i'm anjana gadgil. our top stories: 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. chaos, confusion and yet another delay — the us house of representatives adjourns despite failing to choose a new speaker. tech giant meta, the parent company of facebook and instagram, is fined for breaching eu data laws. and millions of catholics around the world prepare to say a final farewell at the funeral of pope benedict xvi.

welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. a ukrainian military commander in the shattered eastern town of bakhmut has described to the bbc the fierceness of the fighting there. he said he hadn't seen russian forces fight anywhere else with similar determination, advancing under fire even when the ground was littered with their comrades�* bodies. 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 70,000 occupants have fled. russia is working hard to capture bakhmut in the hope it could lead to the fall of sloviansk and kramatorsk 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. munitons explode. this is what the merciless bombardment of a city looks like. munitions explode. and how it sounds. explosions echo. 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 take this city. we drove past abandoned buildings. 90% of the people have fled. this is what you can see everywhere in bakhmut, destruction. 0n the other side of the road you can see apartment blocks that are completely destroyed. we're walking all over shards of glass, 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. and over the past few months of fierce battle, even though it's at an important road intersection, it is the symbolic importance of this fight that has become greater than its strategic location. bakhmut is the home anatoly has known all his life. we see him barely react when a shell lands a few hundred metres away. shell explodes. he's come to an aid centre, a lifeline for those still here. "why don't you leave?" we asked him. translation: l have - nowhere to go, i am alone. who would want to take an 86—year—old? here at least sometimes, when the soldiers throw away food orsoup, ifind it and eat it. and i get free bread.

in my whole life, i've never seen anything like this. tetiana scherbak used to be a midwife before the war. now she's a volunteer. translation: | stay - because i'm needed here. of course i'm scared. i've 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. munitions explode. the explosions don't stop, but no—one flinches. it's as if they've become numb. running from bombs every day, repeated trauma, without an end. this person 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.

0utside, we met 0leksiy reva, the mayor of bakhmut. we can't show his location. "it is myjob, my life, my fate, to stay here. "i won't leave the people, and i trust that ukraine's "military won't allow my city to fall," he said. we went to see ukrainian defence, taken 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 that's just gone out.

commander skala, as he wants to be called, told us this is the toughest battle he's ever fought. translation: we haven't seen enemy troops like this before. their soldiers openly advance under fire, even if they're littering 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 the 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 and men. 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. 0n the other end isn'tjust the russian military, there are also thousands of mercenaries from the private wagner group. they expect incoming fire, so we retreat to a bunker. why does it feel like it's deadlocked on the ground? "it's stuck for many reasons. "the winter makes it harder to use equipment. "we also have a shortage of weapons and ammunition," 21—year—old 0leksandr replies. back to positions they go. each side trying to wear the other down in this battle of endurance. yogita limaye, bbc news, bakhmut.

the us house of representatives has adjourned for a second day without electing a speaker, extending the paralysis at the heart of american politics. president biden said having a congress that can't function is embarrassing for the country. republican kevin mccarthy has been stopped six times so far by a group of hard liners within his own party who refuse to back him. 0ur north america correspondent peter bowes explains why without a speaker the chamber is unable to operate effectively. another rollercoaster day and the end result is the same, voting for the new speaker, in that there is no result, the impasse, the deadlock continues because kevin mccarthy didn't get the required number of votes, 218, to take on that role. there is a hard core of opponents, rebels, some people are calling them, about 20 who consistently vote against him. what happened after the three rounds of voting earlier,

they adjourned and that allowed the republicans, at least some of them from that group, and kevin mccarthy, to get together in a room behind the scenes. they brought in the pizza, they sat around the table in an attempt to thrash this out and that meeting broke up with kevin mccarthy suggesting that some progress was being made, but he also said he didn't see any point in having another round of voting this evening. clearly believing that he wasn't in a position to win. he thinks he says he is making progress, we really won't know until a few hours�* time and they reconvening it on thursday, day three, and potentially vote again. peter, what happens next? well, what happens next? this could happen over the next few hours, they could go very late into the night. the republicans are still talking, they are trying to thrash out a situation which will give them a candidate they can all rally

