this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. 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 15th 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, health secretary, nhs bosses and treasury ministers have held meetings in downing street to discuss the challenges facing the national health service. iran is facing international condemnation for hanging two more people said to have been involved in nationwide protests. the uk called their executions "abhorrent".

the authorities in south sudan are facing calls to release journalists who were arrested after video footage appeared to show the country's president wetting himself. welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. 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 15 rounds of voting for mr mccarthy to win the powerful role, even though his party has a majority in the chamber. no government business can be carried out unless a speaker is in place, as our washington correspondent gary o'donoghue explains. it took them four days and 15 separate ballots before they finally got there.

the honourable kevin mccarthy of the state of california, having received a majority of the votes cast, is duly elected speaker of the house of representatives. cheering not since the american civil war more than 160 years ago has it taken this long to elect a speaker. that was easy, huh? after multiple concessions and days of arm—twisting, and at times tempers almost boiling over, kevin mccarthy finally persuaded enough on the right of his party to back him, with a little help from a friend. i do want to especially thank president trump. i do not think anybody should doubt his influence. he was with me from the beginning. somebody wrote the doubt of whether he was there and he was all in. it was donald trump's supporters who were all in with the storming of the capitol two years ago to the day and that will overshadow kevin mccarthy's speakership.

he will probably be the weakest speaker in the modern history of the country and he will be held hostage to these 2021 radical republicans. the divisions may be resolved for the moment, but the next two years will be a rocky ride for the new speaker, as he presides over a deeply fractured party. gary o'donoghue, bbc news, washington. the uk's prime minister and health secretary have been meeting leaders of nhs organisations and medical experts in downing street to try to tackle the ongoing challenges facing the health service in england. with many a&e departments unable to keep up with demand and long waits for other medical care, rishi sunak has said he recognises the system is under enormous pressure. labour said today's meeting was a talking shop, and that patients deserve more. here's our political correspondent ben wright. around a0 of england's nhs managers were summoned to no 10 for this saturday meeting,

a chance to share their thoughts with ministers under pressure. how bad is the nhs crisis? it is the worst for years and the government knows it needs to get a grip of it. the new prime minister faces an early test, with senior doctors warning the nhs is on a knife edge. these pictures were released by downing street and today's meeting was the first of its kind since rishi sunak took over. it focused on four main areas. gp services, emergency care waiting lists and delays discharging patients into social care. i'm confident action will be taken. these are difficult problems to fix, though, so, i think it's unlikely we're going to have it sorted by the end of this winter. but perhaps if we start planning for next winter, we might have it cracked by then. for months, this winter crisis was forecast. a fragile, overstretched health system struggling with high demand, ambulances delayed, patients waiting for beds. there are 85 patients awaiting a medical bed. so, these are patients that have

been seen in a&e and being 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 government has stumped up more money to try and unblock hospitals and move more patients into social care. and at today's meeting, the prime minister wanted to know why some nhs trusts were managing better than others. a day's brainstorming with nhs bosses in downing street won't quickly fix the crisis in the health service and there is no easy lever to pull. but politically, the government needs to look like it's doing something to tackle the problems that patients are facing. well, the concern is that this is just another talking shop and we know what the problems are in the health service. we know that waiting times and waiting lists have been at an all—time high, and that was true before the pandemic. what do we want? fair pay! compounding the crisis now are strikes.

trade unions were not at today's meeting, and so far ministers are refusing to discuss this year's current pay deal for ambulance drivers and nurses, who both plan further walk—outs later this month. and benjoins me now. did today's meeting though any way towards tackling what are vast and ongoing issues with the nhs? lang ongoing issues with the nhs? long term it may — ongoing issues with the nhs? long term it may well _ ongoing issues with the nhs? lrr�*ug term it may well contribute to sorting out some of these very complicated structural problems that the current crisis has revealed, the fragility of the health system in england and in all that four nations of the uk, these talks were focused on england today. certainly the prime minister knows what the problems are right now, the delay in getting patients per ambulances into hospitals, a&e is clogged because there are not enough beds available in wards, partly because they cannot get patients were well enough into social care where they could be

