this is bbc world news i'm luxmy gopal. 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.

and as ukraine celebrates its orthodox christmas, russian—backed forces say they've downed a drone in breach of a temporary ceasefire. hello and welcome to bbc world news. 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! 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. i'm joined now by scott lucas, professor of us politics at university college dublin. thank at university college dublin. you forjoining us. wh think thank you forjoining us. why do you think it took 15 rounds of voting for kevin mccarthy to get elected, to get the job?— to get the “ob? because of those u-rou to get the “ob? because of those a-rou of to get the job? because of those grow) of 20 _ to get the job? because of those group of 20 trump _ to get the job? because of those group of 20 trump supporting i to get the job? because of those l group of 20 trump supporting and hardline republican representatives who effectively wanted to hold kevin mccarthy hostage to increase their power and influence in the bitter

story is beyond kevin mccarthy ultimately becoming speaker that those trumpist and hardline republicans exceeded at least they are in a position now to paralyse the house and even tear it apart and of course that they can paralyse the house and prevented from doing business, that is a challenge to the us system which is exactly what they want. eversince us system which is exactly what they want. ever since they saw donald trump failed to hold on to the white amidst the capital attack that took place just over two years ago. i'd make the head of ucl�*s director, the director of centre in us politics from ucl was speaking to us earlier and said it is possible to actually overestimate how much this leaves the republicans, do you agree? you make the republicans are in civil war. i mean, that is a fundamental which has taken place for quite some time before this week because, to give you an example, 18 of those 20

who were against mccarthy supported trump as my collection denial. those months of falsehoods. several of them actually involved in the trump's plan to prevent biden from becoming persistent said to that extent there are an influence within the republican patchy that is very divisive. i think you have to give a fuller picture, however, is this doesn't mean that they necessarily have control of the entire situation. because a few look at the republicans in the senate they choose not to accommodate the trumpist back to work with the government. the biggest of rain away from washington was whenjoe biden and mitch mcconnell stood side by side of the inauguration of a bridge in kentucky which was very powerful symbol which said whatever is

happening within the house, whatever the trumpist disruption, we will continue to implement the legislation that was passed in the first two years of the biden term. given that kevin mccarthy has had to offer concessions to wind the sufficient amount of backing, how much do you think that may weaken his personal position? it is much do you think that may weaken his personal position?— his personal position? it is already weak. i his personal position? it is already weak- i mean. _ his personal position? it is already weak. i mean, to _ his personal position? it is already weak. i mean, to get _ his personal position? it is already weak. i mean, to get the - his personal position? it is already weak. i mean, to get the post - his personal position? it is already weak. i mean, to get the post of. weak. i mean, to get the post of speaker he handcuffed himself. let mejust speaker he handcuffed himself. let me just give you a few examples. first of all, it only takes one of the 435 members of the house of representatives to call for a no—confidence vote against mccarthy which means each and every day, if he is seen to step out of line by the trumpists they will drop that on him. secondly, the trumpists and the hard bright demanded key committee

positions including approval and veto power over the rules committee, over one third of the post committee. br; over one third of the post committee.— over one third of the post committee. �* , . ., over one third of the post committee. j . ., , committee. by that important? it is the rules who _ committee. by that important? it is the rules who decides _ committee. by that important? it is the rules who decides which - the rules who decides which legislation goes forward before the house. and they demanded that any representative can make amendments to a line item on a budget on any spending build which means that any spending build which means that any spending authorisation could be held up spending authorisation could be held up for months, weeks or even months, simply by amendment after amendment and finally, one other significant thing that should be noted is that is kevin mccarthy has effectively committed himself to holding a series of frivolous hearings to dry to bolster conspiracy theories about the bidens, but coronavirus, but suppose it deep day trying to overthrow donald trump and here is in office. in those hearings will not only distract and help us make business, they were prevented from actually focusing on the priorities such as health, education, immigration, the economy and foreign policy. immigration, the economy and foreign oli . ., ~ immigration, the economy and foreign oli . . ~' immigration, the economy and foreign oli . ., ~ immigration, the economy and foreign oli . ., . ., immigration, the economy and foreign oli . . . ., policy. thank you so much for taking the time to — policy. thank you so much for taking the time to share _ policy. thank you so much for taking