around, and if that is to be kevin mccarthy, what concessions is he offering those opponents in his own party? is he discussing with them potential positions on committees, things that he can offer them to sweep the situation, to encourage them to vote for him. it seems he isn't there yet but those are the kinds of discussions that are likely to be happening right now. so what does this current impasse say about the different factions within the republican party? here's the republican strategist rina shah. what it says about the republican party writ large is they are showing the american public that they are enduring a once—in—a—century humiliation. this is the kind of thing that i would have never thought was coming this soon. of course, for many years, i saw the firebrands in the house, typically those that come from the far—right house freedom caucus, really make demands and say that they wanted to get rid of the establishment, they wanted to break it once

and for all but what has transpired in the course of today and even yesterday has led so many of us to believe that we really may be at an impasse and there could be a real possibility we don't see mccarthy seated as speaker. what are the �*never kevins�*, the republicans who refused to vote for him, hoping to achieve? yesterday, we thought there might be five of them but that can�*t be acknowledged but before the vote there were up to 20 and that�*s what we�*ve seen, there are about 20 conservative firebrands who reallyjust do not want to see establishment win and i keep saying that because this is the phrase they keep using, they don�*t have any policy goals or real demands, so to speak. they do talk about the debt ceiling but what they are trying to say is they don�*t want republicans who negotiate with the democrats. to me that signifies a fundamental lack of knowledge about how congress works as an institution and a lack of desire

to govern as well. these are largely people who want to see more investigations into president biden�*s son, hunter biden, for example, they want to take revenge against democrats for what they did in congress last year. these are all kinds of funny demands, if you ask me, and they are making demands of kevin mccarthy, that some of them he frankly can�*t even meet because he doesn�*t have the authority to do so, despite the speaker�*s position being all—powerful. who blinks first in your opinion? sometimes in politics, we are asked to make predictions, and if i were of that type, i would be in the betting business, but i�*m not so tonight, i would say this, i am saddened that it seems like there is no movement, there are some voices but i�*m hearing tonight some rumours on capitol hill that there are more concessions mccarthy is willing to make and some of these freedom caucus members are signalling that it is good so

it looks like it will be them, they will be the ones to hand some votes over to kevin so he can get that magic number, whatever the magic number is because listen, this is about a majority of people who are in the room so it�*s been the number 218 which he hasn�*t been able to achieve across this ballot but if some people leave the room, that number could go lower and the congressional threshold less and then mccarthy could pull it off but there are a number of ways this could come out, i think he will take it in the end. it seems crazy to the outside world on day one, chaos on day two. what is the political impact here? it�*s great. it makes us look unserious on the world stage and that is critically painful for someone like me who considers themselves a great patriot. i came up in american politics at a time when all i read about was public servants. right now, we are in an era with a large majority of people in congress

right now, in the house republican pockets, have come to power after 2009 and that is a really important state there because the tea party movement came to be in 2008/2009 and these were people who wanted to rip the establishment but at that time they had policy goals, like i mentioned earlier, there doesn�*t seem to be any goals right now, these people seem to want to cause chaos and disarray, they want to embarrass the establishment and they will also want to gain instant celebrity status as well so it really takes away from that desire to be public servants and do the best for the american people. i certainly think we will recover from this, i�*m an optimist or i couldn�*t have worked in politics this long but i do think this is a huge embarrassment for republicans. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: millions of catholics around the world prepare to say a final farewell at the funeral of pope benedict xvi. the japanese people are in mourning, following the death of emperor hirohito.

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 world tallest skyscraper opens later today. the burj dubai has easily overtaken its nearest rivals.

this is bbc world news. the latest 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 european union is recommending travel controls on visitors from china, where covid infections have exploded. the guidance includes passengers having a negative covid—19 test before they depart from china, random tests on arrival, and wearing face masks on flights. it comes as the world health organisation accused officials in china of understating the true impact the recent surge in infections is having on the country�*s health system. we continue to ask china for more rapid regular, reliable data on hospitalisations and deaths, as well as more comprehensive

real—time viral sequencing. the who is concerned about the risk to life in china and has reiterated the importance of vaccination including booster dose to protect against hospitalisation, severe disease and death. tech giant meta, which is the parent company of facebook and instagram, has been handed a $400 million fine for breaching eu data laws. the irish data protection commission says the way meta asked permission to use people�*s data for ads was unlawful. meta says it is "disappointed" and intends to appeal. 0mer tene is a partner at goodwin and a senior fellow at the future of privacy forum. i asked him how the data protection commission came to their conclusion that meta was acting unlawfully. well, there are reports that the complaint was that individuals did not have a choice

