this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk, on pbs in america or around the globe. i'mjames reynolds — our top stories... china reports more deaths from the respiratory coronavirus as the first cases in europe are confirmed. the search for survivors continues after a powerful earthquake strikes eastern turkey. at least 18 people are dead. democrats conclude opening arguments in president trump's impeachment trial with a warning "he is a threat to democracy". president trump, by such conduct has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security and the constitution, if allowed to remain in office. and, the massive swarms of desert locusts threatening the food supply in east africa.

chinese health officials say at least 41 people have now died from coronavirus. there are almost 1300 confirmed cases of the illness in china alone. state media are reporting that a doctor treating patients with the disease in the city of wuhan has also died. the first cases in europe have been confirmed in france, and australia has also confirmed a case. here's our medical correspondent 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. earlier i spoke to sophia yan, china correspondent for the telegraph, about whether or not figures coming out of china were reliable. there is a mixed bag of sentiment. in the beginning, a lot of organisations including the world health organization commended china for updating so frequently. but if you look back at the dates, it is clear that the local wuhan government knew there were cases. people with symptoms of this mystery disease as far back as december. that means symptoms started showing up in late november. but they didn't mention to the world something was going on until december the 31st. since then there has been a rapid increase of confirmed cases and deaths, which has doubled overnight to 41 people dead in china. it is something that is

changing very quickly. in terms of the number of cases, there could be more than we know now. because there are disease modelling experts who have done these estimates. at imperial college in london, worst case scenario they think they could be as many as 10,000 cases in china. the government is trying to do as much as they can, but there is a capacity issue, the hospitals in wuhan. i have spoken to people who have turned up with symptoms and they have been turned away because there wasn't enough space, no bed and not enough doctors. so now china's response is they will build a 1000 bed hospital. in our report we saw dozens of bulldozers building rapidly, a new hospital in wuhan. if people see those pictures in china, would they be reassured by this swift action or scared by the scale of what is happening? it is a very interesting way in terms of how chinese people will see the situation. they have been told that the ruling chinese communist party

has their backs, through propaganda. so a lot of people i talk to say they are worried, but they believe the government will solve it. also, there is the different kinds of scandals they have faced in the past. it is a population of 1.4 billion people, who are no stranger to food and health safety scandals, so this is a population quite scarred from the past. memories of the sars epidemic are still fresh. it is from 20 years ago, but people still remember what that really meant because of what the government did and that at the time they were covering up the true extent of what they were discovering on the ground. it is a very complicated set of emotions. they have been told to think one thing, but they have observed

and experienced something else. sophia, where you are in beijing, is the virus the first topic of conversation with people when they meet up or when you go into the shops and so on? it often is, a lot of the taxi drivers and transport workers are wearing face masks. it is the chinese new year, and the streets are empty which is a symptom of the holiday, but people are worried about going outside. people are cancelling their family dinners because they don't want to put themselves at unnecessary risk of infection. some cases have shown up in beijing but not at the scale of wuhan. even in wuhan, people are worried about what this means for themselves, their children and their family. sophia yan. rescue workers in turkey are continuing to search for survivors after an earthquake in the east of the country killed at least 18 people. the 6.8 magnitude quake caused buildings to collapse and was felt in neighbouring countries. gareth barlow has more details. rescuers carry sui’vivoi’s 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. 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. 13 people have died and at least four others are still missing after heavy rain, snow and flooding affected the east of the country. the us airline safety regulator has said he's "pleased" with the progress being made by boeing as it attempts to get its 737 max plane approved again for flight. the aircraft has been grounded since march 2019

following two fatal crashes. this week boeing said it didn't expect the model to return to service until the middle of this year. democratic prosecutors in the us have finished setting out their case against president trump in his impeachment trial, arguing he has abused his power and obstructed congress. mr trump denies any wrongdoing and describes the impeachment as a hoax — his legal team will open defence arguments later on saturday. one of the houses‘ impeachment prosecutors, or managers, adam schiff — urged republicans to ensure new evidence is seen and witnesses are heard. president trump, by such conduct has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security and the constitution, if allowed to remain in office and has acted in a manner

g rossly grossly incompatible with self—governance and the rule of law. this has been proved. president trump thus warns impeachment and trial, removal from office and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honour, trust or profit under the united states, that will be for you to decide. 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. 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 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 him extradite him for crmes 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. it's believed by officials to have broken all records. this is bbc world news, the latest headlines. a massive campaign is underway in china to try to stop the spread

