this is bbc news i'm lukwesa burak. our top stories... in eastern ukraine, russian missiles have struck the city of bahkmut — despite moscow's claim of a 36 hour ceasefire. there is still a heavy shelling coming down from the russian side. ukraine is holding onto the city, and it's not going to want to let go anytime soon. the uk's prime minister meets health leaders from across england to discuss the challenges facing the national health service. at the 15th attempt, kevin mccarthy is elected, us house speaker — after making concessions to the right of the republican party.

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 to you in the uk and around the world in ukraine, vladimir putin had said his forces would stop fighting for 36 hours so orthodox 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. our 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. 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 said he recognises the system is under enormous pressure.the opposition, labour party, 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, explained if today's meeting led to 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. 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 flu 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. 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 at times, acrimonious exchanges with fellow republicans. he said "i don't think anybody should doubt" mr tump�*s influence. president biden congratulated mr mccarthy on 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 weakestj speaker in the modern history of the country and he'll be 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. a short time ago i spoke to mark williams, a former top aide to republican congressman mike conaway, and now principal at ferox strategies, a government advisory firm. i started by asking him if he had expected the election of mr mccarthy to be quite so difficult and chaotic. it was always going to be difficult to be a speaker in this majority. and, so, i think he recognised that. i think he knew that he was going to have to negotiate with folks on his left hand and on his right. and he's done that. did it take longer than he anticipated? of course. but, again, i've been in and around this town for for almost 20 years. i've never seen margins this slim. so, we knew it was going to be difficult. but look, i don't think there's anyone that's better equipped for this job than kevin mccarthy. i think he's got the respect of the right and of the left flank

in the republican party. however, do you think we're more likely to see the democrats and the republicans working together in order to get business through? because, you know, there could be a lot of blocks. i think there'll be a tonne of blocks. i think you'll see some bipartisanship when it comes to things like the debt ceiling. i'm not sure what kind of compromise they they negotiated within the conference to get votes. but i think you'll see bipartisan there. i think you'll have to see bipartisanship when it comes to funding the government. but at the end of the day, there's going to be a ton ofjust republican controlled bills crossing the floor of the house of representatives. there's going to be a huge focus on china. a huge focus on the 87,000 irs agents that the biden administration wants to fund and other things of that nature. so, yes, i think there's going to have to be a shade of bipartisanship, but you'll see a tonne of bills passing with just republicans.

and i wonder, mark, if you could just give us an indication when are the next votes on the spending bill, for example, or raising the federal debt limit? when are they expected? so, the debt limit is a bit of a moving target. i don't think we have a date on that yet. so, we'll put a pin on that one when when we start to approach that. and it really needs to it needs to be handled when it comes to spending. we've got until september because we just passed a spending bill here at the end of the last congress. so, he's got some time, which is why i think you'll see him really focus on things like the border, like oversight of the biden administration here in the first couple of months of his speakership. he said that he's i,000% confident that he's going to be holding the job of speaker for his two year term. i mean, with that motion to vacate the chair, doesn't that really give him a signal of where his future lies? i think it's tough. but look, it's going to force him to negotiate with both wings of his conference.

and again, like i stated at the beginning, i don't think there's anyone better equipped than kevin mccarthy to negotiate with both sides of the conference. so, yes, it's going to be a tricky and hard road. but, look, i think he demonstrated last night that he's he's willing to stick it out and have the hard conversations with both sides of the republican conference. 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 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. earlier i spoke to hadi ghaemi, who's executive director at the centre for human rights in iran, and began by asking him what sort of reaction there has been from within iran.

early this morning, there has been great and universal outrage, anger and sadness of losing another two young protesters to a very questionable judicial process that seems to be in a rush to shed as much blood as possible. so from all quarters, i hear a lot of condemnation and anger and manifestation of that may come to physical for tomorrow in the streets of iran, where they are called for demonstrations to condemn this and also to mark the third anniversary of shooting down of a passenger plane by revolutionary guards. mr ghaemi there was a statistic that i came across. the human rights news agency have reported that there's been an 88% rise in executions in 2022 compared to 2021. now, i understand that these men were charged with wahhabi.

