tonight at ten, the latest on the virus crisis in china, as hundreds of british citizens are waiting to be flown home, to face a period in quarantine. as the last—minute packing and preparations took place, some of those affected complained of a chaotic process. i think it's been an absolute shambles, to be honest with you. i don't think the government have really known what they have been doing. the last direct ba flight from china, for the time being, has landed in london. the airline has now suspended all services to chinese cities. we'll have the latest on what awaits those coming home, and we'll be looking at the global spread of the coronavirus. also tonight... northern rail is to be nationalised from the 1st march, after years of major problems for passengers. # for auld lang syne, my dear

# for auld lang syne...#. it's farewell to the european parliament from the uk's meps, two days ahead of britain's departure from the eu. the long waiting times for ambulances in many parts of england. officials say it's down to rising demand and overcrowding at a&e. so what happens to me? you will drop me off and then go home, i guess. film that's brought claims of a lack of diversity in the baftas and the oscars. and coming up on sportsday on bbc news, can manchester united mount a comeback in the second leg of the league cup semifinal against manchester city? good evening. we start tonight with the latest on the virus outbreak in china.

hundreds of british citizens are waiting to be flown home from the worst—affected region and will be put for two weeks on their return to the uk. passengers will be asked to sign a contract, agreeing to commit to what's called "supported isolation", though the location is not yet known. british airways has suspended all direct flights to and from mainland china, because of the outbreak. the virus, first detected in the city of wuhan, has caused more than 130 deaths, spreading from china and to at least 15 other countries. in a moment we'll have more from our medical correspondent fergus walsh, but first this report from our china correspondentjohn sudworth. safely out of wuhan, a plane arriving at a california air base with 200 americans on board. earlier, japan got a flight full of its citizens out, touching down in tokyo. the night before the great escape... but the brits are still only preparing to leave.

kharn lambert‘s grandmother, vera, stuck here on holiday, is running low on her medications. how do you feel about going home? delightful. there's frustration with the uk government. i think it's been an absolute shambles, to be honest with you. i don't think the government have really known what they've been doing. i don't think they've had as much contact with the chinese authorities as they say, because, if they had, i would assume that they'd be getting the same information that the americans have got, the japanese have got, and they'd have been able to put plans in place sooner. despite the lockdown, infections in wuhan are still rising rapidly, and anyone flown home from here faces two weeks in uk quarantine. maeve clarke, a lecturer from birmingham, stuck in wuhan, says she understands why. i think it's a good precautionary measure and it's in line with what other governments are doing as well, and i think

it gives reassurance to people back home, in the uk, that the right steps are being taken. much is still not known about the virus but, across china, few are taking any chances. villagers are putting up roadblocks and shutting out the world with great barriers of earth. no outsiders are allowed in at all, this man tells me. beyond the human cost, for china there is another impact to all of this, fear. with countries beginning to advise against travel, with airlines cancelling flights, and with whole villages cutting themselves off from the outside world, the economic cost is likely to be severe. for some uk nationals, escape is not an option. nick house is british but his wife's from indonesia. she's been told she can't get a place on the plane. my mum and dad are worried,

my sister is worried. theyjust want us home, really. they face more long weeks of uncertainty in a ghost city. well, this appears to be a hugely complex and fluid situation. the uk government hasjust said complex and fluid situation. the uk government has just said that the flight government has just said that the flight will not now take off on thursday as planned, because the necessary chinese permissions have not been given. we also understand that it not been given. we also understand thatitis not been given. we also understand that it is china's own rules that prevent non—british citizens from boarding the flight, and the uk government says it is working to keep families together. clearly, some difficult negotiations going on behind the scenes. wuhan was once one of the most dynamic and connected cities on the planet. this virus has made it one of the hardest places to leave. john sudworth, there, with the latest from beijing. thank you. earlier this evening, the health secretary matt hancock chaired a meeting of cobra, the government's emergency

committee, to discuss the british response to the outbreak of coronavirus. the world health organization says the whole world needs to take action to stop the spread of the new virus. our medical correspondent fergus walsh has the latest. this was the last british airways flight from mainland china, arriving at heathrow this afternoon from shanghai. another flew in from beijing. it follows the foreign office advising against all but essential travel there. the suspension of ba flights to and from mainland china is until friday, but may be extended. my worry was, i thought that i, if i get it and i go into hospital, i'd rather go into hospital over here than over there, where you'd just be a number, wouldn't you? the health secretary matt hancock said anyone returning from wuhan on a repatriation flight would be safely isolated for 14 days, but where? health officials suggested a military base, but the ministry of defence wouldn't confirm this,

