hello, i'm ben boulos and you're watching bbc news — broadcasting in the uk and around the world. our top story this hour. 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 don't 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 resides over a deeply fractured party. gary o'donoghue, bbc news, washington. 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 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 seyed 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 meaningfuljudicial proceeding. what the state has broadcast in relation to these cases is a bunch of videos that shows these militia allegedly being beaten up, and some confessions from these two men, described by rights groups as forced confessions. this is the case and what we know about it. and as you mention, the comment from human rights groups including amnesty international is that it's a sham trial. it's 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 his 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 execution, among them at least three teenagers who have been sentenced to death. 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. this is bbc news. turning to the uk now, prime minister rishi sunak and the 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 earlier our political correspondent, ben wright, joined us to explain whether today's meeting could help find any solutions. everybody recognises the system is under pressure. it's very difficult getting an appointment with your gp, local doctors, ambulances are waiting for ages in many cases outside hospitals because to get patients into a&e departments, hospital wards are full across much of england at the moment. the problems and pressures are there for all the patients to see right now in england. 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's really going on.

in downing street's view, share best practice as well. he thinks some nhs trusts are working pretty well, despite the pressures they're under right now and he wants the poor performing ones to learn from them. but there's going to be no silver bullet as a result of a meeting like this, or no immediate plan or blueprint. this is a long work in progress, dealing with deep structural problems and i think really it's about forestalling a crisis this time next year, when winter rolls around again. i dare say, ben, there may be people watching us right now in a waiting room in a hospital. maybe they've been there for hours, wondering how long before they see effects of all this filtering through and shorten those waiting time for them. absolutely, the government says they've put more money in recently and they have, and extra £14 billion announced over the next two years, back in the autumn statement. an extra 500 million to try and unblock awards and get people who are fit enough out of hospitals and into social care, in many cases. but as i've said, these are pretty profound structural problems.

many nhs bosses say this is a result of years of inaction and underinvestment that we are seeing now, coupled with the high demand from a spike in and covid cases. so there will be no quick fix here. politically for the government this is now pretty damaging territory that they're in which is why rishi sunak, on a saturday, has summoned people to downing street for a meeting like this. he needs to be seem to be doing something. on a separate front, quickly, the strikes which are impacting services, no sign of those being resolved soon either. tens of thousands of members of the rmt union have been taking part in the second day of a 48—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 40,000 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 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 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. 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, same issues. a bit of fresh optimism with fresh talks, and no further strikes planned, but some pretty big hurdles remain. as we've been reporting, kevin mccarthy made several concesssions to convince his hardline critics to back him. he approved a rule change, allowing any member of the house to launch a vote to remove the speaker, effectively giving individual lawmakers the power to kickstart the process of ousting mccarthy from his position. he's also promised to limit government spending, especially in defence. and he has reportedly agreed

to allow his critics, greater influence on key house committees. i'm joined now by our correspondent david willis. these concessions, will they have any real practical effect or are theyjust any real practical effect or are they just window dressing politically? to be totally frankie had no option, kevin mccarthy. he was boxed in. there were 20 members of his party, right wingers all, who were dead set on foiling his long—held ambition to become the new speaker of the house of representatives, so he had to give these concessions. he has conceded mightily, it would appear, including promising a sum of the rebels, key seats on key committees going forward in the next congressional session. you mentioned the reinstatement of the one—vote rule, by which a speaker can be dumped out of office. all these sorts of

things, the hand of kerry mccarthy forced over this and as we now it took 15 votes and four deadlocked days before he actually managed to tie this down. this days before he actually managed to tie this down.— tie this down. this rule about any individual lawmaker _ tie this down. this rule about any individual lawmaker being - tie this down. this rule about any individual lawmaker being able i tie this down. this rule about anyj individual lawmaker being able to begin ceilings to remove the speaker, doesn't that leave him in hock to the hardliners on his side of the aisle as well as those who are maybe dissatisfied with his policies on the other side of the aisle? effectively there could be a constant stream of challenges to his position, couldn't there? absolutely. this was normally the prerogative of a party leader. but this rule change, as you rightly point out, means it takes just one vote for this to be brought into effect. and it presents kevin mccarthy with a situation that's been equated to having the sort of

