this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm samantha simmonds. our top stories... after dramatic scenes in the us house of representatives, the republican kevin mccarthy is finally elected speaker — at the fifteenth attempt. it's not how you start it's how you finish, and now we need to finish strong for the american people. the uk's prime minister is holding talks with health officials in an attempt tackle the ongoing challenges facing the nhs. iran hangs two men for allegedly killing a security official during anti—government protests. a six—year—old boy has shot and injured his school teacher in the us state of virginia, in what police say was not an accidental shooting.

president zelensky welcomes the announcment of us military as ukraine celebrates its orthodox christmas, russian—backed forces say they have downed a drone. kevin mccarthy has been elected speaker of the us house of representatives after heated exchanges which almost saw fellow republicans come to blows. it took four days, 15 votes, and numerous concessions, but the 20 or so rebels within his own party were eventually persuaded. sancha berg reports. after more than four days, it was over... ..of which the honourable i kevin mccarthy of the state of california has received 216. cheering and applause ..to cheers from republicans in the house. chanting: usa! usa! usa! i from republicans in the house. the democrat leader, hakeem jeffries, handed

over the gavel. . .. kevin mccarthy. cheering and applause ..to the new speaker's clear relief. that was easy, huh? laughter i never thought we'd get up here. this should have been a straightforward process, after republicans won a slim majority in the house last year. it usually takes just one ballot. not this time. a speaker has not been elected... a speaker has not been elected... it took 15 ballots because right—wing republicans refused to vote for their own party leader. after arm—twisting and promises, some shifted. but this process, and the concessions granted to break the deadlock, mean problems most likely lie ahead. basic functions of government — like funding the government, like, you know, having basic rules for how bills become a law — all of that's going to stop as well, so we're going to see a lot of

problems going forward. it's two years since the capitol came under attack. the problems now are part donald trump's legacy — his supporters, the ones who've delayed this vote. sanchia berg, bbc news. earlier, i spoke to thomas gift in washington dc. he is the director of the centre on us politics at university college london. he explained how kevin mccarthy was able to win over votes within the republican party. there is still a lot that we don't know about exactly the concessions that kevin mccarthy has offered to the rebels. and that's in large part because republicans have been fairly tight—lipped about this. but certainly one mof the main concessions that the anti—mccarthy camp have been trying to extract, and they did so successfully, was to bust up some of the consolidation at the top and devolve more power into

the hands of individual members. one of the key ways they have done that is by making it easier to topple that speaker position. essentially, now what rank and file members can do is cast a vote on the speakership of kevin mccarthy. i think really that alone significantly weakens to position kevin mccarthy has going forward. kevin mccarthy was endorsed by donald trump, was in close contact with him, as were some of his opponents. just explain that to us. if the opponents also support trump and he supports trump, what was the problem, and what does it mean about trump and his impact on the party now? that's a great question. essentially, trump acolytes were key figures opposing kevin mccarthy. trump himself was a supporter of kevin mccarthy. it shows that some of these splits are notjust trump versus non—trump any more, and i think in itself it does reveal the limits of trump's power.

one of the ironies of the speaker fiasco as it involved a fringe group of hard right republicans exerting their power in the aftermath of an election, when their entire brand had been largely repudiated by voters nationally. one thing about mid—2022 midterms, it means election deniers did not ultra—maga types and january 6th apologists did not do well at the polls, much to the chagrin of donald trump, and yet republicans that represent this wing of the party have not been deterred at all, it almost seems that they have been involved in. deterred at all in exerting their clout, and, in fact, and, in fact, it almost seems like they've been emboldened. what does it mean for mccarthy that he had to agree that any of the 435 members of the house can now vote to get rid of him? that is a great question. it essentially puts him in a straitjacket. at the same time i do think it is possible to overestimate the degree to which this puts republicans in a bind over the next two years. conventional wisdom is that mccarthy