and britons waiting in china say they have not been told. so is quarantine sensible? i think that this is a pretty balanced response, actually, given the circumstances. on the one hand, you have individuals who are marooned in china at the moment and there is a responsibility to british subjects to look after their interests, against that of protecting the british public and making sure that we don't bring back people and actually cause an outbreak of this coronavirus in the uk. the new virus, which emerged in china, is a variety of coronavirus. they take their name from the surface proteins, which look like the tips of a crown. now, a lot of common colds are caused by coronaviruses but in the past 20 years, three dangerous new strains have jumped from animals to humans. the sars virus emerged in 2002 in china, and killed nearly

800 people worldwide, about one in ten of those infected. mers originated in saudi arabia in 2012. it has since killed around 850 people, one in three of those infected. the new china coronavirus seems to be far less dangerous. it is unclear what the death rate is because thousands of infected patients are still in hospital. but it does seem much less lethal than sars and mers. now, it is worth pointing out that seasonal influenza, flu, causes up to 650,000 deaths globally each year. as with flu, there is mounting evidence that the china coronavirus is contagious before people develop symptoms. it is passed through the air in coughs or by people touching droplets on surfaces. the virus infects the lungs, causing a fever, cough and in some cases, breathing difficulties and pneumonia. the incubation period is generally

3—7 days but may be up to 14 days. the next two weeks will be crucial in seeing whether this outbreak peaks in wuhan, and how much it spreads in and beyond china. fergus walsh, bbc news. northern rail is to be nationalised. the transport secretary has announced that the troubled rail operator will come under government control from the 1st march, after years of major problems. grant shapps has ordered bosses of the company to come up with a 100—day plan to improve the service for passengers. our transport correspondent tom burridge has travelled across the north of england and has been hearing how an unreliable train service has affected people's lives. i've had to move house to be closer to uni because the trains are cancelled or late, and i really struggle to get in in time for lectures and stuff, so it's been really hard.

you've moved house because of an unreliable train service? yeah, i've moved towns completely. quite a lot of people, including myself, end up spending an extra £100, £150 a week sometimes on taxis, because the train hasn't come and i need to be in work. i am a head chef at the moment. if i don't get in, people don't eat. i've lived in the south—east. there, they have fantastic trains, millions and millions of pounds spent. in the north, the north—west particularly, they've never had any investment. it's an absolute disgrace. it's all over. this franchise has failed. i've not been on time once to work in four months. it can't get worse, so i am just... any change is good change, in my eyes! but nationalising this vast network, which runs from the humber in the east to places like blackburn further west, linking communities to cities like leeds, won't change things overnight. the branding might change, but old problems will persist —

ancient infrastructure on a crowded network. there is no one party that the blame is attributable to. number one, department for transport, successive governments, because they have failed to invest in the railways in the north for the last 30, 40, 50 years. northern‘s parent company said it did what it could. we have been trying to put more services on the network, but the network hasn't kept up, and that has meant the services have become far too unreliable, and rightly a new plan is now needed. this isn'tjust about northern. this train company, transpennine express, has also been losing money and failing its passengers. in parts of the country, the rail franchising system that we've had since the days of privatisation is on its way out. the government wants performance—based contracts instead. so, rather than this franchise system, which i think has now run its course, have a system of service contracts for passengers, perhaps over a longer period of time

and, most of all, they get paid when they actually do theirjob, when trains turn up on time. at the moment, that is not the system on our network. whatever the system, whoever is in charge, passengers want basic things. i am late for everything i do. i'm not going to lie, one time ijust cried because my train was cancelled. but it's horrible, because itjust affects all your plans. when you just want to get home from work... it's the little things like that, when you want to go home and spend time with your family and you can't even do that. it's a massive impact. tannoy: the northern service to leeds... there will not be an immediate change for long—suffering passengers on northern. what's coming to britain's railways isn't a nationalised model but one in which government has greater control. tom burridge, bbc news, in leeds. companies that were involved in the refurbishment of grenfell tower have asked for a guarantee that anything they say at the public inquiry won't be used for any prosecution. the chairman of the public inquiry, sir martin moore—bick,