damocles hanging over his head —— the sort of damocles. the fact he's had to make these concessions means he is basically hostage to those on the right wing of the party, election deniers, conspiracy theorists, hardline donald trump supporters, who will be pinning him down and making sure that they get bang for their buck, to ensure that tangible for their political fortunes. tangible for their political fortunes-_ tangible for their political fortunes. ., ., ,, ., ., fortunes. you mentioned the sword of damocles hanging _ fortunes. you mentioned the sword of damocles hanging over— fortunes. you mentioned the sword of damocles hanging over this, - fortunes. you mentioned the sword of damocles hanging over this, and - damocles hanging over this, and others will think of the shadow of donald trump. how much influence did the former president has over securing victory for kevin mccarthy after all this voting? i securing victory for kevin mccarthy after all this voting?— after all this voting? i think the role of donald _ after all this voting? i think the role of donald trump _ after all this voting? i think the role of donald trump in - after all this voting? i think the role of donald trump in this - after all this voting? i think the i role of donald trump in this whole speaker process over the last week

has been fascinating. a lot of speculation that donald trump's star was waning in light of the january six inquiry findings that he was to blame in fermenting the violence on that fateful day, and also the fact that fateful day, and also the fact that his preferred candidates in last november's mid—term elections didn't do as well as he would have liked. it was quite clear from what kevin mccarthy and others had to say that donald trump played a pivotal role in getting sufficient votes for mr mccarthy to push his candidature over the line. that came down to phoning up people like matt gates, a hardline holdout, one of the last people to cast his vote in favour of kerry mccarthy, and encouraging them to go along with it. it's something that kevin mccarthy paid tribute to the speech he gave to reporters after he had gained the speakership,

but it's a complicated relationship between mccarthy and donald trump. it's fair to say that the underperformance of trump anointed candidates in the mid—term elections hasn't helped kevin mccarthy. it has limited the majority. that's partly to do with the problems he's faced over the last few days.— over the last few days. thank you, david. china is preparing to scrap its quarantine rules for travel on sunday. it's been called the great reopening. the relexation makes moving 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 biggest 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 core role 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. 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 near junction four of the m61 near bolton on thursday night, and walked towards anchor lane bridge. officers believe ms marten had recently given birth and that neither she nor her baby had seen medical professionals. 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 re—sale, 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 daniel 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 the house in hatfield broadoak with their three—year—old son. police had said there was a chance i would be followed because they had obviously got in without the keys — maybe they cloned a key or found a way to get into it when i had been out and about, and i never really go anywhere except with my toddler so it worried me then.

ifound it scary, and the more i thought about it, the worse it got. when you watch the cctv, it's almost incredible that someone walks up to the car and 63 seconds later is driving an expensive car down the driveway, having never seen the keys in their life. the tracker inside the range rover alerted the police that it was being stolen before the signal suddenly disappeared. one month later, it was found inside this container at tilbury port on its way to africa. came to the whole container and ended up between eight and ten stolen vehicles, some of them value up to £100,000, the total haul of one of thejobs is £1 million 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 480 the year before, many of which are stolen to order and destined for overseas. we recovered vehicles which have literally been cut in half — they are only interested in the front half of the vehicle that contains the engine

and ancillary components — the most valuable part to them. the rest of the vehicle would 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 the 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. an indian environmentalist has picked up more than 300 kilograms of rubbish during a 30—day—long plogging tour around the uk. plogging is an act of picking litter while running that first started in sweden. vivek gurav began plogging in his home city in india and decided to bring his enthusiasm for it when he came to the uk

