welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines. the longest race in more than 150 years — kevin mccarthy appears to lose in his eleventh attempt to be elected speaker of the house. china rejects criticism it's been under—reporting the number of covid—deaths — it's set to reopen tothe world this weekend. as pandemic rules are eased for travellers between china and hong kong — there's increasing concerns covid could spread over the lunar new year. the struggle to try to protect forests in the philippines with many devastated by illegal logging and mining. prince harry accuses his brother of physically attacking him in his new memoir which is out next week.

paralysis continues in the us congress, the republican leader in the us house of representatives, kevin mccarthy, appears to have failed in his 11th bid to get elected speaker, extending the government deadlock into a third day. a small group of right—wingers within his own party has been derailing attempts to elect him. an eleventh vote is now underway. the republicans took control of the house in november's midterm elections, but the deadlock has left the chamber unable to swear in members or pass legislation. gary o'donoghue reports. the total number of votes cast is 434. in the total number of votes cast is 434. ., ., ' ~:: , ., , is 434. in more than 160 years, and that was — is 434. in more than 160 years, and that was before _ is 434. in more than 160 years, and that was before the - and that was before the american civil war. now,

and that was before the american civilwar. now, into and that was before the american civil war. now, into a third day, the deadlock remains. the republican leaders still unable to get enough votes within his own party and nor can anyone else. or maybe not. at nor can anyone else. or maybe not. �* , , . ~ nor can anyone else. or maybe not. ~ ,, .,, not. a speaker has not been elected- _ not. a speaker has not been elected- a — not. a speaker has not been elected. a speaker - not. a speaker has not been elected. a speaker has - not. a speaker has not been elected. a speaker has not i not. a speaker has not been - elected. a speaker has not been elected. a speaker has not been elected. a speaker has not been elected. while there is no speaker, the house cannot do a thing. no committees, no legislation, no rules. a chamber utterly paralysed and locked into a seemingly endless loop. locked into a seemingly endless loo -. ~ , locked into a seemingly endless loo. ~ , , ., ., loop. well, it is groundhog da . loop. well, it is groundhog day. democrats _ loop. well, it is groundhog day. democrats voted - loop. well, it is groundhog day. democrats voted for l loop. well, it is groundhog - day. democrats voted for their leader of some on _ day. democrats voted for their leader of some on every - day. democrats voted for their leader of some on every balloti leader of some on every ballot have been quietly enjoying the spectacle. some rebels or even voting for people who are not members of the house. for two nights, negotiations have gone along with very little outcome. the 20 or so rebels extracted multiple concessions during this process. every of them weakening the position for

whoever ends up a speaker. that means this wafer thin republican majority in the house will be hard to manage and the internal strife is set to continue for the next two years. eventually, pressure yea rs. eventually, pressure will years. eventually, pressure will go for some kind of compromise candidate among republicans, but no one has any idea how long that could take. our north america correspondent, peter bowes is following this story and hejoins me now from los angeles. what's the latest? it seems like the never—ending story? when does this and? we do not story? when does this and? - do not know when this is going to end. if you're going for very long time. we are in the 11th round of voting to the surreal nature of all of this. donald trump's name is formally on the ballot of these for this round. he currently has one vote and i think it's more of a

mischievous suggestion by one of those republicans opposed to kevin mccarthy from the never kevin mccarthy from the never kevin camp they're determined to name other republicans and thatis to name other republicans and that is continuing to happen as possible speakers of the house of representatives. so, when this will end, we do not know. mccarthy could decide enough is enough and under no sign at all that he is going to do that all the signs are present behind the signs are present behind the scenes manoeuvring going on, deals that are being done at least attempted to try to resolve this and try to find someone that the republicans can rally around. $5 someone that the republicans can rally around.— can rally around. as you point out, can rally around. as you point out. there's — can rally around. as you point out, there's a _ can rally around. as you point out, there's a lot _ can rally around. as you point out, there's a lot of _ out, there's a lot of deal—making and lots of concessions and as we understand it, there's still no deal in this and be the kevin mccarthy can do to convince the people that are not voting for him to do so?— him to do so? that is the question _ him to do so? that is the question that _ him to do so? that is the question that a _ him to do so? that is the question that a lot - him to do so? that is the question that a lot of- him to do so? that is the i question that a lot of people are asking because it seems the concessions that he has offered