said he was "surprised" by the move and "disappointed" by its timing. the fire in the tower in west london injune 2017 killed 72 people. bbc news is planning to cut around a50 jobs, under ongoing plans to save £80 million by 2022. bbc two's newsnight and bbc radio 5 live are among the outlets that will be affected, and as previously announced, the victoria derbyshire programme will end. the bbc is also carrying out a major restructuring of its news operation. the brexit process has cleared its final legislative hurdle, after the european parliament voted overwhelmingly to ratify the withdrawal agreement. it paves the way for the uk to leave the eu at 11pm on friday. the agreement settles the terms of brexit, on the issues of mutual citizens‘ rights, arrangements on the irish border, and british financial contributions

to future eu budgets. today's vote followed farewell statements from members of the european parliament, as our europe editor katya adler reports. # for auld lang syne, my dear # for auld lang syne...#. it's been an emotional day in brussels. most of these meps deeply regret brexit. they felt honour—bound today to approve the negotiated brexit deal. but they meant what they then sang. after more than a0 years of eu membership, old acquaintances, the uk in this case, will not be forgotten. to come to results... the new european commission president declared everlasting love for the uk today, using the words of british novelist and poet george eliot. only in the agony of parting do we look into the depth of love. we will always love you and we will never be far.

long live europe. applause. it is all over, finished! and the uk's best—known european parliamentarian ensured he would not be forgotten. he told the eu it was doomed, and then... i know you want to ban our national flags, but we are going to wave you goodbye, and we will look forward in the future to working with you as sovereign... mid—sentence, he had his mic cut. no nationalflag waving allowed here. could you please remove the flags? there's something slightly surreal about this day, this week of goodbyes here in brussels, and that's because the day after brexit day, we enter the transition period. so, yes, legally we have left the european union, but while we are sorting out a new trade deal, practically, things stay the same — paying into the eu budget, accepting laws made here inside the european parliament, but we will no longer have a seat

here at the decision—making table. that is a lot of voices to lose. for some uk meps today, even emptying their post box at the european parliament was a symbolic event. it is a disaster, it's a huge disaster. europe is not going to go away. we are going to have to trade with them. we will come on holiday and we will move around and we will drive around. the regulations will be made here, in this house, but there will be no british voice standing up for the uk when those regulations are made. tonight, scottish national party meps bid a tuneful, tearfulfarewell to the european parliament. music: flower of scotland. the union flag flies here until friday but, with trade talks just ahead, the eu—uk conversation is far from over. katya adler, bbc news, brussels.

the cabinet office secretary, michael gove, has said that once the uk leaves the eu, there won't be a "hiding place for politicians", insisting that mps won't be able to blame the european union for any government policies. he was speaking to our political editor, laura kuenssberg, who's been considering how uk politics could change after brexit. a new era opens, what does it hold? after four decades of membership, we are leaving the eu in two days. what is different now? the conservative party, i think, has changed, it's rediscovered some of the values and instincts that it's had in the past, and it's our mission to ensure that we value everyone. after nearly a decade of austerity and the tories presiding over a deeply divisive period, tearing each other apart over europe, some people just say it sounds an awful lot like brass neck. you learn from experience. in the uk, i think actually we have been blessed because the brexit

referendum allowed people to say, we want a reset of our political system. we won't be taking our own decisions until the end of this year because we'll be in the transition period and following eu rules. it will end and, as a result, there won't be a hiding place for politicians like me. i can't blame europe. brexit means politicians are no longer able to run away from the voters. high in the towers of parliament are held 500 years of records that tell our nation and europe's story. this is the law that took us into the european community. this is the law, the withdrawal act, that will take us out. and here, signed by the queen herselfjust a couple of days ago, confirmation we will leave the eu in a couple of days. i think it might be worth it in the end, but it will take quite a lot of years for that to be really evident. what will the tory party fight about now? laughter.