the time to share your— policy. thank you so much for taking the time to share your thoughts - policy. thank you so much for taking j the time to share your thoughts with us. . ~' the time to share your thoughts with us. . ~ , ., thank you. 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. let's go live to downing street and our political correspondent damian grammaticas. this is an issue that has been ongoing. what sort of this meeting likely to make? that ongoing. what sort of this meeting likely to make?— likely to make? that is a good auestion likely to make? that is a good question because _ likely to make? that is a good question because the - likely to make? that is a good l question because the pressures facing the health service and broader than that, the sort of hold care system from your family doctor all the way through hospitals, emergency surfaces write to the social care that deals with people when they come out of hospital or elderly people, although that is under intense pressure at the minute. and really struggling at this point in the winter so can this

deliver? well, the first thing it delivered to the prime minister is the impression, the impact that he is doing something about this. in facing this crisis. the opposition party status too little and too late and he should have done more and actually, there was a meeting back in december which is not prevented things happening but some of those going in, well, from areas like social care, like emergency ambulance services, saying it is useful to be around a table and discuss but it is pretty much, the best way to think about it is it is a sort of managerial strategy sort of meeting amongst bosses and it is something that could have a sort of impact, medium, long term, most likely, trying to refine the way the health service works. what it does not do is immediately tackle the current political issues right now and also, the big political issues and also, the big political issues and that really comes down to money.

how much money the government prepared to spend, particularly for the workforce, they are deeply unhappy at the minute. there are overworked, underpaid, the current payoff that they have for this year is way below inflation. they're taking strikes over that. this does not address any of that.— taking strikes over that. this does not address any of that. thank you. human rights group have condemned the executions in iran of two men earlier on saturday for allegedly killing a security official during ongoing nationwide protests. they say seyyed mohammad hosseini, aged 20 and mohammad mehdi karami, aged 22, endured sham trials and were unable to choose their lawyers. both were convicted of causing the death of a member of the basij militia during anti—government protests in the city of karaj near tehran bbc monitoring iran analyst khosro kalbasi isfahani is with us. just give us the background on this. these two young men were executed this morning. this brought the

number of people executed in relation to protests to four. these two men went to a court proceeding that took only one week according to amnesty international. it was a sham trial that had no resemblance to meaningfuljudicial proceedings. band what the state has broadcast in relation to these cases is a bunch of videos that shows this militia man allegedly being beaten off and some confessions from these two men that are described by rights groups has forced confessions. this is the case and what we know about it. find case and what we know about it. and as ou case and what we know about it. and as you mentioned, the comment from human rights groups including amnesty international is that it is a sham trial and it has been criticised. whatever iranian officials had to say? the iranian

officials had to say? the iranian officials are _ officials had to say? the iranian officials are consistently - officials had to say? the iranian i officials are consistently defending these court proceedings. one thing thatis these court proceedings. one thing that is important to note is that after a run's supreme leader delivered a speech, demanding that the judiciary should act severely and should the festering wound, the judiciary started handing out these execution sentences. and this is not a new of the regime. the islamic republic has been handing out death sentences to political prisoners for four decades. in the 1980s, thousands of protesters were executed summarily. right now thousands of protesters are in jail and rights groups say dozens of them can face their executions. among them out these three teenagers who have been sentenced to death. thank ou so have been sentenced to death. thank you so much — have been sentenced to death. thank you so much for— have been sentenced to death. thank you so much for bringing _ have been sentenced to death. thank you so much for bringing us - have been sentenced to death. thank you so much for bringing us that update. thank you.

of course, we'll bring you a lot more on that story as it develops later in the day. still plenty more coming up, though, he won bbc news but now we will say goodbye to our viewers on bbc world. but now we will say goodbye to our viewers on bbc world. 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 also know that the teacher had life—threatening injuries, we know the six—year—old child is in custody.