and his colleagues have been hamstrung out of the gates and that they'll have difficulty governing as a result, but it's important to remember that governing was never really part of the plan — or at least not legislating and passing laws or trying to reach compromise with the democrats. instead we have been promised pure obstructionism, a litany of investigations, into hunter biden's laptop, the origins of covid—i9, crisis at us—mexico border, afghanistan. it is hard to make the case that republicans up and down the line are not completely united behind that, but that is one thing that will pool both camps together, trying to humiliate the white house and democrats more generally. while i do think that this speaker debacle has embarrassed republicans and we could mccarthy it is possible to overstate the implications for the party on capital hill. thomas gift there. here in the uk, the prime minister, health secretary, and ministers from the treasury are meeting health experts in downing street to try

to tackle the ongoing challenges facing the nhs in england. with record waits for ambulances dropping patients off at a&e, and reports of patients spending days on trolleys because of a lack of beds, senior doctors say the health service is on a knife edge. our correspondent sean dilley reports. to tackle the ongoing challenges facing the nhs in england. with record waits for ambulances dropping patients off at a&e, and reports of patients spending days on trolleys because of a lack of beds, senior doctors say the health service is on a knife edge. our correspondent sean dilley reports. reporter: how bad is the nhs crisis? it's a good question. what difference will today make? and there's another, that the health secretary steve barclay and ministers could be asked by those attending. on the front line, the pressures are clear. we've come in to 31 patients on the corridor and four patients on ambulances. there are 85 patients awaiting a medical bed, so these are patients that they've been seen in a&e and been seen by the medical doctors and are deemed to need to stay in. they need further care on a medical ward. unfortunately, there aren't any medical beds available. the whiston hospital in merseyside is not alone — it's a similar picture across the country. strike action and high levels of covid and flu are contributing to the pressures. 7 million people in england are waiting for non—urgent operations. the government says it's called

today's meetings to tackle the most crucial challenges. its four areas of focus will be gp services, emergency care, waiting lists and delays in discharging patients into social care. today's talks have been called by the government and are being led by the prime minister. health leaders, clinicians and medical experts are among those attending. but one of today's attendees, the health secretary steve barclay, is preparing for more talks on monday. he's meeting union leaders to discuss next year's pay settlement, but they say they're still unhappy with this year's. they want to talk about the future and they want to talk about this in broad terms. we'll, of course, go to the meeting and make the case for nursing in all forums, but it's sadly not what's going to prevent the strike action that's planned for ten days' time. today, though, the government says it wants to focus on unwarranted variations in performance in different areas, but senior doctors have been warning for some time that the nhs as a whole has been operating on a knife edge.

earllier i spoke to our political correspondent damian grammaticas who is at downing street. i think one thing you can expect is this, sort of, idea that the government is seen to be doing something, it is trying to galvanise a response. more than that, though, it something, it is trying to galvanise a response. more than that, though, it is something, it is trying to galvanise a response. more than that, though, it is difficult something, it is trying to galvanise a response. more than that, though, it is difficult to something, it is trying to galvanise a response. more than that, though, it is difficult to know something, it is trying to galvanise a response. more than that, though, it is difficult to know because something, it is trying to galvanise a response. more than that, though, it is difficult to know because this is most sort of strategy, managerial meeting of the sort of chiefs and bosses from around the health sector to look at ways they can make it more efficient and that is not affect the current crisis. the one thing perhaps they could do is if there is a way to free up some funds to be put into something like social care, care for the elderly, for people who have been discharged from hospital to make sure that staff aren't being haemorrhaged from those institutions and therefore there's space there to free up hospital

