i'm rico hizon in singapore. the headlines: chinese authorities impose further travel restrictions in hubei province, where a previously unknown respiratory virus has killed 18 people. major lunar new year celebrations in beijing are cancelled to try to control the spread of the disease. i'm lewis vaughanjones in london. also in the programme: the government of myanmar dismisses a ruling by the un's top court ordering measures to prevent the genocide of rohingya muslims. hubei, and out of the devastation of the australian bushfires comes inspiration for a major work of art.

live from our studios in singapore and london. this is bbc world news. its newsday. good morning. it's 8am in singapore. midnight in london and 8am in wuhan, china, which is in lockdown due to the outbreak of the coronavirus. an 18th person has died and 650 people have been infected. however, it's still to early to knowjust how dangerous the outbreak will turn out to be. and the world health organization has again said it is not a global health emergency, though it is an emergency in china. from beijing, john sudworth reports. this is the moment a city of 11

million people was effectively shut off. aaron military police guarding the station, as all departing trains are cancelled. in the hospitals, medical staff in full body suits patients. while images on social media appear to show a system struggling to cope. empty shelves in the shops and scuffles over food. we spoke to one british man now stuck inside wuhan. it's a very surreal feeling. knowing especially that if you go outside, there is potential to catch such a deadly virus. and when you look outside the window, what's the atmosphere like? does it feel like a city under a blanket of dear? 0h, does it feel like a city under a

blanket of dear? oh, yeah, 10096, 100%. behind me, you saw the street at night time where i normally live, at night time where i normally live, a very vibrant street, lots of restau ra nts, a very vibrant street, lots of restaurants, and it's open until 2am and chinese families come and they're celebrating but if i show you out there now, it is dead. on china's main evening news, the lead item? a new year banquet for senior officials. president xi jingping makes no mention of the crisis. but the facemasks on display at this beijing's station are proof the public is well aware of the risks. yeah, a little worried, because, you know, i... you are wearing your mask is yeah, my mask. bottles as well. are you worried about the virus? no, because i believe in my country and my government. you believe in your government? yes.

this is an epidemiologist‘s nightmare, how do you control the spread of a dangerous virus during the biggest movement of people on the biggest movement of people on the planet? tens of millions travelling every day for at least a fortnight, and the real question is whether the closure of the city of wuhan comes far too late to make a difference. alongside the public health announcements, there are signs of censorship and control and restrooms are being asked about whether moore might have been done sooner “— whether moore might have been done sooner —— questions. john sudworth my bbc news, beijing. ——john sudworth, bbc news, beijing. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. democrats in the us senate are continuing to give evidence in the impeachment trial of president trump, who is accused of soliciting election help from ukraine. senior congressman jerry nadler said the alleged abuse threatens the entire system of us democracy. mr trump denies any wrongdoing. the emerging point of contention in these hearings is over witnesses. democrats want to call

them, but republicans, who hold a majority in the senate, are unwilling. here's the top democrat in the senate making the case. the same republicans are saying that they heard nothing new, but these republicans voted nine times on tuesday against amendments to ensure new witnesses and new documents to come before the senate. let me repeat: the same republicans saying they "hea rd repeat: the same republicans saying they "heard nothing new" arejust voted nine times on tuesday to hear nothing new. well, washington correspondent chris buckler took me through today's development in the senate. todayis today is really about setting out the charge, the first of these charges against resident trump, and thatis charges against resident trump, and that is abuse of power. during the first day of the prosecution, if you like, they basically set out the chronology of what they say happened. today is about the charge, saying exactly why they believe this

was president trump doing wrong as far as the us constitution was concerned. there is of course a second charge, and it's likely they will get you that tomorrow. as for today, to some extent it's been more of the same, using clips and documents to really set out their case that president trump was doing his very best to try and force ukraine into launching a investigation is into his political opponents with a mine very firmly set on the 2020 election, basically to benefit him from a domestic political point of view and get a foreign power, foreign country, involved. as you mentioned, this was a democrat suggesting this is a threat to democracy an president going well beyond his powers. but actually if you look at inside the chamber, there are many senators not paying attention. in fact some walked out of the chamber at certain points and there were conversations back at the cloakroom, and some were even playing with fidget spinners at time, points, toys republicans were

given at lunch, gives you an idea they are not taking this in. also making news today: africa's richest woman says she's ready to fight what she calls misleading and untrue graft allegations. isabel dos santos is the daughter of angola's former president. prosecutors accuse her of using her father's influence to steal millions of dollars from state companies during his rule. dos santos says she's ready to fight through the international courts to clear her name. humanity is closer to annihilation than ever before. that's according to the scientists behind the doomsday clock. the time has moved tojust 100 seconds to midnight, after experts altered the clock due to concerns over climate change and global tensions. now take a look at this — these black, shiny fragments are believed to be the glassy remains of a man's brain. found in the town of

