republican congressman kevin mccarthy loses an 11th vote to become the speaker of the house of representatives. let us sit back comes despite confessions to far brought lawmakers and pope benedict the 16th is laid to rest. at a funeral ceremony presided over by pope practiced at pathetic awe american he held walk into the program, germany and the usa. they're prepared to send armored vehicles to you, cried after speaking by phone. the leaders of both countries said ukraine would be receiving german maid, mother, and us built a bradley fighting vehicles. the decision follows a move by france to quit you crime with similar hardware. this is the am x t, n r c. it's a french light battle tank that's highly mo bile and fitted with a powerful gun. now to ukraine's delight frances donating some of these ahmed combat vehicles. to cave france, if a will, did you, france brings a new level of european defense support to ukraine. and i thank president my call for this leadership. we'll get more armored vehicles including french made wheeled tanks, which sends a clear signal to all our other partners. there is no rational reason why western style tanks have not yet been supplied to ukraine. it's important in order to restore security for all ukrainians and peace for all europeans. you will please zalinski has clearly been frustrated by the west's reluctance to give his country the tanks. he says it's so desperately needs. joe biden has now said the us, we'll send bradley fighting vehicles to help key if they've been used by the u. s. military to carry troops around the battle fields since the mid 19 eighties. military experts say the bradley would give ukraine more firepower and strengthen its ability entrench warfare. but biden's move falls short of sending in heavy tanks. like the abram, which is what key if really once berlin was reluctant to agree to donate models which are armored personnel carriers. but the shots government gave way to increasing pressure to change its mind that some debt will krajina by we've discussed supporting ukraine in its right to self defense, even even with heavy weapons looking lot vickers potent believes that he has the longer breadth and that effect some point ukraine ran out of weapons and international support. allah just had some a gains. lloyd would win this war. that isn't he given good and ask for devastation and ukraine mounts the pressure on all key it's allies will only increase. so joining me now for a closer look at this story is date of li reporter, florian no health. welcome and start with the basics about why are these on the vehicles so important? what are they going to enable you trying to do that? they haven't previously been able to do. well, i'm a is incredibly important in modern warfare. it's powerful enough to punch through and defenses and mobile enough to exploit those openings. and so these vehicles that you claim ones are important for armed forces forces to take back the territory that's still on the russian control. if you cranes, army doesn't have sufficient offensive capability when we're looking at a war that it will descend into prolong stalemate and the walk are going for years . and that's why proponents of delivery of have your weapons have long argued that this delivers will, that will actually escalate the war. but shortly it's a down to the, the all important numbers. how many armored vehicles will be delivered. and just as importantly, when, well, we'll have clarity on that to more in the case of the bradley's report suggest it will be 50 and this will be part of the next, the military package that will be announced on friday. as i said under jo media says that 40 motus will be delivered and there is no number given on the amex, tens of french vehicles in terms of when these will be supplied. we don't know. what we do know is that the modest, there are hundreds of these vehicles decommissioned vehicles and industry storage and it will take months for them to be refurbished. but one way to shorten that delivery process is for the german army to deliver weapons vehicles. and so it was the goodness there. and then get this vehicle for recompense by vehicles that being refurbished in the industry. he kind of been asking for main battle tanks. the german leopard 2 in particular is ukraine. now more likely to get those? it's possible or german chancellor will have choices long argue that germany should not go along alone. and he's also said that there is a is claim that there is agreement among nato to not supply western tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. but frances knocked the stuffing out of that excuse by now delivering the amex 10. and so the pressure that it shows has been effective in his own coalitions with by the green party and the free liberals to supply tanks and armored vehicles is now even gotten more intense even today. and so it's possible that the shorts will be forced to change his mind on that one. we shall see the w reporter floor in the health. thanks so much. will the u. s. government continues its descent into crisis as a power struggle inside the republican party has prevented the election of the speaker at the house of representatives. the most powerful brought in congress. the battle for the next leader of the lower chamber is said to wait for the day after a public when front runner, kevin mccarthy suffered another string of defeats on thursday for a total of 11 losses. i sat down, he made several k concessions to a small group of right wing republicans going to, but they continue to oppose him on this side, classroom and shop. so with the living rounds of voting down and kevin mccarthy still no closer to clenching the speakership, i asked d. w, washington bureau chief in his pole. how much longer mcafee can possibly keep going . well, this is the 1000000000 dollar questions. a question, you