so far are quite significant in terms of one move to make it much easier to get rid of a futures speaker in terms of the rules of the house and they been talking about key roles of the committees and the speaker is very powerful person, a very powerful position but there is a limit to what he can offer and so, that's the issue that's left many people scratching their heads in terms of how far they can go to offer sweeteners to this group of 20 to get them to this group of 20 to get them to change their mind. it is the big mystery at the moment. quite a mystery and briefly, talk about how the american public are viewing all of this. i think the american public are bemused by this and i think also, if you ask people on the street out and about, it is not the number one concern right now and it's very much a washington inside beltway drama

thatis washington inside beltway drama that is playing out in ordinary americans of other things to worry about the cost of living crisis and i'm talking to you from california at the moment with their huge storms passing across the state in torrential rain anything that's occupying the minds of people here. indeed and rightly so. thank you for keeping us up—to—date on that story and to stay safe and that storm and lots more on the bbc website on that story that peter was reporting on, including a life page that will give you the very latest developments there whether or not there will be any and or if we will see closure to the deadlock in the next few hours. do stay tuned for us in the bbc life page for the latest details. to china now — which is set to reopen to the world on sunday, for the first time since 2020. international travellers and returning residents can now travel to the country without needing to quarantine.

the move comes as china battles a surge in infections since beijing lifted covid restrictions domestically. in some of its strongest criticisms of china to date — the world health organisation has accused beijing of under—reporting the number of covid—deaths. china's foreign ministry has responded that china had transparently and quickly shared covid data, and that china's "epidemic situation is controllable". facts have proof that china has maintain — facts have proof that china has maintain close communications of the — maintain close communications of the world health organization. and share the relative _ organization. and share the relative information and data in a — relative information and data in a timely manner in accordance to the principles of law, _ accordance to the principles of law, timeliness and transparency. it is manageable and with— transparency. it is manageable and with adjustments to the pandemic prevention and control policy, _ pandemic prevention and control policy, we — pandemic prevention and control policy, we will continue to hold — policy, we will continue to hold technical and other exchanges with who. well, as part of sunday's opening up, tens of thousands of people will be able to travel between hong kong and china, it's a major easing of pandemic rules that kept the border mostly sealed for almost three years.

the measures kept families separated, cut off tourism and severed most business travel. here is city leaderjohn lee announcing the easing of restrictions. s the first of the arrangements will be this sunday. cross—border travel between hong — cross— border travel between hong kong cross—border travel between hong kong and mainland china will be — hong kong and mainland china will be 6000 people one way, a maximum — will be 6000 people one way, a maximum of 60,000 people daily will be _ maximum of 60,000 people daily will be allowed to travel north by sea, — will be allowed to travel north by sea, land and air and across the border_ by sea, land and air and across the border via different checkpoints to enter mainland china — to the war in ukraine now — and russian president vladimir putin has ordered a ceasefire across the frontline in ukraine, from noon on friday until midnight on saturday. this is apparently so that orthodox christians can mark christmas day. our ukraine correspondent, james waterhouse gave us his view from the capital, kyiv. first, suggestion of

the complete ceasefire since the 24th of february, in fact across the nine years of this long and gruelling war where russia has exerted its aggression on ukraine. i do think they are going to be many people living along the 700 mile long front line expecting some kind of reprieve for christmas. here in kyiv, they are just not buying it. president zelensky has accused vladimir putin of using christmas as cover, in his words, so he can replenish his troops. there are some cynical views here that it is in fact a trap. so, here we are once again at that question, why is vladimir putin announcing this now? well, the thought is he is ease critics once more back home but we are not going to have to wait long to see if really the fighting could actually pause. the philippines is ranked as one of the countries most vulnerable to the impacts

of climate change, and is regularly hit by powerful storms, landslides and flooding. on the nation's largest island, luzon, one of its natural defences against extreme weather is at risk. the sierra madre mountain range was originally covered in rainforest, helping to absorb the heavy rains from typhoons that form in the pacific. but mining, quarrying and illegal logging have devastated much of the forest. our correspondent, laura bicker, has sent us this report, on those fighting to protect the remaining forest, and those, who want to exploit it. many believe these mist—covered mountains help save lives. that the uneven peaks offer protection from powerful storms. but the vast sierra madre is in peril. mining, quarrying and illegal logging have already stripped away around 90% of the original rainforest.