beds, put people into that care and therefore the whole system gets eased up but were not sure we're going to get anything like that. we know the prime minister will be talking tomorrow. he's got interviews lined up tomorrow so he may well seek to tell is what has come from this but in the meantime the really big problem he faces as this, sort of, political one. the choices he is facing about money being put into the health service, the unions, the staff, di mobilises here. they are overworked, underpaid. the current pay deal it got, well below inflation this is not enough. the only thing they say they are prepared to talk about is what might happen next year and the staff and the unions are saying that is not good enough and they are going on strike —— the government is not prepared to talk about what will happen with pay this year. much not prepared to talk about what will happen with pay this year.— happen with pay this year. much of an issue with _ happen with pay this year. much of an issue with this _ happen with pay this year. much of an issue with this work _ happen with pay this year. much of an issue with this work a _ an issue with this work a conservative government that been in power more than a—

power more than a decadel think it is difficult one, _ power more than a decadel think it is difficult one, obviously, - power more than a decadel think it is difficult one, obviously, and - power more than a decadel think it is difficult one, obviously, and the| is difficult one, obviously, and the crisis that hospitals say they are facing are huge issues with delays getting into care with health leaders and perhaps hundreds of people could be dying getting into the week. that sense of the pressures on the system is a really cute one and the big political problem but at the same time what it says as it faces a need to balance between those current issues and the wider economic problems, the difficulties it said following on from covid—19 in the crisis and the war in ukraine, the budgetary pressure it's under and it has a balancing act there to do and is trying to tackle inflation and cost of living pressures so it finds itself, sort of, course and cost of living pressures so it finds itself, sort of, caught in a bind there but it is a very at this point in time is when the most acute measures of air on the health service for all to see.

iran has hanged two men for allegedly killing a security official during anti—government protests. both were convicted of causing the death of a member of the loyalist basij militia near tehran. three others have been sentenced to death in the same case, while 11 received prison sentences. the trials are highly politicised, and the defendants are not granted choice of their own legal representation. let's hear more from khosro kalbasi isfahani — who's the iran analyst from bbc monitoring. these two men, mohammad mahdi karami and mohammad hosseini were executed this morning. their court cases have been described as rushed, a sham trial, a group trial, by amnesty international that had no resemblance of a meaningfuljudicial proceeding. these two men were deprived of the right to pick their own lawyers. theirfamilies have been campaigning to get them to choose their own lawyers. one of these men, mahdi karami, had gone on hunger strike. he was on hunger strike

when he was executed this morning and his family have been pleading to just get a chance to meet him before he is executed. his parents were literally outside the prison when he was executed this morning, and they were deprived of this right at the last moment. this is the whole case, the whole trial. we don't have access to the evidence. thejudicial system in iran has released some videos of the scene that allegedly shows the killing of a militiaman, but we haven't seen any proof of showing these men were involved in that incident. in addition to that, the judicial system has used their own confessions, but rights groups have long documented that islamic republic uses forced confessions and torture—tainted confessions to solicit these confessions against political prisoners.

let's get some of the day's other news thousands of california residents are without power after the state was hit with high winds, heavy rains and flooding. the rain has fallen on areas that were already saturated from a new year's eve storm. several more rounds of storms are expected this weekend and next week. mexico's president has defended the capture of a drug cartel leader, ovidio guzman, which triggered unrest in sinaloa state. andres manuel lopez obrador said the security forces acted responsibly during the operation, in which nearly 30 people died. chinese fintech giant ant group will no longer be controlled by its founder, billionaire jack ma. the announcement follows authorities cracking down on china's tech sector and leaders, which led to billions being sliced off the value of companies. a six—year—old boy has shot and wounded a teacher at a school in the us state of virginia. police say the teacher — a woman in her 30s —

suffered serious injuries in an altercation at richneck elementary school in the city of newport news. mechelle hankerson, the news director at whro public media in virginia has been following the story. we know the six—year—old child is in custody. we also know that the teacher had life—threatening injuries, but they are being treated for that, but nothing else has come from the police department. i think parents are scared. especially initially in some facebook groups, community facebook groups, parents were seeing, you know, a bunch of emergency vehicles all racing towards the school, going towards there, and, obviously, it takes a little bit of time to communicate what is going on, so i think there was a lot of fear especially considering we, ourarea of virginia just experienced a mass shooting in november, so i think that was the immediate fear. i think we might get

