this is bbc news. i'm vishala sri—pathma. our top stories... china lifts quarantine rules for people arriving from abroad, for the first time in three years. despite promises of an orthodox christmas ceasefire, russian missiles continue to strike eastern ukraine. there is still a heavy shelling coming down from the russian side. ukraine is holding on to this city, and it's not going to want to let go anytime soon. iran faces international condemnation after executing two more anti—government protesters. that was easy, huh? at the 15th attempt, kevin mccarthy is elected us house speaker — after making concessions to the right of the republican party.

metal detectors beep. and is this the sound of hidden treasure? hopeful hunters follow a map marking the spot where german soldiers are believed to have buried valuables worth millions. hello and welcome to bbc news. after nearly three years of covid lockdowns, china is scrapping its quarantine rules for travel from sunday. but as soon as restrictions were eased over the last few weeks, infections started to spread rapidly — causing many countries to introduce compulsory covid tests for travellers from china. there are also concerns that china's borders are opening just as the country prepares to celebrate its annual lunar new year.

for more on this story i'm joined now by the bbc�*s martin yip who's at the hong kong—zhuhai—macau bridge checkpoint. thank you forjoining us, martin. how are people feeling about these restrictions being eased fairly quickly? we have heard travellers from china can visit abroad and now these restrictions being eased for inward visitors.— restrictions being eased for inward visitors. yes, indeed. i have spoken _ inward visitors. yes, indeed. i have spoken to _ inward visitors. yes, indeed. i have spoken to a _ inward visitors. yes, indeed. i have spoken to a couple - inward visitors. yes, indeed. i have spoken to a couple of. have spoken to a couple of passengers going through these gates, they can board a shuttle bus here and then go through the bridge and then go to the western part of china. this bridge and this checkpoint is the major gateway into that part of china. they do show plenty of excitement that finally they can go to visit extended family they have not seen for three years. another lady says she has been

vaccinated but is still worried because she has never caught covid before and there is a new variant emerging within mainland china and that worries people. is mainland china and that worries --eole. , ., ., , , people. is there more attempts to vaccinate _ people. is there more attempts to vaccinate people _ people. is there more attempts to vaccinate people to - people. is there more attempts to vaccinate people to give - to vaccinate people to give people top ups, given we know lunar new year is upon us and lots of people probably expected now to come back to china to visit family they have not seen for a long time? for now the tactics _ not seen for a long time? for now the tactics for _ not seen for a long time? igrr' now the tactics for mainland china and hong kong is about vaccinating the elderly people, young people, toddlers and kids. these are people who are less vaccinated than the rest of the population. we have had health officials from beijing talking about a 90% vaccination rate across the whole of china weeks ago but still, they are worrying about a spread of the

disease continuing because of easing restrictions as well as the lack of vaccination among old people. they are catching up old people. they are catching up on that front. otherwise people can already get extra boosters if they want in hong kong, but that is the main push now, for old and young people. martin, you are wearing a facemask. are there tight measures around social mixing around social distancing and mask wearing?— around social distancing and mask wearing? exactly. if we talk about — mask wearing? exactly. if we talk about hong _ mask wearing? exactly. if we talk about hong kong, - mask wearing? exactly. if we talk about hong kong, social| talk about hong kong, social distancing has already been lifted but yes, i still had to wear a mask and that is by law. if i take it down, there are plenty of police officers who may issue a fine. people are somehow adhering to it because they don't want to catch covid themselves and they are not

quite sure what to do in terms of seeking treatment or going to work, but also, we have been hearing overnight in macau which is the other side of this bridge, they are scrapping any recording measures from midnight this morning, so they are almost treating it as cold and flu. if you enter macau you still have to produce a negative pcr testjust like going into mainland china. thank you, martin. in eastern ukraine — clashes have continued throughout the day on saturday — despite the russian ceasefire to mark the orthodox christmas. ukraine dismissed the pause in hostilities as a tactic to allow russian troops to regroup. russian forces are on the edge of bakhmut — they've been trying to take it since the summer, in an attempt to push further west, but the city hasn't fallen. our correspondent, james waterhouse — along

with producer siobhan leahy and cameraman paul francis — sent this report from bahkmut, 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. l 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. the united states is calling for iran to stop executing anti—government protesters. the state department said two men who were hanged on saturday were convicted in sham trials. britain and the european union have have also condemned iran's use of the death penalty. shelley phelps reports. nationwide protests have swept iran since the death of mahsa amini in september. the young woman had been detained by the country's morality police. now two men have been hanged for killing a member of the security forces during the demonstrations. mohammad mahdi karami and seyed

mohammad hosseini had appealed against their sentences, saying they'd been tortured into making false confessions. on saturday, iranian state tv broadcast footage of the two men testifying during a court hearing that has been condemned as a sham trial by human rights groups. in every single execution, we see that the primary and the most significant evidence or self incriminating confessions are obtained under torture. indeed we know that one of the people who was hanged today was tortured heavily ahead of his execution to obtain his confession. so i don't really call them a judicial process but lynching committees. their deaths bring the total number of protesters known to have been executed in the aftermath of the unrest to four. but death sentences are not a new tactic used by iran's