now, among those living under the remaining canopies, there is conflict. between those desperate to make a living and those desperate to preserve life. mark sold his cow for this chainsaw nearly a decade ago. he and his wife grace hide from the authorities as they make money from selling wood for houses and construction projects. he knows it's dangerous but he says they will catch him when he's dead. translation: my message | for people is not to get angry at us because we do not actually want this. we can only get our money for basic necessities from here. they can afford to be mad because they have other sources of livelihood, but for us, we have none. they chop and dry the wood and transport it in the dark via the river. a big order can take up to a month, but will

earn them around $300. translation: they said illegal logging is destroying nature. i god gave all this to us so we can use it. others have turned their backs on illegal logging. others have turned their back on illegal logging. forest ranger francisco leads us and his volunteers through dense woodland to show off his latest planting site. he once made a living chopping down these trees, until a deadly landslide killed thousands. did you feel an element of guilt, is that why you became a forest ranger? translation: yes, i had trauma back then because i saw - lifeless children all lined up

on the streets while the houses were all destroyed. there weren't any houses left, even ours was gone. when i remember the things we did, i feel helpless. but this job comes with risks. 270 people have been killed in the last ten years defending filipino rainforests. translation: once we called out someone to stop cutting trees, - they told us that they might kill us. i told them that we weren't there to pick a fight and werejust explaining what will happen to all of us if they continue what they do. you won't be the only one affected, it's all of us. this is why francisco and others want to save the sierra madre. strong typhoons and floods are becoming more frequent in the philippines. experts believe these mountains shield against the strongest winds and their dense rainforests absorb

the worst of the rainfall. replanting is a long and difficult process. volunteers walk miles with saplings. but the bigger challenge will be persuading others that this land is a precious resource in the battle against climate change. and that growing new life now may save human lives in the future. laura bicker, bbc news, quezon. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme. dry january has arrived, we'll tell you about the parts of the world that are drinking less and others that are drinking more. 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 single 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 i to the iconic rock starl david bowie, who sold 140 million albums in a career that spanned half a century. l his family announced i overnight that he died of cancer at the age of 69. the world's tallest skyscraper opens later today. the burj dubai has easily overtaken its nearest rivals.

this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. our headlines still losing the lower chamber — kevin mccarthy appears to have lost the 11th ballot to be elected speaker of the house. there's growing concerns about covid being spread by travellers between china and hong kong over the lunar new year. to the british royal family now. and if you thought prince harry had run out of revalations after that tv documentary — think again. his new book — which was supposed to be out next week — has been leaked. it contains a series of sensational claims and deeply personal stories about his family — including an account of how his brother prince william allegedly physically attacked harry back in 2019. here's our royal correspondent, nicholas witchell.

it's already been on sale in spain. the spanish—language of spare, entitled in the shadow. the contents of harry's closely guarded memoir have leapt five days ahead of publication. at the same time, here is his defence of the book in his upcoming interview with itv. i don't know how staying silent is ever going to make things better. the book's contents will be uncomfortable for the royalfamily, and particularly for william. the depth of the rift between the brothers, willy and harold, as they apparently know each other, is laid bare. according to harry's account, one of the lowest moments occurred in 2019 at kensington palace. the brothers evidently confronted each other over harry's wife, meghan. william is said to have called her difficult, rude and aggressive. according to the book, he, william... in a trailer for the american abc network, harry talks

