it's at a much earlier because it's at a much earlier stage. a final decision is due next month. tom burridge, bbc news, in birmingham. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: chinese authorities are taking drastic action to try to stop the spread of the coronavirus, which has now claimed 25 lives. spain's prime minister is due to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the government's response to a storm which has killed 13 people so far. now it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. we begin with the daily mail, which asks if the deadly coronavirus has arrived in the uk. according to authorities, the death toll in china currently stands at 25, with 830 confirmed cases, with another 13 cases being detected in other countries. in the new york times, the trump administration has

finalised a rule to strip away us environmental protections for streams, wetlands and groundwater. some us fossil fuel producers and real estate developers have hailed the rollback, having felt burdened by previous regulations. on the quartz website, the doomsday clock, which indicates how close our planet is to complete annihilation, is now only 100 seconds away from midnight. the bulletin of the atomic scientists said the change was made due to nuclear proliferation, failure to tackle climate change, and cyber—based disinformation. the guardian says a banker implicated in the embezzlement and money—laundering case against africa's richest woman, isabel dos santos, has been found dead in lisbon. nuno ribeiro da cunha managed the account of oil firm sonangol, formerly chaired by ms dos santos, at the small portuguese lender eurobic.

and finally, does worrying too much really turn your hair white? in the independent, scientists are claiming new evidence has been discovered showing how acute stress can lead to hair going grey prematurely. the discovery was made after experiments studying the effects of stress on mice showed how hair can turn grey at an accelerated rate. it is hard to imagine what george clooney has got to worry about. i think he has got it made, has he not? with me isjoel kibazo, partner atjk associates, and a former director of communications at africa development bank. let's start with the daily mail and the coronavirus here. big headline, you know, big picture of a lady here

in glasgow, actually, protecting herself with a face here, and the words taking their chances on the streets of written. let's just try and put this into context. i mean, a british man in wuhan, which is where we understand this virus started from, has described the city as being under a blanket of fear. i we not in danger with headlines like this of doing precisely that? i mean, how many people have died in london, for example, this week of sepsis? i mean, where are we with this? is this a real emergency, or is this sort of scaremongering? well, victoria, what i have noticed is the fact that the united nations has not yet declared it a global health emergency. it may do as yet, but for now, it hasn't happened. so what we're getting are these sort of... in many ways they are scare

stories, and in this case the daily mail does report that there are... was at five people in scotland that are suspected to have the coronavirus. yes, suspicious symptoms including respiratory problems. this could be a myriad of things, five in scotland, one in northern ireland, and possibly one in london, which is very interesting given the size of movement you have from london globally. so i think it might be slightly overplayed at this stage, but nonetheless, it is the topic of the day, and so i think people have to be aware. 0ne topic of the day, and so i think people have to be aware. one more point on this is that the fear is that as at the end of the lunar year this weekend, there are fears the chinese students coming back from their celebrations might... coming back to the united kingdom might be vulnerable, or bring some of the coronavirus. so we don't know. this is the issue, is the lag time

between carrying the virus and actually symptoms appearing. we think it is about five days. five or six days. exactly, so this is the issue, that you might be affected, not realise, go to a different country or travel through several different countries on the way to your final destination. different countries on the way to yourfinal destination. so different countries on the way to your final destination. so this different countries on the way to yourfinal destination. so this is the issue. it is quite difficult to know exactly how many are at risk. and as you say, global panic now. there are 120,000 chinese students in the uk, so people are concerned about that. let's park that for the moment, shall we? there is plenty more if you are worried about that story, available on the website. 0k, where to start. it is very difficult to be neutral on this, ifeel. the new york times reporting on the president, donald trump, removing pollution controls on streams and wetlands. more than 100 environmental rules and laws have been either loosened or eliminated so been either loosened or eliminated