more information monday about potential charges. the child is in custody. the other aspect of this is that in virginia we have a child access prevention law, meaning that adults who, essentially, allow a child to use a firearm, if the firearm isn't kept safely or, you know, if for some reason they give a child a firearm to use in an uncontrolled environment, that adult can face a criminal charge and jail time, so i'm anticipating that we might get some more information about that. the majority of train services across britain will not run today, as rail workers from the rmt union continue their 48 hour walk—out. the strike is part of an ongoing dispute about pay, jobs and working conditions. people are being asked to avoid travelling by rail unless absolutely necessary. our business correspondent marc ashdown reports from king's cross.

this is the usual story, isn't it? we had five days of this now. the fifth straight day with no trains at all, really. just 20% of services across the uk are running today. i've got to say, it was like a really quiet. there are no trains on the board whatsoever. of course, some services are running. if you are lucky enough to get a train they started lot later this morning. they will be finished, though, early evening. you won't get many trains at all past about six o'clock this evening and of course large areas of the uk will get no services whatsoever. now, the good news is after a week of strikes this is the last one. once this 48 hour strike by the rmt union finishes tonight just before midnight there will be no more strikes for the foreseeable. there are no dates on the diary at all but make no mistake this dispute is far from resolved. all but make no mistake this dispute is farfrom resolved. it's been rumbling on sincejune, of course. involves 40,000 members of the rmt union, the specific dispute. half of

them work for the 14 rail companies and half of them work for network rail which operates all of the signalling, the sort of plumbing of the system really. now, it is over jobs, pay rise and working practices. there is a payoff on the table of course but it is some of those conditions that are really red lines for the unions. just for example, driver operated only train so it might, can't escape your attention if you get a train at the moment, the guards of the ones who open the doors and operate those. the company want to get rid of that and get the drivers to do that instead and it has been a red line for negotiation but there have been strong whispers tonight that that may be up for negotiation and possibly removal from the deal which may get things moving. no promises at the moment, though. nothing is confirmed and everyone keeping their cards close to their chest. mac ashdown marc ashdown at king's cross. president zelensky has welcomed a decision by the us to supply

ukraine with armoured fighting vehicles for the first time. he said they were exactly what the country needed. the americans will also provide surface—to—air missiles, armoured personnel carriers and artillery systems under a package of assistance worth more than three billion dollars. it follows a decision by germany to give ukraine 40 armoured troop carriers. this all comes as ukrainians celebrate orthodox christmas, the bbc�*s hugo bachega is in kyiv. millions of people across the country are celebrating orthodox christmas, one of the most important days in the ukrainian calendar, and this is an important day here, at kyiv�*s pechersk lavra monastery. this is the seat of the ukrainian orthodox church, which has ties to russia, and today for the first time in history the christmas service here is being led by leaders of the orthodox church of ukraine, which is an independent church. it gained independence four years ago. so this is a moment that is being celebrated here as a very significant moment. some people have said that this is a christmas miracle. some people who are here today told us they believe this is the day that is marking ukraine's independence from the russian church. this day is obviously happening as the war continues. president putin announced a unilateral ceasefire to allow people, in his words, to celebrate orthodox christmas

in parts of the country where fighting is happening. now some ukrainian officials say that russian forces have continued to attack ukrainian positions in some parts of the country, especially in the east of the country, and the ukrainian authorities had dismissed this announcement by president putin as cynical propaganda, but i think for those gathered here today, this is a moment of reflection, to mark an important day, orthodox christmas. hugo bachega. a court case in new york has left some red faces in the literary world. 30 year—old filippo bernardini was found guilty of stealing more than a thousand electronic manuscripts from authors, some of them very famous indeed — all of them signed to the leading publisher, simon and schuster. earlier, i discussed this with our europe regional editor paul moss. all that this guy, filippo bernardini did, he set up about 150 fake email accounts and fake websites and he sent similar emails,