of a new respiratory virus. as the number of cases increases, the virus is spreading to other parts of the world with europe and australia now confirmed. democrats have concluded their opening arguments in donald trump's impeachment trial with a warning he is a threat to democracy and would abuse his power again if he's not removed from office. the pentagon now says 3k us servicemen suffered concussion and traumatic brain injury when iran attacked american bases in iraq this month. they were attacked in retaliation for the us killing of the iranian general qasem soleimani. president trump had originally said that no americans were injured and later suggested that some had merely suffered headaches. chris buckler in washington has more. you can imagine democrats and his opponents' reaction to the idea that these were headaches, when it turns out that some of them had suffered traumatic brain injuries. there is a range of different injuries suffered by those troops, but the idea that after that strike by iran in iraq that there would be

this idea that no one had been injured to then go to the idea that 3a had been injured, and that 17 were so badly hurt that 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 who have been moved to germany, eight have returned to the us but there are nine still there, still receiving treatment and still being assessed. it gives you a sense of the level of their injuries. those don't sound like headaches, why the turnaround 7 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 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. because 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. what democrats are really 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 an apology to his soldiers. that is an interesting point, how would you assess president trump's relationship then 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 troops. 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, that 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 undoubtedly was somebody causing concern for 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 wants to avoid conflict and that might have been the case in this particular instance.

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 the first time he has set foot in the occupied palestinian territories, a diplomatically delicate day started at the only mosque in bethlehem's old city. charles, he wrote in english, then 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 at the 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 grave. princess alice asked to be buried on the mount of 0lives

overlooking the holy city. and today, prince charles paid his respects. jonny dymond, bbc news, jerusalem. 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 canyon 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 that hundreds of millions of them are flying at the same time, the amount of destruction they can

cause is unimaginable. ali tells me this is the second invasion of locusts he has witnessed in about 60 years. this time, he has lost nearly all his maize and bean crops. translation: it's painful, we had no rain for several years. when it did finally rein last year, we were so happy. but these insects have come and destroyed our crop. we have incurred huge 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 spray to try to kill the insects, but with little success. a region devastated by years of drought seem 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". some critics said race was a factor. 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. the truth is, 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 black artist to have a 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 0utside 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, is itself born in as much african—american history as it is 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 series and she has spent her career working to make sure those roots are not forgotten. to make sure those roots the banjo became a well— known plantation instrument, 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 was the first really american cultural export 100 years before rock and roll. one of the reasons we don't talk about this is because they were doing it in black face,

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, cathy mcclay reporting there from nashville. the newly—unveiled logo for president trump's space force appears to have boldly gone where star trek went before. twitter users noted that the emblem, revealed by the president on the left, bears an uncanny likeness to the insignia from the cult sci—fi tv series — on the right. george takei, who played sulu on the show, joked that he and his cast mates were expecting some royalties. beam them up. the impeachment trial of president trump is the talk of washington — but how many people

beyond the capitol are tuning in to watch? roughly 11 million viewers watched the opening day of the president's trial in the us. while that number may seem huge, to put in context. the golden globes awards, highlighting the year's best tv and film, had more than 14 million viewers. more than 15 million americans tuned in to watch a recent all star episode of the game show "jeopardy". and a whopping 37 million americans watched sunday's prime—time, american football game. a reminder of our top story... china has launched a massive campaign to try to stop the spread of the new respiratory virus that has reportedly killed up to 41 people. hospitals are reported to be struggling to cope, with some patients being turned away. new cases of the virus have been found in europe — with three people infected in france. the virus has also spread to australia.

you can reach me on twitter — i'm @jamesbbcnews. please do stay with us. 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 monday. icy in places so 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:

china has launched a huge campaign to try to stop the spread of the new respiratory virus that has reportedly killed up to 41 people. new cases of the virus have been found in europe with three people infected in france. the virus has also spread to australia. 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. the quake was strong enough to be felt in neighbouring countries. democrats in the us have finished setting out their case against president trump in his impeachment trial arguing he abused his power and obstructed congress. they warned that mr trump is a threat to democracy and would abuse his power again if he was not removed. the president himself has called the entire process a hoax. republicans will still begin their defence.