a jillions journey around the world starts january 19th on d, w. ah, this is the w news live from berlin. russia's president vladimir putin orders a temporary christmas cease fire in ukraine. it will be the 1st major truce since moscow launched its invasion, keith as dismissing the proposal. hypocrisy also on the program. benedict the 16th is laid to rest at the vatican. thousands of faithful gather for

a funeral ceremony presided over by pope francis. it's the 1st time in 2 centuries, a sitting po, pass conducted such rights for his previous ad live pictures from the us congress where deadlock republicans are making a fresh bid to elect their leader in the house of representatives could confessions to the hard right, secured kevin, mccarthy, the speaker ah, i'm glad of his welcome to the program and we start with some breaking news. russian president vladimir putin as ordered a 36 hour seas 5 on the ukrainian front line. it will take place from the 6th to the 7th of january, to coincide with the russian orthodox christmas. the feminine says put in, made the decision after an deal from the head of the russian orthodox church.

patriarchs, carol, ukraine has dismissed russia's declaration as it pock rossi and propaganda. our correspondent killian buyers, following these latest developments for us from the reader. killian, i want to know so far. what could this is? violet looked like. well, what we know is that a russian president vladimir putin spoke to his defense minister, sagacious grew and asked him to implement the ceasefire. all along the contact line and the ceasefire comes after it. like you said patriarchy real. and it told both sides that they should implement this the ceasefire. now patriot korea, who is he, he's the head of the russian orthodox church. he is the spiritual leader in russia and for a long time for a very long time. he was also the spiritual leader for many, many ukrainians as well, and the, the eastern region of ukraine, the don boss,

where the fighting is going on right now. there are a lot of russian or a lot of orthodox people. and a russian president, putin said that these people should be able to go to mass on christmas without having to fear for their lives now. and the ukrainians, like you said, also dismissed these calls for a ceasefire, a senior aide to be crated president. and we filed polo, jack said ukraine doesn't attack foreign territory and doesn't kill civilians. and it's only destroying the members of an occupying army. and it's going to try and push them out. and he said, the only time they can talk about a ceasefire is once russia is completely gone from ukraine. now, briefly, if you can, why is this announcement come now? well, we need to, i need to add some context. we need to look at the last a few months, really, the whole war was pretty bad for russia. president putin thought he could win the

war in 3 days, or we're still talking about the war today. it's not over and we've seen very, very bad things happen. for the russian army, they were pushed out of your son. and just a few days ago, there was a massive strike high, more strike against russian russian military personnel in, in eastern ukraine. this caused a lot of outrage in russian white right wing blogger circles, and i think putin is trying to distance himself from all this flak. now flying around with the criticism of the army. and he's trying to show himself as a put in the, the merciful gillian. by there, thank you very much. hope frances has presided over the funeral of his predecessor but benedict tens of thousands gathered in st. peter's square and vatican city for the service. but benedict died last week at the age of 95. in 2013,

he stunned the world by voluntarily stepping down due to ill health, becoming the 1st pope in centuries. to do that, the funeral concludes a unique arrangement in which to pope's co existed in the vatican. ah historic moment at the end of the funeral mass. as touch frances blast the coffin of his predecessor. it was a ceremonial gesture filled with respect. tom francis has struggled to walk in recent months. but he took grace at 1st to stand and chippy to benedict. from the early hours, the fates are lined up to pay their finer respects to the former pontiff. oh, since as to any good, and he was a man of great fate, and i want to follow his example and his kindness reserve and great faith. let's

have a face and i showed it and defeated the 16th means um, yeah, solid rock for the church was through inspiration for the seminaries of my generation. and we all read his works in seminary. the mourners held from all over the world, including benedict snakes of bavaria and southern germany. i think the benedict, the 50, i think, benedict, the 16th was the most significant bavarian and german district. that's probably the last 500 years from one of your auto renew. at leona benedict was the 1st german in almost 500 years to lead the catholic church on the foreign dignitaries in the crowd included germany's president. despite the grandiose sessing, it was a simple ceremony benedict choosing an un unadorned wooden coffin, in which to be laid to rest the mistake to arrive the service. pope

frances alluded to the former pon tips, religious work, and the sacrifices he made for his catholic faith. and as the ceremony drew to a close, applause ran through saint peter's square. a celebration of benedict's life, and an anticipation of the eternal life. catholics believe he will now enjoy with god in heaven. our correspondence jack park was at the funeral mass and earlier we asked him to give us his impressions off the service. the funeral of pope ameritas vanity, the 16th appears to be very much as the vatican had suggested, that it would be it with scaled back. still somber and very respectful to the former cove. there have been many people that have arrived from all over the world . i've spoken to nuns from tanza near from burundi, from many people from all over the world. 11 of those nuns that was tens from tanza

