this is bbc news. china's president, xijinping, has said the new coronavirus is spreading faster, putting the country in a grave situation. it is known to have killed at least 56 people. our china correspondent stephen mcdonell has been to hubei, in central china. the approaches to hubei province are like scenes from an apocalyptic movie. only after a temperature scan can you pass these checkpoints.

the unwell are not allowed to travel. what's more, the lockdown is spreading. roads out of the infection zone are being closed. so, basically, that's the border that way. the police have told us that you can drive in, but we can't drive out, so it seems that this whole province where the coronavirus first broke out is now going to be locked down. we cross the border and drive through ghost towns. instead of lunar new year celebrations, people are in survival mode. on the first day of the year of the rat, all these shops are closed. there is pretty much nobody on the street here. i mean, this isjust one of the towns you come across when you first enter the province, and peoplejust don't know for how long it's going to be like this,

for how long they have to stay indoors or risk being infected with this potentially deadly coronavirus, which causes pneumonia. hospitals here have been flooded with patients. there are thousands who are unwell, but are not sure if their symptoms mean it's the coronavirus. one man inside this hospital speaks to us from his hospital bed. he said he hasn't been told if he's contracted the potentially deadly virus. but he's worried he could catch it anyway from others in his ward. i wish him a speedy recovery, and the police arrive as if on cue. they won't confirm if a province—wide lockdown of 60 million people is about to start. but local officials want us to leave. so, as night falls, they escort us back across the border.

donald trump's lawyers have been laying out the case for the defence, in his impeachment trial in the us senate. mr trump is accused of abusing his power and obstructing congress. but the president's team says he has done nothing wrong more now from our washington correspondent chris buckler. as the future of his presidency has been under debate, president trump has been to davos to meet world leaders, to florida to speak to supporters, and ignored other events in washington to attend a pro—life rally. perhaps that is a sign that he is looking past this impeachment trial, and already thinking about drumming up votes for this november's presidential election. and certainly, inside congress, his legal team have been making a point of notjust defending their client, but also using this deeply political trial to attack his opponents, the democrats. they're asking you to tear up all of the ballots across this country, on your own initiative, take that decision away from the american people.

democrats delivered a more than 28,000 page record of evidence and their argument, that donald trump abused his power. but the republican majority inside the senate makes it inconceivable that president trump could be removed from office. what i have learned, through all my years in politics and all my years in life, if you're right and you keep fighting for the truth, you will prevail. we would be derelict in our responsibility if we didn't fight for the truth. on twitter, mr trump encouraged people to tune in to america's news networks, who have covered every minute of this trial. although the publicity—awa re president is said to be upset that his defence team were given saturday to begin setting out their case. mr trump calls it a death valley for tv ratings in the states. chris buckler, bbc news, washington. since the senate ajourned, mr trump has tweeted

saying that, "any fair minded person watching the senate trial today would be able to see how unfairly i have been treated and that this is indeed the totally partisan impeachment hoax". a major rescue operation is continuing for a second night in eastern turkey, where an earthquake has killed dozens of people, with many more missing. more than 1,000 people are known to have been injured in elazig province. our correspondent richard galpin‘s report contains some distressing images. she is just five years old, and covered in blood, but this girl is now safe. the rescue team pulling her out from under the smashed blocks of concrete and other debris brought down by the earthquake. and she is just one of more than a0 people to have been rescued here so far. for the rescue teams, speed is now essential to save lives in freezing temperatures.

this emergency worker using a mobile phone to speak to a family trapped underneath the debris, telling them they must stay awake. the powerful earthquake struck this eastern region of the country last night, causing hundreds of casualties as buildings collapsed. in the light of morning, the extent of damage was revealed, this just one of 30 buildings to have been brought down. and hundreds of aftershocks over the past 2a hours have added to the fear in this earthquake—prone region. some of the homeless have now found shelter, as the temperature at night drops to —10 degrees. others, though, are out on the streets. richard galpin, bbc news.

