this is bbc news broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm ben boulos. the headlines: 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 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".

hello, a very warm welcome to the programme. it is good to have you with us. 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. i'm joined now by domenico montanaro, he's the senior political editor and correspondent for national public radio in the united states. thank you for being with us. what do you think the effect of this will be on the legislation that ends up being passed by this chamber and how it affects ordinary americans over the next couple of years? i it affects ordinary americans over the next couple of years?- the next couple of years? i was auoin to the next couple of years? i was going to say. — the next couple of years? i was going to say. the _ the next couple of years? i was going to say, the most - the next couple of years? i was going to say, the most painfull the next couple of years? i "1-033 going to say, the most painful part was watching this 15 rounds over a week, almost adjourning last night and then finally pulling it out of the hat at the very end there after midnight, but the real impact is going to be on legislating and i think the big thing here is that you did not see mccarthy necessarily go over to the democratic side and say you are going to cut off my right flank here and if you guys could

help me out with some votes let's just make this something that meets in the middle, that is some kind of fantasy that just does not in the middle, that is some kind of fantasy thatjust does not happen here, but it is certainly not something that he did and it does not bode well for things like raising the credit limit and be able to pay its debts. the us has great credit, it has had its credit downgraded once before, and because of this at stand—off, that and shutdowns of the government are potentially possible because of what has been happening. who potentially possible because of what has been happening.— potentially possible because of what has been happening. who would you sa it wins has been happening. who would you say it wins out _ has been happening. who would you say it wins out of— has been happening. who would you say it wins out of this _ has been happening. who would you say it wins out of this and _ has been happening. who would you say it wins out of this and who - say it wins out of this and who loses? ., , say it wins out of this and who loses? . , a ., , say it wins out of this and who loses? . , n ., , ., loses? clearly mccarthy got the win, so eo - le loses? clearly mccarthy got the win, so people would _ loses? clearly mccarthy got the win, so people would say _ loses? clearly mccarthy got the win, so people would say he _ loses? clearly mccarthy got the win, so people would say he got - loses? clearly mccarthy got the win, so people would say he got to - loses? clearly mccarthy got the win, so people would say he got to the i so people would say he got to the point where he was to be speaker, but he will had to make a myriad of concessions to become speaker and now he will have to go to the right

over and over again because of this slim majorities republicans win and while donald trump may have helped him over the finish line, he certainly hurt him at the front of this process because there was a lot of his backed candidates that were seen as too extreme who were not able to get elected and while hurting republicans and giving them justice did not force a majority. how does this affect president biden's legislative agenda before the next presidential election? ii the next presidential election? if you are not convinced there would not be much done in the us congress before this, it has been pretty clear it will not happen now and that has been a big problem for president biden and the white house. even at all, having the fact republicans would be taking over, never mind the slim majority. there will be real things they will need to help them with like funding the government, raising the debt ceiling, funding the war in ukraine for example, a very big item that some on the right flank are not in

favour of, but politically, you can expect that the president, if he runs for real action which he says he intends to, he will be holding this up as a big sign to say hey, you want republican governorship? look at what they have done in this congress. versus himself, where he this week was out with a senate republican leader mitch mcconnell touting the infrastructure bill and other items like that so you will see that over and over again over the next year. see that over and over again over the next year-— see that over and over again over the next year. 0k, thank you very much. 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. let's get more on this with our political correspondent ben wright. it is all very well be prime minister saying he recognises the system is under enormous pressure, what will he do about it? yes. what will he do about it? yes, everyone _ what will he do about it? yes, everyone recognises - what will he do about it? yes, everyone recognises it, - what will he do about it? yes, everyone recognises it, it- what will he do about it? yes, everyone recognises it, it is. what will he do about it? yes, i everyone recognises it, it is very difficult getting an appointment with your gp, local doctors, ambulance as waiting for ages in many cases outside hospitals to get patients into a&e departments, hospital wards full across much of england at the moment, so the problems and pressures are there for all patients to see right now in england, but i think this was a chance for the prime minister to gather many of the leaders of the health service, about a0 in total, to hear what is really going on and in downing street's view, share best practices as well because he things that some nhs trust are working pretty well despite all the pressures they are under right now and wants to have the poor performing ones learn from them. but there is no immediate plan or

blueprint from a meeting like this, there is a long working process dealing with deep problems and it is about restoring a crisis this time next year when winter rolls around again. next year when winter rolls around aaain. ., , next year when winter rolls around aaain. ._ , next year when winter rolls around aaain. , , w again. there may be people watching this riaht again. there may be people watching this right now— again. there may be people watching this right now in _ again. there may be people watching this right now in a _ again. there may be people watching this right now in a hospital _ again. there may be people watching this right now in a hospital waiting i this right now in a hospital waiting room who have been there for hours wondering how long before they see the effects of all this filter through and shorten those waiting times for them.— times for them. absolutely. the government _ times for them. absolutely. the government says _ times for them. absolutely. the government says they _ times for them. absolutely. the government says they have - times for them. absolutely. the government says they have put | times for them. absolutely. the - government says they have put more money and recently and they have, an extra £1a billion and they have, an extra £1a billion and they have, an extra £1a billion announced over the next two years in the autumn statement, next to the 500 million strand and block those wards and get people who are fit enough into social care and off the wards, but these are pretty profound structural problems. many nhs bosses say this is a result of years of underinvestment coupled with the spike in flu and covid cases, so there will be no quick fix here.

