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. somebody wrote the doubt of whether he was there and he was all in. the uk's prime minister meets health leaders from across england to discuss the challenges facing the national health service. in eastern ukraine, russian missiles have struck the city of bahkmut, despite moscow's claim of a 36 hour ceasefire.

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 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 his 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? i never thought we'd get up. after multiple concessions, days of arm—twisting, and some tempers almost boiling over, kevin mccarthy finally persuaded enough on the right of his party to back him. though it did take phone calls direct to the house floor from the former president donald trump to persuade some recalcitrant republicans. 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. he was all in. but kevin mccarthy has paid a price for his victory. he's had to agree to a whole raft of measures that will weaken his position, including the reinstatement of a rule that will allowjust one member of the house to trigger a vote of no—confidence in the speaker. he is going to be the weakest speaker in the modern - | history of the country and he'll be i held hostage to these 2021 radical republicans. it's been two years since rioters, supporters of donald trump, stormed the capitol, trying to blockjoe biden�*s election and to hunt down the then democratic speaker of the house in her own office. and while kevin mccarthy has finally got the main job, there are

some in his own party who will be hounding his every move for the next two years. gary o'donoghue, bbc news, washington. let's get more on this with mark williams, former top aide to republican congressman mike conaway and now principal at ferox strategies, a strategic advisory and government relations firm. hello and welcome. thanks for joining us. hello and welcome. thanks for joining ve— hello and welcome. thanks for joining ne— hello and welcome. thanks for “oinin us. ., ., ., ., joining us. thanks for having me on. first question. _ joining us. thanks for having me on. first question, mark. _ joining us. thanks for having me on. first question, mark. when - joining us. thanks for having me on. first question, mark. when you - joining us. thanks for having me on. first question, mark. when you look at these concessions, more and more reports about what they mean in terms of business and the business of government. but in terms of his own position, when you look at the fact that he is now unable to manoeuvre, has hejust hamstrung himself, mr mccarthy? i manoeuvre, has he just hamstrung himself, mr mccarthy?— manoeuvre, has he just hamstrung himself, mr mccarthy? i don't think so. it was always _ himself, mr mccarthy? i don't think so. it was always going _ himself, mr mccarthy? i don't think so. it was always going to - himself, mr mccarthy? i don't think so. it was always going to be - so. it was always going to be difficult as speaker envious majority and he recognised that and

he knew he'd have to negotiate with folks on his left and on his right. did it take longer than he anticipated? of course. i've been around this town for almost 20 years and i've never seen margins this slim. i've not seen anyone better than this —— betterfor thisjob than this —— betterfor thisjob than kevin mccarthy, who has the respect of the left and right in the republican party. respect of the left and right in the republican party-— respect of the left and right in the republican party. however are we more likely _ republican party. however are we more likely to _ republican party. however are we more likely to see _ republican party. however are we more likely to see democrats - republican party. however are we more likely to see democrats and| more likely to see democrats and republicans working together in order to get business through? because there could be a lot of blocks. i because there could be a lot of blocks. ~ , because there could be a lot of blocks. ~' , ., blocks. i think there will be a tonne of _ blocks. i think there will be a tonne of blocks, _ blocks. i think there will be a tonne of blocks, you - blocks. i think there will be a tonne of blocks, you will - blocks. i think there will be a tonne of blocks, you will see| blocks. i think there will be a - tonne of blocks, you will see some bipartisanship on things like the debt ceiling. i'm not sure what kind of compromise they negotiated in the conference to get votes but i think you'll have to see bipartisanship there. you'll have to see bipartisanship when it comes to

funding the government. at the end of the day there's going to be a tonne of republican—controlled bills crossing the house, a huge focus on china, on the 87,000 irs agents that the biden administration wants to fund and things of that nature. yes, there will have to be a share of bipartisanship but you will see a lot of bills passing with just republicans. lot of bills passing with “ust republicansi lot of bills passing with “ust republicansfi lot of bills passing with “ust republicans. can you give an indication — republicans. can you give an indication of— republicans. can you give an indication of when _ republicans. can you give an indication of when the - republicans. can you give an indication of when the next l republicans. can you give an - indication of when the next votes on the spending bill or raising the federal debt limit expected? the debt limit is _ federal debt limit expected? tue: debt limit is a federal debt limit expected? tte: debt limit is a minimum federal debt limit expected? t'te: debt limit is a minimum target, federal debt limit expected? tte: debt limit is a minimum target, i don't think we have a target on that yet. we'll decide that one when we approach it and when it needs to be handled. in terms of spending we have until september because we just passed a spending bill at the end of... he has some time which is why i think you'll see him focusing on things like the border, like