returning to our main story, the spread of the coronavirus, i am joined by a senior scholar from johns hopkins. do we know how the virus spreads? well, we know that it isa virus spreads? well, we know that it is a respiratory virus, so it spread by respiratory symptoms, people coughing and putting virus into the air. but what we are still trying to understand is how quickly is it spreading between people? so we don't know, for example, if i had a virus and i coughed on someone, would that be enough to transmit the virus, and so on? right, exactly. and if you were sick and you are going about your day, how many people you would you make sick? and how do we find out that information? well, u nfortu nately how do we find out that information? well, unfortunately it is slow and steady work that requires trying to understand cases, identifying their

contacts and trying to piece together who may have gotten sick from whom. to some extent we are also looking at the genetic analysis of the virus, which can potentially link cases together. but right now i think there are still a lot of questions. as other week ago there we re eve n questions. as other week ago there were even still questions about whether or not people could just transmit it to each other in a sustained fashion. i think now we are starting to learn that that is probably the case, and that perhaps it is more than just people transmitting to their individual family members. a study published in the lancet medical journal family members. a study published in the lancet medicaljournal has raised concerns that people might be transmitting the virus before they give any evidence of symptoms. what is your analysis of that? yes, so i haven't actually seen compelling evidence of that. yes, there was one of the cases they found the virus from the case, but the case hadn't yet developed symptoms, so that made people sort of wonder if it's possible for asymptomatic spread. that would be unusual for

coronaviruses, and i haven't seen any compelling evidence that people are spreading the virus before they develop symptoms. as someone who studies this, are you getting the kind of information you would like from china or other countries where the virus has spread? yes, i think there are still some important information gaps. one of the things that people have really been lamenting the absence of individual, you know, data on individual cases, to understand what day they became ill. when we map the number of cases that became ill on any given day, it gives us a sense of how fast the situation may be growing or not. so we don't have that, we don't have that, and that has been difficult. i know that research has been ongoing, andi know that research has been ongoing, and i believe that will be really important information to establish. some countries, including the united states, where you are, are planning to evacuate their citizens from the centre of china. is that, from the

health point of view, a good idea? well, you know, ithink health point of view, a good idea? well, you know, i think we also have to keep in mind that china is under... they are in a very difficult situation now, particularly some of your earlier tape talks about the lockdowns and the restriction on transit. i think it is not a situation that is easy for people to live in. we have to sort of wonder about the people who are subjected to those measures, whether they are still able to get food, and whether all of the things that they need in order to go about their days and to live and thrive are available to them as a result of these restrictions. so it is not surprising to me that governments may be trying to bring their personnel home. it doesn't seem to bea personnel home. it doesn't seem to be a very productive situation for them. from a few, purely scientific and medical point of view, do lockdowns like the kind of lockdowns china is imposing, do they work? so

iam china is imposing, do they work? so i am deeply worried about these approaches. i think we have absolutely no evidence that this will work, and in fact we have lots of evidence to suggest it may actually backfire. the scenario that i worry about, which i think is highly likely, is that people know that these measures are coming, they have heard of these measures. they may simply decide they don't want to be around when they happen, that it is not a good situation to be in, and that they may flee potentially before the restrictions are put into place. so i am really worried about the potential to scatter cases to geographies that we don't know about. i am also worried about these really heavy—handed measures, you know, that the police involvement, that this stigmatises the disease, such that people who become ill may not want to report the fact that they are ill. and that makes it very, very difficult. because i think the most effective measure we can employ at this point is to prom ptly can employ at this point is to promptly identify cases and isolate them, so they can't affect others. china, of course, is a huge country with its own experts. do you think, in terms of the chinese cases, it can deal with this on its own, or should it be asking for the help of outside experts? said this is a global situation at this point. i

think it is critical there is international collaboration, and i think to a fair amount there has been. i think all of us are looking at the situation and piecing together not only what is going on in china but what is happening in the exported cases in other countries. and together we put that information out there and analysed it in order to get a more complete picture of this virus, the level of illness it is causing, how it may be transmitted. so i think that it is not a matter of whether or not china has sufficient expertise, but i think this is an inherently global situation, that will require a co—ordinated international response. is the development of a vaccine priority? you know, i think given the frequency with which we are concerned about coronavirus outbreaks and epidemics, there was sars in 2003, and mers shortly thereafter, and the yet to be named novel coronavirus, i think this is a call to expedite the development of coronavirus vaccines and therapeutics, medicines that can be given to treat people, and we have had announcements that governments and organisations like the coalition for academic preparedness ——

