i'm rico hizon in singapore. the headlines: deserted cities as the death toll from coronavirus in china exceeds 130. foreign governments begin to evacuate their citizens. the promise of a united jerusalem. president trump lays out his plans for peace in the middle east — and one last chance for the palestinians. after 70 years of little progress, this could be the last opportunity they will ever have. the proposals, though, are roundly rejected in ramallah — both by the leaders and people who took to the streets.

i'm kasia madera in london. also in the programme: huawei, the chinese technology firm, is allowed a restricted role in the uk's 56 mobile network, despite security warnings from the us. and a special report from antartica where a glacier the size of britain is melting at an alarming pace. life from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news. it's newsday. good morning. it's 8am in singapore, midnight in london and eight in the morning in the chinese province of hubei where local authorities have confirmed a newjump in the number of infections with a deadly, new coronavirus.

there were 25 new deaths in the province since tuesday, bringing the total number of victims nationwide to more than 130. the number of infections now stands at more than 4,500. hong kong is the latest place to announce stringent new measures to stop the spread of the virus. 0ur correspondent rupert wingfield—hayes has sent us this report. if carrie lam was aiming to calm fears in hong kong about the coronavirus, herface mask sent a different message. mrs lam is under huge pressure now to shut the border with china, and, today, she partially capitulated. "intercity services to china will be suspended," she said. "flights will be cut by half. ferries will also be stopped." by thursday morning, the number of people crossing into hong kong from mainland china behind me here should be dramatically reduced. there will be no more ferries, no more trains and no

more mainland tourists. it is a very dramatic move that is being made by the hong kong government, but people here have very painful memories of what happened with the sars virus back in 2003 and they now fear the same, or something worse, happening again. doctors are leading the cause here for a complete border shutdown. they fear hong kong's hospitals could be quickly overwhelmed. we have to do this now. we have to do this in a very decisive manner, before we have more knowledge about the disease, more knowledge about the virus, how long is the incubation period, what can we do to treat these patients? from the epicentre of the viral outbreak, more extraordinary pictures today. wuhan is the seventh largest city in china, with a population larger than london. it is not the government that has done this, it is fear. britain today advised against all

but essential travel to mainland china and the foreign office is now finalising plans to evacuate more than 200 britons who are trapped inside wuhan city. america has become the first country to begin evacuating its citizens. for the lucky few, it's a huge relief. very scary. i mean, we have basically been under house arrest. you can't really go anywhere. most places are just closed down. there are now signs of panic buying in other parts of china. these pictures are from beijing. with many new cases of infection being confirmed outside wuhan, anxiety about the virus is spreading, too. rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news, in hong kong. rico will be speaking to a specialist on infectious diseases shortly, so stay with us for that. let's take a look at some of the day's other news.

the chinese technology firm, huawei, has been granted a limited role in the uk's ultra—fast 56 mobile phone network. the decision came despite pressure from the trump administration to block huawei's involvement, alleging that it could make the uk vulnerable to surveillance or sabatage by chinese authorities. —— sabotaged by chinese authorities. huawei denies any involvement in espionage. it's definitely not the truth. huawei is a company, over the past 30 years, there were no cybersecurity accidents. so we served one—third of the world population, we have a very strong track record. the risk of what we're giving up by adopting huawei as any part of our telecommunications infrastructure or, even worse, allowing huawei to control the 5g networks in countries like the uk or in the united states of america, is a dangerous path forward. now to some of the other stories making the news. a powerful earthquake has struck between the coasts ofjamaica and cuba.

the quake, which was a magnitude of 7.7 according to the us gealogical survey, has not caused any major damage so far. but tremors were felt as far away as miami where office workers were evacuated from buildings. donald trump's defense team have wrapped up their arguments in the president's impeachment trial today, dismissing recent revelations by former national security adviser john bolton as "inadmissable". mr trump's legal counsel have argued that mr trump did nothing wrong in witholding aid from ukraine. it is our position, legally, the president at all times acted with perfect legal authority, inquired of matters in our national interest and, having received assurances of those matters, continued his policy that his administration put forward of what really is unprecedented support for ukraine. french firefighters demonstrating in paris to demand better working conditions have clashed with police.

