this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the new speaker of the us house of representatives, finally elected after 15 rounds of voting, says former president trump helped him get there. i don't think anybody should doubt his influence. he was with me from the beginning. some people doubted he was there. 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". and we hear from the multi—tasking environmentalist, who's cleaning up the streets of the uk.

the newly—elected speaker of the us house of representatives, kevin mccarthy, has said former president trump helped him finally secure his position, after 15 rounds of voting and sometimes acrimonious exchanges with fellow republicans. he said "i don't think anybody should doubt" mr trump's influence. president biden congratulated mr mccarthy for his win and said he looked forward to co—operating with this party. our washington correspondent gary o'donoghue reports. 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 resides over a deeply fractured party. gary o'donoghue, bbc news, washington. a short time ago i spoke to our north america correspondent, david willis, and asked him what he made of the concessions made to finally get mr mccarthy elected to the speaker's post. he 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 some 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 kevin mccarthy forced over this and as we now know, it took 15 votes and four deadlocked days before he actually managed to tie this down. this rule about any individual lawmaker being able to begin proceedings 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 sword of damocles hanging over his head. 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 their vote transfers into something tangible for their political fortunes. you mentioned the sword of damocles hanging over his head, 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 think the 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 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

kevin mccarthy, and encouraging them to go along with it. it's something that kevin mccarthy paid tribute to in 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. 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. 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. earlier, i spoke to roja assadi from bbc persian who told me more about these executions. many foreign ministers have used the same kind of vocabulary, apparent, revolting. such as james cleverly, the french secretary, the us special envoy to iran, robert madley. and lots of eu mps and mps of different european countries such as the netherlands, france, germany. some of these people have sponsored these political prisoners in iran and they were trying to save them by writing to the iranian ambassador to the countries and asking to save their lives. now it's very disappointing for them. lives. now it's very disappointing forthem. i lives. now it's very disappointing for them. i think the international

community has united in condemning this act of execution. what community has united in condemning this act of execution.— this act of execution. what more do we know about _ this act of execution. what more do we know about the _ this act of execution. what more do we know about the men _ this act of execution. what more do we know about the men and - this act of execution. what more do we know about the men and the - we know about the men and the charges against them?- we know about the men and the charges against them? these two men were amon: charges against them? these two men were among the _ charges against them? these two men were among the protesters _ charges against them? these two men were among the protesters in - charges against them? these two men were among the protesters in iran. - were among the protesters in iran. the protests have been going on for over three months, nearly four months, now. these two men, mahdi karami and seyed hosseini, two young men, 122 and one 39 years old, were arrested in the morning of one of the protesters killed in the street. they were accused of killing a member of a militia group that supports the government, and helping to crack the protesters. so these two were from a working—class family. one of them was a karate champion in iran, mahdi karami. his

parents were appealing to the iranian authorities not to execute him. he said he raised his son with great financial difficulties, hoping for a betterfuture. great financial difficulties, hoping fora betterfuture. he great financial difficulties, hoping for a betterfuture. he was great financial difficulties, 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 the family didn't have access to a proper trial. they didn't have access to their chosen solicitors, to their chosen lawyers. the court hasissued to their chosen lawyers. the court has issued them lawyers and we know that there was not enough evidence to support the court reasons around the killing of these militia members. we know that they

confessed, a forced confession, in many trials in the islamic republic of iran. 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. joe inwood, bbc news. 0lly foster has all the sport. hello and thanks forjoining us. there are 21 third round ties in the fa cup on saturday. this is when the premier league sides come into the compettiton and some of them have been humbled by teams from divisions below them. newcastle united, who have been flying in the league, have been knocked out of the cup by sheffield wednesday from league one, the third tier. josh windass, son of former premier league striker dean, scored both their goals in the 2—0 win. the way we went about the game tonight was spot—on. we got two wonderful goals against one of the meanest defences that we know. but we believe we can score goals and we stood resolute with the onslaught at