regime to repress opposition. the islamic republic has been handing out death sentences to political prisoners for four decades. in 1980s, thousands of protesters were executed summarily. the human rights group amnesty international says it fears at least 26 more people are at great risk of execution in connection with the protests, while politicians from around the world have widely condemned iran's actions as abhorrent. shelley phelps, bbc news. i've been speaking to pouya alimagham, a historian focused on iran and revolutionary movements at the massachusetts institute of technology — about the impact this development will have on the iran protests. the intention behind the expedited trials, if you could even call them trials, they're very sham trials, the whole point is to do them very quickly and to televise these forced confessions and to execute

them in a public manner, really to instill fear in the population and really get them to demobilise the state. there is a lot of historical precedent to it in the face of uprisings in the past. the government has hastened these so—called trials and public executions to demobilise protesters, essentially to instil fear in the public and historically it has worked to a certain extent. we will have to wait and see if it works right now. we do see protests continuing but often times they seem to be plateauing a little bit. there has been international condemnation. because of social media we have seen videos of what has been going on in iran around the world. what you think it will take to effect change in government policy and attitude towards people that don't agree with the policy in iran? it's hard to say if there

was an answer to that. i think for the past a0 years, 42 years now, or 43 years now, people have been trying to figure out solutions but we really see the government is moving in the opposite direction. instead of allowing politicalfreedoms, instead of allowing political dissent it is increasingly becoming more and more repressive and authoritarian. it is going in the opposite direction of the expectations and demands of protesters, so we have been at an impasse for many years now. do you think this sort of contraction as you describe, it will put off all different types of people? we heard earlier on about how a lot of poorer working class people have been targeted, who have less resources. do you think the demographic is quite key here? it's interesting because every uprising, and they are becoming very cyclical, from 2009, from 2017, early 2018,

november 2019, every different uprising has activated different segments of society to the point where because of the repression of these uprisings, many segments of society have grown wary of the state. again it's hard to see how to break through the impasse, it's also hard to see how the state is able to then garner support where it has alienated so many different aspects of society and so many differentjunctions in iran's political history. 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. 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 here. 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 allow just 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 held hostage to these 2021 radical republicans. it's been two years since rioters, supporters of donald trump, stormed the capitol, trying to block joe 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. you are watching bbc news, the headlines: for the first time in nearly three years, china has lifted quarantine rules for people arriving from abroad. russia has continued to shell eastern ukraine despite calling for a 36—hour ceasefire for orthodox christmas celebrations. thousands of pilgrims have descended on the historic town of lalibela in ethiopia, to celebrate orthodox christmas. it was the first time pilgrims went to the town since the conflict in tigray began in 2020, which disrupted life in the country. a surprise ceasefire was declared on november 2nd. the bbc�*s daniel dadzie reports. peace at last. after two years of war, thousands of worshippers have travelled from far and near to mark the ancient custom of orthodox christmas in africa's largest christian site. the medieval rock churches here at lalibela became a world heritage site in 1978.

they are important for christians as places of pilgrimage and devotion. but this year's ceremony is special. it's laced with the relief of a country recovering from war. translation: last year- we were in our home crying. i normally always come here for christmas but i couldn't come for the last two years. more than the pandemic, the war was scary because it was a massacre that was visible to our naked eyes. i couldn't come and celebrate it because i was afraid. not long ago, lalibela was on the front line of a brutal conflict between government forces and the tigray people's liberation front. the town changed hands four times during the fighting and miraculously the ancient churches appear to have been spared the scars of war. there is obvious relief

here that a peace deal was signed last november, the memories of the war are never far away. translation: my prayer - and wishes are god may grant us freedom for myself and my country. many problems remain with 2.3 million people still thought to be in need after being cut off from humanitarian aid. but today's ceremony brings the hope that life will return to normal for ethiopians. daniel dadzie, bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news. two metro trains have crashed in mexico city, killing at least one person and injuring more than 50 others. the trains collided between two stations on line 3, which is one of the oldest in the city's metro system. federal prosecutors have opened an investigation into the cause of the crash. thousands of israelis have taken part in protests against

the new right—wing government. many accused the administration of endangering democracy through proposed judicial reforms. the plans would allow parliament to override decisions made by the supreme court. prime minister benjamin netanyahu has sought to calm concerns about the fate of civil rights. ivory coast has welcomed home dozens of soldiers who'd been detained for six months in mali, causing a diplomatic row. the 46 servicemen were pardoned by mali's military leader on friday, a week after being given long jail terms for allegedly undermining state security. the ivorian government said the troops had been sent to mali to assist the un mission there. 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. bernardini, pleaded guilty

in new york to wire fraud, but his motive has never been clear. earlier i wasjoined by new york based reporter, ginger adams otis who explained more about this unique case. it's actually brings to mind one of my favourite authors from south america and how this played out because it is a mystery, an enigma and it went through multiple phases of people within the publishing industry understanding something was going on but nobody could figure out what. what we know now is since roughly august 2016, it may have been earlier, but at least since then, mr bernardini was working within the publishing industry and that's a key element to this. he was in the industry, he knew the lingo, he knew the players and he would create fake domain names and fake e—mails and he would make

