this is bbc news. i'm anjana gadgil. our top stories... a speaker has not been elected. the senior us republican kevin mccarthy suffers his 14th defeat of the week, failing to secure the votes needed to lead the us house of representatives, but another round of voting is now under way. a six—year—old boy has shot his school teacher in the us state of virginia, in what police say was not an accidental shooting. the individual is a six—year—old student. he is, right now, in police custody, as we're working out the best way through our partners and different resources to address the situation. this was not an

accidental shooting. ukrainian officials accuse russians of opening fire in several areas — in spite of a temporary ceasefire ordered by president putin. mexico's president defends the military operation that captured the son ofjailed drug trafficker el chapo, triggering violence that killed at least 29 people. cheering and the flamboyant stars of the drag queen world hit the pink carpet in east london. the us republican kevin mccarthy has fallen agonisingly short in his latest attempt to be elected speaker of the house of representatives. he needed one more vote to secure victory, but has now failed 1a times, in a matter of days.

there was a heated exchange on the floor of the chamber when mr mccarthy confronted one of the rebels, matt gaetz, who has repeatedly blocked his election. a 15th vote is now under way. david willis is our north america correspondent in washington. david, some extraordinary scenes on capitol hill. tell us what you saw from your perspective. what you saw from your perspective-_ perspective. yes, it is breathtaking, - perspective. yes, it is breathtaking, isn't - perspective. yes, it is breathtaking, isn't it i perspective. yes, it is - breathtaking, isn't it really? you avert your gaze for more than 15 seconds and it all changes, it would seem. they were going to adjourn after kevin mccarthy lost that 14th vote over the course of the last four days, of course, these votes have been going on on the floor of the lower chamber. then word reached mccarthy's people that matt gaetz, the republican congressman who has been a holdout, he is a firm supporter of donald trump, was willing to cast his vote in favour of

kevin mccarthy. so they then had a vote not to adjourn. and now they are going to have this 15th vote. and this vote is likely to see kevin mccarthy voted in as speaker. on the 15th occasion. after what has been a really bewildering night here and a night that very few in american politics can remember anything similar to. what made matt gaetz change his mind and do you think he will go through with his vote for kevin mccarthy? the go through with his vote for kevin mccarthy? the answer to the second _ kevin mccarthy? the answer to the second question _ kevin mccarthy? the answer to the second question is, - kevin mccarthy? the answer to the second question is, yes, i the second question is, yes, because there were signs of confrontation on the floor of the house. there were words exchanged between matt gaetz following that last failed vote and other republican lawmakers. it all got a bit ugly. there was a suggestion of a physical altercation as well. and matt

gaetz has apparently decided, so word has it, that he is going to vote instead of present, he is going to vote yes, and that will give kevin mccarthy the 217 votes he needs to gain the speakership. in answer to your question of what made all the difference, well, there are rumours, unconfirmed rumours that it took a phone call from donald trump himself urging not only matt gaetz, but another republican holdout, andy biggs, to basically clear this matter up tonight. they faced a lot of very bad publicity over the course of the weekend. if this matter was to have adjourned until monday, a lot of people would be asking why on earth the business of state has been held up in this way and so on. and all the time that there wasn't a presence on the floor, it was possible

there could be further dissension. and even less opportunity to form a consensus. so the decision was taken to consensus. so the decision was ta ken to press consensus. so the decision was taken to press ahead with this tonight, on words that matt gaetz is going to vote yes for kevin mccarthy. somebody he has bitterly opposed up till now. but such has been, such have been the concessions from kevin mccarthy's people. these include plum positions on committees. they include things like, for example, the right of a single member to vote out the speaker, vote the speaker out of office. all the sorts of things. that's why some are saying that kevin mccarthy, assuming he takes up the speakership role, we'll have it somebody put it the sword of damocles hanging over his head because it would just take one vote from one member to strip him of the speakership. there is no question, though, that