two years ago to study at the university of bristol. vivekjoins me now live from bristol. explain the appeal, what is the advantage, part from for the people of the good city of bristol? plogging is the combination of jogging plogging is the combination of jogging and picking up litter. so you go jogging and picking up litter. so you 9°jogging jogging and picking up litter. so you gojogging and pick up litter on the streets which can help you to save the environment because you are cleaning up the streets, picking up plastic that will pollute the environment. and theyjogging for your own health. that is two things in one go. this is something i bought from india. there is a community of bloggers like me. the movement has been spreading across the uk now. ., �* movement has been spreading across the uk nova— the uk now. you've 'ust finished a 30 da the uk now. you've 'ust finished a so day tour h the uk now. you've 'ust finished a so day tour in _ the uk now. you've just finished a 30 day tour in which _ the uk now. you've just finished a 30 day tour in which you _ the uk now. you've just finished a

30 day tour in which you picked i the uk now. you've just finished a j 30 day tour in which you picked up 360 kilograms of litter. i assume you put it down in rubbish bins as you put it down in rubbish bins as you went along rather than carrying the whole thing. tell us about your tour, where did you go? i the whole thing. tell us about your tour, where did you go?— the whole thing. tell us about your tour, where did you go? i started my 13th city plogging _ tour, where did you go? i started my 13th city plogging tour— tour, where did you go? i started my 13th city plogging tour because - tour, where did you go? i started my 13th city plogging tour because it - 13th city plogging tour because it is a challenge i wanted to do. 30 cities in 30 days. i started in bristol and travelled across the country across birmingham, manchester, lincoln and elsewhere. it was 30 cities across the country. there was a lot of rubbish across the city everywhere. more than a50 ploggers joined the city everywhere. more than a50 ploggersjoined me. iam the city everywhere. more than a50 ploggersjoined me. i am setting up plogging communities. we are using recycling bins, disposing of things in a careful manner. i recycling bins, disposing of things in a careful manner.— in a careful manner. i appreciate this is an anecdotal _ in a careful manner. i appreciate this is an anecdotal question - in a careful manner. i appreciate this is an anecdotal question butj this is an anecdotal question but based on your 30 city tour, which one most needed your services and

which one was the cleanest? i won't be biased about _ which one was the cleanest? i won't be biased about any _ which one was the cleanest? i won't be biased about any city, _ which one was the cleanest? i won't be biased about any city, the - which one was the cleanest? i won't be biased about any city, the whole | be biased about any city, the whole country needs a lot of help because everywhere i go across the world there are people who throw rubbish wherever they are. there are people who want to be responsible and are careless about the environment. if we are concerned about the planet, which is our whole world, we have to take care of our cities. everywhere on the planet there is a certain amount of litter to be picked up. i wanted to raise awareness about climate change. i'm sure people are taking a good message. we climate change. i'm sure people are taking a good message.— taking a good message. we are watchin: taking a good message. we are watching clips _ taking a good message. we are watching clips of _ taking a good message. we are watching clips of you _ taking a good message. we are watching clips of you doing - taking a good message. we are | watching clips of you doing this. doesn't it hurt your back, having to stop and bend down and pick up the litter. . . . stop and bend down and pick up the litter. ., . ., ., , �* ., litter. climate change doesn't ask us about that, _ litter. climate change doesn't ask us about that, so _ litter. climate change doesn't ask us about that, so we _ litter. climate change doesn't ask us about that, so we get - litter. climate change doesn't ask us about that, so we get used - litter. climate change doesn't ask us about that, so we get used to l litter. climate change doesn't ask i us about that, so we get used to it. i've been doing this for the last eight years and i've never felt a

moment of tiredness. it is something for our own health and well—being. i feel good in terms of my mental health. it is something which is really fun, i've enjoyed doing it. plogging is an activity that everyone can do. if they can walk, they can pick up litter. we have to do something from our end. i suppose the key thing — do something from our end. i suppose the key thing is _ do something from our end. i suppose the key thing is getting _ do something from our end. i suppose the key thing is getting started - the key thing is getting started with jogging and the key thing is getting started withjogging and running in the first place. i won't make any comment about that! we must leave it there, thank you for speaking to us. and you can get in touch with me and the team on twitter — i'm @benmboulos now on bbc news the weather with ben 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.