about his relationship with william. the quote in this book- where you refer to your brother as your beloved brother and arch nemesis. - strong words. what did you mean by that? there has always been this competition between us, weirdly. i think it really plays into or is played by the heir and the spare. returning to the book, there is a widely reported account of what both brothers thought of their father's wish to marry camilla parker bowles. according to the book... private moments with his father are also disclosed. the book says that after the duke of edinburgh's funeral in 2021, charles said to william and harry, "please, boys, don't make my final years a misery". harry, it appears, has no regrets about sharing

private family moments. he is challenged in the itv interview by tom bradby. wouldn't your brother say- to you, how could you do this to me, after everything we went through? - wouldn't that be i what he would say? he would probably say all sorts of different things. some people will say you have railed against invasions - of your privacy all your life i but the accusation would be, here are you, invading - the privacy of your nearest and dearest without permission. that will be the accusation. that will be the accusation from the people that don't understand or don't want to believe that my family have been briefing the press. many other details in the book are being reported across the media, including the assertion that he killed 25 taliban fighters during his army service in afghanistan, that he took the drug cocaine when he was 17, and there are details of his grief over the death of his mother, diana, and how he later drove repeatedly through the underpass in paris where the motor accident occurred to try to understand it.

so, what now of harry's future? if you are invited to _ the coronation, would you come? there's a lot that can happen between now and then but, you know, the door is always open, the ball is in their court. there's a lot to be discussed and i really hope they are willing to sit down and talk about it. for now, there is no comment from either buckingham palace or kensington palace. thousands of people have gathered in the vatican to pay their respects and say their final farewell to the former pope benedict the sixteenth. pope francisjoined pilgrims in st peter's square to preside over the funeral of his predecessor, who resigned from the papacy in 2013. the coffin was carried by 12 pallbearers into st peter's basilica, with crowds applauding along the way. dry january has arrived,

the month when some of us choose to lay off the booze following a festive holiday of excess. well, that's the traditional image, but studies show that in many high—income countries — young people have been steadily drinking less alcohol over the last twenty years. here in asia, it has gotten to a point where japan has even launched a campaign to try and encourage young people to drink more. but in many developing countries, the opposite is happening. a little earlier i spoke to amy pennay a senior research fellow at the centre for alcohol policy research at la trobe university in melbourne studies alcohol and youth drinking in particular who told me more about this. it is almost unprecedented in the field to suggest increasing drinking because i would assume that any money that is made from the taxation of alcohol would be offset by the harms and problems to hospitals and societies. so indeed, it is very perplexing case. your

field of study _ very perplexing case. your field of study is _ very perplexing case. your field of study is looking . very perplexing case. your field of study is looking at| field of study is looking at why young people, particularly in some parts of the world are drinking less alcohol, what if you found? it drinking less alcohol, what if you found?— you found? it is really quite interesting _ you found? it is really quite interesting that _ you found? it is really quite interesting that young - you found? it is really quite i interesting that young people are driving a change particularly in high income countries to less alcohol consumption was the adult populations are not reducing their consumption as much if at all. but we have seen with high income countries and industrial areas in the us is young people especially under each and people are drinking significantly less previous generations. this is in the case everywhere or globally but it is the case of many asian countries as well, like japan and south korea.— countries as well, like japan and south korea. defined the parameters — and south korea. defined the parameters that _ and south korea. defined the parameters that we _ and south korea. defined the parameters that we are - and south korea. defined the l parameters that we are talking about here in terms of age. what do you mean by young people limited the age groups are being affected here? is really being driven by less

drinking in adolescence and those aged after 17. and drinking is reducing amongst the 18 to 24—year—old age groups but not as significantly. what we do see now is the adolescence were moving into young adulthood are drinking less because we know that heavier than the earlier you drink, the more you tend to drink and young adulthood and as they are ageing, there's still drinking far less as they age and young adulthood. loath? still drinking far less as they age and young adulthood. why is this happening — age and young adulthood. why is this happening was _ age and young adulthood. why is this happening was the _ this happening was the distinctive feature between the two generations as you pointed out? ~ . , two generations as you pointed out? . ., two generations as you pointed out? ., , ._ two generations as you pointed out? .,, out? well, as a research group, we have been — out? well, as a research group, we have been trying _ out? well, as a research group, we have been trying to - out? well, as a research group, we have been trying to unpack. we have been trying to unpack why this might be happening in over a period of ten years, if identified that young people are notjust drinking later, they are drinking less because they are drinking less because they see alcohol as a particular risk. not only is it