oversight of the biden administration in the first couple of months of his speakership. he said he is 1000% confident that he will be holding the job of speaker for his two year term. with that motion to vacate the chair, does that give him the signal of where his future lies? t that give him the signal of where his future lies?— his future lies? i think it's tough but it's going — his future lies? i think it's tough but it's going to _ his future lies? i think it's tough but it's going to force _ his future lies? i think it's tough but it's going to force him - his future lies? i think it's tough but it's going to force him to - but it's going to force him to negotiate with both wings of the conference. as i stated, i don't think there's anybody better equipped than him to negotiate with both sides. it will be a tricky and hard road but he demonstrated last night that he's willing to stick it out and have the hard conversations both sides of the republican conference. 0k, mark williams, thank you. thanks so much. 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 40 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. in ukraine, vladimir putin has said his forces would stop fighting for 36 hours so 0rthodox christians could celebrate christmas this weekend. the ceasefire was supposed to run from 9am yesterday morning

to 9pm today uk time. and while millions of ukrainians and russians were able to enjoy the festivities, fighting has still raged along a front line which spans 700 miles. kyiv has dismissed the ceasefire as a russian tactic to regroup its soldiers. 0ur ukraine correspondent, james waterhouse, producer siobhan leahy and cameraman paul francis have sent this report from the eastern city of bakhmut on the front line. you leave civilisation behind on the journey to bakhmut. we are heading to one of the most hostile parts of the front line. and coming into view is a city in the middle of it. the russians are just a mile away. ukraine is fiercely defending here.

invading forces have thrown everything at the city, leaving it almost deserted. braving it above ground is a ukrainian soldier. translation: the situation is tense. there are explosions and strikes coming from the enemy's side. they promised a ceasefire but we don't see it. we don't feel or see it. they said one thing but in reality it is different. few expected the ceasefire to hold anyway. it was announced by russia in the first place and ukraine was never going to engage but there is still heavy shelling coming down from the russian side. ukraine is holding onto this city and it's not going to want to let go any time soon.

in bakhmut, those who flinch are in the minority. sergei tries to patch up what he can. translation: you would not wish this on your worst enemy. _ we tried to celebrate christmas regardless. we put up a tree and decorations, but it was in the basement. we didn't forget about this holiday. we can't hang around for too long. but this is about as far as you can get from a normal christmas. eastern ukraine has gone through nine years of russian aggression. there have been several attempts at ceasefires. few here expected this latest one to bring any respite. james waterhouse, bbc news, bakhmut. there's been international condemnation of iran after it executed two more

anti—government protesters. the us special envoy to iran, robert malley, said the executions of 20—year—old seyyed mohammad hosseini and mohammad mehdi karami followed sham trials. human rights groups have also condemned the killings saying the men were unable to choose their lawyers. we can talk now to hadi ghaemi, executive director at the centre for human rights in iran. thanks forjoining us on bbc news. i wonderfirst off, in thanks forjoining us on bbc news. i wonder first off, in terms of the condemnation, what kind of reaction has there been from iranians themselves?— has there been from iranians themselves? ., ., ., ., themselves? hello, thanks for having me. from themselves? hello, thanks for having me- from early _ themselves? hello, thanks for having me. from early this _ themselves? hello, thanks for having me. from early this morning - themselves? hello, thanks for having me. from early this morning there i me. from early this morning there has been great and universal anger and sadness of losing another two protesters to a very questionable judicial process that seems to be

