welcome to bbc world news. our top stories. china confirms another 15 deaths from the respiratory coronavirus is the first cases in europe are confirmed. at least 18 people are dead after a powerful earthquake strikes eastern turkey. search for survivors continues. democrats in the us are wrapping up their opening arguments on the president trump impeachment trial as his lawyers await their turn. and the massive swarms of desert locusts threatening the food supply in east africa. if you consider that hundreds of millions of them are flying at the same time, the amount of destruction they can cause is unimaginable.

china is celebrating the lunar new year holiday — but the festive spirit is being dampened by drastic measures to prevent the spread of the virus that has reportedly killed up to 41 people, and infected almost 1300. the first cases in europe have been confirmed in francem and australia has also confirmed its first case. fergus walsh reports. ten days from now, on this waste ground in wuhan will be a brand—new hospital. the extraordinary pace of building — a sign of how seriously china is taking the threat from the new coronavirus. the prefabricated building will have 1000 beds. it is urgently needed because hospitals in wuhan are overwhelmed with potential cases. the symptoms include cough, fever and breathing problems. a dozen cities have now been

quarantined, affecting more than 30 million people. as you see, nobody here, it is absolutely empty. this should be the busiest time of year for travel and for hotels, but this one in wuhan is deserted. in downing street, borisjohnson hosted a reception to mark chinese new year. the government's emergency cobra committee also met to discuss the risk to the uk, which is considered low. we think that there's a fair chance we may get some cases over time. of course, this depends on whether this continues for a long time, but i think we should definitely see this as a marathon, not a sprint. there are still some key unknowns about this virus. how contagious is it? early case reports from china suggest people with no symptoms may

be able to spread the virus. how deadly is it? so far, around one in four confirmed cases is severe, and most of those recover. it seems less deadly than sars, which killed nearly 800 people worldwide. and what is the source? we're confident the virus jumped from animals to humans, but until the source is pinpointed — perhaps bats or snakes — there is a risk of completely new infections. this is the first image of the coronavirus. work is already under way to develop a vaccine. we can, potentially, move from years to up to 16 weeks to get a vaccine developed and for very early clinical testing, as long as all goes well. for now, the world can only wait and see what impact china's control measures will have on the spread of this virus. fergus walsh, bbc news.

the pentagon now says 3a us soldiers suffered concussion and traumatic brain injury when iran attacked american bases in iraq this month. president trump had originally said that no americans were injured in the strike on the ain al—asad base in western iraq. the base was attacked in retaliation for the us killing of the iranian general qasem soleimani. let's get more on this from our correspondent in washington, chris buckler. first of all, no injuries and then on wednesday, he said, i heard they had headaches, the injuries were not very serious. turns out that wasn't quite the case? you can imagine the democrats and his opponents' reaction when it turns out some of them had suffered traumatic brain injuries. there was a range of different injuries suffered by those troops, but the idea that after that strike by iran that there would be

this idea that no one had been injured and then 3k this idea that no one had been injured and then 3a were injured, but 17 were so badly hurt they had to be transferred to germany for treatment. that is something that has raised a lot of concern and alarm in the united states. if we look at the 17 people move to germany, eight have returned to the us but there are nine still receiving treatment in germany and still being assessed. it gives you a sense of the level of their injuries. those don't sound like headaches, why the turnaround? injuries. those don't sound like headaches, why the turnaround ?m injuries. those don't sound like headaches, why the turnaround? it is a very good question and one that is being asked. let's put the strike into some kind of context. it was after the killing of general soleimani, which caused real tension between iran and the us. we then had this strike on a us base and at this stage there was a real concern that potentially a conflict could arise

at that stage. there was an audible sigh of relief here in washington whenever it came out that there were no us injuries. it was felt that that could potentially relax those tensions a little bit. there will be people asking questions about whether that was deliberate and what it says about the iran strategy as far as the us is concerned going forward. democrats are saying, if president trump is talking about the idea that people had suffered headaches when they had suffered traumatic brain injuries, what does that say about their commander—in—chief and they say he owes a n commander—in—chief and they say he owes an apology to his soldiers. that is an interesting point, how would you assess president trump's relationship with the military that he commands? he is very close to the military, and you would argue from a republican point of view that the