were charged with waharabi. what is that? and is that what accounts for this rise? well, in general, iranian government is very fond of executions, especially when it feels politically unstable. and the charge literally means enmity against god. it is a very subjective, vague term, together with the charge of spreading corruption on earth. it allows the judges, without having to have any kind of template or measure of what these charges mean to subjectively apply them. so these men were put to death because basically they rose up against the state that declares itself the representative of god on earth. and therefore challenging it is enmity against god. and it is under those circumstances they have been hanged. the father of 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 the court process and the sentencing, is that part of the criticism that a lot of human rights agencies have been talking about, these sham trials, this lack of evidence, what actually goes on behind those closed doors? indeed. these are closed door hearings, have a very, very long precedent that we can point out to. unfortunately, hundreds of executions carried out like that where the defendant doesn't have access to an independent lawyer, doesn't have or a lawyer of his choosing, doesn't get to defend himself in a proper setting. and generally, the hearings are very rush. they they last only a few days under such serious charges.

and most importantly, in every single execution, we see that the primary and the most significant evidence are self—incriminating confessions obtained under torture. indeed, we know that one of the people who was hanged today was tortured heavily ahead of his execution to obtain these confessions. so i don't call them really a judicial process, but lynching committees. a decision has been made to find an excuse to carry out a political killing of a protester. and unfortunately, we saw that today for the fourth time in a few weeks. 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 he obtained the gun, but officers say the incident wasn't

"an accidental shooting". joining me now is philipjones, the mayor of newport news, where the shooting took place. thank you forjoining us. i wonder if you can update us on a couple of details of mrjones. first if you can update us on a couple of details of mrjones.— details of mrjones. first off, how is the teacher? _ details of mrjones. first off, how is the teacher? so _ details of mrjones. first off, how is the teacher? so myself- details of mrjones. first off, how is the teacher? so myself and - details of mrjones. first off, how l is the teacher? so myself and other members of council spent the night at the hospital. we checked in on the teacher today. currently, she is in stable condition. the the teacher today. currently, she is in stable condition.— in stable condition. the boy it was onl six in stable condition. the boy it was only six years _ in stable condition. the boy it was only six years old. _ in stable condition. the boy it was only six years old. he _ in stable condition. the boy it was only six years old. he is _ in stable condition. the boy it was only six years old. he is in - in stable condition. the boy it was only six years old. he is in police l only six years old. he is in police custody. we have to ask, how he is he? ., �* , ., custody. we have to ask, how he is he? ., �*, ., ., ., custody. we have to ask, how he is he? ., ., ., . he? right now it's an ongoing police investigation — he? right now it's an ongoing police investigation so _ he? right now it's an ongoing police investigation so i _ he? right now it's an ongoing police investigation so i won't _ he? right now it's an ongoing police investigation so i won't comment. he? right now it's an ongoing police investigation so i won't comment onj investigation so i won't comment on individual things. investigation so i won't comment on individualthings. but, iwould investigation so i won't comment on individual things. but, i would say right now my main priority is making sure that that child has all mental health services that he needs and requires. health services that he needs and reauires. . ., , ,

health services that he needs and reauires. _, , , , requires. ok, the community must be in shock. requires. ok, the community must be in shock- what _ requires. ok, the community must be in shock. what can _ requires. ok, the community must be in shock. what can you _ requires. ok, the community must be in shock. what can you say _ requires. ok, the community must be in shock. what can you say to - in shock. what can you say to reassure them? what are they saying? honestly, my heart breaks for my community today. it has been a long night forfirst community today. it has been a long night for first responders, for the principal, for teachers, for parents. newport news is a city that is built on breakthroughs. we will come togetherfrom this. is built on breakthroughs. we will come together from this. it is going to take a little bit of time but we will come together. han? to take a little bit of time but we will come together.— to take a little bit of time but we will come together. how is it that a six-year-old _ will come together. how is it that a six-year-old managed _ will come together. how is it that a six-year-old managed to _ will come together. how is it that a six-year-old managed to get - will come together. how is it that a six-year-old managed to get a - six—year—old managed to get a gun into school? i suppose, firstly, an elementary school. with wood schools in that age group have metal detectors? it in that age group have metal detectors?— in that age group have metal detectors? , , , . detectors? it depends. it is citied b ci . i detectors? it depends. it is citied by city- i like _ detectors? it depends. it is citied by city- i like to _ detectors? it depends. it is citied by city. i like to defer _ detectors? it depends. it is citied by city. i like to defer a _ detectors? it depends. it is citied by city. i like to defer a lot - by city. i like to defer a lot of that to the school board and superintendent. but i will say that the safety of our children is my number one priority. and we will take a look at a few things, after we saw that the safety of our children is my number one priority.