whether their data could be used for targeted advertising, and instead they had to agree to contract terms of use, which included provisions allowing meta to do that. privacy campaigners say that this is a major victory. they say that meta will now have to give users choice over how their data is used. do you see that happening now? i would say not so fast. first of all, as you said in the introduction, this decision will no doubt be appealed. second, the decision actually reflects a deep chasm between european regulators on this matter. the irish data protection commissioner, the institution that reached the decision, actually would have allowed meta to continue to act, based on the contract,

the terms of use, which users have agreed to. it was the descent of other regulators that forced the decision that was made today. i think even if the decision is upheld, it is not clear how it would ultimately change the user experience, because meta could rely on other legal bases, such as its own legitimate interests to still deliver targeted ads. so i think the celebrations by some of the advocates might be premature. privacy is honestly a huge issue for users of social media. what advice would you give users on how to protect their data? i would say privacy is a huge issue not just for users of social media, but for users of the internet,

for consumers, for patients and for employees. and i think the advice here again is not specific for meta or instagram users but more generally it is to be informed and educated about the choices that people are making. the reigning model online, as you know, is free services, in return for data that is used for advertising. whether people like it or not, and i think people should be cognizant of what data they are sharing with their websites, platforms, and for which purposes such data are used. the funeral of the former pope, benedict xvi, will take place on thursday. his successor, pope francis, will preside over the service. more than 60,000 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. 0ur 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. 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 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 and 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 people 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. the man known as the architect of the notorious us college admissions scandal has been sentenced to 3.5 years in prison. william �*rick�* singerfunnelled money from wealthy parents to university coaches to secure a place for their children at elite colleges. more than 50 people have been convicted for their roles in the scandal. 0ur news reporter azadeh moshiri shared more details about the scandal. it was dubbed 0peration varsity blues

because of its connection to sport, and the details are pretty shocking. wealthy parents who wanted to get the children into elite universities, schools like yale or stanford, would give william singer money and he would funnel that money to support coaches at universities and in exchange they would mark these students as sports recruits even though these were not student athletes, so it would be in low profile sports like water polo or rowing. and to really earn its title of a cheating scandal, william singer would also help them falsify their college entrance exam results. there were some fairly high—profile parents involved in all of this, celebrities like felicity huffman and lori loughlin. lori loughlin, for example, and her husband, they were accused of bribing half a million dollars to get their two daughters into the university of southern california and mark them as fake rowers and all of this with the help of william singer. and he isn�*t the first or indeed the only person to be convicted ? no he�*s not. more than 50 people, parents, sports coaches, have been convicted as well. felicity huffman and lori loughlin were convicted as well and ms loughlin did serve

prison time, but william singer has received the longest sentence. in fact, prosecutors wanted six years and the reason for that is because they believe he was the architect of all of this and in a court filing he said he feels great shame, great remorse, great regret for all of this, that he has been shunned by friends and family and that he has lost everything which is why he is apparently living in a mobile home community for seniors. he is still being asked to pay more than $10 million as a fine but all of this set up a real debate because american universities have been known for letting students in when the parents have made very big donations, but what the courts are saying is that this was a lot more blatant and illegal. you are watching bbc news. you can reach me on twitter — i�*m @ anjanagadgil. thank you forjoining us.

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 really 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 that one 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. 0ut west 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 for most of the country — it�*s 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 areas of localised surface water flooding. the rain looks heavy, but then 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, but it is still on the mild side but pretty wet at times, too.

this is bbc news. the headlines: a ukrainian military commander in the shattered eastern town of bakhmut has described to the bbc the fierceness of the fighting there. he said he hadn�*t seen russian forces fight anywhere else with similar determination. a us official has said russian forces have made incremental advances around the town. the us house of representatives has adjourned for a second day without electing a speaker — extending the paralysis at the heart of american politics. the republican majority leader kevin mccarthy has failed six times to get elected because a group of 20 fellow republicans refuse to back him. the man known as the architect of the notorious us college admissions scandal has been sentenced to 3.5 years in prison. william "rick" singer was convicted of funnelling money from wealthy parents to university coaches —