military is a key source of his base and there are people who fall in behind him very strongly. he likes to be seen as a commander—in—chief that has the support of his trips. we have seen some foreign trips by the president to show he is alongside them, like thanksgiving the year before. but there will be some asking the question, from a democratic point of view, this commander—in—chief needs to take issues like this seriously. there will be this wider question as to what the iran strategy is. yes, we had the strike against an iranian general, who was undoubtedly somebody causing concern for america. but last year he pulled out ofa america. but last year he pulled out of a strike after an american drone was downed in the gulf. it is not clear exactly where president trump sits on this. he has aggressive words for iran, but sometimes he wa nts to words for iran, but sometimes he wants to avoid conflict and that might have been the case in this particular instance. chris buckler,

thank you very much. a powerful earthquake has struck the east of turkey, killing at least 18 people. footage on social media shows rescue workers digging through the rubble of collapsed buildings. the quake — with a magnitude of about 6.8 — was also felt in neighbouring countries. gareth barlow has more details. rescuers carry survivors out from the rubble. the 6.8 magnitude quake sent buildings crashing to the ground and residents rushing into the streets. more than 30 people are feared trapped and more than 500 people have been reported injured. the exact moment the earthquake struck, captured live on turkish tv. amid the inky darkness, among ruined buildings, screams rang out as more than 400 rescue teams rushed to help survivors. dozens of after—shocks followed the main tremor, which was also felt in neighbouring syria, lebanon and iran. the region, 550 kilometres east

of the capital ankara, is remote and sparsely populated so the true extent of the damage and fatalities could be slow to emerge. turkey lies on major fault lines and is prone to frequent earthquakes — around 17,000 people died in a massive quake in 1999. gareth barlow, bbc news. on day four of donald trump's impeachment trial in the us senate democrat prosecutors have concluded their opening argument to remove the president for abuse of power and for obstructing congress. they say he's used foreign policy for his own personal, political gain. mr trump dismissed the trial as boring. us media has reported a recording has emerged of the president apparently saying he wanted the ambassador to ukraine, marie yovanovitch, fired. one of the houses' impeachment prosecutors — or managers — adam schiff — urged republicans to ensure new evidence is seen

and witnesses are heard. (tx and witnesses are heard. i don't have enough background to give you a response to it at this time. plainly, if the president, at the urging of giuliani or others, if this is additional evidence of his involvement in that effort to smear her, it would certainly corroborate much of what we have heard. but i am not ina much of what we have heard. but i am not in a position yet to analyse that, not having looked at it. the senate minority leader the democratic party's chuck schumer has made the case for witnesses to be called. the bottom line, we are seeking the truth at a momentous time in the american republic. it is on the shoulders of four republican senators tojoin us shoulders of four republican senators to join us in shoulders of four republican senators tojoin us in demanding it. we have made the argument forcefully, the american people have made the argument forcefully, but they want the truth. will four

republican senators, just for, rise to the occasion, do their duty to the constitution, to their country to seek the truth? republican senator lindsey graham has hit back at democrats, claiming that if they wanted more witnesses, they should have allowed former vice presidentjoe biden and his son hunter to be called during the earlier house of representatives inquiry. the manager said there's not one piece of evidence to suggest that hunter did anything wrong. they never will be if you don't call any witnesses. they tried to call hunter biden and people associated in the house, and they were shut down. i am offended by the idea there is a record here and there isn't one piece of evidence that hunter biden did anything wrong, then you stop the house from calling hunter biden. that is having your head in the

sand. for more on the impeachment trial — have a look at our website. there are videos and articles, live coverage and everything you need to know to bring you completely up to date. let's get some of the day's other news. police in germany say they're waiting to question a man who shot dead six members of his own family, including his parents. two other relatives were injured in the attack, which took place in the town of rot am see in the south west of the country. protesters have been marching again in paris where french unions are striking against the government's pension reforms. they're rallying against president macron‘s plans to replace france's 42 separate pension regimes with a universal points—based system. the unions have threatened to continue protesting for months to come in an attempt to stop the proposed changes. the spanish prime minister, pedro sanchez, has been holding an emergency meeting to discuss the government's response to storm gloria. thirteen people have died and at least four others are still missing after heavy rain, snow and flooding affected the east of the country.

britain's foreign secretary dominic raab has described america's refusal to extradite a woman charged with causing a british teenager's death as "a denial ofjustice". harry dunn died after his motorbike collided with a car being driven on the wrong side of the road by anne sacoolas last august. duncan kennedy's report contains some flash photography. it was last august harry dunn died here and today, the scene was still framed by the caring tributes of those who loved him. anne sacoolas, pictured on her wedding day, is the american woman who's been charged with causing harry's death by dangerous driving. she had left this nearby american intelligence base moments before the collision, but two weeks later, left britain, claiming diplomatic immunity. now the united states has refused to send her back, something harry's mum says is difficult to accept. itjust gives us more determination to carry on. it's just another hurdle.

