this is bbc news. i'm rich preston. our top stories: a speaker has not been elected. the longest race in more than 150 years:

been derailing attempts to elect him. 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. it hasn't taken this long to elect a speaker

in more than 160 years, and that was before the american civil war. now into a third day, the deadlock remains. the republican leader still unable to get enough votes within his own party, but nor can anyone else. we are just going to keep working until we solve it. or maybe not. a speaker has not been elected. the speaker has not been elected. a speaker has not been elected. and while there's no speaker, the house can't do a thing — no committees, no legislation, no rules. a chamber utterly paralysed and locked into a seemingly endless loop. well, it's groundhog day. democrats who have voted for their leader solidly on every ballot have been quietly enjoying the spectacle. some rebels are even voting for people who aren't members of the house. donald john trump. for two nights, negotiations have gone long with little outcome. the 20 or so rebels have extracted multiple concessions

during this process. every one of them weakening the position for whoever ends up as 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 will go for some kind of compromise candidate among republicans, but no—one has any idea how long that could take. gary o'donoghue, bbc news, washington. we can now speak to republican strategistjp carroll. he joins us from washington. thank you for being with us. good evening to you there in dc. taking control of the house the first time in several years, the republicans could have been wielding this power using it wisely. instead, that has not happened. why? h0. using it wisely. instead, that has not happened. why? no, it is not. thank— has not happened. why? no, it is not. thank you _ has not happened. why? no, it is not. thank you for _ has not happened. why? no, it is not. thank you for having - has not happened. why? no, itj is not. thank you for having me on. this is a result of a few

different things. firstly, the red wave that was so widely predicted ultimately did not materialise during the mid—term elections, resulting in is very narrow majority, and with that, it seems that republican leader kevin mccarthy seems to have been complacent, really, as far as negotiating for this role, and he has had since the first week of november to get this done, the fact that it has come down to now multiple votes, the most since 1855. it is embarrassing. it is amateur hour. so now we are left with this scenario, this impasse, where it remains unclear if there really is for him due to there really is for him due to the opposition he has from the 20 or so members. i5 the opposition he has from the 20 or so members.— 20 or so members. is there anything — 20 or so members. is there anything mr— 20 or so members. is there anything mr macarthur - 20 or so members. is there anything mr macarthur can | 20 or so members. is there i anything mr macarthur can do 20 or so members. is there - anything mr macarthur can do to secure the agreement and the feminist in the house and secure his future? i feminist in the house and secure his future?-

feminist in the house and secure his future? i am not really anything _ secure his future? i am not really anything that - secure his future? i am not really anything that is. - secure his future? i am not really anything that is. it i really anything that is. it seems like there have been many concessions have already been given by mccarthy to this group of members elect. for some of them such as chip way of texas among others, all has to do with the change of the procedural rules of the house as far as having more time to read bills, think that is, and then you have things like representative elect matt gates of florida, representative elect lauren gilbert of colorado, this really seems personal, and it seems like they will continue to move the goalposts just to ensure that mccarthy does not land the role stop really, mccarthy, he invalidated his candidacy two years ago, and tomorrow will be the two—year anniversary, sadly, of the insurrection of the capital, and with that, it is just deeply the capital, and with that, it isjust deeply saddening the capital, and with that, it is just deeply saddening when you think about the fact that reportedly on the day of the

insurrection, the attempted insurrection, the attempted insurrection, that mccarthy spoke then president trump and said that he felt that those coming to the capital were going to kill him, and by the end of the month, he then goes down to the former president's club in florida to meet with him it was all smiles for a photo opportunity. the disingenuous nurse i think has come around and now here is the end result, because what people are not talking about is that also that moderates in the party, many of them are not terribly fond of mccarthy either. ~ ., ., ~' terribly fond of mccarthy either. ~ ., ., ~ ., either. when we look at political _ either. when we look at political crisis _ either. when we look at political crisis unfolding | either. when we look at l political crisis unfolding in other countries, will look at the bigger party strategy. is there a bigger gop strategy or it is much more about the individuals?— it is much more about the individuals? ., ~' ., ~' individuals? you know, i think this is, individuals? you know, i think this is. for— individuals? you know, i think this is, for the _ individuals? you know, i think this is, for the moment, - individuals? you know, i think| this is, for the moment, about the individual. i don't see a strategy at the moment and it is really a tale of two

individuals, about mccarthy and former president trump. if this does not work out for mccarthy, this will be the biggest loss yet forformer president this will be the biggest loss yet for former president trump that many candidates who he endorsed in the midterms and ultimately lost, and so with both of them i think you see mccarthy's influence in the house of representatives clearly on the decline with his own caucus, and with president trump within the party if you lose it. so expect some canvas will have to enlarge in some coming days. will have to enlarge in some coming days-_ will have to enlarge in some coming days. thank you very much. thank— coming days. thank you very much. thank you. _ let's cross the border to mexico now where three members of the country's security forces have died and 18 people have been admitted to hospital in the northwestern state of sinaloa. violence has broken out across the state following the arrest one of the leaders of an infamous criminal gang. 0vidio guzman—lopez is the son of the notorious drug lord dubbed �*el chapo'.