it's the latest protest to hit the french capital in recent weeks as unions battle government pension reforms. during the tense stand off, police fired tear gas and used watercannon. two people have been arrested. fans have been continuing to pay tribute to kobe bryant, the basketball superstar who died in a helicopter crash on sunday evening. an online petition to change the nba logo to include an image of the 41—year—old has now reached almost 2.5 million. let's return to our main story and the coronovirus. the authorities in hubei, the chinese province at the centre of the outbreak of a new respiratory virus, have reported a further 25 deaths, and another 800 infections. with me, dr leong hoe nam, an infectious diseases specialist who had first—hand experience managing the outbreak of sars and the swine flu.

thank you so much for joining us, doctor. teacher did the first sars patient when it was here in singapore. share with us your experience. how different was it then compared to what we are going through now with this coronavirus? i think the road is much better. we are on a much higher stage. we know about outbreaks now. sars really taught us, it really whipped us in our buts. we brought up protocols much better in many of the nations, especially the industrialised nations. we have much better dynastic tools now. we connection he diagnosed patients with this condition in much quicker times and more people have assessed this facility, better quarantine and in fact, we have lots to try and control the outbreak.

yes, we have learned our lessons from sars and then right after that, merse, but why have we not since then come up with a vaccine or medication? that's a good question. the problem is there are many types of coronavirus. you can find thousands of different coronavirus. which one of them will eventually become the academic strain? and when they do become an epidemic stream, 1000 of them will not be valid. it seems at the moment the chinese and the americans are trying to come up with a vaccine, a medication, for this new coronavirus. is it a lesson learned from the past year or what should be done? we have learned in the past, helping us set the stage for the future. what we learn from sars. ..

using the same kind of form, with improvements over the years, we are able to come up with a vaccine candidate in about three and a half months. that is double the time. in terms of the mortality, how different is sars compared to this coronavirus? is it worse than sars or as bad coachella the good thing is —— as good or bad? the good news is... we are talking about 2—4% and the numbers come up with a great denominator, more ace and thematic, this may fall below 1%. talking about the sars, you're talking 15% mortality. sars strikes young people and kills them. in the case of 2019, coronavirus, it's usually the elderly or those who are amino compromised.

quite different spectrum. with that, we would like to thank you, doctor, for sharing your experience and insight on the coronavirus. dr leong hoe nam, an infectious disease specialist in singapore. president trump has announced what he's called his ultimate deal for middle east peace. it gives israel sovereignty over all its settlements in the occupied west bank while promising the palestinians an economic bonus and future statehood. the 80—page proposal also promises to keepjerusalem as israel's "undivided" capital. no palestinian officials were involved in the proceedings, and they have already rejected the proposals. 0ur middle east editor jeremy bowen, who was at the white house announcement, has this report. in the east room of the white house, it felt more like a party than a press conference. donald trump and benjamin netanyahu congratulated each other. their entourages

clapped and whooped. as everyone knows, i have done a lot for israel, moving the united states embassy to jerusalem, recognising... applause recognising the golan heights. applause and frankly, perhaps most importantly, getting out of the terrible iran nuclear deal. applause and now comes a document that attempts to seal israel's victory in a century—long conflict, which palestinians will read as surrender terms, not a peace proposal. it almost exactly replicates mr netanyahu's deepest beliefs about israel's security and its right to the land most of the rest of the world says is occupied palestinian territory. for too long, far too long, the very heart of the land of israel, where our patriarchs prayed, our prophets preached, and our kings ruled,

has been outrageously branded as illegally occupied territory. well, today, mr president, you are puncturing this big lie. in gaza tonight, palestinians demonstrated. their side has been deeply divided. opposition to the trump document could finally unite them. the palestinians were already boycotting the trump administration because of its root and branch support for israel. the palestinian president mahmoud abbas wasn't a party to the proposals and rejected them straightaway. translation: i say to trump and netanyahu, jerusalem is not for sale. all our rights are not for sale and they are not for bargaining. they are arguing about land captured by israel in the 1967 middle east war.

for a generation, the international consensus have been no peace is possible without a palestinian state on the land with a capital in jerusalem. today, the landis slice up by walls, wire and checkpoints full stop the trump plane wants to throw out the old consensus to offer a sort of state to the palestinians if they agree to restrictions approved by israel. in israel get the chance to be bigger, with a green light to a territory it once was. the timing 62 l, a distraction from elections and serious charges. high crimes and misdemeanors for trump, bribery and corruption for netanyahu. this may be the deal of the century for the israeli government but not for the palestinians. it could create a sense of frustration, anger and hopelessness which, in such a combustor part of the is dangerous.