politically for the government, this is now ready damaging territory that they are in it which is why rishi sunak, on a saturday, has summoned people to downing street for a meeting like this. he needs to be seen to be doing something. the strikes that were impacting services, no sign of them using either. ., ~ , ., ., services, no sign of them using either. ., ~ ., , services, no sign of them using either. ., ~ , ., ., , ., either. 0k, thank you. -- no sign of them using — either. 0k, thank you. -- no sign of them using either. _ 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. human rights groups have also condemned the killings, saying the men faced sham trials. the british foreign secretary, james cleverly, urged tehran to "end the violence against its own people." bbc persian's roja assadi joins me now. what's been the international reaction to these executions? as you said, the british foreign secretary called it abhorrent and

this is not the only way to describe what happened in iran about these two executions. many foreign ministers have called it, used the same kind of vocabulary, apparent, appalling, horrifying, revolting, such as james cleverly, the french secretary, the us special envoy to iran and lots of eu mps and mps of different european countries like the netherlands, france, germany, some of these countries have a sponsored political prisoners in iran and they were trying to save them by writing letters to their ambassadors, iranian ambassadors to their countries, and asking it to save their lives and now it is very disappointing for them and i think the international community has united in condemning this act of execution. united in condemning this act of execution-— united in condemning this act of execution. ~ ., ., ., ~ ., execution. what more do we know about these _ execution. what more do we know about these two _ execution. what more do we know about these two men _ execution. what more do we know about these two men under- execution. what more do we know about these two men under the i

about these two men under the charges that had been brought against them?— charges that had been brought a . ainst them? , ., against them? these two men were rotesters against them? these two men were protesters in _ against them? these two men were protesters in iran, _ against them? these two men were protesters in iran, the _ against them? these two men were protesters in iran, the protest i against them? these two men were protesters in iran, the protest in i protesters in iran, the protest in iran have been going on for over three months, nearly four now, and these two men, seyed mohammad hosseini and mohammad mahdi karami, two young men,, were arrested in the morning today when one protester was killed in the street and they were accused of killing one set militia, militia group supporting the government and helping to cut down the protesters, so these two were from working class families. 0ne the protesters, so these two were from working class families. one of them was a karate champion in iran and one of them, the parents of mohammad mahdi karami were appealing to the iranian authorities not to

execute them and saying he raised his son with great financial difficulties for hoping for a better future. he was sending him to be a sportsman to do karate and supporting him through his education, so we know that they are from working families and we know that they did not have access to proper trial. they did not have access to their chosen solicitors, to their chosen lawyers, and the court has issued them at lawyers and we know that there was not enough evidence to support the court reasons that they had part in killing these members and we know that they were forced to confess in many trials and the public of iran and these two come by force. thank

ou ve and these two come by force. thank you very much- _ and these two come by force. thank you very much- -- _ and these two come by force. thank you very much. -- confessed - and these two come by force. thank you very much. -- confessed by- you very much. —— confessed by force. tens of thousands of members of the rmt union have been taking part in the second day of a a8—hour stoppage on the rail network, in a protest about pay, conditions and jobs. with just one in five services operating in england, scotland and wales, people were told to avoid travelling by train unless absolutely necessary. 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 a0,000 members of the rmt union. about half work for the 1a rail companies, about half work for network rail. now, they have a pay offer on the table of a% last

year and a% 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 points, not least who opens 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. the 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, same issues. a bit of fresh optimism with fresh talks, and no further strikes planned, but some pretty big hurdles remain. 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". two underground trains have crashed in mexico city, killing at least one person and injuring more than 20 others. the trains collided between two stations on line three, which is one of the oldest in the city's metro system. witnesses say one of the conductors managed to reverse the train to the nearest station enabling some of passengers to get off on the platform. china is preparing to scrap its quarantine rules for travel on sunday. it's been called the great reopening. the relaxation makes move 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, which is raising 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, i 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. joe inwood reporting. police are searching for a couple who've gone missing