and we will take a look at a few things, after we solve this investigation. i understand the superintendent has said that while district schools have metal detection capability the children aren't allowed are made to walk through. that is very sad that children of that age are having to do that. i children of that age are having to do that. ., ., ., do that. i agreed. right now, that is the policy _ do that. i agreed. right now, that is the policy for — do that. i agreed. right now, that is the policy for the _ do that. i agreed. right now, that is the policy for the district - do that. i agreed. right now, that is the policy for the district and i is the policy for the district and some of the schools in newport news. right now, the chief priority is ensuring that we complete the investigation. after that, ithink there is an opportunity or city leaders and state leaders to come together and figure out what needs together and figure out what needs to happen. mr together and figure out what needs to ha en. ~_, , together and figure out what needs to hauen. ~ , ., ., together and figure out what needs tohauen. ~ , ., ., to happen. mrjones, what would you like to see happen? _ to happen. mrjones, what would you like to see happen? we _ to happen. mrjones, what would you like to see happen? we hear- to happen. mrjones, what would you like to see happen? we hear this - to happen. mrjones, what would you like to see happen? we hear this so l like to see happen? we hear this so much, yes with older children, but six years old. how are you going to take this forward? this six years old. how are you going to take this forward?— take this forward? this is a wrong moment in _ take this forward? this is a wrong moment in the _ take this forward? this is a wrong moment in the city. _ take this forward? this is a wrong moment in the city. something i take this forward? this is a wrong l moment in the city. something that take this forward? this is a wrong . moment in the city. something that i feel every single hours. ifeel the burden of it. i can tell everyone right now that my main priority is to ensure that all of our kids are going to be safe, not only in their

schools but also in their home. this is the responsibility of the mayor, of konsa, of elected leaders and we will get this done. {lilia of konsa, of elected leaders and we will get this done.— will get this done. ok, for them jones, will get this done. ok, for them jones. mayor— will get this done. ok, for them jones. mayor of— will get this done. ok, for them jones, mayor of newport - will get this done. ok, for them jones, mayor of newport news | will get this done. ok, for them l jones, mayor of newport news in virginia, thank you.— two underground trains have crashed in mexico city , killing at least one person and injuring more than 50 others. (gfx)the trains collided between two stations on line three , which is one of the oldest in the cities' 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. train services in the uk have been severely disrupted again as tens of thousands of rail workers continued their strike about pay and conditions. today's industrial action is the last of five rail strikes this week — though services are likely to be

affected tomorrow as well. representatives of the rmt and aslef unions are due to have talks with the rail minister on monday. marine biologists in argentina have returned two green turtles to the ocean who were rescued after they became entangled in fishing nets, with one of the pair of endangered creatures excreting plastic ingested from the sea. this is one of two green turtles rescued at sea in on the beaches of san clemente in argentina. they were rescued after being found entangled in fishing nets. translation: the turtles arrived. they were put in pools and their swimming was measured to check it was normal. luckily, it was.

they are herbivores so we fed them algae, and one began to defecate plastic — luckily it wasn't too much. the turtles spent a month in animal rehab at the fundacion mundo marino. translation: we took blood samples for blood counts - and blood biochemsitry. the results showed that one of them had a high level of white blood cells and some parameters that indicated a slight degree of anaemia. we treated with a mix of antibiotics, a vitamin complex and iron. and now it's time to go home. back at sea, where they belong. an italian man has admitted stealing more than a thousand unpublished manuscripts, many written by high—profile authors. filippo bernardini impersonated figures from the publishing industry to trick people into handing over their works.

authors who were targeted include margaret atwood, ian mcewan and sally rooney. 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 ia 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... 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. 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. 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.