the arrest comes just days before us presidentjoe biden is due to visit mexico for a summit next week. azadeh moshiri reports. el chapo's drug cartel is fighting back, and now the state of sinaloa is locked in battle. the notorious drug lord is serving a life sentence in the united states. now, after six months of careful surveillance, mexico's armed forces have captured his son, 0visio guzman—lopez. along with other cartel members. translation: they were arrested while carrying weapons that - belonged exclusively to the mexican army and the air force. moments after his arrest, cells that are part of his criminal group set up 19 roadblocks and armed attacks in different parts in the city of culiacan. the governor is warning residents to shelter in place, warning there is a danger across the city of culiacan. even a plane scheduled to fly from the city

was hit by bullets before taking off. the mexican defence minister has said us officials assisted with the surveillance operation. el chapo's son has been on america's radar for some time. the state department says he and his brother joaquin have overseen around 11 methamphetamine labs in the state of sinaloa. they also believe he also oversaw the murder of informants, a drug trafficker and even a popular mexican singer who had refused to sing at his wedding. we of course have closely been following the violence in parts of mexico, namely in sinaloa, over the past few days, there has been reports of gunfire, roadblocks and fires throughout the cities of culiacan, los mochis in sinaloa, mexico. this isn't the first time the cartel has taken hold of the area.

mr guzman—lopez was arrested before in october 2019, but the president ordered his release to put an end to the violence that broke out. this time, the same question hovers over officials — how far are they willing to go to keep hold of el chapo's son? azadeh moshiri, bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news. ukraine has dismissed an announcement by president putin of a 36—hour ceasefire to coincide with russian orthodox christmas. president zelensky said the truce was an attempt to stop ukraine's military advances and allow russian forces and equipment to move closer to ukrainian positions. the ceasefire is due to come into effect at midday on friday. a new study says around half of the world's glaciers are likely to disappear by the end of the century because of climate change. is limited to 1.5 degrees celsius

and damar hamlin has shown "remarkable improvement" mr hamlin remains in critical condition, but doctors are pleased with his progress. the nfl have also confirmed the game he was taken ill in won't be replayed. now, there have been further revelations by prince harry about his life in britain's royal family. his new book isn't due out until next week, but parts of it have already been made public after it was accidentally put on sale early in parts of spain. i don't know how staying silent is ever going to make things better. so says harry in the latest trailer for the interview he's given to itv, setting out his grievances against his family — grievances which are

to be set out in startling detail in his book, spare, to be published worldwide next tuesday. the guardian's new york correspondent and "abrasive". harry said william was "parroting the press narrative." then, according to the guardian account...

harry, it appears, has no regrets about sharing private family moments. he is challenged by tom bradby in the itv interview. wouldn't your brother say to you, "after everything, "after everything we went through" — wouldn't that be what he would say? he'd probably say all sorts of different things. some people will say you have railed against invasions of your most 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. so amid all these attacks on his family, what does harry see as his future? if you are invited to the coronation, will you come? there's a lot to be discussed and i really hope that they are willing to sit down and talk about it.

for now, neither buckingham palace nor kensington palace are making any comment. nicholas witchell with that report. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: we'll bring you the fishy tale of the unusual rescue of a four—legged swimmer in the pacific. 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, they say international artists around the world people

have been paying tribute at the age of 69. the world's tallest skyscraper opens later today. the burj dubai has easily overtaken its nearest rivals. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: for an historic eleventh time, hardline us republicans have prevented their own party's candidate, kevin mccarthy, from being elected speaker of the house of representatives. deadly violence has erupted in the mexican state of sinaloa following the arrest of the son of the drug baron �*el chapo' guzman. the covid 0micron subvariant, xbb.1.5, is causing concern among scientists after its rapid spread

in the united states in december. the world health organization says it's the most transmissible omicron sub—variant that has been detected so far. the new variant was estimated to account for over 40% of covid—19 cases in the united states in the last week of december. according to data from the us centers for disease control and prevention. dr mati hlatshwayo davis is director of health in st louis missouri. and joins us now. thank you very much for being with us. what more do we know about this subvariants?— subvariants? what we know is over the past _ subvariants? what we know is over the past month - subvariants? what we know is over the past month it - subvariants? what we know is over the past month it has - over the past month it has doubled in its proportion every week. that type of increase is alarming, now accounting for 45% of cases in the us and in the north—east as high as 75%. so definitely the variant to watch and we anticipate at this rate it will be the dominant