given all we have seen over the last few days and indeed the last few days and indeed the last few days and indeed the last few hours and we are continuing to see now that this is going to be a very contentious session of congress and a very contentious of years on the floor of the lower chamber. on the floor of the lower chamber-— on the floor of the lower chamber. , ., ., chamber. david, it is a real soap opera _ chamber. david, it is a real soap opera and _ chamber. david, it is a real soap opera and we - chamber. david, it is a real soap opera and we will - chamber. david, it is a real- soap opera and we will continue to watch it. thank you very much. in other news. a six—year—old boy is in police custody after a teacher was shot and wounded at an elementary school in virginia. the teacher has suffered a life—threatening gunshot wound after an altercation at richneck elementary school in the city of newport news. peter dujardin is a reporter at the daily press and the virginian—pilot in newport news and has been following the story. well, at about 2pm... at 2pm, a student was in an altercation with his teacher in

a first—grade classroom. we don't know how he brought this gun into school, but he pulls out a gun and shoots the teacher during this altercation. i know from talking to another student in the classroom, with the permission of her parents, a six—year—old girl told me that she watched this kid shoot her teacher on purpose. the teacher fell to her knees. i said, did the teacher scream or anything, what did the teacher say? she said, the teacher said nothing, shejust fell to her knees and told the other kids to go to a different classroom. and then the police apparently somehow got notified, i guess from other administrators. and they got on—scene within minutes. but the teacher had life—threatening injuries. she was taken to a hospital. we were told that she is...

had made some positive improvements today. so, hopefully, she'll be ok. but she's still in the hospital with life—threatening injuries right now. the kid is a six—year—old boy, he's in custody. and i don't know exactly... the one issue is, how did he bring this gun into school, how did he have access to this gun? and also, what happened in this altercation with the teacher? like, what transpired in this altercation, what was it about? we don't know the answer to that. yes, there's certainly a lot for the authorities to investigate over coming days. of course, a six—year—old involved in this kind of incident is horrific and very, very unusual. but are guns an issue in newport news and in the area of virginia where you live?

absolutely. guns are a big issue here, there's a fairly high crime rate in newport news and all around this region. but they do have... there is one issue that a lot of parents talk about. they have metal detectors that are set up, that they do have deployed in all of the schools, that are kind of randomised. where they don't use them, like, if you go into the school, you don't always have to go through a metal detector. but they kind of deploy them on occasions, spot—checking, once in a while, they will use them. so there is... in a prior shooting that we had back in 2021, a lot of parents talked about, why are they not using these metal detectors more often? the answer to that you hear back from the school divisions

is that it creates logistical problems getting into the building. there has to be only one entrance. and it also creates a feeling that the kids are in prison when they go into the school. so they don't want to do... they really don't want to do mandatory metal detector checks on all kids going into the school. peter dujardin. talking to me earlier. ukraine has accused russia of continuing its offensive, despite president putin announcing a 36—hour ceasefire to mark the russian orthodox christmas. ukraine didn't agree to the truce and has dismissed it as a cynical ploy by the russians to resupply their forces. there have been reports of continuing artillery fire on the frontline near the city of kramatorsk, which is in ukrainian hands. our correspondentjames waterhouse sent this update from the area. very few expected this ceasefire to actually work. this is a part of ukraine

which is no stranger to war. before the full—scale invasion, the army had been fighting russian—backed separatists here. we are very close to the front line, and we've already heard sirens. a possible symptom of the ceasefire not working. but relatively close by, in the city of bakhmut, where we're seeing some of the heaviest fighting, there have been reports of artillery fire being exchanged by both sides. russian forces have accused ukraine of targeting its positions. ukrainian officials close by have accused russian forces of doing the same. i think these accusations and counter accusations were expected. but, look, vladimir putin had said he wanted to allow orthodox christians to celebrate christmas. all the early signs suggest that this was probably more part of the information war, rather than a meaningful gesture of goodwill.