rushed to shed as much blood as possible. so i hear a lot of condemnation and anger. a manifestation of that may come to physical force tomorrow on the streets of iran where there are calls for demonstrations to condemn this and also to mark the third anniversary of the shooting down of anniversary of the shooting down of a passenger plane by the revolutionary guard. there was a statistic i came _ revolutionary guard. there was a statistic i came across, _ revolutionary guard. there was a statistic i came across, the - revolutionary guard. there was a l statistici came across, the humans statistic i came across, the humans rights news agency reported an 88% rise in executions in 2022 compared to 2021. what were the men charged with an is that what accounts for the rise? in with an is that what accounts for the rise? ., ., ., the rise? in general, the iranian government _ the rise? in general, the iranian government is _ the rise? in general, the iranian government is very _ the rise? in general, the iranian government is very fond - the rise? in general, the iranian government is very fond of - government is very fond of executions, especially when it feels politically unstable. the charge the

men faced means in a... it allows the judges, without having to have any kind of template or measure of what the charge is, to subjectively apply them. the men were up against the state. it allowed it is under these circumstances that they have been hanged. the it is under these circumstances that they have been hanged.— it is under these circumstances that they have been hanged. the father of another inmate _ they have been hanged. the father of another inmate who _ they have been hanged. the father of another inmate who is _ they have been hanged. the father of another inmate who is on _ they have been hanged. the father of another inmate who is on death - they have been hanged. the father of another inmate who is on death row. another inmate who is on death row has reportedly said that his son was put through a psychiatric evaluation as part of his sentencing process. now, in terms of a court process, the sentencing, is that part of the

criticism that a lot of human rights agencies have been talking about, these sham trials, the lack of evidence? what goes on behind closed doors? , . ., , doors? these closed-door hearings have a very — doors? these closed-door hearings have a very long — doors? these closed-door hearings have a very long precedent - doors? these closed-door hearings have a very long precedent that - doors? these closed-door hearings have a very long precedent that we | have a very long precedent that we can point out, unfortunately, to hundreds of executions carried out like that where the defendant doesn't have access to an independent lawyer, doesn't have a lawyer of their choosing, doesn't get to defend themselves in a proper setting and generally you hearings are very rushed and last only a few days. most importantly, in every execution we see the primary and most significant evidence of self—incrimination confessions obtained by torture. 0ne

self—incrimination confessions obtained by torture. one of the people who was hanged today was heavily tortured ahead of his execution to obtain these confessions. i don't really call them a judicial process. a decision has been made to carry out a political killing of a protester and unfortunately we saw that today for the first time in two weeks.- the first time in two weeks. thanks for our the first time in two weeks. thanks for yourtime- _ 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. 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 reporter, james 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 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. don't forget you can get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter — i'm @lukwesaburak.

we have plenty more coming up shortly, all the top stories at the top of the hour and the headlines. hello there. the start of this weekend has been unsettled, thanks to low pressure, wet, windy, followed by blustery showers and sunny spells. part two of the weekend also unsettled with the same area of low pressure close by, it's going to stay pretty windy with plenty of showers rattling in from the south—west. here it is, this deep low, the centre sitting just the north of scotland on sunday, some fairly strong winds close to it's centre over the north and west of scotland. elsewhere, plenty of isobars so it is going to be another blustery day, maybe not quite as windy across inland areas that we had on saturday but lots of showers around, forming bands moving from west to east, some of them heavy with some hail, some thunder mixed in, very windy across the north and west of scotland, gusts of 60, 70 miles an hour.

tending to ease down a little bit later in the day but it's going to be a blustery day wherever you are. probably the best of the brighter and sunnier moments will be towards eastern scotland, eastern england. but a cooler day to come for all, temperatures of six to nine degrees, for most in single digits. sunday night, little change, it stays blustery, further bands of showers moving from west to east. wintry elements of them over the hills of scotland and we will see that throughout the day on sunday, maybe even down to lower levels for the early part of monday. it will turn a little bit colder across the north and the west. as that area of low pressure pulls away on monday, it allows this brief ridge of high pressure to nose in. that will tend to settle things down, kill off the showers across some southern and western areas, but they will continue to rattle into parts of scotland, maybe north—west england again, wintry elements over the hills. but an increasing chance of drier and brighter weather in the south on monday, thanks to that ridge of high pressure, and we could be up to ten or 11 degrees, still quite chilly further north. that brief ridge won't last long, it