academic preparedness is making a coronavirus vaccine priority —— epidemic preparedness. a newly appointed member of the g re nfell tower a newly appointed member of the grenfell tower trail has resigned. she said she recognised the depth of feeling among some about her appointment. survivors and family members had threatened to boycott the enquiry if she remained on the panel. our correspondent ian watson explained many of the victims‘ families want the second stage of the enquiry to be handled sensitively because they see it as a key opportunity to uncover the truth. there is going to be a new phase of the enquiry which gets under way next week, and as you say, there is a threat of boycotting this stage of the inquiries unless she resigns. effectively she was appointed by borisjohnson in effectively she was appointed by boris johnson in december, effectively she was appointed by borisjohnson in december, but the guardian newspaper then subsequently

revealed that when she was president of the women‘s engineering society, that society had accepted more than £70,000 from the charitable arm of the american company that made the g re nfell the american company that made the grenfell cladding. she has written to the prime minister today, and she has said that she will be impartial if she continues on the enquiry, but she does not want to cause further distress to people who have suffered unimaginable losses. that leaves borisjohnson in the position of having to find another expert to appoint very, very quickly, before the second phase gets under way. and this isn‘t set dominic sibley a technical matter, this is highly political, because he has to be seen to be delivering on his pledge to the families and the community to get to the truth. a man and his daughter have died in a house fire in hell. neighbours say they tried to break the door down but couldn‘t get in. our correspondent has the details. neighbours had tried to raise the alarm, but it was already too late. a father pronounced dead at the

scene, his ten—year—old daughter taken to hospital. she later died. scene, his ten—year—old daughter taken to hospital. she later diedlj knocked taken to hospital. she later died.|j knocked at the door, and the composite doors are a bit strong, i was banging at the window, shouting, shutting through the letterbox and then on the window, to try and get some attention, but there was nothing. and the fire brigade came, obviously. they knocked the door down. you never expect things like this, do you? those three fire engines, and a lot of smoke another house, and it's quite shocking. the cliche, you never think it is going to happen, do you? down this street, oi’... to happen, do you? down this street, or... but it has taken me and my wife up. firefighters wearing breathing apparatus had gone into the house on wednesday avenue, a quiet family street. they had hoped to save those inside. now, investigators from humberside police and humberside fire and rescue service are trying to work out what caused the blaze. specially trained dogs have also been at the scene.

the dogs assist our fire investigation offices and our police collea g u es investigation offices and our police colleagues in trying to detect any presence of something that might have contributed to the fire‘s development. but it is there to rule in or rule out anything that may contribute to fire development. it isa contribute to fire development. it is a tragic event in any circumstance, and our thoughts are with all of those involved. it is likely the work to investigate this tragedy will continue into tomorrow, asafamily tragedy will continue into tomorrow, as a family and community begin to grieve for those that have been lost. royal a marine who got into difficulty during a training exercise on the cornish coast earlier this week has died. the recruit who has not been named had been cut critically ill in hospital since being found unconscious in the water near plymouth on tuesday night. an investigation into his death is continuing. boeing says it‘s successfully completed the first test flight of the world‘s largest twin—engined jet, the 777. the plane flew for three hours, taking off and landing near seattle. it will have to complete almost a year of tests before it enters service.

the flight will help to boost boeing, which has been struggling since its 737 max airliner was grounded after two fatal crashes. the headlines. tran has ordered a ban on two groups as a coronavirus claims 56 lives and continues to spread. presidentjohn‘s lawyers have begun the case for defence of his impeachment trial. they say he did nothing wrong. more than 100 people from all over britain have gathered in birmingham for the first citizen‘s assembly on climate change. amongst those taking part with a naturalist broadcaster evident. the aim of the meeting is to give mps recommendations on how to give mps recommendations on how to lead the emissions target on tackling pollution. this assembly has been called by mps to know what the public things about climate change so they may read the