herculaneum in italy. he was buried by the ancient eruption of mount vesuvius in 79 ad. reserchers have been studying the remains, unearthed in the 1960s, and this is what they extracted from his skull. back to our top story, the spread of the coronavirus which has claimed its 18th victim — an 80—year—old man — while nearly 600 people are infected across 10 countries. worryingly, the latest death was the first victim not from the epicentre of the outbreak, wuhan, where its 11 million residents have been quarantined. a similar lockdown has been put in place on another 8.5 million people in the cities of huanggang and ezhou, 70km away. wuhan's high—speed rail links have been shut off from most of china's most important cities, leaving train stations empty and residents waiting

for the lockdown to be lifted. so what's life like under the lockdown? jan renders is a belgian student who is studying in wuhan. were you planning to travel out of wuhan for the lunar new year holidays? not for the new year holidays, i was planning to stay here. i have a flight i was hoping to catch next month but i'm not certain on that right now. jan renders, you have been moving around the city of wuhan, can you describe to us what you have seen and what the city looks like today? well, the city is actually very, very quiet right now, very empty, but that's also related to chinese new year. at this time of year it is very quiet. i think it is more than usual but it is hard to say because of the effect of the chinese new year. i wouldn't go on the street, for example, but

you do see people there wearing masks. outside is very quiet but in general... what are the feelings and sentiments of your fellow students or your wrens in wuhan who are in this lockdown. they can't even get out of the city, travel and celebrate with their loved ones the lunar new year holidays. that is definitely the case. some people left a few weeks ago. the students are on holidays and they left a while ago. some people lucky enough to get away a few days ago before the log down, they have some frustration with the situation. you mentioned the city is quiet and many people on the streets are wearing masks, but there are reports of panic buying and supermarkets and a shortage of facemasks?”

panic buying and supermarkets and a shortage of facemasks? i saw this yesterday myself and i had to go and buy one. again, it is the chinese new year, so you don't know if things are normal. shops are closing. not all shops are closed, some are open, mostly local people. about the masks, it is hard to say, i have seen a lot of masks in the stores. they are actually available. they might have seen a surge in demand and they have increased reduction. jan renders there. this saturday is of course the start of the lunar new year, the most important holiday to chinese people all over the world. but while friends and families prepare to welcome the year of the rat, the celebration will be highly political in hong kong, with communities there deeply divided after months of anti—government protests. from hong kong, fan wang reports. the new year in hong kong is no use to look like this, but this year it couldn't more different. the hong

kong government has cancelled many events, fearing they could be hijacked by protesters. this market used to be lively and colourful every new year, but is empty right now. translation: the mood of this new year is gloomy. not festive at all. my business is down by 50%. people are not coming out to celebrate because they are worried protesters could cause trouble. more than 7000 people have been arrested since lastjune. many of them are stu d e nts since lastjune. many of them are students and still behind bars. hundreds of people have gathered here tonight outside this detention centre. they have brought some food and letters, which will be allowed to be sent inside. they say it's their way of celebrating the chinese new year with people arrested during the protests who won't be able to

spend their day with the family this time. translation: i'm here to show support to my friend, who's been detained for more than a month, as well as to our other brothers and sisters. we want them to know that even though they can't come out to celebrate this year, we are here for them. the government wants us to believe that everything is back to normal, but that's a lie. new year is a time for people to reunite with their loved ones. families travel thousands of miles just to get together, but here there isa just to get together, but here there is a rift among members of many families because of their opposing political views regarding mainland china. many people here say they wish their home city could go back to normal. but the protests have not stopped, and it may take a long time. fan wang, bbc news, hong kong. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme:

written in the sands. how the suffering wrought by australia's bushfires inspired a stunning tribute to the koala bear. also on the programme: a portrait of a potter as a young man. the new grayson perry retrospective. donald trump is now the 45th president of the united states. he was sworn in before several hundred thousand people on the steps of capitol hill in washington. it's going to be only america first — america first. demonstrators waiting for mike gatting and his rebel cricket team were attacked with tear gas and set upon by police dogs. anti—apartheid campaigners say they will carry on the protests throughout the tour. they called him ‘the butcher of lyon'.

klaus altmann is being held on a fraud charge in bolivia. the west germans want to extradite him for crimes committed in wartime france. there, he was the gestapo chief klaus barbie. millions came to bathe as close as possible to this spot, a tide of humanity that's believed by officials to have broken all records. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. i'm lewis vaughanjones in london. our top stories: an 18th person dies from china's deadly new virus. there are more than 600 confirmed cases, as more cities are put into transport lockdown. the government of myanmar has responded defiantly to a ruling by the un's top court ordering the country to bring in emergency measures to protect rohingya muslims from genocide.