we've come across lots of them since the 11th of october and it's just another one that we will get over, eventually. this is just a setback, not the end? absolutely. the decision to block the extradition of anne sacoolas was taken by mike pompeo, the american secretary of state, who insisted mrs sacoolas was covered by diplomatic immunity at the time of the accident. it's now nearly five months since harry died here and his parents had been expecting that it would be for the american courts to decide whether to extradite anne sacoolas. now that the american government has stepped in, they do see that as a setback, but say their fight will go on. tonight, the dunns' local mp, the business secretary andrea leadsom, said the family had the full support of borisjohnson in theircampaign. the prime minister is very much on the side of the family in their desire to see justice done for harry and all of us

in government are working towards that end. harry's family say they have had to set aside their grieving to pursue this cause and insist they won't be silenced. duncan kennedy, bbc news. boris johnson has signed the withdrawal agreement sealing britain's departure from the european union. the prime minister called it a fantastic moment, and said it brought to an end "far too many years of argument and division." the uk is due to leave the european union at 11pm on the 31st january. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: ahead of this weekend's grammy awards, we take a look at country music's complex relationship with race. 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 we re gatting and his rebel cricket team were attacked with tear gas and set upon by police dogs. anti—apartheid campaigners will say they will carry on the protest throughout the tour. they called him the butcher of lyon. klaus altmann is being held on a fraud charge in bolivia. they want him extradited and tried for wartime crimes in france. there he was klaus barbie. spectators flock to the spot. the tide of humanity. 0fficials spectators flock to the spot. the tide of humanity. officials say it has broken all records. this is bbc news, the latest headlines.

as china celebrates the lunar new year a massive campaign is underway to try to stop the spread of a new virus. and on day four of donald trump's impeachment trial democratic party prosecutors are wrapping up their case against the president. the prince of wales has called for ‘unity and tolerance' among different faiths on his first formal visit to the occupied palestinian territories. during a speech in bethlehem, prince charles said he would pray for "a just and lasting peace" in the middle east. he has also held talks with the palestinian president mahmood abbas. 0ur royal correspondentjonny dymond is on the trip. a palestinian welcome for the prince. this is his first time he's set foot in the occupied palestinian territories. a diplomatically delicate day started at the only mosque in the old city. charles, he wrote — once in english,

then again, in arabic. after the mosque will come the church of the nativity and it is the proximity of the two that brings charles here, part of his decades long effort to bring faiths together. inside the church, a chance to hear first—hand the struggles of christians in the middle east. we are doing our best to survive, to fight against every difficulty in this situation. more greetings, more meetings. the prince and the palestinian president talked for 45 minutes. and he spoke directly to the situation of the palestinians, under israeli occupation. it is my dearest wish that the future will bring freedom, justice and equality to all

palestinians, enabling you to thrive and to prosper. and on this first official visit to the region, a personal moment. a visit to his grandmother's grey. princess is asked to be buried on the mount of olives overlooking the holy city. and today, prince charles paid his respects. huge swarms of locusts, like something out of the old testament, have been sweeping through large parts of east africa, destroying crops, and threatening the food security of the region. one of the worst affected countries is kenya, which last dealt with a plague of locusts on this scale half a century ago. 0ur africa correspondent anne soy reports. from a distance, it looks like northern kenyan is burning.

but these are swarms of desert locusts, spreading like wildfire across the horn of africa. just one swarm can have more than 200 million insects. these are tiny creatures flying above me. they look harmless, but if you can see, hundreds of millions of them are flying at the same time, the amount of destruction they can cause is unimaginable. this man tells me this is the second invasion of locusts he has witnessed in about 60 years. this time, he's lost nearly all his maize and bean crops. translation: it's painful, we had no rain for several years. when it did finally rain last year, we were so happy. but then these insects have come and destroyed our crop. we have incurred large losses. he says he brought dozens of people here to help ward off the invasion. elsewhere, gunshots, tear gas and whistles. people and governments

across the region are desperate to save plants from being devoured. conservation groups are helping track the movement of the swarms. the kenyan and ethiopian governments are using aerial spraying to try to kill the insects, but with little success. the impact could be serious. what is the biggest fear? conflict. whilst there is no food here, people start migrating. if grazing land has been destroyed by locusts, we moved to

