>> the first session of the new u.s. congress opens with president obama's democrats weakened, and likely trouble ahead. thousands attend the funeral in lahore. >> we were threatened by execution by his troops. we have made it by road to the hotel. >> more in a moment. welcome to "bbc news". later, the food scare spreading in germany over a possible chemical contamination of millions of eggs. the dates and then you are said. more details emerge about the

royal wedding of the year. -- the dates and venues are set. hello. a new year, a new political season. a new u.s. congress and fresh trouble for barack obama and his democratic party. two months after those midterm elections that saw heavy losses for the democrats, they're more than 80 republicans in congress. they control the lower chamber and they are threatening to derail the president's program. more from our north american editor. >> the republicans are the masters now in one part of congress at any rate. victory that means president obama will find it almost impossible to turn his plans into law.

it was softened by a day of ceremony. this man has a weight on his shoulders. the new speaker, john boehner, promising to give government back to the people. the most senior republican is known for the ease with which he wieeps. >> i pass this gavel which is larger than most. to speaker john boehner. >> he intends to hammer president obama's program. >> no longer can we kick the can down the road. the people voted to end business as usual. we begin to carry out their instructions. >> those instructions include appealing obama's major achievement, health care. that would be blocked by the senate.

introducing spending cuts worth $100 billion and holding hearings into the conduct of what they branded a corrupt administration. few tea party supporters are as flamboyant as this protester. many echo his message, we are watching you as he reminds politicians of the size of the national debt. political spin is something many of the new members will have to learn. this man owns a pizza restaurant but is propelled by the tea party. the new members want to change america's direction. austerity is coming here. >> my mission is to ensure that congress lives like every family does in america. on a budget. >> this change at the white house also. robert gibbs is leaving and others will follow. the republicans and the

president are poles apart. the stage is set for a battle royal and the blame game that will be important when it comes to presidential lik-- the presidential election of 2012. >> kaeding k. -- katty kay is there. how much will things change? >> if the republicans have their way, an awful lot. they will vote next week to try to repeal health care reform. they probably will not get very far. they may chip away at the financing. it will be an interesting year of republicans in majority of house of representatives trying to unravel what the president has done. getting a little bit of trying to say to constituents, we hear you and we know you want to shrink the size of the government. the democrats are in a tricky

position. i am joined by henry quayle. what can democrats do over the next two years at the house to stop republicans from changing the legislation? >> we want to find some common ground where we can work together. we can find ways and reduce the deficit and find ways to help the middle class, ways where we can grow jobs. we can find that common ground. if they want to repeal things like the health care legislation, we know it is a message. it will not pass the senate and it will not withstand a presidential veto. if they want to make changes, they will find people like myself. the first ones to say, let's work out and find in the legislation. to replace a repeal and not replace with anything, that is not the right approach. any body of a stance is you fine

tune it and make it better and that is why it has been done for years and that is the way the republicans will. >> democrats are out of power in the house. the republicans own some economic problems that have to be accountable? >> we can work on the job. if you look at it in december of 2008, we were losing 750,000 jobs a month. the news came out that we will gain about 2 rudder 79,000 jobs for december. that is pretty good. we had -- nothing is forever -- we will gain 279,000 jobs for december. everythinelections are one thint governing is another thing. i want to see what they do. >> you have as a conservative

democrat reached across the aisle to republicans and reached into the middle. there are people in the republican side who are in a position of compromising. they are bringing conservatives, the tea party members. one that drags the republican party to the right and make it hard to compromise? >> it will be challenging. when the tea party folks come in and john boehner, i want to congratulate him, he will have a tough time. there will be a lot of moments that have to have a dull moments. let's see what they can do. let's see how we can compromise. it takes to to work out a compromise. >> -- it takes two to work out a compromise. >> it will be an interesting couple of years here in washington. democrats tried to get used to being the minority and republicans have to get used to

the fractions within their party. >> thank you. >> huge crowds have turned out for the state funeral of salman taseer, who was assassinated on tuesday. there was tight security for lahore and some relief but it went off smoothly. there is uncertainty. >> thousands came to bid farewell to the liberal governor who dared to challenge extremists and paid with his life. there were full military armor's four -- honors for salman taseer but some called for a boycott and even praised his killer. the assassin was greeted with cheers outside court today.