so far. risking contamination of drinking waterfrom so far. risking contamination of drinking water from unregulated pollution. why? well, i think this is part of a pattern. the president of the united states has always been fairly sceptical, and we saw this in his speech only this week in davos, where he talks about the environmental prophets of doom. and this of course comes in the context of the united states having been withdrawn from the 2015 paris accords on the environment at cop 21. so in many ways it is really a continuation of a process of withdrawing the united states from almost all important environmental laws. and basically they see it as stifling business. in this case, amongst those who are said to be

pleased our farmers, who amongst those who are said to be pleased ourfarmers, who feel that their land was being managed or controlled by others, like the environmental agency, controlled by others, like the environmentalagency, ratherthan they themselves. and so we have had sort of a loosening or elimination of rules on chemical pollution, coal mining, oildrilling, of rules on chemical pollution, coal mining, oil drilling, endangered species protection. so it really is pa rt species protection. so it really is part of a pattern. so i suppose it is not surprising, therefore, that the doomsday clock is now closer to apocalypse than at any point in history. well, this is it. i find this one is quite a sort of amusing story. in the story here that is in the reports is that the doomsday clock says it has advanced to within 100 seconds before midnight, indicating that humanity is closer to self—destruction than at any time since the clock was created in 19115. and i think they talk about the environmental dangers as these scientists see it, the scientists

are the ones who created the clock, and may the possibilities of some sort of nuclear dangers. but i think it is more to do with the environment and the way the world is going. let's update our viewers around the world on this story here, it has been put in the guardian. an executive at a portuguese bank co— owned by isabel dos santos, the richest women in africa, is found dead. coincidence? who can... that is the question, isn't it? who can tell, but apparently the executive of this bank, nuno ribeiro da cunha, handled some of the accounts of sonangol, the angola national oil company, of which isabel dos santos had been a previous chair. and as you reported before, it is alleged that she was involved in corruption, and in the extraction of money and

stealing of funds from the country. she of course denies this, but i am saying that this then adds to this mystery. just this week we have had a bbc documentary, other reports about this scandal, of africa's richest woman, she is called. but it just adds to the mystery and intrigue of what is really going on. we are going to have to leave it there, i think. we are going to have to leave it there, ithink. we we are going to have to leave it there, i think. we didn't get to our last story, which i was hoping would lighten the tone. this is that stress does apparently turn your hair grey. this study laying the groundwork for understanding how stress affect other tissues and organs in the body. so now there is a definitive body of research saying you can go grey from stress, so there we go. i think we are doing all right at the moment. we didn't get to talk about hair loss. do stay with us on bbc news. so much more to come. hello. six hours of sunshine

in sheffield on thursday. much of the uk couldn't even manage six seconds of blue sky, with scenes like this. there are weather changes on the way over the weekend, and that will shake things up a bit, but until then, plenty of cloud. the big picture shows high pressure giving way to this weather front, which will spread rain 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, 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, pushing 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 brighter breaks in north—east england, it 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 a bit above in some spots.

going through the night and into saturday morning, still cloudy, damp, 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, it's as you were, 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 there's 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, brighter skies, but feeling colder. so this is how sunday is looking. looks like there'll be a spell of rain for all of us at some stage in the day, but the further south and east you are, in particular, that'll be later in the day as the front gradually moves across the uk.

now, behind it, you get the brighter skies. may see a few showers, wintry on hills in that colder air mass, particularly in scotland, as those temperatures drop away behind the weather front, though still mild for another day towards 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'll feel colder for a time, as low pressure takes over. just a flavour of what we might expect. inevitably it'll change, getting closer to these days, but it is a big change in the weather.

good morning. welcome to breakfast, with charlie stayt and naga munchetty. 0ur headlines today: 25 people are now known to have died as china battles to contain the coronavirus. 9 people in the uk are being tested for the illness. the usa says it won't extradite a woman over the death of teenager harry dunn. the uk government describes the decision as "a denial of justice". the true extent of unsafe cladding on britain's tower blocks. a breakfast investigation looks at whether lessons have been learned from the grenfell fire. 0ver budget and behind schedule. it's impossible