let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. the straits times leads with an update on coronavirus and its spread to other countries. it says a man from china is the first to test positive for the virus in singapore, with another chinese national also likely to have contracted it. the philippine star looks into the plight of residents of the taal volcano exclusion zone. it reports that the government may ban people from returning to their homes for good, and some government ministers are pushing for permanent relocation sites to be established. and the international edition of the new york times highlights endangered giant freshwater fish. it says scientists are warning of a complete collapse in the populations of these so—called megafauna, in part due to overfishing and loss of habitat.

the government of myanmar has responded defiantly to a ruling by the un's top court which said the rohingha people remain at serious risk of genocide. myanmar denies the claims and accuses human rights groups of distorting the facts over its treatment of the muslim minority. a final ruling by the international court ofjustice could take years, but in the meantime, it says myanmar must take steps to prevent killings and preserve any evidence. akila radhakrishnan is the president of the human rights organisation globaljustice centre. i asked her why this court ruling was so significant. i think the ruling is significant for two reasons. i think, one, i think the ruling is significant for two reasons. ithink, one, we've worked almost two years past the occurrences of the instances against the rohingya, and we haven't really

seen the rohingya, and we haven't really seen anything change in the situation. you have over a million people languishing in camps in bangladesh, and 600,000 people currently under threat. and i think what the court is saying here is, myanmar, we want to see you do more. we wa nt myanmar, we want to see you do more. we want to see you take concrete measures, and we want you to tell us what you are doing to make sure this population is protected. 0k, do you think myanmar will take those steps? will they abide by the ruling? well, today they said they have taken note of the decision, but i think that if there is adequate political pressure from the international community, the measures are automatically transmitted to the un security council. you know, the member states of the united nations, through their individual relationships, can help to make sure that they... you know, that they take actions that can help myanmar, that will ensure that myanmar, that will ensure that myanmar complies with the orders. 0k, myanmar complies with the orders. ok, and what are these orders, and what does the defence by the myanmar government, leave firstly for the standing in the international community of aung san suu kyi? so i

think that it was an extraordinary move for aung san suu kyi to come to court in december, and i do think that it helped, you know, the international community reconsider who they thought she was. she is somewhat in silent and standing behind the shield of the military, and the international community has said we need to give her time and be patient, so that she can enact the reforms she needs to do. and i think that seeing her stand up in court and deny genocide and deny the existence of this population, and ignore the serious harm is against them, i think it really helps the international community see with a clearer picture who she might be and what she is capable of doing. and pa rt what she is capable of doing. and part of the response, ijust what she is capable of doing. and part of the response, i just want to give you a chance to respond, because part of the comments from the myanmar government is that agencies, organisations like yours, human rights organisations, have been distorting fact. sure, so i think that there's a couple of things there. one, the reason that the information that's available is

based solely on interviews and documentation of those in bangladesh is because myanmar‘s government has refused to give access to rakhine state to anybody, including the united nations expert fact—finding mission. and i think the second piece of it is that they are saying we are distorting the facts because they refused to acknowledge the existence of the rohingya. so to them, even saying that the rohingya area them, even saying that the rohingya are a group that exist, that need to be protected, distorts it, because they believe that they don't exist. now to australia, and out of the devastation of the bushfires has come inspiration for a major work of art. the artist edward, who has been compared to banksy because he also doesn't want to reveal his identity, uses rakes in the sand to draw huge pictures, the latest a koala on the beach at barwon heads in victoria. he spoke to the bbc.

i looked at the smoke, and you could smell fires that are 200 kilometres away, and i just smell fires that are 200 kilometres away, and ijust sat there, and that sense of helplessness kind ofjust seeded itself in my body, in the sand, andi seeded itself in my body, in the sand, and i got the idea of the koala. when i put the drone up and i saw how it captured that image, then i thought that's how i felt, the helplessness projected into the koala, that's kind of a raw emotion that went into that drawing. the first one was sitting on the beach and dragging a stick, and just to start drawing on the sand. and then i thought, well, let's try this at

night time, to kind of give me a space to dance, if i wanted to, kind ofa space to dance, if i wanted to, kind of a space to just verbalise some of that emotion that i would feel, based on that image that i was trying to create. i use a small kind of leaf rake that can brush, and using my body dimension as a block of lego, and then building the artwork, and get the final image once i put a drone in the air to see what it looks like. the firefighters and the emergency service people, these are the people who are keeping these are the people who are keeping the community as safe as possible, and that was just a tribute to them. if the drawing made you feel something deep down inside, and you