near said that she find it very sad the funeral. but for finally, beautiful. a lot of people that have turned up to this funeral really have done so in a private capacity. we know that the german chancellor and allow shouts and the president frank, vault of sy my were here, but also the belgian king felipe turned in attend up in a private capacity as did the former queen of spain, sophia, lots of people that we've been listening to and hearing to is a speaking to on the streets, have a personal story to tell about. pope benedict he was, it appears quite a hands on pope and previous in his, in his job as a cardinal and was very personally supportive to people. i think a lot of people felt a personal connection and decided to attend the funeral. here in rome today, the coffin that was on display the wooden coffin is being sealed with zinc and then put into another wooden coffin and will be moved then into the croc brodis. under the basilica of saint peter. here at the vatican,

city for the foreseeable future took her to us. now we're a 7th round of voting is getting underway in the house of representatives. as republicans attempt to break a deadlock and elect a new house speaker as one of the most important jobs in us politics are, we're seeing a live pictures here of the latest right in real voting on the previous 6 rats ended in defeat for republicans having a copy some 20 right wing, members of his own party blocking his election even after former president trump appeal for unity. mccarthy is the 1st candidate in a century who has had face multiple dollars. now did of you a washington bureau chief in his fall joins us from washington. d. c. in his said today is the 30 mccarthy is trying to get the votes he needs. what is chances?

well again, mccarthy is facing another valid which outcome or remains really uncertain. what we know is that he has been meeting with 20 or so defectors, also known as rebels or that have stalled or his election to the speakership members of the far right. they are also known as the freedom cockers, or were offered several concessions that what we hear today with the hopes that they will relent and void in favor of mccarthy. but what we saw over the last 2 days is that the far right members really have dug their heels in and have not shown any willingness to change their might. now, you mentioned a concessions. what exactly has my coffee off of this group of right wing republicans who block his election? what, what can, what can we offer? right, so he can offer quite a bit. and so reports have said that he is willing to offer the freed this freedom

caucus. we were just talking about seats and very powerful committees committees that basically did turn the rules of the house of representatives white as this matter. and this made might have a major or this might have major implications also to the international community. god. as for example, voting in favor of major funding of ukraine could become very difficult and maybe even uncertain. another concession he apparently has made is a so called one member motion to vacate what does that mean? that means that that would allow only one member of congress to force a vote, 2 hours to speaker, and we just experience that over the last 2 days. how difficult and how car. oh dig this vote is. so if he will, over this offer, this motion to vacate, he's basically a selling his soul. now,

what does this power struggle mean for the future of the republicans in the us? well, this has not only been a rollercoaster ride for mccarthy or who believed that after the republican took the how a spec in november that he was guaranteed to become the next speaker of the house. it also shows how divided the republican party is. you just mentioned it yourself. gerhard, even as former president, donald trump asked the freedom caucus members to support mccarthy that they don't even follow him anymore. the republican party is split and very, very many kind of singular, sometimes one person or interest groups. and it will be very, very difficult, not only for the speaker of the house, but for the whole republican party to come together again. thank you very much. our sna corresponded in is pull them

outside china health experts are concerned about how quickly a new coven variant is spreading b on the chron sub variant x a b b point one. point 5 is currently spreading rapidly in the u. s. official data last week showed it accounted for over 40 percent of cases that scientists say it is the most contagious version of coven 19. yet the world health organization says it has been detected in 28 other countries, mainly in europe. the sub variant was 1st discovered in october an earlier i spoke to dr. dp good a zoning. she's an expert on epidemiology and global health at queen mary university in london asked us if we should be worried about this new variant. we should be worried about today, just suggest that this is a baby and that doesn't just escape immunity really well, perhaps the most in a basic 18 so far. but is also able to infect cells better. so it binds more

closely to that part of the cell, allowing device and more, which means that it's also likely to be more transmitter. we're already seen back in the paces by spreading. so for example, in new york, where this branch is already dominant, we have seen associated with a higher rate of hospitalizations. and what's really concerning is that this is now spreading and many other parts of the u. s. in parts of europe in the u. k. in canada, and it's by and i think when to be and that becomes dominant across europe in a few weeks time. you're a pretty mellow just dr. duty good. as on the that you want to do that. the news is a reminder of the top stories were following for you. russia president vladimir putin says he has ordered a 36 hours unilateral sci fi and ukraine. tomorrow the russian orthodox christmas eve has dismissed. most girls announcement proceed and repeated it's them up for russian troops to leave occupied areas of you. for francis has presided over

a funeral mass for his predecessor benedict, the 16th. at the vatican in rome, thousands of faithful attend that the historic rectory, a mosque that it has been in turn in a simple wooden coffin, the crypt beneath some features. that's it. from the new scheme from me, the same sex couples off india, tor poured for the rights of married physician has the details of that story in a news, asia that out of this ah, if you ever have to cover up a murder, the best way is to make it look like an accident raring to ah, you've never read a book like this to literature list under.