i'm rico hizon in singapore. the headlines: blockades and barriers. china's villages try to keep out strangers and coronavirus. president trump accuses his former national security advisor of betrayal and the white house warns him not to publish his book. i'm kasia madera in london. also in the programme: # for auld lang syne, my dear # for auld lang syne...#. fraternal singing from some, flag—waving from others. brexit clears its final legal hurdle in the european parliament. and extreme science. the unique human challenge of measuring climate change in the antarctic.

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 2am in geneva, where the world health organization has warned that the entire world needs to take action to stop the spread of the new coronavirus, which began in the chinese city of wuhan. several countries including the us have begun flying their nationals home from china. britain had hoped to begin a repatriation on thursday, but it's now emerged that the process could take a little longer. this report from our china correspondent, john 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 been 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. 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. my name is nick. this is... 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's worried. theyjust want us home, really. they face more long weeks

of uncertainty in a ghost city. john sudworth, bbc news, beijing. so is the lockdown of wuhan the right policy to prevent the virus from spreading? lawrence gostin is the director of the world health organization collaborating center on national and global health law. it's utterly unprecedented in the history of the world to confine more than 50 million people. it could only happen in china. and i think it could end up being very counter—productive, because as story indicated, are stuck there. there's fear, panic, uncertainty. they are literally trapped in a zone of contagion, and they're going to infect one another and eventually they will leave. so i think the first rule of public health is to gain

the trust and the cooperation of a population, and this is just the wrong way to do it. so given that this is more infectious, this coronavirus is more infectious than sars, what should people in these areas be doing? what should the chinese government be advising? the chinese government should first of all be in the community, in households in community venues, doing testing, screening, treatment and trying to find out who is exposed, what's called contact tracing. that's how we brought sars and mers under control, and indeed how we brought ebola under control. they should really have community health clinics and really deal with this in a public health way. i would love to see them call in international experts like who, public health england, the us cdc. imagine what that would signal. put aside our political

and ideological differences and come together as a common humanity to fight this global threat. given how the chinese authorities dealt with sars, there was a lot of secretly about this, is this not a more positive way? we are getting information out from the chinese government regarding this, are we not seeing a more positive treatment to this? certainly china hid sars for weeks and months before they let it out. this time, literally three days after the virus was first reported, they had genetically sequenced the virus and the chinese officials shared it with the full international community. that's magnificent and could lead to rapid development of vaccines and medications to bring this under control. but, on the other hand,

it's very clear indeed that there are parallels to sars and that the chinese were very, very slow of the ground. there were millions of people that left wuhan and hubei province before a response was undertaken. it appears that the officials in hubei and wuhan were afraid to do anything without clearance from beijing, so critical days and probably weeks went by when the virus was spreading. now it is on at least four continents and nearly 20 countries around the world, so the geographic spread is far greater than it was with sars. we will be getting another update on this a little bit later so stay with us. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. president trump's impeachment trial has moved into a new phase, with senators submitting questions to lawyers for each sides. the white house is trying to block publication of former national security advisorjohn bolton's book, which claims trump actively witheld aid to ukraine. adam schiff for the democrats made the case that mr bolton must be called as a witness

there's no way to have a fair trial without witnesses, and when you have a witness who is as plainly relevant asjohn bolton, who goes to the heart of the most serious and egregious of the president's misconduct, who has volunteered to come and testify, to turn him away, to look the other way, i think is deeply at odds with being an impartialjuror. an update on the impeachment trial. also making news today: two decomissioned satellites travelling at more than 30,000mph appear to have had a near miss in the last couple of hours. organisations tracking space objects showed they came within metres of each other above pennsylvania. experts say they'll release full data in the coming hours. scientists say the lungs have an almost magical ability to repair the damage caused by smoking,

but only if you quit. research published in the journal nature found that the cells that escape damage can help the lungs recover, even for patients who smoked 20 cigarettes a day for a0 years. many scientists believe mutations that lead to cancer are permanent. and have a look at these pictures from the sun's surace. they were taken by the inouye solar telescope in hawaii and show the surface in unprecedented detail, in fact the highest resolution images ever ta ken. each of these nuggets you see here is about the size of france. let's have more on our main story, the coronavirus in china. dr takeshi kasai is the who regional director for the western pacific. hejoins me now from bangkok.

