this is newsday on the bbc. 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 yea rs 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. and 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 we have a special report from antarctica, where a glacier the size of britain is melting at an alarming pace. voiceover: live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news. it's newsday. good morning. it's 9am in singapore, 1am in london and 9am 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 and 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 the 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. we will have more details about this virus from an infectious diseases expert later.

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 sabotage by chinese authorities. huawei denies any involvement in espionage. why ways a company of the past 30 years, we, with serve one—third of the world population. we have a very strong culture. 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.

and we will have more on that decision with a cybersecurity expert later. now to 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 geological 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. republican senators have met to discuss how to prevent witnesses from testifying in president trump's impeachment trial. they could include the former national security adviser, john bolton, who reportedly claims the president directly withheld security aid to ukraine for his own political benefit. earlier, mr trump's defence team wrapped up its legal arguments with an appeal for an acquittal. 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. 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. facebook has announced that a former director of a human rights group will head the administrative staff of its independent oversight board. thomas hughes, the former executive director for the freedom of expression rights group article 19, is expected to take up the role. let's return to our lead story and the coronavirus. authorities in hubei, the chinese province at the centre of the outbreak

of a new respiratory disease, have reported a further 25 deaths and another 800 infections. we've spoken to dr leong hoe nam — an infectious diseases specialist who had first—hand experience managing the outbreak of sars and the swine flu. he says the world has learnt a lot since the 2003 sars outbreak, but a vaccine is incredibly hard to create prior to any new outbreak. i think the world is much better, a much higher stage, we know about outbreaks now, kobe brya nt know about outbreaks now, kobe bryant —— sars really whipped us bryant —— sars really whipped us in our butts, and we develop protocols much better in many nations, especially industrialised nations was that we have better diagnostic tools now, so we have better diagnostic tools now, so we can we have better diagnostic tools now, so we can actually diagnose patients with this condition in a much quicker time and more people assessed at facilities. we have better quarantine, in fact, at facilities. we have better quarantine, infact, we actually have laws to try and control the outbreak. yes, we have learned our lessons from

sars and right after that. but why haven't we since then come up why haven't we since then come up with a vaccine or a medication? yeah that's a good question. the problem is that there are many different types of corona virus is. if you actually look into a bat, i'm sure you can find dozens of different corona virus is. which one of them will eventually become the epidemic strain? and when they do become the epidemic strain, the chances are they would have mutated and the vaccines which are prepared for 1000 of them will not be valid. but it seems at the moment the chinese and the americans are trying to come up with a vaccine or a medication for these new corona virus. so, is it a lesson learned from the past year or — what should be done? what we learned in the past has helped set the stage for the corona virus vaccine. as he realised with sars, they went on to almost trials for sars corona

virus vaccines. and using the same kind of form, with improvement over the years, been able to come up with a vaccine candidate in about 3.5 months, that is double quick time. in terms of the mortality, how different is sars compared to this corona virus? is it worse than sars, 01’ as virus? is it worse than sars, or as bad? the good thing is the numbers are showing that the numbers are showing that the corona virus — the mortality is much much lower than the 2019 novel corona virus. we are talking about 2— 496. virus. we are talking about 2— 4%. and the numbers come out with more asymptomatic individuals, that may fall below 1%. talking about the sars corona virus, that had a 10-15% sars corona virus, that had a 10— 15% corona —— mortality. that struck many more people and killed them. in the case of the ready 19 novel corona virus, it's usually the elderly 01’

virus, it's usually the elderly or those who are immune compromised, so quite a different spectrum. now, let's turn to president trump. he 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, reports. 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. 0pposition 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. there arguing about land ca ptu red there arguing about land captured in the 1967 millie's levels of regeneration, international consensus has been that no peace is possible without a state on the land, without a state on the land, with a capital injerusalem.

today, the land is sliced up by walls, wires and checkpoints. the trump plan wants to throw the old consensus to offer a sort of state to the palestinians if they agree to restrictions approved by israel. and israel has a chance to get bigger, with what looks to get bigger, with what looks to bea to get bigger, with what looks to be a green light to a next territory it once, like here in thejordan territory it once, like here in the jordan valley. territory it once, like here in thejordan valley. the timing suits the two leaders, a distraction from elections and serious charges of high crimes and misdemeanours were trump, bribery and corruption by netanyahu. bribery and corruption by neta nyahu. this bribery and corruption by netanyahu. this may be the deal of the century for the israeli government, but it's not for the palestinians. it could create a sense of frustration, angen create a sense of frustration, anger, and hopelessness, which in sucha anger, and hopelessness, which in such a combustible part of the world is dangerous. jeremy bowen, bbc news, at the white house. you're watching newsday on the bbc. live

newsday on the bbc. from singapore and london. still to come on the programme: it's the size of britain and is melting faster than ever before. a special report from antarctica on what's been dubbed the ‘doomsday glacier.‘ 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 singled out buildings and brought them down in seconds. tonight, the search for any survivors has an increasing desperation about it as the hours passed. the new government is firmly in control of the entire republic of uganda.

survivors of the auschwitz concentration camp have been commemorating the 40th anniversary of their liberation. they toured the huts, gas chambers and crematoria, and relived the horrifying experiences. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. 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. the new york times 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.