are able to give and support locally and globally, then please do. two years ago, a british museum made a public appeal asking anyone who owned an early ceramic work by the artist grayson perry to make contact. the response led to hundreds of long lost pieces being identified, 80 of which have been assembled for a special exhibition. the turner prize—winning artist, who describes himself as a transvestite potter, gave our arts editor will gompertz a guided tour of his formative work. it must be quite moving to come and look at your past works. that's true, it's — that's the first... when i came in here, i sort of drew breath because suddenly i was confronted by all these works i hadn't seen, many of them, for decades and decades, since i sold them. and yet i'm looking at the young me,

and as i'm now post—therapy, i'm looking at him with compassion. you know, i was very angry and at the mercy of the internal winds of my emotional weather, let's just say. and people thought in this early work that it was deliberately, ironically bad. but no — i have to tell you, i was genuinely inept. in this exhibition, it is literally the first plate that i made in evening classes in 1983, and i put it in an exhibition. the fact that i embraced my own ineptitude was very important. it took until i won the turner prize for people to sort of drop their snobbery about it being just a load of pots. i was amazed at how long that went on. and i thought, that's funny, you know, you can bring a urinal or a shark into an art gallery and it's this amazing, you know, brave conceptual move. but if you brought a pot into an art gallery, somehow it was sort of the pretentious next—door neighbour of art. what comes through these pots and plates, grayson, time and time again,

is this sense of humour running right through. i think that humour is often dismissed as light and entertaining, when in fact i think it's one of the most profound qualities that we possess as human beings — the ability to laugh and to make jokes. i've always used humour, and as i get older, i see it more. i'm more moved by it now, the fact we have this amazing ability to reframe the tragedy and struggles and toils of life. and the darker it is, the more we laugh, quite often. we laugh in the face of death. our arts editor will gompertz talking to grayson perry. some breaking news on our top story out of china, some new figures on

the numbers affected. so the number of deaths is now at 25, which is up from 18, that's from the state media in china, according to reuters, and the number of cases is up to 830. that's up from around 600. do stay with us here on bbc world news. hello. six hours of sunshine in sheffield on thursday, much of the uk couldn't even manage seconds of blue sky, with scenes like this. there are weather changes on the way over the weekend. that will shake things upa over the weekend. that will shake things up a bit, but until then, plenty of cloud. the big picture shows high pressure giving away to this weather front, which will spread ran southwards across the uk during sunday. wind picking up as well. behind that, skies will eventually turn brighter, but it'll feel colder into the start of next week. but not looking at any frost, certainly not widespread, to start friday. plenty of cloud, damp and drizzly, misty and foggy in places

too, particularly across parts of england and wales. poor visibility. now, some rain near the north coast of northern ireland, south—west scotland, putting up across the western side of scotland during the day. increasing cloud in the afternoon in north—east scotland. until then, some sunny spells. still some bright it spells in north—east england, brightens up a bit in northern ireland, and perhaps some glimmers of sunshine the channel islands and far south coast of england. temperatures are close to average for the time of year, if not average for the time of year, if not a bit above in some spots. going through the night and into saturday morning, still cloudy, damp and drizzly, misty, foggy in places, but all of that cloud keeping temperatures up. so again, frost free to start the weekend. this weather front getting a bit closer on saturday, but really, for most of us, a bit as you work, with lots of cloud around. again, misty, murky start, damp and drizzly in places. there are signs of a zone of brighter skies running up across eastern parts of england during saturday, but the showers coming in towards western parts of england and wales, maybe one or two later to northern ireland, and rain gathering on that weather front we saw towards north—west scotland. it is this

which eventually moves south saturday night into sunday, taking some rain. with that, the winds pick up. but notice the blues following on behind. yes, some brighter skies, but feeling colder. so this is how sunday is looking. looks like they'll be a spell of rainfall of us at some stage in the day, but the further south and east you are, in particular, that will be later in the day is a front gradually moves across the uk. now, behind it, you get the brighter skies. may see a few showers. wintry on hills in that cold air mass, particularly in scotland, as those temperatures drop away behind the weather front. though still mild for another data was the south—east of england as that rain moves in. and a big change in the weather into the start of next week. it'll be wetter, windier, it will feel colder for a time, as low pressure takes over. and just a flavour of what we might expect. inevitably it will change, getting closer to these days, but it is a big change in the weather.

i'm lewis vaughan jones with bbc world news. our top story: china has cancelled all large scale lunar new year celebrations

in beijing in an effort to control the spread of a new respiratory virus which has claimed 25 lives so far. myanmar has dismissed an international court ruling that it must take measures to prevent a rohingya muslim genocide despite hundreds of thousands fleeing violence. the un's highest court also ruled that evidence of alleged genocide must be preserved. and this video is trending on bbc.com: an australian artist has drawn a giant koala on a beach in victoria state in response to the bushfires that have been raging across the country. the man, known as ‘edward', says he channelled his raw emotion to make the picture at barwon heads. that's all. stay with bbc world news. now on bbc news, hardtalk.