the end. pleased for the players and everyone connected to the club. we go into the fourth round.— go into the fourth round. bitterly disappointed _ go into the fourth round. bitterly disappointed to _ go into the fourth round. bitterly disappointed to go _ go into the fourth round. bitterly disappointed to go out. - go into the fourth round. bitterly disappointed to go out. i - go into the fourth round. bitterlyj disappointed to go out. i thought the performance was ok, i thought we created _ the performance was ok, i thought we created enough chances to win the tie. created enough chances to win the tie their— created enough chances to win the tie. their goalkeeper made some great _ tie. their goalkeeper made some great saves. we were clinical enough when _ great saves. we were clinical enough when the _ great saves. we were clinical enough when the presentable opportunities were there. we have to accept defeat, — were there. we have to accept defeat, sheffield wednesday battled but it wasn't to be. harry kane is now one goal behindjimmy greaves' tottenham goalscoring record. he scored the only goal of the game against portsmouth to make sure they are in sunday's fourth round. that was his 265th spurs goal. i try not to think about it. sometimes i think if you think too much it almost goes the other way. i'm in good form, ifeel fit much it almost goes the other way. i'm in good form, i feel fit and plenty of games coming up. ijust go into the game trying to help the

team. that's always been my mindset. the last tie of the day is at anfield, where the holders liverpool leading fellow premier league side wolves. goncalo guedes capitalising on a goalkeeping errorfrom allison to put wolves ahead but a cool finish from the uruguyan darwin nunez has levelled things up. mo salah has put liverpool in front. you can see all of the actions and keep on top of that game on the bbc sport website. away from the fa cup, celtic have opened up a 12—point lead over rangers at the top of the scottish premiership. they beat kilmarnock 2—0. rangers play at dundee united tomorrow. aberdeen's five—match winless run in the league is over as they beat stjohnstone 2—0. livingston are up to fifth after a 2—0 win at ross county. hearts, in third, came from behind to draw 1—1 at st mirren. india's suryakumar yadav scored a quickfire century as they won the t20 series

against sri lanka 2—1. batting first in the decider, yadav hit 112 offjust 51 deliveries as india posted a total of 228—5. sri lanka were bowled out for 137, india winning by 91 runs in rajkot. australia captain pat cummins took three wickets on the fourth day of the final test against south africa, as they push for what would be a remarkable victory in sydney. cummins had declared theirfirst innings on 475—4 at the start of play, the tourists closed on 149—6. so australia will look to enforce the follow—on and try and take 1a wickets on the final day. that would secure 3—0 whitewash in the series. that's all the sport for now. 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. earlier i spoke to vivek about his plogging experience. plogging is the combination ofjogging 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 you arejogging for your own health. that is two things in one go. this is something i bought from india. there is a community of ploggers like me. i started the same thing in bristol.

the movement has been spreading across the uk now. you've just finished a 30—day tour in which you picked up 360 kilograms of litter. i assume 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 started my 30—city plogging tour because it is a challenge i wanted to do in december. 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 on the city everywhere. people supported, people participated. more than a50 ploggers joined me. i am setting up plogging communities. we are using recycling

bins across the cities, disposing of things in a careful manner. i appreciate 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 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. that was my mission, to raise awareness about climate change. i'm sure people are taking a good message from this. 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? climate change doesn't ask us about comfort, 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 as well. i feel good in terms of my mental health. it is something which is really fun, i've enjoyed doing it. all the youngsters and senior citizens have enjoyed it with a passion. that's what i wanted to do. 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 mention he picked up 300 kilograms of rubbish during his 30 day tour. in the time he has been running in bristol he has picked up 5000 kg of waste! i think that's over two years. extraordinary. more details on the website, have a read

yourself. you can reach me on social media. you can reach me on social media. 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, 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.

point this is bbc world news, the headlines... the new republican speaker of the us house of representatives, finally elected after 15 rounds of voting, says former president trump helped him get there. kevin mccarthy's repeated attempts to secure the job almost saw fellow republicans come to blows. 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. 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 the orthodox christmas, russian—backed forces there say they've downed a drone lauched in breach of a temporary ceasefire.

it appears to be another sign that the temporary truce called