but they are being treated for that, but nothing else has come we also know that the teacher had life—threatening injuries, from the police department. but they are being treated for that, but nothing else has come i think parents are scared. from the police department. especially initially in some facebook groups, i think parents are scared. community facebook groups, parents were seeing, you know, especially initially in some facebook groups, a bunch of emergency vehicles all racing towards the school, community facebook groups, parents were seeing, you know, going towards there, and, obviously, it takes a little bit of time a bunch of emergency vehicles all racing towards the school, to communicate what is going on, so i think there was a lot of fear going towards there, and, obviously, it takes a little bit of time especially considering we, ourarea of virginia to communicate what is going on, so i think there was a lot of fear 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. a 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. the majority of train services across britain will not run today, as rail workers from the rmt union continue their 48 hour walkout 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. i'm joined now by our business correspondent marc. question on most viewers minds who are expecting to use train travel at

some point in the next few days, weeks or months will be the inevitable one which is how much closer i'll be in seeing any sort of resolution in these ongoing disputes?— resolution in these ongoing disutes? . , ., ,�* disputes? yeah, well this doesn't feel particularly _ disputes? yeah, well this doesn't feel particularly close _ disputes? yeah, well this doesn't feel particularly close here - disputes? yeah, well this doesn't feel particularly close here stood| feel particularly close here stood outside king's cross. not many trains running from here either. passengers have wearily got used to this over the past month or so, haven't they? not many trains at all running out of king's cross or anywhere in the uk with just 20% of services running today. any trains which have started a lot later this morning and you won't get train up to 6p and this evening in some areas of the uk have no services whatsoever. a glimmer of hope really is this is the final strike for the time being. we've had a whole christmas calendar of misery but this 48 hour strike by the rmt finishes tonight and ok, things will take a little while to get back to

normal tomorrow but by monday we should have a full service and no planned for the time being. what's it all about, a long—running dispute sincejune. 40,000 members of the rmt union involved in this dispute overjobs, pay and working conditions. there is enough on the table, a pay rise but without them certain conditions that the union says they simply cannot countenance. one of them is driver only operations. and you do get a train you will notice the guards who open and close the doors, the companies want to have drivers start to do that instead. it has always been a bad bone in the sand for the union but we understand overnight cabins and whispers that that could now be “p and whispers that that could now be up for negotiation and possibly might be taken off the table. if that did happen there is every chance things could get moving but the government would have to endorse

it, though. one positive, fresh talks starting on monday again. thank you. hope you find some nice and dry and warm to shelter. thank you. thank you. 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. 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. our europe regional editor, paul moss has been following the story. first question, how on earth did he manage to do it?— first question, how on earth did he manage to do it? very, very simple. in manage to do it? very, very simple. in guessing — manage to do it? very, very simple. in guessing every — manage to do it? very, very simple. in guessing every now _ manage to do it? very, very simple. in guessing every now and _ manage to do it? very, very simple. in guessing every now and then - manage to do it? very, very simple. in guessing every now and then you | in guessing every now and then you get e—mails in your inbox that say this is your thank you, please can you remind us what your username and password days or perhaps saying this is the friend abroad, can you send money to this bank account, what you do when you get those e—mails? you press delete. it seems that people in the publishing world are not quite so savvy. he sent e—mails to

famous authors, ian mcewan, margaret atwood and the representatives. what he did as he set up a fake website and e—mail addresses and send these e—mails saying things like this is your publisher, could you just let me have the latest draft of your book? and also things like this is the italian publishers here, we do need a copy of the book very quickly so we can get going with the translation. and lo and behold, they sent them. and as you said, filippo bernardini ended up with over 1000 manuscripts, some by some very famous people and we know that one pulitzer prizewinner was successfully targeted but they don't want to let on who it was and i think what's so interesting as this trial ended last night in new york and if you look at the timing, we werejust and if you look at the timing, we were just hearing about harry's book where they also went to great effort to keep it secure. it ended up in

spanish book shops by mistake. sometimes people say that those in the publishing world live in a bit of an ivory tower don't have their head on the ground and in this case they could have done with being a little bit more savvy.— little bit more savvy. could not ossibl little bit more savvy. could not possibly comment _ little bit more savvy. could not possibly comment but - little bit more savvy. could not possibly comment but he - little bit more savvy. could not possibly comment but he did i little bit more savvy. could not i possibly comment but he did not little bit more savvy. could not - possibly comment but he did not make any money so how do about why did he do this? , , . ., do this? they expected him to. publishers _ do this? they expected him to. publishers feared _ do this? they expected him to. publishers feared the _ do this? they expected him to. publishers feared the worst - do this? they expected him to. | publishers feared the worst and thought that one of the great money spinning authors is going to have their book sold in the black market or perhaps that they were going to get a ransom note, you know, one of these things saying if you don't give me by amount of cash to this bank account to your great new novel is going to be all over the internet in five minutes. that didn't happen. it seems he did may be for the fun of it, maybe collecting electronic version of trophies, we do know that he used to work for the publisher simon & schuster and i guess it is possible this was an act of revenge but were never going to know. just