except he was sending them to famous authors — ian mcewan, margaret atwood, the people who represent them. we kow that at least one pulitzer prize—winner was successfully targeted, but they won't say who. all these emails said was, you know, to an author, "this is your publisher here — can ijust get the latest draft of your book?" or he'd send it to the publishers saying, "this is the italian publishers — we do need a copy so we can get going on the translation." and it seemed to work. as you said, he not his and it seemed to work. as you said, he got his hands _ and it seemed to work. as you said, he got his hands on _ and it seemed to work. as you said, he got his hands on more _ and it seemed to work. as you said, he got his hands on more than - and it seemed to work. as you said, j he got his hands on more than 1000 manuscripts by famous authors and i think the timing of the trial, which ended yesterday, is very interesting because it's a week in which publishing security has been in the news. we were just hearing about prince harry's book where, of course, there was desperate efforts made to keep it secure, no leaks, and then what happened? it went on sale in a spanish book shop. it is sometimes an image, dare i say, people in the publishing industry that they may be a little living in

the ivory tower. on this occasion, it does seem that they were lacking in a bit of nous. truth? it does seem that they were lacking in a bit of nous.— in a bit of nous. why did he do it? what did he _ in a bit of nous. why did he do it? what did he want _ in a bit of nous. why did he do it? what did he want to _ in a bit of nous. why did he do it? what did he want to get _ in a bit of nous. why did he do it? what did he want to get out - in a bit of nous. why did he do it? what did he want to get out of. in a bit of nous. why did he do it? what did he want to get out of it? j what did he want to get out of it? that is the fascinating thing. we don't know. it certainly wasn't the money. when the publishers discovered that the manuscripts were missing they feared the worst. they thought the books would go on sale on the black market. they thought maybe they were going to get ransom demands. you know, give me some cash about your great money spinning new author's novel will be all over the internet. that didn't happen. it looks like he was maybe collecting these as electronic trophies. i would say that mac would deduce to work for simon & schuster. maybe it was revenge. we work for simon & schuster. maybe it was revenge-— work for simon & schuster. maybe it was revenge. we don't know. what is auoin to was revenge. we don't know. what is going to happen _ was revenge. we don't know. what is going to happen now? _ was revenge. we don't know. what is going to happen now? he _ was revenge. we don't know. what is going to happen now? he has- was revenge. we don't know. what is going to happen now? he has been . going to happen now? he has been found guilty — going to happen now? he has been found guilty on _ going to happen now? he has been found guilty on the _ going to happen now? he has been found guilty on the charges - going to happen now? he has been found guilty on the charges are - found guilty on the charges are rather serious charges, yf fraud and identity theft which sound rather serious. they have a maximum sentence of 20 years. it seems the publishers are out for blood. simon & schuster say they were shocked and horrified by what happened despite the in the end no—one actually

suffered from this acceptance the suffering great embarrassment. you know, i'm a journalist. suffering great embarrassment. you know, i'm ajournalist. is suffering great embarrassment. you know, i'm a journalist. is not my job in any way to advise new york judges on their sentencing policy but given the lack of a victim here, one thinks that maybe the court will be lenient on him. pauli one thinks that maybe the court will be lenient on him.— one thinks that maybe the court will be lenient on him. prince harry is facing more criticism over claims made that he killed 25 taliban fighters during his service as a helicopter pilot in afghanistan. in his memoir "spare," he describes them as "chess pieces removed from the board." our reporter zoe o'brien is at buckingham palace with the latest. it was late on thursday evening that we began hearing about the content of prince harry's memoir, spare. that's due to be published on tuesday and it's fair to say that the comments that he's made about taliban fighters have dominated the headlines today and caused upset and disappointment among the military community. now, we've heard from ex—colonel tim collins. he is a retired commanding officer. he told force news that harry has badly let down the side and this just isn't the done thing