yarsagumyarsagummalik mumtaz hui shot taseer 27 times. his supporters chanting, "you did the right thing." taseer called for the release of a woman cents to death. on the streets of the capitol today, we found some who said the governor deserved to die. this man told us he would have killed him himself if he had the chance. >> the assassination has left liberals in pakistan feeling even more isolated. the fear is moderates will be silenced. >> everybody who was in the public space in pakistan is going to speak with a little more hesitation in the

aftermath of salman taseer's assassination. people are afraid for their lives and families and for this country. people are afraid for the future of this country. >> some were raising their voices today. they gathered at the spot where the governor was killed. honoring his memory. -- honor his memory and his courage. the mood is defiant. people were going to fight on. liberals have been reminded just how vulnerable they are. some see the assassination as proof of a growing extremism and there were it not just for pakistan but also for the west. there is a battle here, a fight for the future of the nation in crisis. the brutal killing of the governor has exposed deep

divisions and heightened fears about where pakistan is heading. >> the white house oil spill commission said in its final report that bp, halliburton, an transocean made a series of cost-cutting decisions that contributed to this bill -- the spill. muqtada al-sadr has returned. his army fought american troops after the invasion of 2003 and the cleric was an opponent of the iraqi prime minister, nouri al-maliki. the white house has responded coolly to an unusual statement from north korea, saying there should be unconditional dialogue with the south as soon as possible. pyongyang says north koreans are

ready to meet anyone, anytime, anywhere to help in months of tension. the u.s. envoy has arrived in the region. the head of u.n. peacekeeping has said he will be asking the security council for up to 2000 more troops were ivory coast partly to protect the man internationally recognized as winner of the presidential election, alassane ouattara. his rival, laurent gbagbo, is refusing to give up power. we spoke to alassane ouattara. >> an empty road as we head toward the besieged hotel. we're hoping to reach the man the world says is the rightful president of ivory coast. first, we have to get through the siege. we are stopped by forces loyal to laurent gbagbo, the man

refusing to give up the presidency. we are ordered out and they say, we will finish you off, you will never leave here. that was a very unpleasant scene. we were taken from the car and threatened with execution by laurent gbagbo's troops. they let us through and we made it through to the besieged hotel. a surreal calm in the center of the storm. we're not allowed to film the troops guarding the hotel. in the lobby, a cabinet and president in waiting. tired of negotiations, the one the standoff resolved by outside military intervention. -- they want the standoff resolved by outside military intervention. >> there are five years of

negotiations. he wants to get time to bring in arms, munitions, and mercenaries. he wants to continue to stay in office. >> this will end in war. >> it will not. it does not mean civil war. laurent gbagbo mercenaries and a few young people he has organized. all thsis would cease. >> will it? across town, a rally for laurent gbagbo's supporters and a show of force. if foreigners invade, they will see how strong we are. and a subtle threat. if they attack us from abroad, we will deal with the foreigners

living here. not a hint of compromise in the country drifting toward a violent showdown. >> stay with us if you can. still to come. u.s. senator john kerry or bribes in sudan. will his praise for the country's president help sunday's referendum? the premiere of the australian state of queensland said the damage is so extensive from flooding it will affect the global economy. one of the areas worst hit is the city of rockhampton. our correspondent is there. >> in a land not used to dealing with the extremes of nature, it is the magnitude of the flood that has taken australia by surprise. this is one of the great agricultural centers of the country. massive farms have been reduced to small islands.

it is hard to fully appreciate the scale of this disaster, even appear. we're seeing a very small fraction of the flooding. natural disasters have been declared in an area covering over 1 million square kilometers. it is the small, low-lying suburbs of rockhampton that have been swamped. hundreds of homes have been inundated. more than 500 have either fled or been rescued from their homes. we kept coming across residents fiercely determined to stay. >> someone will come and break in. i have kids. it is everything i have got. >> the level of the water did not rise quite as high as authorities predicted. 9.2 meters rather than 9.4. the crucial difference.

emergency services were nowhere as busy as they feared. with roads already severed, the fear was that rockhampton would be completely cut off as it was for two weeks during the floods 20 years ago. this was the clearest indication the city had dodged a bullet in the words of a local official. traffic still able to head north. >> the latest headlines for you on "bbc news". the first session of the u.s. congress is open with the resurgent republican party meant to cut the size of the government and its spending. the future -- cragle lined the streets for the funeral of the governor of punjab province who was assassinated on tuesday. the southern sudanese will vote on possible independence in a referendum many fear will bring a new civil war.