the next one. so there might be conflict, which is not good because there might be a loss of life. the region devastated by years of doubt seems to have recovered when it received unusually heavy rains. but that has now brought this misery, leaving communities on the edge. anne soy, bbc news. millions around the world will tune in to the grammy awards this sunday. as the recording academy grapples with how to reflect the diversity of the music industry — we turn to the relationship between race and country music. in 2018, rapper lil nas x released his hit single, old town road. billboard removed the song from its country charts — at first — saying it wasn't "country enough". cathy mcclay has been to nashville, the heart of country music, to find out more. country music is giving an

opportunity for you to tell a story. when you think about country music, you probably don't picture people like jimmie allen. in a room full of country artists, there would be about two or three other people that look like me. i was excited and sad to be the first. number one in country, just because of the year. it is 2020, 2019 at the time and country stemmed from a black chart. outside the country music hall of fame, one of the well‘s outside the country music hall of fame, one of the world's extensive music collections, but only two of the artists here are black.

those inductees were inducted in 2000 and the first country black star who was inducted in 2005. while this part of country music history has usually been concealed, now more people are paying attention. country music itself is born in as much african—american history in what we think as white, rural southern history. documentary maker, ken burns looks at the roots of country music. rhiannon is one of the artists featured in the documentary and she has spent her career working to make sure those routes are not forgotten. the banjo became a well— known plantation instruments, the first 100 years of its existence, it was known as a black instrument. how did it get into the white community? in the 18405, entertainers looked at the banjo and they went, that is pretty cool. it is one of the first instruments 100 years before rock and roll.

the reason we're not talking about it is because it was done in blackface as part of the minstrel show. the industry still has a long way to go in the area of diversity. for me, it is all about representation. if country is the route you want to take, come on in, the newly unveiled logo for us president donald trump's space force appears to have boldly gone where star trek went before. twitter users noted that the emblem, revealed by the president, bears an uncanny likeness to the insignia from the cult sci—fi tv series. the actor who played sulu on the show, joked that he and his cast mates were expecting some royalties. there is more on our website. i have got a twitter address. please send mea got a twitter address. please send me a message and tell me what is on your mind.

hello. high pressure may well have kept much of the uk dry for the past week, but for the second half of the week, it's kept much of the uk cloudy, misty and murky. it's all set to change, though, but that change will come first with a spell of rain, spreading east across the uk on sunday, then after that, colder, brighter, but showery and some wintry showers and places as well. so here is what is happening. higher pressure is on the way out during saturday. by sunday, this weather front sweeps east with rain, and it's behind that we pick up the breeze, bring back some sunshine, but bring showers in that will give some snow in places, and particularly sunday night into monday morning, as we will see in a moment. but for the start of the weekend, for saturday morning, on the chilly side towards the far

south of england, maybe a hint of frost in the colder spots, but mostly frost free, plenty of cloud, drizzly misty, murky in places. something a bit brighter that migrates northward across england and wales during the day, but even behind that, thicker cloud comes back with some patchy rain and drizzle. could see a bit of that towards parts of northern ireland and certainly into scotland, especially in the west. quite windy towards northwest scotland, rain turning more persistent in the western isles to end the day, and that is the weather front we saw earlier. this is the rain from it, pushing into northern ireland overnight and into western scotland as well. another frost free start to the day on sunday. so, sunday, then, is all about the rain moving east, but also the change to colder conditions behind. a marked change in colour here showing up. that's the colder air moving in. and it's within that there will be brighter skies for early next week, but also these showers and a chance of seeing some snow showers in places. so, as we go on through sunday, we will see that rain pushing east to all areas, clearing quite quickly

from northern ireland, later in the day reaching the far southeast of england. it may brighten up a bit to its western parts of england and wales, but the best of the sunshine on sunday will be in northern ireland and scotland, although there may be the odd shower following in behind. take a look at the temperatures, a much colder feel to things once that rain has moved on through. a windier day across the board as well. rain clears the southeast on sunday night, but then this next system comes in overnight and into monday morning, and there is a chance that that northern ireland, northern england, especially scotland seeing snow to relatively low levels early on. icy in places that don't get caught out by that. on monday, the snow is coming in towards the south and west, wintry on hills in the north and another breezy day. it will be a colder start to next week, but then by the end of the week, turning milder again.

this is bbc news.

the headlines: the authorities in china have imposed strict travel restrictions in the province of hu bay, the epicentre of the coronavirus. all large scale party celebrations have been cancelled. day four of donald trump's impeachment trial in the us senate is wrapping up. a powerful earthquake has struck eastern turkey, killing at least 18 people and damaging buildings near the epicenter of the tremor. at least 30 people are believed to be trapped under the rubble. we will bring you updates throughout the night.