treated, that is one of the problems, as well as the fact that waiting lists for elective surgery so long, people are struggling to get appointments with their gps. on so many fronts, patients can see the pressures on the health service right now, so this was a chance for the prime minister and ministers are to sit down with nhs leaders who are the front line of the health service to hear how it is working in practice and to share their experiences. after the meeting, government spokesperson said the prime minister and health secretary found the discussion highly valuable and so did a couple of health leaders i spoke to during the afternoon. there will be no blueprint that comes from this immediately, no great big plan for dealing with the crisis patients are experiencing at the moment. then, thank yom — the european union and britain have strongly condemned the executions of two men in iran for allegedly killing a security official during ongoing anti—government protests. the bloc�*s head of foreign affairs, josep borrell, said the eu was "appalled" by the hangings,

while britain described the situation as "abhorrent". the british foreign secretary, james cleverly, urged tehran to "end the violence against its own people." the us special envoy to iran, robert malley, said the executions of 20—year—old seyed mohammad hosseini and mohammad mahdi karami followed "sham trials." human rights groups have also condemned the killings saying the men were unable to choose their lawyers. here's more from our bbc monitoring colleague, the iran analyst khosro kalbasi isfahani. these two young men, mahdi karami and mohammad hosseini, were executed this morning. this brought the number of people executed in relation to protests to four. these two men went through a court proceeding that took only one week. according to amnesty international, it was a sham trial that had no resemblance to meaningful judicial proceedings. and what the state has broadcast in relation to these cases

is a bunch of videos that shows this militia man allegedly being beaten up, and some confessions from these two men that are described by rights groups as forced confessions. this is the case and what we know about it. and as you mentioned, khosro, the comment from human rights groups including amnesty international is that it is a sham trial and it has been criticised. what have iranian officials had to say? iranian officials are consistently defending these court proceedings. one thing that is important to note is that, after iran's supreme leader delivered a speech demanding that the judiciary should act severely and should burn the festering wound, thejudiciary started handing out these execution sentences. and this is not a new tactic 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 injail and rights groups say that dozens of them can face executions. among them are at least three teenagers who have been sentenced to death. china is preparing to scrap its covid quarantine rules for travel on sunday. it's been called the great reopening. the relaxation makes travel into and around china a viable option for the first time in three years. it's happening just as the country prepares to celebrate its annual lunar new year, an event which, in pre—pandemic times, is the world's biggest human migration. it's causing concerns about tens of millions of covid infections. joe inwood reports. in the world's most populous nation,

at the world's biggest ice fair, they're making final preparations for the world's greatest migration. this is the annual harbin snow festival, the centrepiece of the regional tourism sector. it is an industry that has been on ice. but with the government abandoning its zero—covid policy in time for the lunar new year, that is all changing. china is opening for business. translation: compared to the last two years, - we are seeing far more tourists. after they lifted the covid restrictions, there was a significant increase in visitors. i'm confident harbin�*s tourism will recover. people are still looking forward to coming here. they're expecting nearly 2.1 billionjourneys to be made over the lunar new year. that's twice as many as in 2022, although still below the 3 billion made before the pandemic.

while most of those will be made by people who live in china, with international travel restrictions easing this weekend, there is also expected to be a rising number coming from abroad. people like hiu man chan. she runs an organisation promoting links between the british and chinese film industries, and hasn't seen herfamily in more than three years. it's taking the soul out of me, not being able to travel and connect with people on a personal level. that's the call for myjob and for family gathering as well, so not being able to be there in person, um, yeah, is... it's very damaging, i think. i can't wait to see them, to really hug them. i mean, i've seen them, videos on the news, people hugging at airports and being united, reunited but i haven't had a chance yet, so i cannot wait to give my mother a kiss and to hug my brother.

the change in policy was as swift as it was dramatic. since the start of the pandemic, entire cities have been locked down to stop outbreaks — the so—called zero—covid strategy. crowd shouts but after three years of draconian restrictions, people had seemingly had enough. an unprecedented wave of protests swept across many towns and cities in china. under huge pressure, the government scrapped a policy it had spent three years saying was vital for public health. what is really the legitimacy of the chinese government? it is still largely resting on providing a reasonable level of income, providing a reasonable level of living standard for its ordinary population, so economically, the economy still prioritised over, in this case, pandemic control,

