today at 5pm, the government's cobra emergency committee is meeting new to discuss the coronavirus as chinese authorities step up their efforts to contain the disease that has so far killed almost 500 people. sick passengers are taken off cruise ships as hong kong imposes a mandatory 14—day quarantine on arrivals from mainland china. we'll be talking to a pandemic expert about what more is needed to contain the coronavirus. the other main stories on bbc news at 5pm: president trump likely to be acquitted tonight in his impeachment trial. it comes after house speaker nancy pelosi ripped up a copy of his state of the union speech. should failing to pay your tv licence be treated as a criminal offence? the government launches an eight—week consultation.

i do think it's going to be a broader debatejust because people are changing the way they consume media. there's a much more complicated media landscape now. and so i do think we're going to look at whether the licence fee model's right for the 21st century. a plane has skidded off the runway at istanbul airport and broken into three sections. there are no reports of fatalities. more than a0 people arrested in a crackdown on so—called courier fraud, where people are duped into handing over money to fraudsters. and as some of the uk's biggest companies are criticised for failing to improve diversity, we'll speak to a woman championing ethnic minority representation in the boardroom.

good afternoon. our top story on bbc news at 5pm is that the government's emergency cobra committee are meeting as we speak to discuss the coronavirus. the death toll from the virus in china has now reached almost 500. more than 2a,000 people have been infected, and about 18 million chinese citizens are being told to stay in their homes. all visitors to hong kong from mainland china are facing a period of quarantine. meanwhile, ten people on board a cruise ship injapan have been evacuated from the vessel after testing positive for the virus. our china correspondent robin brant reports. all on board this cruise liner injapan are now in quarantine for two weeks after ten chinese among them tested positive with a new type of coronavirus. the virus is spreading day by day. china is bearing the brunt,

but its neighbours are having to take increasingly severe action as well. translation: these people who tested positive disembarked with quarantine officers. with the help from the japan coast guard, they're being transported to medicalfacilities in a prefecture. british tourist david abel is among them. we've got no idea when we're going to be allowed off the ship. all we've been informed is 14 days quarantine on the ship. that means we have no interaction with other passengers, food is brought to the room, it's really basic food. nothing like we've enjoyed on the cruise at all. it's changed so much. in the capital of china, the checks, scrutiny and anxiety continues. this is a country partially shut down and still desperate to contain the outbreak. the president xi jinping has spoken

tonight of a positive effect that he believes the prevention and control measures are having. he said he was confident they could when what he called "this war". as wuhan, the epicentre city shut off from the rest of china, lays on more temporary health care, the uk is arranging a second and final flight out. more than 100 britons want to be on the plane when it goes on sunday morning. two weeks of quarantine at home awaits them. how we're taking decisions of course has to be based on the science, and that has to be based on what we knew about this virus and that does have uncertainties around it because of the nature of this being a brand—new virus. as i say, the approach we're taking is to take no chances. hong kong, part of china remember, has further tightened its measures. all visitors from the mainland will face quarantine from saturday. the outbreak is putting a huge strain on companies closely linked to china.

cathay pacific has asked its 25,000 plus staff to take weeks of unpaid leave because falling passenger numbers mean drastic cuts to the number of planes it's flying. robin brant, bbc news, shanghai. we can now speak to nick bundle from the european centre for disease prevention and control. thank you very much for being with us. thank you very much for being with us. to what extent do you expect the coronavirus to keep spreading around the world? thank you for having me on the show. my role here is to monitor the progression of the outbreak through epidemic intelligence and support. our member states in the european commission through assessing rest to enable them to determine the most appropriate response measures. 0ur view at the moment is that further global spread is likely. and the outbreak appears to be largely

contained within china but we are seeing a small number of cases in small clusters and other countries, including in europe. and do you think the measures that have been taken to isolate china, both by european airlines like british airways but also by the chinese authorities, the steps they have taken, has a love that helps contain the spread of the virus do you think? of the measures taken certainly in china as i said before are unprecedented. and there is a general sense that they have probably slowed the spread of the virus and certainly the restrictions imposed on wuhan at the epicentre, it is very hard to evaluate for certain but it is likely that that has slowed the spread. how dangerous do you think the coronavirus, this