the domain name is very similar to existing big—name publishers and publishing companies or agencies or different elements of the publishing industry. he would e—mail people who had access to different manuscripts, different authors, different levels of fame, and he would come up with some possible reason that he should get some of the manuscript or the entire manuscript before publication date. because he knew how to phrase things and he knew where things were within sort of the process of getting a book published, he was pretty successful. it looks like he got over a thousand manuscripts. eventually, at some point, people within the industry started to cotton on to something going on. there was a spy within their midst but nobody knew who it was, so it actually change from a whodunnit to who is doing it? still he was able to carry this on for many years until

finally, people figured it out and he was arrested. he got cau~ht and he was arrested. he got caught finally. _ and he was arrested. he got caught finally. his _ and he was arrested. he got caught finally. his motive i caught finally. his motive isn't entirely clear. did he actually make any money from this? ~ , actually make any money from this? �* , ., .,, actually make any money from this? �* , ., ~ ., ., ~ , this? as far as we know, no. as art of this? as far as we know, no. as part of his _ this? as far as we know, no. as part of his deal _ this? as far as we know, no. as part of his deal he _ this? as far as we know, no. as part of his deal he does - this? as far as we know, no. as part of his deal he does have i part of his deal he does have to pay some restitution, not clear what, to pay some restitution, not clearwhat, potentially to pay some restitution, not clear what, potentially for wages he earned while acting in a manner that was injurious to various companies. unclear on that. but he does had to pay about $80,000, but there is no evidence he ever tried to sell the manuscripts, that he tried to make black—market deals, that he profited in any personal well from this. there were concerns _ personal well from this. there were concerns from _ personal well from this. there - were concerns from commentators following the trial that there might be some copycats of his ways and his methods, because actually, if you are able to do that, you could obtain quite large sums of cash. imagine if someone _ large sums of cash. imagine if someone had _

large sums of cash. imagine if someone had gotten - large sums of cash. imagine if someone had gotten the - large sums of cash. imagine ifj someone had gotten the harry potter book —— the duke of sussex's book. they would have made a bid. they probably would have been tracked down faster. what made mr bernardini successful was he wasn't shooting for the moon, he wasn't looking for a big hit and once people started to get and once people started to get a sense of something here is on the up and up, they went looking for these manuscripts in underground markets and backroom deals and they were not. that made it harderfor people to find him. it would also make it harder to copy this because unless you have the same rationale he had for doing this, doing it for personal gain without too much faster. former cameroon international and olympic gold medallist modeste m'bami has died at the age of a0. reports say m'bami died of a heart attack. he was an olympic gold medallist with cameroon in sydney in 2000 and played 38 times for the indomitable lions, including the final of the 2003 confederations cup

in his club career, he featured for paris saint—germain, where he won two french cups, and marseille. treasure hunters in the netherlands are hoping to find valuables worth millions, hidden by nazi soldiers during world war two. an old map believed to mark the spot where the german soldiers hid diamonds, rubies, gold and silver, was made public by the dutch national archive as claudia redmond reports. these treasure hunters are hoping x really does mark the spot, as they follow a map believed to show where german soldiers hid a haul of stolen goods during world war ii. the map was made public alongside other papers from the time by the national archives of the netherlands, after a 75 year confidentiality period expired. translation: according to the documents, it - contains bracelets, watches, brooches, necklaces, silver coins, gold coins, precious stones, rubies, diamonds. armed with shovels and metal

detectors, groups wander through the fields in the hope of finding the buried loot. translation: like so many, i'm quite tickled of _ the news of this treasure. i'm a serious searcher, i've been searching in this area for 30 years and i've found nice objects, especially roman ones, but now, suddenly, we are told something we haven't known for all these years but there is probably nazi treasure buried here. my daughter and i projected them up from 1944 onto the current map and our conclusion is that the cross is here. there is a road crossing in the shape of a fork here and the little cross indicating the treasure here is here, which is where we are standing at the moment. but these hopeful treasure hunters shouldn't get their hopes up too high as the released papers show the dutch state try to find the looted treasure after the war, apparently without much luck. claudia redmond, bbc news.

that's it for us from now. you can reach us on social media. thank you for watching. 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 to the north of scotland on sunday, some fairly strong winds close to its 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 way 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 14 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: for the first time in nearly three years, china has lifted quarantine rules for people arriving from abroad. the change has driven a rapid rise in coronavirus cases and has prompted other countries to impose restrictions on chinese tourists. beijing has described such curbs as unacceptable. russia has continued to shell various regions in ukraine despite calling for a 36—hour ceasefire for orthodox christmas celebrations. president volodymyr zelensky said vladimir putin's offer of a truce, now ended, was deceitful. he said peace in ukraine would only be restored when russian forces were expelled. iran has been widely condemned after executing two more anti—government protesters. mohammad mahdi karami and seyed mohammad hosseini had appealed against their sentences

for killing a member