you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: it's the size of britain and is melting faster than ever before. a special report from antartica on what's been dubbed the doomsday glacier. also on the programme: taking the idea of planning your own funeral to the next level. we meet the new zealanders who have created their own coffin club! the shuttle challenger exploded soon after lift—off. there were seven astronauts on board, one of them a woman school teacher. all of them are believed to have been killed. by the evening, tahrir square, the heart of official cairo, was in the hands of the demonstrators. they were using

the word "revolution". the earthquake brought down buildings in seconds. tonight, the search for any survivors has an increasing desperation about it as the hours pass. the new government is firmly in control of the entire republic of uganda. survivors of auschwitz have been commemorating the 40th anniversary of their liberation. they toured the crematoria, and the gas chambers and relived the horrifying experiences. this is newsday on the bbc. thanks for staying with us. our top stories:

deserted cities in china, as more than 130 people have now died from coronavirus. foreign governments have begun to evacuate their citizens. president trump has released his middle east peace plan. it's been applauded by israel, but condemned by the palestinians. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. we start off with the new york times publication, international edition. it looks at the pageantry on display at the border of india and pakistan, as tensions grow thousands of people gathered to watch solders from both nations come face to face. luckily, it was just for a choreographed display. singapore's straits times says the city state is hoping to entice more investors and entrepreneurs. from march, the government plans to grant them permanent residence status. it's all part of a plan to create the next generation of business owners. and finally, the japan times has some great news for fans

on fine french dining. kei kobayashi has become the first japanese chef to win the maximum three michelin stars. from smoked salmon to tomato vinaigrette, he's been called a virtuoso of flavours. and those are the papers. makes me hungry! i was going to say that, although i'm not sure the food will fill you up much. it is about the flavours and not the amount. the doomsday glacier is the nickname often given to the thwaites glacier in west antarctica. that's because it already accounts for around 4% of the world's sea level rise. and according to a startling new study, the block of ice, which is roughly the size of great britain, is disappearing even faster than previously thought. 0ur chief environment correspondent justin rowlatt made the long journey to see the research in action.

they call this the doomsday glacier, the chaos of broken ice at the front is almost 100 miles wide. hundreds of billions of tonnes of melt water is pouring into the sea. thwaites sits at the heart of the vast basin of ice that is west antarctica and it is the size of britain. scientists need to map the ground are needed. next interval. thwaites contains enough water to raise the world sea level by half a metre. the west antarctic ice sheet contains three metres more, enough to swamp many of the great cities of the world. this ice here is very accessible to change, so if we are thinking about what the sea level will look like in ten years, this glacier is the place to be and this is the location to be asking the questions at. but it is one of the most remote places on earth,

the stormiest part of the stormiest continent, only and four people have ever been here before. it takes five weeks just to get the science teams and their equipment to the front of the glacier. this is an historic moment, the first time anyone has tried to drill down through this glacier. beneath the 600 metres of ice below me is the most important point of all, the point at which the ice meets the ocean water. it is difficult work, but deploying instruments under the ice is the only way to begin to understand the processes at work here and to make accurate predictions of how sea levels will rise in the future. this is a world first, the first time anyone has seen the place where this glacier goes afloat, the point where it begins to melt. i was yelling and screaming.

you can see the water column narrowing. is a huge of energy. the bed of the glacier is a place we've never been, and particularly right here where it starts to go. and thwaites really matters, because it's so vulnerable. strip away the ice and most of this part of the continent would be under water. this year's work has already confirmed the scientists worst fears — the deep, warm open water circling antarctica is flowing to the coast. because the sea bed slopes downwards, as the ice melts, it will expose more and more ice to that water. that means the glacier could begin to retreat increasingly rapidly, but how quickly? antarctica is the big unknown. antarctica has so little unsteady about the future condition

of the ice sheet is going to make to sea level that it actually sometimes is left out by countries and ashley left out of estimates going into the future —— actually left out of. it takes huge resources to do science at the end of the earth, but we need to understand what is happening here if we are to protect ourselves as the world's oceans rise in the decades to come. now, meet the coffin club of rotorua — new zealanders who get together every week to design and make their own coffins. it's an idea that's spread around the world, with coffin clubs springing up across the united kingdom, the united states and other countries beyond. i am a cat lover. as you can see, i decorated my coffin unit photos, of katz. i decided to decorate my coffin with a chequered flag.