newspapers, they may read opinion polls but they want to know what the public voice really is on climate change and in particular how the uk can reach its first —— it‘s 2050 targets of eliminating all carbon emissions from the economy. obviously some people are going to find this expensive, some are going to find some measures more unpalatable than others and the mps really wa nt unpalatable than others and the mps really want to know what the people here convened 110 people as you said, convened in birmingham, what they really think about the best way ahead towards tackling emissions. as you also mentioned, david attenborough was here, brought the house down, as usual. what a star act he is. he was full of praise for the people who have given up for weekends to come to birmingham for this people‘s assembly. weekends to come to birmingham for this people's assembly. so the fact that you are here is extremely important because it shows that you could put pressure on members of

parliament to take this seriously. so you are —— your very existence he mensa members of parliament are taking this seriously. that is point number one. put number two is that i am perpetually asked by people what is it that i can do to help with the populace? i suspect that one way or another, during your deliberations, all kinds of solutions to that particular question with a curse you and that what they will be spreading through the community. so i truly think because i believe that the question we are facing is of utmost importance. i truly think that the fa ct importance. i truly think that the fact that you have given up time to come here and take this seriously is of the greatest importance. and the rest of the people in this country ought to be extremely grateful to you is indeed. mps will be hoping that this will be something of a

breakthrough in terms of their understanding of public opinion. i guess the people he will be considering here —— things like should we tax aviation model? should we tax suv more? should we put attacks on meat? there will be looking at all these issues and the trade—offs involved in the are going to be reporting back to parliament at the end of april. a year ago a damn abouta at the end of april. a year ago a damn about a mining village collapsed in brazil, engulfing the community and killing 270 people. it was one of the country‘s west of industrial disasters. 16 people from the mining company as long with the mind‘s owner and its auditor have been charged with murder. few people but — been charged with murder. few people but—a been charged with murder. few people but — a few people believe justice will be done. the name of every one of the 270 victims was read out like a register. their families answering for them.

a town that once thrived on mining now devastated by it. when the dam broke last year, the toxic sludge that came crashing down the valley destroyed everything in its wake. houses, hotels, farmland and forests. and this is what‘s left behind. 10 million cubic metres of mud that needs to be cleaned up. firefighters are still looking for 11 people who are missing. today‘s commemorations brought together communities from all over the region. nobody here is untouched by this tragedy. this is as much a remembrance for those who died as it is a protest for those who are living. brumadinho was broken by what happened last year and people want justice. "my nephew wants to kill himself every day," says claudia, who lost her brother—in—law. "the mud that hit this city also hit our hearts." i ask her what she thinks about the mining company. "all vale is is

destruction and death. theyjust cared about profit. nothing has changed this year apart from our pain. it‘s only got worse." murder charges brought against the companies involved go right to the very top. vale‘s former boss is among the accused. translation: vale and its workers knew the risky situation of the dam and they had demanded action but nothing was done. today was a day for remembrance. tomorrow, they continue theirfight forjustice. katy watson, bbc news in brumadinho. practices in northern portugal are trying to hold the development of olivia mine. inhabitants fear the mine will pollute water and disrupt the farming on which the economy depends. article is your‘s because of the producer but it‘s minor self almost exclusively cell to the

industries. the uk‘s leading mental health charity for military veterans says it is unable to deal with new cases because of cost of funding. the charity which helps to treat servicemen and women suffering from complex mental health problems has lost millions of pounds of support from nhs england. the unknown is tough and resilient but he is on the frontline can take its toll. some military personnel that paul smith facing battles with their mental health. i was verbally abusive to my wife, my children, i walked health. i was verbally abusive to my wife, my children, iwalked round andi wife, my children, iwalked round and i had been infor wife, my children, iwalked round and i had been in for escape routes. i‘d be looking for people carrying weapons. at night i go to a bedroom and hide behind the bed and cry my eyes out. i‘d have nightmares, i‘d have flashbacks. pulse is a leading charity for veterans mental health, combat stress, safety of his life when he was referred to it. but now