lesya orobets, who is a ukrainian mp, told me that the russians have never kept their word on ceasefires before, so no—one believed they would do it this time around either. truth is, nobody bought it. we had so many attempts of ceasefires since 2014, when the war actually started, and there was not a single attempt when russians kept their word. and this isjust like a tradition. none of the agreements signed by russia — starting with the budapest memorandum and the friendship and border agreement in 1987 — isn't worth the paper they took it. moreover, we gave up heavy bombers and rockets which are, right now, falling on our heads. two hours on the christmas eve, each and every ukrainian spent in a bombing shelter, because there was an air siren. bombers were in the area,

detected over the air of belarus, so no ceasefire is happening right now. it's clearly an important day for russia and for russians, should there have been a ceasefire? erm, i would love to. but as i said, we have russians who believe that they are russian empire, and we have a madman leading their army, and getting more and more troops on our borders these days. so, unfortunately, we do not see how that can happen. we see that this war can be ended on the warfield, not around the table of negotiations. we tried negotiations, they didn't work. we tried them for eight years, no way. they attacked us and they keep attacking. and moreover, they are the threat not only to ukraine — having the nuclear without any check and balances in the hands of a madman,

this is the real threat. we've seen a lot of horror movies, but now, this is the biggest horror movie happening during our lifetime. your president believes that the ceasefire may have been used, or was used, as an excuse to resupply troops for russia. do you think that's happened? yes, zelensky is right, giving this kind of estimation. they're just buying time. they can pretend to be as much christian as possible, but i can remind you that easter — also the biggest christian church celebration — we were mourning the bucha tragedy, and there was no ceasefire on easter or on trinity. so christmas, when they're actually starting to lose, they try to buy themselves time to regroup and to get theirforces in a position to attack us once more, as our intelligence reports to us. you are watching bbc news.

the headlines: the senior us republican kevin mccarthy has suffered his 14th defeat of the week — failing to secure the votes needed to lead the us house of representatives — but another round of voting is now under way. a six year old boy has shot his school teacher in the us state of virginia, in what police say was not an accidental shooting. the mexican president has defended the military operation that captured a drug cartel leader, ovidio guzman, the son ofjailed drug trafficker el chapo. violence erupted in culiacan, a stronghold of the cartel. at least 19 members of the sinaloa cartel and ten members of the military were killed. the arrest comes ahead of a visit by president biden to mexico on sunday. shelley phelps reports. the son of the notorious drug lord el chapo arrested and taken to the same maximum—security prison his father

escaped from eight years ago. ovidio guzman is accused of leading a faction of his father's former cartel — one of the largest drug—trafficking organisations in the world. the arrest sparked a wave of violence. dozens were killed, including ten military personnel. the president of mexico has defended the operation. translation: we regret the loss of lives of those who died - while carrying out theirjobs. we also regret other losses. following the arrest, dozens of vehicles were set alight, and at least two planes at local airports were hit by gunfire, in attacks blamed on the sinaloa cartel. translation: these criminal i organisations shot with weapons at aircraft and the mexican air force, and from commercial airlines, and at the international culiacan airport facilities. nevertheless, they did not achieve their goal of resucing

achieve their goal of rescuing the alleged offender because we neutralised him. this isn't the first time such violence has been seen. guzman was first captured in 2019, but mexican security forces released him to avoid the threat of further retribution from his supporters. we, of course, have been closely following... he's been on america's radar for years, with the us state department previously offering a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction. on sunday, president biden is due to visit mexico, but ministers have rejected suggestions by mexican media that guzman's capture is in any way a welcoming gift. shelley phelps, bbc news. earlier, i spoke to loan grillo, a journalist and author of el narco and blood gun money. i asked him how significant

the arrest had been. ovidio is one of four brothers known as los chapitos, who are one faction in the sinaloa cartel, that is one of several cartels. but politically, it's very important. when, in 2019, the mexican army detained ovidio and he was released, that really showed impunity. it made it look like gangsters could do what they liked, and it made the current mexican president, lopez obrador, look very weak or corrupt in working with them. so for him, this kind of arrest kind of slays those demons and is very important politically to show that he is fighting drug cartels. so, tell us a little bit more about this sinaloa cartel. because he's been accused of leading a faction of the cartel which is run by his father. yes, so, the sinaloa cartel is kind of the network which is the oldest and perhaps richest drug cartel in mexico, which came from the mountains of sinaloa. now, el chapo grew up in the mountains and was harvesting the opium poppies to make heroin and marijuana from when he was a young guy. his sons are very different.