doctor kasai, thank you for joining us on newsday. tell us, why is the world health organization so rely on to declare this coronavirus outbreak as a global public health emergency? the director—general, the reason he is calling the emergency committee, not just because is calling the emergency committee, notjust because of the increased number of cases in china but the report we received from countries outside china related to a possible human to human transmission with the potential of global spread. as of this hour, the latest reports are there are 170 deaths, doctor ta keshi, 7700 cases and this coronavirus

has spread to around 16 countries. do you think into day's meeting of the world health organization you and your colleagues will declare this outbreak a global public health emergency? we will have to wait for the committee's assessment of the situations and then they will make their decisions, but if it is made, there are two very important key points: number one, not only the country who is stepping up to respond to this outbreak but they would request entire countries around the world to prepare, including resource limited countries, and definitely we need international cooperation to support those countries. number two, it will allow us to make a much stronger recommendation, which will help member states currently taking different actions to use as a reference point. currently, doctor

takeshi, how are you working with china to get the right information of what is happening in the country? china reported this immediately they detected under international health regulations to who and other parts of the world. we have sent who staff to wuhan and they submitted a comprehensive report when the emergency committee was organised. currently we are working a joint who mission to china. we wanted to send as quick as possible compositions still working and the purpose is to address the questions, such as transmission, severity of diseases and affect clinical treatment. thank you for joining us on newsday, doctor takeshi kasai from joining us on newsday, doctor ta keshi kasai from the joining us on newsday, doctor takeshi kasai from the world health organization. thank you. the european parliament has

voted overwhelmingly to ratify the brexit withdrawal agreement. it sets into law that the uk will leave the eu in just under two days from now, at 2300 gmt on friday. it'll leave eu institutions but remain under most eu rules during a transition until the end of the year. wednesday's vote followed farewell statements from members of the european parliament. 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 national flag—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, tea rful farewell 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. you're watching newsdat on the bbc. still to come on the programme: a special report from justin rowlatt, who travelled to the antarctic to see firsthand the challenges facing those seeking the facts about climate change. the shuttle challenger exploded soon after lift—off. there were seven astronauts on board, one of them a woman schoolteacher. 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 their horrifying experiences. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. i'm kasia madera in london. our top stories: the world health organisation has warned the entire world needs to take action to stop the spread of the new coronavirus which began in the chinese

city of wuhan. the white house has warned president trump's former national security advisor that his controversial new book can't be published unless he deletes classified information. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. the straits times leads with two articles about the spread of the coronavirus from china. it says more people have been infected than during the sars epidemic. the virus is also making font—page news in the japan times. their report details the repatriation of more than 200 people from wuhan. up to 650 have asked to be brought home. and finally, the new york time's international edition features two british police officers working to return

stolen art back to nigeria. it tells the story of how a handwritten note sparked their efforts to help return two benin bronzes, many of which are on display in western museums. yesterday here on newsday we heard about the so called ‘doomsday‘ glacier, in the middle of the west antarctic ice sheet that scientists fear could be at the point of catastrophic collapse. well for the second of his reports, our chief environment correspondentjustin rowlatt travelled with a team of scientists who are working outjust how fast the ice is melting. 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 1000 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 10 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 reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preparing for the rising oceans we face in decades to come. demonstrations led by young people are bucking a trend towards repression across the continent of asia. that's one of the conclusions of a report from amnesty international. it points to protest movements in hong kong and india as an example of the fight—back against governments. i've been speaking to nicholas bequelin, amnesty international‘s regional director for east and south—east asia and the pacific. i asked him if the youth—led movement in hong kong will continue.