variants of concern in the coming weeks.— variants of concern in the coming weeks. talk about it spreading — coming weeks. talk about it spreading across _ coming weeks. talk about it spreading across the - coming weeks. talk about it spreading across the us, i coming weeks. talk about it - spreading across the us, where is it particularly bad is there any way it has not reached so far? �* , ., , any way it has not reached so far? �* , . , , ., far? as we have seen in prior new variants _ far? as we have seen in prior new variants coming - far? as we have seen in prior new variants coming into - far? as we have seen in prior new variants coming into the | new variants coming into the us, the east coast is where we see high proportion of cases, it was first detected in october in connecticut in new york, so that northeast region really with the highest proportion of cases, up to 75%. we are not seeing those types of numbers in the mid west where i am, but, again, we always see about a two — three week lag, typically as we have seen over the past couple of years. seen over the past couple of ears. �* , seen over the past couple of ears. ~ , ., , years. are we seeing any impact on heapital_ years. are we seeing any impact on hospital admission, - on hospital admission, intensive care beds, anything like that? . , ., like that? excellent question. auain, like that? excellent question. again. the — like that? excellent question. again, the typical— like that? excellent question. again, the typical pattern - like that? excellent question. again, the typical pattern is l again, the typical pattern is to see a lag or delay in hospitalisation. i will say,

the omicron wave, which has been the highest to date and has seen record cases last year, almost a year now go, we did see a change in what we saw towards the beginning of the pandemic, where while there were extraordinarily high number of cases it did not reflect in hospitalisations and deaths as much. this is likely due to the increased immunity from both people who have been vaccinated and people who have gained natural immunity from previous infections. however, thatis previous infections. however, that is not the full story. we still have reason to be concerned because the people who are most likely to be hospitalised, to have severe illness or, hopefully, not to die, are the most high risk, are elderly and immunocompromised. so this is still a cause for concern because as numbers go up is that high risk population that we are concerned about. i’ll that high risk population that we are concerned about. i'll be exneeting _ we are concerned about. i'll be exneeting to — we are concerned about. i'll be expecting to see _ we are concerned about. i'll be expecting to see authorities i we are concerned about. i'll be expecting to see authorities in| expecting to see authorities in state or as a federal level reintroducing measures that they have previously used,

masks or testings or lockdowns? two questions here, should they add will they? unfortunately, i don't have any confidence that evenif don't have any confidence that even if public health officials, scientists, or physicians like myself did feel that those measures were necessary that it will happen. the politics have moved to such an extent that there really isn't any confidence for those of us in this field that that will happen, which is unfortunate because the message we are sending to the public is that we can turn on and turn off pandemics and that's simply not how they work. there is a transition time between wanting to go from a pandemic to calling something an epidemic or endemic and we did not reach that. drying up of congress funds, not having sufficient funding for public officials like myself as the director of healthier at a major city to have vaccinations, to take care of public health campaigns and things of that nature will

really hurt us. and who will suffer? disproportionately black and brown communities in the united states and, again, those at risk groups, elderly and you comprise.— those at risk groups, elderly and you comprise. 0k, doctor mati hlatshwayo _ and you comprise. 0k, doctor mati hlatshwayo davis, - and you comprise. 0k, doctor mati hlatshwayo davis, thank| mati hlatshwayo davis, thank you very much for showing your insights with us. let's go to south—east asia now, and the philippines is ranked as one of the countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. it's regularly hit by powerful storms, landslides, and flooding. on the country'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 absorb 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 this special 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 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. 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. a daring rescue operation has been taking place off the coast of chile. firefighters and navy personnel were alerted to a dog stuck on a rocky out—crop near the city of concepcion. the bbc�*s tim allman takes up the . —— has the story. it's a grey, bleakjanuary day in the stormy waters of the south pacific. look carefully at this black rock and the moving object scampering across its surface. a dog has somehow got stranded as the wind and rain lashes down around it. rescue teams look on as the animal is slowly forced

into the water. once there, as it paddles for its life, one of the rescuers approaches from behind, trying his best to soothe and reassure. finally, he's able to grab hold of the dog and eventually it's pulled up into one of the boats. mission accomplished, although it wasn't entirely straightforward. translation: the rescue | was a little complicated due to the rocks, because of the steepness, but thank god we could do it successfully. once back on dry land, the dog — a she by the way — was taken to a navy base and give it a bit of tlc. who should belonged to and how she got out on your own remains a mystery. she will now be put up for adoption. her new home will hopefully be a bit more hospitable and a little less damp. tim allman, bbc news.

adorable. i would take her in a heartbeat. that is it from us now. you can reach me on twitter. i'm @richpreston. thanks for watching. bye—bye. 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.

this is bbc news. the headlines: paralysis continues in the us congress with the republican leader in the house kevin mccarthy failing in his 11th attempt to get elected speaker. the session has now been adjourned and voting will continue on friday. a small group of republicans has been derailing attempts to elect him. three mexican security personnel have died in the northwestern state of sinaloa in violence that broke out following the arrest of a leader of an infamous criminal gang. 0vidio guzman—lopez is the son of the notorious drug lord dubbed �*el chapo', who's serving a life sentence in a us jail. there've been further revelations by prince harry about his life in britain's royal family. his new book isn't due out until next week, but parts of it have

already been made public. it contains a series of claims, including an allegation his