they're like privately educated kids who grew up... they've changed the cartel and modernised it. they're more interested in synthetic drugs, importing chemicals from china to make fentanyl and crystal meth. and these are really driving huge overdose deaths in the united states. in 2021, there was 107 overdose deaths in the united states, which is why there's a lot of pressure there for mexico to try and arrest some of these people. of course, his arrest resulted or created a lot of violence, with 19 members of the cartel killed and ten members of the military. how are things now? well, things are in a tense calm in sinaloa. i mean, the amount of unrest was... the citizens were confined to their houses, there were blockades all the way up through sinaloa and in the next state of sonora. a kind of terror, but tragically, in mexico, this

terror has become normalised. but people are still scared about something else happening, there are rumours of members of the cartel threatening the government with an ultimatum that unless they release ovidio, they will strike more civilian and military targets, so people are still worried. but right, now at least, there is calm, but with the cartel violence that has been happening in mexico for the last few years, surely more incidents will happen sooner or later in some part of the country or other. yes, that is my last question as well — will these cartels always have a grip on the city? i mean, i have been covering this cartel conflict for the last 20 years and it has really only got worse. they have got in many ways more powerful, more entrenched, their paramilitary tactics in popular culture, they're kind of like, the leaders are like a combination of rock stars, paramilitary leaders and criminal ceos. and i think it will be a long time before there's change. i think maybe 10, 15, 20 years, maybe a generation,

maybe until the core economic factors of drug trafficking change or maybe other demographic changes can really stop this violence. another problem is that guns are still flowing down from the united states and they're the main arms that these gangsters have and are using to carry out this violence. northern california has been battered by torrential rain, heavy snow and severe flooding for the last three days. tens of thousands of homes are without power and it will cost thousands of dollars to put right the trail of damage that's been left behind. the seaside towns of santa cruz and capitola bore the brunt of the storms, as wendy urquhart reports. residents of santa cruz wander through the streets taking in the damage wrought by the storms, but it must be almost impossible to know where to begin when this is what you're faced with. trees have been ripped up by their roots and there's debris everywhere. local resident sean berry can hardly believe his eyes. there's a house down at the end

of the private neighbourhood that completely lifted off its foundation. it's sitting in the middle of the street, blocking the rest of the neighbourhood off, you know? till they move that, nobody�*s getting out of the end there. some six miles south of santa cruz, the seaside town of capitola was completely devastated. 35—foot waves tore the wharf apart and brought down the wooden walkway to the pier, which is highly popular with tourists. waterfront businesses are completely submerged, and firefighters are hard at work clearing away fallen trees and debris. so, the clean—up is under way, but locals are already bracing themselves for the next wave of storms that are predicted to batter the coastline in the coming days. wendy urquhart, bbc news. it's funny, flamboyant and, most of all, fabulous. drag has a long history in london, and the stars of the drag queen world gathered to strut their stuff down a pink carpet in the city. wendy hurrell was there.

hello from the pink carpet laid out for dragcon, at the excel centre. brightening up the grey, dreary months are the sequins and the wigs and the flamboyant artistry of the finest drag queens. and this is an important convention too because it's where people can feel accepted and be themselves. having 150 queens from the phenomenally successful tv show rupaul�*s drag race in the same room? well, there's some energy. and we were left to marvel at a parade of elaborate costumes and make—up that adorn these performers. which allows forfull expression of their extravagant personas. some fans got quite emotional. i don't know, ever since i found her, it's just kind of like... solidarity with the weird girls, you know? that's sort of why i got so emotional there. it's such an escape from reality, having so much