so i think the message has been quite clear from the government in december, for the central economic work conference, it's mostly about saving the economy in 2023. and the impact of that decision is already being seen in china's hospitals. the lifting of restrictions has led to a huge surge in covid cases, with the world health organization accusing the government of vastly under—reporting the death toll. there are fears the virus is out of control and that the coming holidays will make that even worse. russian—backed forces in ukraine say they've downed a drone aimed at the crimean port of sevastopol. ukraine has not confirmed the attack but it appears to be another sign that the temporary truce called by president putin has been ignored. 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 six—year—old boy has been detained by police after shooting a teacher in the us state of virginia. the shooting happened at richneck elementary school in the city of newport news. it is unclear how the child obtained the gun, but officers say the incident wasn't "an accidental shooting". media rights groups have called for the authorities in south sudan to release six journalists detained after footage was shared on social media which appeared to show president salva kiir wetting himself. the video of mr kiir was posted online last month. the committee to protectjournalists says the staff from the state—run

south sudan broadcasting corporation are under investigation for allegedly releasing the clip. the rights group says it's part of a pattern of arrests linked to unfavourable coverage from journalists. joining me in the studio is our africa regional editor, will ross. let's start with what exactly has happened. it goes back to an incident in december when there was an inauguration going on for a road that had just been completed and president salva kiir was there, everyone was standing up, the national anthem was playing and then rather embarrassingly, the president appeared to wet himself and the state cameras, state broadcasting corporation's cameras were focused on him and then when it happened they quickly panned away and that incident was not shown on state tv, perhaps not surprisingly, but what did happen is it appeared on social media and was widely shared and

there was of course some ridicule, some people questioning the president's health and fitness for office, and then in the weeks following, there were some reports thatjournalists following, there were some reports that journalists were following, there were some reports thatjournalists were being tracked and there were some searches for the journalists and questions being asked as to how this footage got out, and then we heard last tuesday six people from the state broadcaster, mostly technicians, were apprehended and they are in detention now.— were apprehended and they are in detention now. ~ ., ., , .,. ., detention now. what has the reaction been to these — detention now. what has the reaction been to these arrests? _ detention now. what has the reaction been to these arrests? there - detention now. what has the reaction been to these arrests? there has - been to these arrests? there has been to these arrests? there has been quite _ been to these arrests? there has been quite a _ been to these arrests? there has been quite a strong _ been to these arrests? there has been quite a strong statement i been to these arrests? there has i been quite a strong statement from the union ofjournalists of south sudan, who are calling for a speedy conclusion to the investigation, but you can telljust how sensitive this is within the country by the fact that they have referred to it as a certain footage, they do not even mention what happened, what the incident is all about. outside the country, from where it is easier to talk about such things, the

committee to protectjournalists has called for all of the six staff to be immediately released and it talks also about a need for b press freedom so thatjournalists across the country can work freely, so a broader statement.— the country can work freely, so a broader statement. what is the press freedom like — broader statement. what is the press freedom like in _ broader statement. what is the press freedom like in south _ broader statement. what is the press freedom like in south sudan - broader statement. what is the press freedom like in south sudan more - freedom like in south sudan more generally? it freedom like in south sudan more aenerall ? , , generally? it is extremely precarious. _ generally? it is extremely precarious. this _ generally? it is extremely precarious. this is - generally? it is extremely precarious. this is a - generally? it is extremely l precarious. this is a country generally? it is extremely - precarious. this is a country that has been through a recent civil war which was very divisive and saw all kinds of ethnic divisions emerging. what tends to happen is the state security forces, if they are not happy with what is being broadcast or what newspapers are planning to print, they will intervene indirectly in newsrooms or even at printing presses and the reporters without borders organisation has talked about ever present sense chip and it says political leaders are imposing their agendas on the media.

—— ever present censorship. sometimes there are extreme cases of media houses being shut down or journalists being arrested and also what happens to those journalists even after being arrested, we know at least ten have been killed since 2014, but partly because of the civil war and the fragility of the country, and there has been a lot of criticism of the political leaders and their role in the civil war and when itjournalists have touched on that, it has led to a big come—down from the authorities. that, it has led to a big come-down from the authorities.— that, it has led to a big come-down from the authorities. thank you. -- bi clam from the authorities. thank you. -- big clamp down- — today is the final day of planned strike action on britain's railways after months of disruption. members of the rmt union are on their second in their long—running dispute about pay and conditions. our business correspondent marc ashdown reports from king's cross. it has been another hugely frustrating day for anyone hoping to travel by rail. just 20% of services ran across the uk today and i'm afraid they are pretty much done now and this dispute is not done either.