briefl , but were never going to know. just briefly. what _ but were never going to know. just briefly, what happens now? could be very serious. the charges he faces are a way of fraud and aggravated identity fraud with a maximum sentence of 20 years. it is not my job as a journalist to advise neo— judges in the sentencing policy but no one has suffered except for embarrassments may be they will be lenient. may be they will be listening out for your take on that. thank you, paul, for that. it's a huge weekend for the technology industry as the annual consumer electronics show — known as ces — takes place in las vegas. it's chance for thousands of companies to display their new gadgets in the hope of securing investment — but this year all russian firms have been banned from taking part, while some ukrainian ones have been paid to attend. our north america technology reporterjames clayton has spoken to some of them about the difficulties of trying to start a company when your country is at war. ukraine has spent nearly a year now facing attacks across the country. bombings, the targeting of infrastructure and blackouts. so how do you run a tech company at a time of war? well, 12 ukrainian companies have

come here to las vegas to prove that it can be done. ces is the biggest tech show in the world, a chance for these start ups to attract investment. this is the ceo of g—mac, a home security company. it is a sort of amazon ring on steroids. multi—tone sound siren with an annoying effect not only stops a criminal, but wakes up the neighbours and informs everyone about the intrusion within a 100m radius. the device can spray tear gas into a room if it detects an intruder. but, he says, almost all of his staff are now fighting on the front line, and some have have been killed. we lost five people. five people? yes, from our team. and obviously that must be devastating for you, how does that affect the company? it motivates us to support their families. lyubomyr is now looking to move

production to the us. artem is a programmer who founded a kitchen design set up. based near kyiv, he struggles to find electricity to power his computer. sometimes i'm, my work day limited by the battery of my computer, so what i do, i go to a gas station, because they have a generator and they allow you to charge your computer or take coffee, so i try to somehow charge my computer. so you were working from a gas station to try and do your start up? actually many people do this. mariana works for a company that makes crockery from old coffee beans. based near kharkiv, they've had to move 500 miles east to lviv after the war started. we had a lot of missile attacks and a lot of rockets, so it was a real danger to be in sumy. that is why we relocated to lviv. there are no commercial flights out of ukraine.

many of these entrepreneurs have taken days to get here, but they are hoping it will be worth it if they can secure investment from western backers. you know, it's very hard now in ukraine to do your business. first of all, it is hard to find investors in ukraine because all our investors and big companies, they try to support army, they try to support ukrainian people, so it is very hard to find some investors in ukraine. ukraine is a country that has showed innovation on the battlefield. fighting against a much larger military force has often taken ingenuity. this group of entrepreneurs are trying to show that innovation isn'tjust limited to the battlefield. james clayton, bbc news, las vegas.

what is in charge of the weather at the moment is a big area of low pressure. the swirl of cloud on the earlier satellite image. this band of cloud here by rain for many of us the first part of the day. that rain is clearing eastwards behind it, sunny spells but scattered, heavy showers with some hail and thunder mixing in. the winds are picking up once again towards the end of the day to western areas in temperatures as we close out the afternoon between seven and 10 degrees. as we head into tonight a deep blow pushes close to the north—west of scotland. gail is likely especially in western scotland. with gusts of 70 mph five times so there will be further showers blown along on that strong wind. some clear spells in between and partly because of the strength of the wind is not going to be a particularly cold night. those are

between four and 8 degrees. as we head into sunday sunshine and showers. some showers will be heavy with hail and thunder. showers tending tojoin up into bands and it is likely that across high ground in scotland say above for 500 metres we will see some snow mixing in. is going to be another windy day. some inland spots perhaps not as windy yesterday but blustery around some coasts, particularly out towards the western temperatures again between seven and 10 degrees. as we look ahead to monday there are some more showers in the forecast. being blown across the country by this quite brisk north—westerly wind. that is being some slightly chillier as a some we went to be over high ground from wales northwards but most of what falls in the sky will be rain. a brief windy of dry weather but that doesn't last long on tuesday. this next frontal system or hotel in

from the atlantic and will bring further heavy rain, some strong and gusty winds and as we look further ahead, through the week, it does stay quite unsettled. showers are longer spells of rain may be turning a bit in the north by the end of the week.