welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. the first sitting of the new us house of representatives has been full of drama. three attempts to elect republican kevin mccarthy as speaker of the house have failed. he hasn t been able to secure enough support from his own party a group of right wing republicans have refused to back him, and the california congressman has refused to drop out of the race. it s the first time in 1000 years that a speaker hasn t been elected in the opening round of voting. 0ur correspondent in washington, will grant, explains the significance of the stalemate. of this is not the way that kevin mccarthy or the republicans wanted the first day in congress is a majority to go. not by a long way. by the third round of voting, as many as 20 republican colleagues did not vote for him, denying him the chance of taking speaker of the house. why does any of this matter? first and foremost because of that role is particularly important in
welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. it s great to have you with us. the first sitting of the new us house of representatives has been full of drama. as speaker of the house have failed. he hasn t been able to secure enough support from his own party. a group of right wing republicans have refused to back him, and the california congressman has refused to drop out of the race. it s the first time in a hundred years that a speaker hasn t been elected in the opening round of voting. our correspondent in washington, will grant, explains the significance of the impasse. this is not the way that kevin mccarthy or the republican leadership wanted their first day as the majority in congress to go not by a long way. with each round, it seemed to be getting gradually worse for him and by the third round of voting, as many as 20 republican colleagues did not vote for him, denying him the chance of taking speaker of the house. why does any of this matter? fir
welcome to our viewers on pbs in america the first sitting of the new us house of representatives has been full of drama. three attempts to elect republican kevin mccarthy as speaker of the house have failed. he hasn t been able to secure enough support from his own party. a group of right wing republicans have refused to back him, and the california congressman has refused to drop out of the race. it s the first time in 100 years that a speaker hasn t been elected in the opening round of voting. here s our north america correspondent peter bowes. the heart of us government deadlocked because its members can t agree on who will be the next speaker. the house of representatives is meeting for the first time at the start of the first time at the start of the new congress with the republicans in charge. pursuant to law and republicans in charge. pursuant to law and precedent, republicans in charge. pursuant to law and precedent, the - republicans in charge. pursuant to law a
sports. hello and welcome. we begin in washington where the us house of representatives has adjourned in disarray after three failed attempts to elect the republican kevin mccarthy as speaker. it s the first time in a century the procedure has a small number of hardline republicans are refusing to support mr mccarthy. nothing can go ahead in the house until a new speaker is elected. our north america correspondent peter bowes has the story. the heart of us government deadlocked because its members can t agree on who will be the next speaker. the house of representatives is meeting for the first time at the start of the new congress, with the republicans in charge. pursuant to law and precedent, the next order of business is the election of the speaker of the house of representatives for the 118th congress. with a slim majority, the republicans have the votes chris to select the next speaker, but only if most of them agree. kevin mccarthy is the front runner. the republican le
paid their last respects to the former pope benedict 16th before his funeral at the vatican on thursday. it s seven in the morning in singapore, and one in the morning in ukraine, where a ukrainian battlefield commander in the eastern town of bakhmut has told the bbc that the fighting there is ferocious. a us official has said russian forces have made incremental advances around the town, with mercenaries from the russian paramilitary wagner group heavily involved in the assault. the battle has been described as a meat grinder with high numbers of casualties on both sides. almost all of the city s 70 thousand occupants have fled. russia is working hard to capture bakhmut in the hope it could lead to the fall of sloviansk and krama torsk as well the two most important cities in the donbas still under ukrainian control. but ukrainian forces are holding firm. the bbc s yogita limaye reports from the city. this is what the merciless bombardment of a city looks like. a