fun watching them perform. they're just amazing, ijust love it. the queens, no less excited to be here to meet them. this time of year, it's so tough to keep motivated and keep smiling and keep going. how do you do it, darting? i think the biggest thing to do is paint on a smile, put your favourite colour on and just have a gorgeous time. january is tough on everyone, especially at the moment, with the cost—of—living crisis, christmas is over, it's bleak, so it's so important to do something that makes you feel fabulous and to give you those endorphins that make you feel happy and positive. and if you smile, the world smiles with you. in a wider context, this kind of gathering is important for the lgbt community. this is a safe place. this is a place where your tribe can come together and be whoever you want to be. and ru's always said that the thing about drag is that becoming the image of your imagination is one of the most powerful things you can do, and that's

what dragcon is all about. it's just a really good way to, like, build community with other people, especially if you don't really know anybody who's queer in your hometown. it's just really important thatj it's accessible for everybody, just to show that - this is something that should be celebrated. it celebrates women, it doesn't make fun of us. obviously, the majority are gay men who do it, but now it's more like cisgendered queens getting into the limelight and ijust really love that. ru paul is now on the decks. setting the tone for the whole weekend. over to sell it, baby. we have queens, me and you, we have got you lot. so come over here, babies, and have a gorgeous time. love you! bye, i've got to go. see you! well, they're busy ladies! wendy hurrell, bbc london. that looks like a good way to spend the weekend.

you can reach me on twitter. i'm @anjanagadgil. and there is more on the bbc news website. you are watching bbc news. hello there. friday was a calm and settled day, thanks to a ridge of high pressure. fine end to the working week, however. into the weekend, low pressure firmly in control. it's going to be windy, with gales, certainly around the coast, and there will be some rain, followed by bands of heavy showers. that's the early rain that will move through today, and that will be followed for the rest of saturday and sunday with blustery showers, strong winds and some sunny spells in—between. most of the showers in the south and west. you can see here the rainfall accumulations over the next couple of days, where most of those showers will be falling. a very wet start for saturday across more central and western areas. that rain band gradually pushing eastwards, affecting eastern england during the latter part of the morning.

by around lunchtime, it should clear out into the north sea. all areas are brighter, with sunny spells, scattered showers, some heavy ones across southern and western areas, and it will be windy, with gales around coasts. you can see the wind speeds even further east, but touching gale force around southern and western coasts. some huge waves crashing onshore as well. temperatures starting mild and dropping back into the afternoon, highs of 8—11 degrees. it stays blustery overnight saturday night, windy gales in the north and west, plenty of showers in southern and western areas, drier interludes further east, and temperatures falling to lows of 5—8 degrees — that's pretty typical. then for sunday, an area of low pressure to the north of scotland, lots of isobars on the charts, not quite as many as saturday. so it's still going to be windy, not as windy, and weather fronts towards the south will enhance the shower activity. so it could be southern and western parts of england and wales seeing the heaviest of the showers through the day. some heavy, some rumbles of thunder, some hail mixed in as well, but there will be

some sunshine around too. but it's going to be a chilly day across the board, highs of 7—10 degrees in the south. monday is a little bit quieter, we are in—between weather systems. still quite blustery in the north and west. here's where we will see most of the showers — northern ireland and scotland, could be a wintry element to some of these over the high ground, as the air will be cooler on monday. highs of 5—8 degrees here, up to around 10 degrees in the south. this is a little closer to the seasonal norm. so, the weather's up and down as we head through the new week. tuesday's mild, wet, windy again. followed by some slightly cooler weather on wednesday.

this is bbc news, the headlines: the senior us republican kevin mccarthy has suffered yet another defeat — his 14th of the week — failing to secure the votes needed to lead the us house of representatives after predicting he would prevail. another round of voting is now currently under way. a six—year—old boy has shot his school teacher in the us state of virginia, in what police say was not an accidental shooting. officers have taken the boy into custody. the teacher is in hospital with what's being described as a life—threatening injury. ukraine has accused russia of continuing its offensive despite president putin announcing a 36—hour ceasefire to mark the russian orthodox christmas. ukraine never agreed

to a truce and has dismissed it as a cynical ploy by the russians to resupply their forces.