it involves of course 40,000 members of the rmt union. about half work for the 14 rail companies, about half work for network rail. now, they have a pay offer on the table of 4% last year and 4% this year. network rail offering a tiny bit more. the good news for now is after today, no further strike days are planned, but there are still some pretty big sticking point, not least who opens the doors the doors on a train. at the moment, on most of them, the guards do it. but the companies want to see drivers start to do that. this is a red line in the sand for the unions. we have heard overnight that there could be some movement on that, some negotiation, and it could even be removed altogether. the government, though, would need to sign off on that. fresh talks then are planned on monday, which is the positive note, but do not forget the government is still pushing ahead with these anti—strike laws. that would mean in future strikes, unions would have to guarantee a minimum level of service in key public areas like ambulances, fire and the rails orface being sued. now, you can imagine how that has gone down. they rmt have said, we will probably challenge that in court. labour have said they will

repeal it if they get in, so i think new year, the same issues. a bit of fresh optimism with fresh talks, and no further strikes planned, but some pretty big hurdles remain. it's a huge weekend for the technology industry as the annual consumer electronics show, known as ces, takes place in las vegas. this year, all russian firms have been banned from taking part, while some ukrainian ones have been paid to attend. here's our north america technology reporterjames clayton. 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 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. an italian man has admitted stealing more than a thousand unpublished manuscripts, many written by high—profile authors. filippo bernardini impersonated figures from the publishing industry to trick people into handing over their works. authors who were targeted include margaret atwood, ian mcewan and sally rooney. bernardini pleaded guilty in new york to wire fraud, but his motive has never been clear. manuscripts were not found to have been leaked on the internet, nor were any ransom demands made. it isa it is a mystery! you can reach me on twitter —

i'm @luxmy—g. there is plenty more still to come, so do stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. saturday has provided a blustery first half of the weekend. there've been some heavy downpours around as well. in fact, the winds have been strong enough to whip up some quite rough seas around some of our coasts. it's a big area of low pressure that is dominating right now. this is the satellite picture from earlier on, this swirl of cloud. here's the centre of the low. that's where it was earlier on this afternoon. and as we go through tonight, the centre of this low will be passing to the north—west of scotland. very strong winds continuing to affect many western parts. gales are likely around some western coasts of england, wales, northern ireland, most especially western scotland, with gusts of 60—70mph for a time through the night. there will be further showers, some of which will be heavy, some clear spells as well, partly because of the strength of the wind, it is not going to be a cold

night, 4 to 8 degrees. so into tomorrow, it is a sunshine and showers day. but those showers will tend to be quite heavy. there could be some hail and some thunder mixing in. the showers likely to line up into bands as well. and with some slightly chillier air pushing in, we could see some wintriness in the showers over high ground in scotland, say above 400—500 metres elevation. it's going to be windy again, particularly for western coast, maybe not quite as windy as it has been today for some inland spots. temperatures between 7 and 10 degrees. now, as you move into monday, again, there are some showers to be had, some of those on the heavy side. and again, perhaps some wintry showers over the hills and mountains in scotland. still quite windy. the wind coming down from the north—westjust accentuating a slightly chillier feel. 6 degrees there for aberdeen, 10 for cardiff, 11 for plymouth. but those temperatures by no means unusual for this time of year. as we move into tuesday, we see another frontal system pushing in from the atlantic. that will bring outbreaks

of heavy rain northwards and eastwards across the uk, maybe some snow over high ground in scotland for a time. but between this warm front here and this cold front here, we're going to have what we call a warm sector, a wedge of mild air. so, look at the temperatures for tuesday, 8 degrees for glasgow, but 11 for belfast, 13 for cardiff, 14 there for london. as we look further ahead, it does stay quite unsettled towards the end of the week. mild for the most part, it may turn colder in the north by the very end of the week.

this is bbc world news, the headlines after dramatic scenes in the us house of representatives, the republican kevin mccarthy is finally elected speaker — at the fifteenth attempt. the uk's prime minister, health secretary, nhs bosses and treasury ministers have held meetings in downing street to discuss the challenges facing the national health service. iran is facing international condemnation for hanging two more people said to have been involved in nationwide protests. the uk called their executions "abhorrent". as ukraine celebrates its orthodox christmas, russian—backed forces there say they've downed a drone in breach of a temporary ceasefire— another sign that the truce called by president putin has been ignored. the authorities in south sudan are facing calls to release journalists who were arrested

after video footage appeared to show the country's president wetting himself.