will clear away during monday night. into tuesday, it is back to square one, wet and windy conditions with this next area of low pressure moving in. so some of that rain will be quite heavy as it splashes its weight northwards and eastwards, snow on its leading edge as it bumps into the colder air across scotland but it will revert back to rain as very much milder air pumps up from the south. and we are looking at highs of 13 or 1a degrees across southern britain. and it will be initially cold at the start of the day across the north as the milder air will spread northwards. it stays pretty unsettled for the second half of the new week as well, with further spells of wet and windy weather followed by some quieter moments, too.

this is bbc 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. russia's self—declared ceasefire in ukraine has come to an end. fighting continued in various locations throughout

the 36—hour period. president volodymyr zelensky said moscow's offer of a christmas truce was deceitful. iran is facing international condemnation for hanging two more people said to have been involved in nationwide protests. the uk called their executions abhorrent. you are watching bbc news. now, talking business asia: the battle for chips. a hundred years ago, oil was the most sought after commodity. today, it's these chips that run the world. they provide the processing power for everything we use, from smartphones to aircraft and cars to microwaves. but the fight for who controls the supply chains, the network of companies that make these devices, is escalating. translation: we will focus

on national strategic needs l and pool our resources together to boost cutting—edge research in science and technology domestically, and resolutely win the battle in key technologies. so instead of relying on chips made overseas in places like china, the supply chain for those chips will be here in america. welcome to talking business asia. i'm suranjana tewari. most semiconductors are made in asia. i'm in one of the areas of singapore where a lot of that fabrication happens, but the entire ecosystem stretches throughout the world. take this iphone, for example. it's been built around chips that were designed by apple over in the us, manufactured by companies like taiwan semiconductor manufacturing company, or tsmc, in taiwan. chips made injapan and south korea may also be in this phone.

a lot of the assembly then happens in china. with the war over chips heating up, countries like india might play a bigger role in production in the future. now, in this industry, size matters. the smaller, the better. these chips have transistors — think of tiny switches — and they measure about five nanometres. a nanometre is, get this, a millionth of a millimetre. just to put that into perspective, a human hair is 50,000 to 100,000 nanometres. so we're talking 50 to 100 times smaller than a strand of hair on my head. that's what enables, you know, our phone to get faster each generation, our digital photo archive to get bigger, our smart home devices to get smarter over time, you know, and our social media content to get richer. so that's definitely one of the goals. and that's what the semiconductor industry calls moore's law, essentially doubling the transistor density over time almost every two years. and that's a hard goal to achieve.

the world's leading manufacturer of semiconductors is taiwan. companies there, including tsmc, mass—produce the majority of these types of chips at the highest quality. at this point, only very, very few players, namely three across the globe, can manufacture the bleeding—edge semiconductor chips. those are the smallest transistors, the densest transistor ones. one of them is tsmc in taiwan, and tsmc commands the lion's share of leading—edge foundry capacity. and until very recently, i would say, they have been mainly building up capacity in taiwan. and that's why taiwan, as a region, plays a very important role in the semiconductor industry. the united states is concerned about this, and its reliance on taiwan. it's also concerned about china making advances in the sector. and so it's ramping up efforts to stop beijing's progress when it comes to chip technology. 0n china's part, it's made the production of cutting—edge chips

a national priority. it wants to be self—sufficient when it comes to semiconductors. it's not quite a high—tech superpower yet, and us controls are causing problems. translation: in order- to maintain tech hegemony, the united states has misused export control measures to maliciously block and suppress chinese businesses. this practice deviates from the principle of fair competition and violates international economic and trade rules. now the us is investing billions of dollars to expand the production of chips on american shores. the legislation that allows for that is called the us chips and science act. one of the companies taking advantage of it is micron. it's one of the biggest players in the memory chips business. memory chips are essential for anything that has a processor, but also for bigger items like supercomputers. i sat down with the chief executive of micron, and started by asking him how that legislation will

affect his business. well, the us chips act is helping level the playing field.