and this relates to my life and love of car racing. ijoined because i heard that everybody had so much fun. at my age, inserted to go to several funerals. it all came about because i thought i would like to make my own coffin . at first, there was, could i say, a dead silence. after a little while, there was a 02 see me. there are people that had problems in the past about dealing with death, death in the family, and they suddenly thought, it's good to talk about those. it was very healing.

coffins being so expensive, from a funeral director, lots of people can't afford it. and this is the way to go. and also, it's what you really want on a coffin. this is for people that a bit older. this is perfect. people looking forward to come on a wednesday. they have people to talk to. sometimes this is the only alateen they have on a wednesday. —— the only alateen. thereunder more and more people living longer. there are more and more people whose families are way out of touch because they are in other countries. there is a lot of... when i retired, i realised i needed people, and the coffin club was my same age group.

i have had 50 people from 50 countries when i last counted. getting touch with me. there's been so many startups. england is just buzzing. we have had china, japan. it'sjust wonderful and i'm so proud of everybody for that reason. some of the members of the very unique coffin club. critics ordinary... never imagined that such a social club would exist. they are all happy. they seem very happy indeed. i think i would go orange. the newsday colours. let's get over that. you have been watching newsday. i'm kasia madera in london. and i'm rico hazon in singapore. stay with us. coming up, apple reports record holiday earnings for the final three months of last year. we'll see why the sales of iphones smashed expectations and profits have hit an all—time high of $22 billion. i want to ring!

and, rico, let's end the show with a rescue story. these are firefighters in italy rescuing two trapped puppies from a collapsed den. they are all safe and well, though. hello there. temperatures are set to climb over the next three days. after what has been for some of us a brief taste of winter. there were still enough snow and moisture lying on the ground to give the potential for some icy stretches through wednesday morning, which could cause some travel problems. temperatures as we start the day around about freezing, dropping below freezing across parts of scotland. probably not quite as cold as it was on tuesday morning but still cold enough for some frost and some ice. we start wednesday under the influence of a week ridge of high pressure so there will be some dry weather around this frontal system. rain into the northern half of the uk as we go through the day.

from northern england, northern ireland and scotland, we started off with some showers. still wintry over the highest ground here and then the wet weather works this way and, scraping across the north of northern ireland, working into a good part of scotland with some snow over high ground full before the day is done, parts of highland scotland could see a further ten cm of snow, perhaps something a little bit brighter across the far north of scotland will some some very heavy rain developing across central and southern parts of scotland and it will be quite windy here. some rain into northern ireland at times. certainly some of that rain getting into northern england. more clout into wheels, maybe the odd spot of rain and drizzle —— east anglia holding onto... this rain will pull its way northwards across scotland. further south, a lot of dry weather, yes, but an awful lot of cloud starting to roll its way in.

the attorney little bit murky in places, damp and drizzly emma but much milder also those are the temperatures as we start thursday morning. it of rain into the far southwest as well. all of that cloud coming up from the southwest of barry —— a very moist air flow. these colours spreading across the chart. through thursday, rain moving across scotland, some of it heavy with brisk winds. down towards the south, we keep a lot of cloud, the odd spot of drizzle, some slightly more persistent rain

i'm kasia madera with bbc world news. our top story:

foreign governments have begun to evacuate their citizens from the area in china currently locked down to contain the spread of a deadly new coronavirus. it's now killed in excess of 130 people in china. hong kong has become the latest territory to announce stringent new measures to stop its spread. president trump has laid out his plans for peace in the middle east. it keeszerusalem as israel's undivided capital and redraws the map of the west bank. the palestinians have rejected the proposals. and news of a powerful earthquake is getting a lot of attention on our website. it struck between the coasts ofjamaica and cuba. it was a magnitude of 7.7 and was felt as far away as miami, where office workers evacuated buildings. that's all. stay with bbc world news. now on bbc news, hardtalk.