with their newborn baby after their car broke down on a motorway. constance marten and mark gordon left the car nearjunction a of the m61 near bolton on thursday night, and walked towards anchor lane bridge. 0fficers believe ms marten had recently given birth and that neither she nor her baby had seen medical professionals. after being captured by russian forces and sentenced to death, aiden aslin's family thought they would never see him again. he'd been defending the city of mariupol when he was captured in april, but a prisoner exchange between ukraine and russia meant he was able to return to the uk in september. despite what he's been through, aiden plans to return to ukraine, but not to the front line. he's been speaking to our reporter sarahjulian. we were under siege for about 1.5 months. by that time, we had run out of ammunition. we had run out of food. mariupol, a city heavily bombed and shelled, flattened by russian forces. aiden aslin was captured while

fighting with the ukrainian marines. he took these photographs before his captivity. i chose to surrenderjust because, like, i couldn't see it realistically that we'd able to get out. probably safer for me to, like, surrender rather than be captured by soldiers in the adrenaline phase of, like, fighting. i got separated from my unit and then i was taken to, like, further into donetsk and then, that's when i started getting interrogated, starting getting beaten. but once they, like, sentenced me — sentenced me to death — that's when i, like, started thinking, like, now they've done it, they've to do something. 0therwise, they're going to look like they're not as powerful as they say they are. so it definitely took its toll on me, like, mentally. and i think it wouldn't be till september time — by that point, i was, like, pretty, like,

stopped caring about stuff and pretty at a low point. aiden's family campaigned for months for his release. what do your family think about you going back? they must be so pleased to have you back in newark. what do they think? i think they already knew i wanted to go back because i've lived there. 0bviously, they're a bit worried because of the ongoing situation with the war. the idea is — is to go back and i want to, like, do some focus on, like, the journalism side of stuff. because i still believe there's, like, quite a lot that people don't understand about ukraine and there's a lot of things that don't really get reported about as much as they should be. it's nearly a year since the start of the war and aiden feels there's only one outcome. the war that putin wanted didn't go the way that he intended for it to go. it's hard to say.

i don't think ukraine's going to fail it, because, like, they've done a lot more than anyone thought they would do. so, you see victory for ukraine? yeah, pretty much — especially with, like, how long they've been, like, holding out against russia. when he returns, aiden's made a commitment not to take up arms again. i promised my fiancee i wouldn't go back to, like, soldiering. like, that — that was, like, a big promise i made to her. i said i still want to go back to ukraine, though, because it is my home. like, i've been there for, like, four years with you and her family is there so for me, i think the important part is just to get back to ukraine and just do what i can. so, even after months in captivity, aiden's hopeful for the future of ukraine and for his future in the country he now calls home. it's estimated that a car is stolen every six minutes in the uk

and an increasing number of them are the pricier models. interpol says more and more high—value cars are being taken in the uk and then shipped to africa for resale, particularly in countries where they drive on the left. that's exactly what happened to anthony and danielle wilson's range rover after it was taken from their drive in essex, as gabby colenso reports. this is the moment thieves stole anthony and danielle wilson's range rover. it only took them one minute. as you can see, they are caught on cctv creeping onto the driveway as the family slept inside their house in hatfield broad 0ak with their three—year—old son. police had said there was a chance that i had be followed, because they had obviously got it in without the keys, so maybe they cloned a key or found a way to get into it when i had been out and about, and i only ever go anywhere with my toddler, so it worried me then. i found it really scary, and the more i thought about it, the worse it got.

when you watch the cctv, it's almost incredible that somebody walks up to the car and 63 seconds later is driving an expensive car down the driveway, having never seen the keys in theirlife. the tracker inside the range rover alerted the police that it was being stolen before the signal suddenly disappeared. a month later, it was found inside this container at tilbury port on its way to africa. we unloaded and decanted the whole container and ended up between eight and ten stolen vehicles in, some of them sort of values as i say up to £100,000 a car. it was a total haul and one of ourjobs was well over £1 million worth of stolen cars in one hit. since the covid pandemic and the cost of living crisis, thefts have been on the rise. in 2022, essex police managed to recover more than 600 cars, compared with a80 the year before, many of which are stolen to order and destined for overseas. we've recovered vehicles where they've literallyjust been completely cut in half — they are only interested in the front end of the vehicle that contains the engine and the ancillary components — that's the most

valuable part to them. the rest of the vehicle would just be crushed and disposed of. interpol says vehicles like these often end up in congo or countries such as kenya or uganda because of the demand for right—hand drive vehicles. the organisation is now working with african ports to help clamp down on this crime which, it says, has become too easy for criminals. as for the wilsons, they are still deciding whether or not to replace their car forfear of it happening again. gabby colenso, bbc news. we had politics from ben wright, the news from this then and now the weather with then rich. 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, a 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 a00—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, 1a 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 news, the headlines after 15 rounds of voting in the us house of representatives, the republican kevin mccarthy has finally been elected speaker. it followed heated exchanges which almost saw some republicans come to blows. the uk's prime minister, health secretary, nhs bosses and treasury ministers discuss

the challenges facing the national health service.