oh, absolutely, yes. the protesters are not letting down. they keep pushing for accountability for the really unparalleled police violence and brutality that we've seen over the last few months in hong kong. and these protests really have inspired people around the world and, in particular, in asia. and everywhere we look this year we see governments increasing, cranking up repression, jailing people, pushing back on protest, cracking down on freedom of expression, arresting lawyers, human rights activists, but we also see people not giving up on their rights and young people are often at the frontlines of these efforts to resist authoritarian and progressive government practices. where have we seen a continuation of this flagrant disregard for human rights in asia? i think the biggest culprits are china, it was holding up to1 million uighurs mark and other muslim

ethnic minorities in the north—west. in india, narendra modi has led a very vicious campaign against people of islamic faith, suspended the specials status of kashmir and looking to revise the citizenship act that would disenfranchise possibly millions of people. but the situation is not much greater in strongman country, president duterte in the philippines continuing the war on drugs, a murderous war that is killing it thousands of innocent people. in cambodia, hun sen, the longest serving head of state in the world, general prayut in thailand, it is a very long list of repressive governments... crosstalk. people are not taking it lying down. despite the setbacks there have also been made through this, particularly in taiwan

with the lgbt rights and the legalisation of same—sex marriage, briefly. that's right, we're seeing it across asia. but taiwan this year, through protest immobilisation, really achieved a first in asia, which is legal recognition of same—sex marriage. there is progress in this area across the region and, again, i think we witnessed what people, you know, do not accept the established order, young people, and they want a say in the future and they want to have their rights. you have been watching newsday. i'm rico hizon singapore. and i'm kasia madera in london. and rico, we're going to end newsday with a new world record for sword dancing. it was set when more than two thousand people came together in rajkot, in india.

this dance is known as ‘talwar raas‘ and is a local custom. it dates back to the mughal—era when rajput women welcomed their men—folk home, after they returned victorious from a battle. hello there, we started off this week with a wintry flavour, cold or all of us. but wednesday brought a day of contrast. it was a glorious afternoon across much of england and wales with some sunshine coming through, as you can see in bedford, and a little milder with it. it was a glorious afternoon across much of england and wales with some sunshine coming through, as you can see in bedford, and a little milder with it. different story further north as was awesome evie, persistent rain. some areas of scotland seeing over a couple of inches in a 24—hour period. that weather front continues to drift its way steadily north. we've got a weaker area of low pressure pushing its way in from the south—west. but one unifying factor as we move into

thursday and friday is a south—westerly flow will drive mild air right across the country. so wednesday morning, we saw temperatures hovering around the freezing mark. but thursday morning, when it really looks as though it will be a different story, we're going to start of mild, 7 or 8 degrees widely across the country. so yes, it's a mild start, but rather cloudy, grey, drab one, unfortunately. there will be some rain, some heavier and persistent, moving through western scotland to the north. and then behind it with quite a lot of cloud, thick enough for the odd spot or two drizzle, like patchy rain, misty, murky weather conditions, maybe some dense fog lingering in the far south—west. lighter winds to the south, but always strongest the further north and west with that rain. but look at this. these temperatures widely double digits. 10—14 degrees our afternoon highs. as we move out of thursday into friday, unfortunately, yet again, there's another frontal system that is going to push in from the west and that's going to bring more wet weather with it. now, the heaviest of the rain

is likely to be through western areas for a time on wednesday. and as it pushes its way steadily eastwards, it'll weaken, fragment to showers into the afternoon. but we are likely to see more persistent rain just clinging onto the north—west of the great glen, however the wind direction is still a south—westerly, still mild for all, 8—11; the high. as we move out of friday, for the start of the weekend, unfortunately it looks as they we're stuck in repeat. low pressure never too far away, but weather fronts crossing the uk, they either way, a brief respite before the next weather front which is in. so it does look likely that it is going to stay pretty u nsettled. so this is our city forecast for both saturday and sunday. it's going to be a case of showers or longer spells of rain, but it's still on the mild side for this time of year, with temperatures widely into double figures. take care.

i'm kasia madera with bbc world news. the chinese government says at least 170 people are confirmed to have died from coronavirus,

with more than 1,700 new cases reported. the world health organization has called for concerted international action to stop its spread. the world indoor athletics championships, due to be held in the chinese city of nanjing, have been postponed for a year. senators in washington have begun two days of questionning in donald trump's impeachment trial, as the president and his allies have accused the former national security advisorjohn bolton, of betrayal. and on our website, there's more on the moment the european parliament ratified britian's brexit agreement. some meps burst into a rendition of auld lang syne following the vote. it was the final hurdle before the uk leaves the eu on friday. that's all. stay with bbc world news.