let's return to huawei, the chinese technology firm that's been granted a limited role in the uk's ultra—fast 5g mobile phone network. i spoke with stacie hoffman, a cyber security expert at oxford information lab, and i asked herfor her thoughts regarding the uk government's decision despite us criticism. i think they are taking a very practical and measured approach. we are different from the us in many ways and in this situation, the us doesn't have huawei in their national networks. we already do and are having huawei testbeds that have been in for a couple of yea rs have been in for a couple of years so have been in for a couple of yea rs so we have been in for a couple of years so we acknowledge we are ina years so we acknowledge we are in a different environment. just because we've already got huawei within those networks and because it will cost a lot to re m ove and because it will cost a lot to remove those particular posts and poles, mast, does

that mean we should still encourage more of it?|j that mean we should still encourage more of it? i don't think the policy released today is encouraging more. 0ver think the policy released today is encouraging more. over time we will see a decrease in huaweipercentage's of network share because if you look at it, they are not allowed in co re it, they are not allowed in core or sensitive areas so we are already relegating them to are already relegating them to a small part of the network and of that part they will only have 35% maximum. given the way sg have 35% maximum. given the way 5g works on the internet the —— the internet of things, is it enough to say they won't be in the core, they cannot access data, military bases, secure sites. if they want to, surely they can? they can but they don't need to be part of the network. just a couple of years ago, there was a study that showed china was able to reroute traffic in the us where they don't have equipment to go through china to scoop up data. there is much more, much bigger

issues that we need to consider when we are thinking about those upper limbs of data collection. it's not something thatis collection. it's not something that is only available through being part of our network. wider concern and outrage? from the united states. australia and the us don't have huawei in their networks. it is a good question. for the us, a their networks. it is a good question. forthe us, a big pa rt question. forthe us, a big part is cyber espionage or ip theft. here, we've been very vocal, the national cybersecurity centre, the huawei cybersecurity evaluation centre, they've been vocal about the poor security processes that huawei is a company has as well as the poor softwa re company has as well as the poor software engineering so we know they are not the best equipment out there and we're trying to those risks as well as the legal risks of huawei being a chinese company and subject to chinese company and subject to

chinese law. a couple of years ago, the french newspaper realised that in ab addis ababa, the realised that in ab addis aba ba, the african realised that in ab addis ababa, the african union building that was very much involved with huawei, it company dominating the building, there were data dumps from ethiopia to china. huawei not implicated, it was never proved that it adds to that suspicion. how do you cou ntera ct suspicion. how do you counteract that and genuinely say to everybody is going to be fine? the uk is trying to put ina lot fine? the uk is trying to put in a lot of safeguards, a lot of good practices to help avoid something like that. one being diversification of the network, ensuring you have one supplier or more. huawei was the main supplier to the addis ababa building and the network itself was supplied and funded by china and they were the one operating and maintaining the network. they are much more

involved in the network than they would be here. that is something that's important to differentiate. that was stacey hoffman, a cyber security expert at oxford information lab ‘s. the ‘doomsday glacier‘ is the nick name 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 correspondentjustin 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 tons of melt water is pouring into the sea. thwaites glacier 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 glacier 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. we're standing right on it. 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. hello, friend. it takes five weeks just to get the science teams and their equipment to the front of the glacier. this is a historic moment, the first time anyone has tried to drill down through this glacier.

beneath the 600m 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. "we are there, we are there!" you can see the water, the water column and the ice coming down and the sea flow, and there is this huge rush of energy and the bed of a glacier is a place we have never been particularly here. and thwaites glacier 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, that the deep, warm open water circling antarctica is flowing to the coast here, and 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 and has so little understanding about the future contribution that the ice sheet will make to the sea level that it sometimes left out of estimates going into the future. 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.

justin rowlatt, bbc news, west antarctica. you have been watching newsday. i'm kasia madera in london. and i'm rico hizon in singapore. stay with us. back tomorrow. hello there. temperatures are set to climb over the next few days, after what has been for some of us a brief taste of winter. there's still enough snow and indeed moisture lying on the ground to give the potentialfor 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 weak ridge of high pressure, so there will be some dry weather around. this frontal system, though, will introduce rain into the northern half of the uk as we go through the day.

in fact, northern england, northern ireland and scotland, we'll start off with some showers. still wintry over the highest ground here, and then the wet weather works its way in, scraping across the north of northern ireland, working into a good part of scotland, with some snow over high ground. in fact, before the day is done, parts of highland scotland could see a further 10 cm of snow. perhaps something a little bit brighter across the far north of scotland. 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 down into northern england. more cloud into wales in the south—west, producing maybe the odd spot of rain and drizzle. but further east, through the east midlands, east anglia, the south—east, holding onto some sunshine. and milder than it has been. highs of ten or 11 degrees. now, as we go through wednesday night, this rain will pull its way northwards across scotland. further south, a lot of dry weather,

but lots of cloud to roll its way in. could turn a little bit murky in places, damp and drizzly, but much, much milder. those are the temperatures thursday morning. rain into the far south—west as well, but all of that cloud coming up from the south—west. very moist and very mild airflow. these orange colours spreading right across the chart, pushing the cold air away. so, as we go through thursday, rain moving across scotland, some of it heavy, with some brisk winds. down towards the south, we keep a lot of cloud, the odd spot of drizzle, some slightly more persistent rain perhaps for a time for the far south of england and the channel islands. but look at the afternoon temperatures — double digits for most of us. 10 degrees in glasgow, 12, 13 easily down towards the south. as we going into friday, we could see some outbreaks of rain pushing south—eastwards, and some more rain later in the day as well into the north—west of

scotland. it is another mild day, particularly down towards the south. it may be that temperatures drop a little bit in northern areas later in the day.

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.