a risk to your individual health, but it's a risk to carving out a successful future. if they do not have time to spend the weekends on leisure time that might put them back against other people in terms of gaining entry into university or being successful in their work or achieving economic security in terms of housing affordability. and so, alcohol is getting in the way of the individual success. just briefl , of the individual success. just briefly. what _ of the individual success. just briefly, what is your - of the individual success. just briefly, what is your sense of how this difference between developing and developed countries. we developing and developed countries.— developing and developed countries. ~ . , countries. we are seeing the declines mostly _ countries. we are seeing the declines mostly in _ countries. we are seeing the declines mostly in countriesl declines mostly in countries with a fairly and the alcohol industry is shifting its focus to countries where markets are developing and to offset the loss of money that they are experiencing through declines

and drinking in high income countries that shifted their focus to develop an african and southeast asian markets. now a bit of news from a fish market injapan. a single bluefin tuna weighing more than 450 pounds was sold for ousand dollars in the annual "new year tuna auction" atjapan's biggest fish market. that's more than double the price of the most expensive fish sold last year. just before we go, a little more covid related news out of hong kong —— this time, some good news for pet owners. a year after more than two thousand hamsters were culled the ban on importing them will end later this month. the authorities took action after a cluster of covid—19 cases were traced to a pet shop in the financial hub at the start of 2022. but following a risk assessment — there's been a reprieve! that's all for now — stay with bbc world news.

hello there. the weather's going to calm down a bit on friday, but we've got more wet and windy weather to come this weekend. another area of low pressure, weather fronts to eventually push in from the west. this weather front has brought some heavy rain and gusty winds. that area of low pressure is where we've got the strongest of the winds in scotland. even first thing in the morning, it's very windy through the central belt of scotland, but the strongest winds will be in northern parts of the country, gusting 60 or 70 miles an hour. and we've also got a lot of showers coming into scotland. that band of rain sweeping away from england and wales will be followed by clear skies and temperatures early in the morning, 6—7 degrees. lots of showers, though, to begin with in scotland, very windy start, but the winds do moderate. the showers become fewer and we'll see some sunshine. other parts of the uk seeing some sunshine, especially in the morning, but tending to cloud over a bit more in western areas in the afternoon.

a little bit of rain coming into the south—west of england and south wales as well. a breezy day, a mild day, temperatures 9—12 degrees on friday afternoon. but there is this band of rain here coming into western areas during the evening. itjust gets wetter and maybe windier again during the evening. and that band of rain pushes its way eastwards overnight. strong southerly winds are likely. it's going to be a very mild night, of course, with that cloud and rain. temperatures in southern parts of the uk, perhaps no lower than 11 degrees. but we start the weekend with some rain. it's going to be a very unsettled weekend. quite windy as well. blustery winds to come, bringing some rain or some showers as well. and we've got that rain to start with, then, across much of scotland, england and wales. it's going to shuffle its way eastwards, it's going to hang around into the morning, perhaps into the afternoon across east anglia and the south—east. following that, the winds pick up again around these western coasts.

we're going to find lots of showers feeding in. some of those will be heavy. some sunshine in between the showers and temperatures still on the mild side, 8—11 degrees. second half of the weekend, we're dominated, really, by this low pressure. it's going to hang around for a while. it's approaching the north—west of scotland. it will be very windy here saturday night into sunday morning, and around that area of low pressure, we've got these strong and blustery winds. that's going to feed in some sunshine, but we're also going to find quite a few showers. some of those could be heavy and thundery and it's just about cold enough for a little bit of snow over the tops of the mountains in scotland. temperatures will be a shade lower on sunday, around 7—9 celsius.