for people in the army. he said you would never count the notches on the butt of your rifle. we've also heard from senior taliban leaders, them saying they may have been your enemy, but these were people with families to go home to. we haven't heard anything from buckingham palace we haven't heard anything from kensington palace so far, although that is not entirely unusual. that may change in the coming days because we know that prince harry has taken part in a number of pre—recorded interviews to promote his memoir. now, the first of those is going to go out on itv tomorrow evening at 9pm and then on monday morning we will see more on american tv networks. now, i know he said in his tv interview that he wants reconciliation with his family, but first he says there must be truth and accountability. he's also cast doubt over whether or not he will be at his father's coronation in may,

saying a lot can happen between now and then. now, of course, when those interviews air, the royal family will have another decision to make about whether or not they will comment publicly about what he has said — again, on tuesday, when the memoir is published. at the moment, that is not looking likely. it seems they're going to want to have this play out away from the public eye, especially this year in the king's coronation year. so you bind there. just before we 90, so you bind there. just before we go, let see these pictures from argentina where marine biologists have finally returned to green turtles to the ocean. the turtles were rescued after they became entangled in fishing nets come up with one of the pair of endangered creatures excreting plastic which was ingested from the sea. well, the turtles then spent a whole month in animal rehab, giving them a chance

to detox on those plastics before they were released back into the wild fair. good end for those lovely turtles. thanks for watching is here on bbc world news. hello, there. the weather's going to stay pretty windy today and it's been quite a wet start as well, particularly across scotland, england and wales. by two conditions are going to spend on from the west later on with a mixture of sunshine and showers more generally this afternoon. now, the area of low pressure that is he has been bringing the wet weather. this area of cloud his art rain and sweeping it waste at a cost england and wales in what follows is brighter, showery conditions but it has also been a... enter the date particularly south—west of england where we have had gusts of 65 mph 54 over the north york moors. so far, the strongest winds have just been ahead of the swing band that will to play

through and then we get a second string of strong winds working too late in the day across north—western portions. it will stay blustery and there will be lots of showers in the west. not too many for scotland, eastern england once the main band of rain has pledged to put quite mild, and temperature about 8—11 for most. the night tonight, shows continues to feed on and it will safe pretty windy and it's those wins that will mean it is a frost free night. temperature is about 4-8 c. free night. temperature is about 4—8 c. now, tomorrow, the same area of low pressure storm the charts. it's dragged its feet is just working as north of scotland. now, again, it will be quite blustery kind of day. it is not the day of sunshine and showers, really. there will be some quite lengthy spells of dry weather. sunshine will be out an initial split as well. the most patch as blow through pretty quickly in strong winds but we could have some lengthy spells of rain close to the low pressure across the north west of scotland where it is going to be pretty gusty but even in land,

gusts well into the 30s of miles an hour. it will be another blow we kind of day in this temperature is not really changing too much, eyes ranging between about seven and 10 degrees or so. on into monday's focused the low pressure pulls away northwards. it weakens a bit as well so it won't be as windy. still abrasive shower around across eastern areas and they will be a bit more snow in some of the scottish skiing results and that is the case of the next few days as well. generally the weather pattern deep into next week stays and settled so expect rain at times. generally, it is going to stay pretty mild as well. that was not the latest.

this is bbc world news. the headlines... after dramatic scenes in the us house of representatives, the republican kevin mccarthy is finally elected speaker. it took 15 rounds of voting for mr mccarthy to win the job, despite his party having a majority in the chamber. the british prime minister, health secretary, and ministers from the treasury are meeting health experts in downing street to try to tackle the ongoing challenges facing the nhs in england. a six—year—old boy has shot and injured his school teacher in the us state of virginia. it is unclear how the child obtained the gun, but the police said the incident was not "an accidental shooting." president zelensky welcomes the announcment of us military vehicles, as putin's unilateral ceasfire appears to have had little effect on the frontline.