know, theoretically he could really go on forever. there is no rule known like legal or procedure. but what we hear is that there is some back door negotiations going on. obviously that those who are opponent or opposed oppose him. since all these are votes or once something in writing, so to make sure that you fulfill these promises, you also have been talking about. so maybe there is a movement behind the scenes, but that's totally unclear. and we might see just another round of votes during the night. you speak a little bit to my next question. why are these 20 are so hard? right. republicans so motivated to make this so hard for kevin mccarthy so hard for their own party and for everyone else for that matter. yeah, that's a very good question specially because he's heart a core right wing, a republicans who are members of the so called a freedom caucus, which was founded 2015. that reminds us all this is when donald trump enter the scene, are huge from fans. huge from support us, but they didn't follow donald trump's endorsement 2 vote for mccarthy. that is kind of surprising and why don't they do that coming back to questions. they just do not trust him or they don't trust mccarthy and they want someone else that even so that didn't come out with any other name. so therefore, maybe they are working on this back door ideas to get something in writing something. what he promised them, for example, that they would be members of various boards important committees. what they are aiming for trust makes it hard. but what does this power struggle mean? for the short and medium term for republicans and us politics. in general, i sizing the just seeing kind of a preview, what we will be experiencing over the next 2 years until a new house is voted in and maybe even longer because it shows that in a political landscape which is so fractured in a country. me, it only has 2 parties that the parties themselves have really difficulties in finding someone who is able to rule them. that's very different than other countries. like, for example, in germany where we have just a various parties where people could go, you know, for the specific and things are fighting for we do not have that here in the united states. therefore the parties themselves are very fractured and with merit. very narrow majorities like the republican party has right now in the house. it is really difficult to govern if you have like 51015 people who just don't want to follow any majority. so it just shows you how difficult it is in an era where there are many a politicians who are only are mainly concerned about kind of their own gold gold but not one to find compromises to really get something done and to really govern, be watching day w, washington bureau chief in his poll. thanks so much. or let's take a look at some of the other stories making headlines around the world. russian president vladimir putin as ordered a unilateral 36 hour cease fire on the 20th front line. it would take place from the 6th to the 7th of january, to coincide with russian orthodox christmas. ukraine has dismissed russia's declaration as hypocrisy and propaganda. mexican security forces have cats of cartel leader, a video crew spun, the son of drug, lord walk in guzman, known as del chapo. the pre dawn operation, set of gun fights and road blocks across the western state of sinaloa to capture comes just days before you as president joe biden of it is due to visit cellular health experts i knew covered. 19 veron is spreading the x b, b $1.00. now counts for over 40 percent of cases in the u. s. and has been detected in 28 other countries. most of them had it in europe. scientists say it's the most contagious version. yet. germany meanwhile, has joined a growing list of countries to impose mandatory covey tests on travelers from china, which is facing a surge in infections. european union has recommended all its member states follow that policy. starting from monday, china has said the travel restrictions are discriminatory. for francis has presided over the funeral of his predecessor, pope benedict tens of thousands gathered in saint peter's square in the vatican. city for the service hope benedict died last week at the age of 95. the funeral concludes a unique arrangement in which 2 popes coexisted in the vatican. ah, i historic moment at the end of the funeral mass. as pope francis blessed the coffin of his predecessor, it was a ceremonial gesture. filled with respect. pope francis had struggled to walk in recent months, but he took grace at 1st to stand and chippy to benedict from the early hours, the fatal lined up to pay their finer respects to the former pontiff her. since it's jenny, good anne, who is a man of great fate, anne and i want to follow his example in his kindness reserve and great faith. we have a face and our children defeated. the 16th means um yeah, solid rock for the church. was he 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 regular 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 that could mistake to the service pope francis 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. anticipation of the eternal life. catholics believe he will now enjoy with god in heaven. now before we go, he is a reminder of the top story we're following for you. the u. s. and germany announced plans to deliver ahmed vehicles to you, cried jim and my mother and us bill bradley fighting vehicles could soon be on the way to the front lines station, full as an announcement by france to quit. you've tried with similar. ha, that's all for now. i've next another from the doc film series, this one plumbing the depths of the world's waste water problem. stay tuned for that. i'll be back at the top of the hour with more news headlines for me and the team here in berlin for now. thanks for the company and stay with us if you can. ah, a thought say well great, a.