political parties will always find things they differ about. it won't be whether to go ahead with brexit. as a former leader of the tory party, i hope it won't be fighting about anything. there won't be that dilemma. we are leaving downing street for the last time. that sore that has pushed out tory leader after tory leader. but the eu won'tjust disappear. brexit has not been done because we are about to embark on this hugely important negotiation about what kind of future relationship we will have with the eu that's going to affect every business, every part of the country. like half of the country, i shall feel sad on friday and the other half will probably be celebrating, but we all have to accept the outcome. acceptance is not the same as accommodation. cheering. remember what this was like — day after day, night after night, cheers and arguments? they seem faint echoes now. politics is different,

already very different, but that does not mean that the tensions and concerns in our country have just melted away. the question of our departure is settled, but a lot is not. our history is written one chapter at a time. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. the scottish parliament has voted in favour of holding another referendum on scottish independence, calling on westminster to reach agreement on how that vote should take place before the end of this year. but the vote is not binding on the uk government, which says it will not allow the vote to be held. our scotland editor, sarah smith, is at holyrood. let's talk to sarah now. if this vote, as we know, is not going to be approved by the uk government, what is the point of the vote in holyrood? nicola sturgeon is not going to stop making the case for a second independence referendum every

available even though borisjohnson wrote to her earlier this month making it absolutely clear that he would flatly never agree to one. so you've got the two of them trapped in this kind of constitutional tussle, with the snp insisting that scotla nd tussle, with the snp insisting that scotland should have the right to decide its own future, while opposition parties here are accusing nicola sturgeon of wasting parliamentary time, talking about independence when they could be debating health and education. on friday, she will make a speech to snp party members, when she says she will outline the next steps she will ta ke to will outline the next steps she will take to try and secure that referendum. some of them are so impatient for it. but she doesn't have many options if westminster are determined to block her. one gesture of defiance, the scottish parliament say they will refuse to take down the eu flag that flies outside this building on friday, to demonstrate that scotland voted to remain in the eu. sarah smith with the latest in the scottish parliament at holyrood.

more than 4,000 calls a week for ambulances in england involve waits of more than an hour for a crew to arrive. emergencies that aren't immediately life—threatening but can include heart attacks and strokes should require an ambulance to arrive within 18 minutes. nhs bosses say there's rising demand and delays handing over patients at a&e, as our health editor, hugh pym, reports. on the trolley, while you were a bit unconscious at the time. dave relives his lengthy ordeal after suffering a heart attack. he was stuck on a trolley in the hospital but, before that, there was a two—hour delay waiting for an ambulance to arrive. i thought i was going to die. i had massive chest pain and then i got a dreadful pain right across my left shoulder, right to the spine. this is when she explained to me the difficulties they were having to have ambulances free to send out. my daughter and i were both getting very worried. he could have sat there and just died in the chair. we didn't know. the most urgent category

one calls in england — for example, when a patient isn't breathing — require an ambulance to arrive within seven minutes, on average. category two calls, classed as emergencies that are not immediately life—threatening, including strokes and some heart attacks, have an average response time target of 18 minutes. but the bbc‘s figures reveal that one in 16 people across england were waiting over triple that target, more than an hour. it's certainly not easy to reach everyone as quickly as we would all like, but let's be very clear, all of our staff are working flat out, first and foremost, to keep all of our patients and everybody as safe as possible and to respond to as many patients within the response time targets. categories are slightly different in wales. there are 1,000 calls per week with waits longer than an hour. there are no comparable figures for scotland and northern ireland. he was a genuine, kind person. mark remembers his partner, darren.

he died alone from internal bleeding, waiting for an ambulance. it took nearly an hour and a half, including a delay mark understands was caused by incorrect categorisation of the call. the fact is they told somebody who was dying that no ambulance was available. i don't think, but i don't know, that darren knew he was dying, but the fact is that is the result of what they did. dave and ruth think they were let down by an under—resourced system. the situation, for our personal level, was a nightmare, but it wasn't the people's fault. it wasn't the staff's fault. long waits like that are often symptoms of wider problems, when ambulances are delayed handing over patients at crowded hospitals, so crews can't get quickly back on the road. hugh pym, bbc news. president trump and one of his closest advisers have strongly criticised the former national security adviser, john bolton, as speculation grows