john kerry, the head of the u.s. senate committee on foreign relations now in sudan. he had unusually positive words for the country's president. our correspondent has this report. >> john kerry was warmly greeted by the key officials. restaurant leaders refused to meet him himself. he was wanted for the international criminal court for alleged genocide. the recent speeches about the referendum and possible southern independence have been conciliatory. america has taken note. >> i think president bush ashir's comments were well received in many quarters. it is critical for the government in the north to make this happen in a constructive way. it is critical for them and their long-term interests. it would like to have better relationships with the u.s. and the west and other countries. >> sudan is under u.s.

sanctions. these would be progressively removed if the referendum happen as planned and the civil war i and r four -- in darfur is sorted out. >> he deserves credit together with the members of his government for having moved to this point. they werre were alternatives and they could have been unbelievably costly in terms of life and international engagement over a long time. >> america seems convinced that the referendum will happen on time, relatively peacefully. southerners are certain to vote for independence. they are divided by ethnicity, religion, and culture than southerners see decades of oppression.

the successful referendum would not be the end of the story. both sides have to agree on the number of vital issues, including citizenship and the country's vast oil reserves which remain in the south. perhaps for the first time, john kerry and others believe that a peaceful divorce is the most likely outcome. >> thousands of chickens in germany are being cold as the scare over poisoned eggs escalade. up to 3000 toweggs may be contaminated with dioxins. >> german authorities are trying to stop the crisis. farms were closed of they had links to the producer of feed found to be contaminated. authorities are going after the company's that may have been responsible. -- the companies that may have been responsible.

>> how this contamination happened is an issue. i see this as a grave act and must never happen again in the future. >> the dioxin was determined on this farm in north germany. as much as 3,000 tons of animal feed contaminated with the substance was distributed to more than 1000 farms across the country. that was six times more than previously announced by the authorities. farmers fear a lack of trust. >> the worst is the loss of reputation. we're not responsible for what is happening. it is a mistake and whether it is delivered or do to manague to negligence is unnecessary. >> 1 gary that oil meant for an industrial process was used instead in feed either

accidentally or by design to save money. >> there are so many unanswered questions and that is why it is hard to make a recommendation. if you want to be sure, you should avoid poultry and eggs until these questions are answered. >> public trust in eggs has been shaken. the difficulty for the authorities is even as they reassure the public, the extent of the contamination is bigger than first thought. >> bodyguards have had to step in to protect the israeli minister, benjamin netanyahu. hecklers forced him to stop a speech honoring those who were killed in a forest fire. angry relatives shouted, he should be held responsible for the with the disaster was handled. -- for the way of the disaster was handled.

manthe outgoing power granted - parliament granted powers to hugo chavez. dozens of birds fell dead in southern sweden. emergency services cordoned off an area peppered with dead jackdaws. the causes and clear -- cause is unclear. the pair will tie the knot at westminster abbey. the palace has released details about what will happen on that date. >> they are determined as far as possible to keep control of the arrangements of the marriage. william in particular is anxious and should not be seen as a rerun of the wedding of his mother and father. while lady diana spencer went to

her wedding in 1981 in a coach that traverse central london to st. paul's cathedral, kate middleton will travel to her wedding by car. almost certainly from clarence house, a short distance to westminster abbey. william knows the abbey well. he was there a few months ago in the raf inform he is expected to wear at his wedding for a service commemorating the battle of britain. despite its grandeur and its thousand your connection with will take, when to get to the altar, it is a small and intimate area. -- once you get to the altar, it is a small and intimate area. williams grandparents's grandpae married here. people were suffering economic hardship. william and kate are said to be aware of

circumstances but the world is expecting a show. >> it is a television occasion. we are presenting to the world. i am sure it will be celebrated in do style. >> as mynas wife after the service, they will board a horse-drawn carriage for the procession back to buckingham palace. the route will take them across parliament square, up whitehall and along the mall. they will attend a wedding buffet hosted by the queen and history will repeat itself. just as his grandparents did in 1947, and his parents did in 1981, the wedding will be sealed with an appearance on the balcony. this royal couple are determined to make their day and to do with their way. >> much more on bbc.com,

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