because of funding cuts, the charity says any new referrals from england and wales won‘t be taken on. it receives around 2000 referrals for treatment every year. but its income has fallen from £16 million to 10 million in this current financial year. we had decided that we need to make sure we can meet the needs of eve ryo ne make sure we can meet the needs of everyone who is currently in our system. and we‘re not going to take referrals in england and wales where we have the greatest risk of safety if you like. for the nearfuture. only referrals will not be redirected to the nhs and in a statement, the nhs said providing the best care for veterans is its number one priority. veterans ministerjohnny mercer said he would hold an urgent meeting with combat stress to discuss the situation. madonna has cancelled the first london show of her madame x tour, saying she has to rest because of an injury. the singer was due to begin

a run of fifteen london performances on monday. it comes after she cancelled a show in lisbon, portugal, earlier this week. she posted on social media to tell fans she was "deeply sorry", adding, "as you all know, i have injuries that have plagued me since the beginning of the tour, but i must always listen to my body and put my health first." injapan 300 people armed with torches set fire to the slopes of mount wakakusa as part of an annual festival. the wa ka kusa yamayaki festival in nara city originated from a boundary dispute between two temples which ended in the hill being set alight. it‘s also believed the burning began as a way to encourage new growth for more information please had to oui’ for more information please had to our website. and you can also download the news out.

hello. sunny skies are on the way back but it is going to feel colder. there will be showers and it will be windy. it all follows a spell of rain on sunday, low pressure making things very changeable again after high pressure, which may have kept us dry but certainly recently it has given us these grey, gloomy skies, and it did again on saturday. sunday starts without a frost, dry across the east except for the odd shower. what in the west. the rain from this waterfront moving east to west across the uk on sunday. behind that wet weather we are in the blue. this is the colder air coming in. within that there will be sunny skies to start the new week, it also showers, cold enough of those to be wintry in places, as we will see in a moment. let‘s follow the progress of sunday‘s rain. thickly out of northern ireland, pushing through scotland in the morning. the sunshine comes after the rain. it should clear northern england, wales, the west of england into the afternoon. turns a bit brighter there. still there to end the afternoon across east anglia and south—west england. so maybe not at this stage to verify southeast. wintry on hills in scotland. a windy day.

as the rain it turns colder, so that combined with the wind will make a chillier feeling to things during sunday afternoon, despite the fact the sunshine reappears in places. with that cold our showers move east on sunday night. we focus on northern ireland, northern england and scotland, because here some of those showers will follow snow and hills, relatively modest hills, and quite low levels across some parts of scotland. a few centimetres in places possible. ice on untreated services going into monday morning, so don‘t get caught out by that. monday, yes, there is some sunshine around, the eastern spots will stay dry. showers pushing into the south and west will be happy, possibly thundery, may be some hail. wintry across northern hills. a bright but blustery day for many of us. again, that wind is a factor in making for a colder feeling two things compare to recently. low pressure stays in charge of our weather for the rest of the week, initially anchored towards the north—west year, and bringing in the showers, especially towards the south and the west of the uk. so the week will start with a colder feeling two things compared to recently. some frosty nights around as well.

there will be some sunshine, but we have noticed some showers, cold enough for some of these to be wintry, especially across northern hills. windy through the week with low pressure close by, but by the end of the week it will start to feel different again and temperatures are on the up. unsettled, yes, dominated by low pressure and changeable, but later in the week, although it is still windy and wet at times, it does look milder.

this is bbc news. the headlines: china‘s president says the spread of the new strain of the coronavirus is accelerating and putting the country ina grave accelerating and putting the country in a grave situation. experts say

human to human transmission is the only plausible explanation for the scale of the epidemic. the virus is known to have killed at least 56 people. lawyers representing donald trump in his impeachment trial say the president has done nothing wrong. they say democrats in the senate have not shown that he abused his power, and were simply attempting to remove him from office before the next election. the turkish president has met rescue workers searching for survivors of friday‘s earthquake. 29 people are known to have died in more than 1a have been injured. residents have been warned not to return to damaged buildings because of possible after—shocks. last year, nearly 7 million of us used by now, pay later companies to help spread the cost companies to help spread the million of us used by now, pay later companies to help spread the cost of online purchases for clothing and shoes. these firms allow people to delay payment or split the cost over a number of months, but that charities are warning people are not being given enough information about hidden fees. our consumer affairs

correspondent has