that he may give evidence at the president's impeachment trial. our north america editor, jon sopel, is at the white house. why is mrtrump why is mr trump so concerned? john bolton has written a book, and not only that, he has written one that puts a torpedo —sized hole in donald trumpimpeachment defence, which has led to a clamour from people saying he has to give evidence at the trial, something the white house don't want to see happen, because it complicates it so much. so the white house is trying to ban the book. we have seen the president unloading on his former national security adviser saying, if i'd listened to his advice, we'd be in world war six by 110w. advice, we'd be in world war six by now. rudy giuliani, the president's lawyer, called him a classic backstabber. john bolton was once a hero of the right but in politics you can go from hero to zero pretty quickly. john bolton seems to have set a new world record. jon sopel

with the latest from the white house. the rapid melting of thwaites glacier in antarctica, a mass of ice the size of great britain, is set to cause a radical rise in sea levels, according to experts. our chief environment correspondent, justin rowlatt, who reported last night on the major five—year survey that's being conducted on the glacier, takes a look at the challenges the scientists have been facing. antarctica is the stormiest continent on earth, and west antarctica is the most remote and stormy part of it all, which makes it an exceptionally tough place to do scientific research. so, we've been filming out here for, like, i don't know, an hour and a half, and this is the result, and it gives you an idea of why it's so hard to operate here. all the planes are grounded. they're saying we won't fly anywhere for three days. it has taken years of preparation to get the scientists out here. ships brought hundreds of tonnes of fuel and cargo to a remote ice shelf. then specialist snow vehicles

dragged it 1,000 miles over land, across some of the toughest terrain and toughest weather imaginable. six people can do a huge amount, but we just truck along, day from day. nobody really knows where we are, and then we just suddenly turn up! delivering bounty! the us provided air muscle, flying in the scientists and their equipment and ferrying everything down to the camps at the front of the glacier. then, the really hard work began. digging snow, and lots of it. the scientists need ten tonnes of the stuff to fill what they call the "flubber" — a water container the size of a small swimming pool. this will be the most southerly jacuzzi in the world, i think! a bank of boilers heats the water to just below boiling and then it's sprayed down onto the ice, to melt a hole almost half a mile down to where the ocean water meets the glacier. only now can the scientists deploy their instruments.

only by taking measurements here can we hope to get accurate predictions of how sea—level is going to rise in the future. even if it means arousing the curiosity of some of the creatures that live here. in terms of the answers that we can produce over the next six years, and the savings that that represents to people who are trying to predict sea level and build sea defences, this is a drop in the ocean and a really good investment. this year's work has confirmed that warm sea water is melting the ice here increasingly rapidly, raising sea levels worldwide. the challenge now is for the rest of us, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preparing for the rising oceans we will face in the decades to come. justin rowlatt, bbc news, west antarctica. the film queen & slim, described as "a love letter to the black community", stars the british actors daniel kaluuya and jodie turner—smith. it's been widely praised

by the critics, but both actors have missed out on nominations for this year's baftas and oscars, leading to complaints of a lack of diversity. our arts editor, will gompertz, has been to meet both stars ahead of the film's release this week. what made you pick me? i liked your picture. really? you had this sad look on your face. i felt sorry for you. daniel kaluuya is slim. jodie turner—smith is queen. they are having a tindr date and it's not going that well. so what happens to me? you are going to drop me off and you'll go home, i guess. so how come two british actors get to play in an american road movie? it was actually a hindrance in my casting personally, because i think, after they already had daniel, they were like, right, this is really not what we are trying to do. what, two brits? yeah. you know, that was something that they definitely... even though now you hear them talking and they are like, we knew it was you from the beginning,

but they definitely made us sweat! you failed to execute a turn signal back there. their bad date turns very ugly when a police officer pulls them over in a racially motivated stop and search — a fictional scenario that both actors can relate to. you have had experience of white police officers hassling you because you are black? yeah! yeah. you are exposed to certain things and certain perspectives. it's not about my blackness, it's about other people's attitude to my blackness. i have nothing to do with it. i've not done anything. it's none of my business. it's other people's business, it's a narrative that's put on my colour. toolbox... queen & slim is one of several critically acclaimed films with black or asian leads in contention for this year's baftas or oscars which failed to receive a nomination in the main acting categories, leading to widespread criticism of a lack of diversity in the selections made by both the british and american film academies. there is clearly a problem, but that's...