukraine is a crime. it can mean years injail. imagine, then, the resolve of a russian opposition activist who returned to his homeland after the ukraine invasion in order to speak out against the putin regime from within. not only that, vladimir kara—murza had already survived two apparent poisonings inside russia.