strain of coronavirus is? some experts are saying actually it is much less dangerous, less beta than sa rs much less dangerous, less beta than sars for much less dangerous, less beta than sa rs for example much less dangerous, less beta than sars for example a few years ago. it's a new virus. 0nly sars for example a few years ago. it's a new virus. only recently come into humans from animals and out spreading among humans. there is a lot we still don't know about the virus. early estimates suggest that yes it is less lethal than sars. but we still don't have very much data on how severe cases are. a lot of the data we have is from china, and the data we have is from china, and the extent to which we can assess the extent to which we can assess the true severity of that is limited. so we are continuing to work with partners to look at information on cases outside of china to understand better how severe it can be. but even if it is predominantly mild in most of the cases outside of china that have been reported, they have been mild

mostly, if it is able to affect a large portion of the population, then you would of course still see a large impact on the health system and considerable as this is influenza season in the northern hemisphere so the circulation of those two viruses could really have a potentially large impact. all right, thank you very much. a specialist in the preventable diseases at the european centre for diseases at the european centre for disease prevention and control. now some live pictures from turkey now. at least 52 people have been injured when a plane arriving at an istanbul airport overran the runway and crashed in wet weather. an aircraft from turkish low—cost carrier pegasus airlines broke into several sections upon impact at sabiha gokcen. that is one of the airports in istanbul. it is thought the plane carried

as many as 170 people, but turkey's transport minister says there are no reported fatalities, despite breaking into several sections on impact. a scene of absolute devastation where that plane is in several pieces now. a spokesman for the airline confirming the crash but not giving any more details. emergency response teams have taken people to hospital and footage there from turkish tv that you can see is it showing the plain's fuselage as well asa showing the plain's fuselage as well as a session of it near the tail broken off. dozens of emergency response personnel have been taken —— taking passengers out of the plane and carrying them away on stretchers. dramatic scenes there from istanbul. in the next few hours, president trump is likely to be acquitted of the impeachment charges against him. the us senate, with its republican majority, is expected to clear him

of all corruption charges. it follows extraordinary scenes in congress as mr trump delivered his annual state of the union address last night. the president appeared to refuse to shake hands with nancy pelosi, america's most senior democrat. then, as he received a standing ovation, she was seen ripping up a copy of his speech. ben wright reports from washington. even before president trump spoke, this felt more like a republican party rally than a solemn state of the union address. chanting: four more years! "four more years," chanted republican lawmakers while democrats looked angry and glum. in a striking snub of the most senior democrat in the chamber, president trump refused to shake nancy pelosi's hand, someone who pushed hard for his impeachment. donald trump then fired out lines that will form the crux of his re—election campaign.

jobs are booming, incomes are soaring. poverty is plummeting. crime is falling. confidence is surging. and our country is thriving and highly respected again. the speech was bombastic, boastful and partisan. the president claimed there was a blue—collar boom, and trumpeted america's buoyant economy. very incredibly, the average unemployment rate under my administration is lower than any administration in the history of our country. washington's polarised politics was on stark display. donald trump didn't mention impeachment, but democrats know their efforts to remove him from office now have probably failed, so it's all about november's election and president trump is targeting a second term.

0ur agenda is relentlessly pro—worker, pro—family, pro—growth and most of all pro—american. thank you. and then, at the end, this. nancy pelosi ripping up the president's speech in disgust. washington has rarely looked so bitter. it was a manifesto of mistruths. and what do you think about him not shaking your hand? we always extend the hand of friendship. if he rejects it, that's up to him. were you invited to another state of the union? hopefully not! i'm expecting another president nine months from today! and the partisan divide will only deepen later today when, as everyone expects, the republican—led senate clears president trump of abusing his power and obstructing congress. in this election year, the next nine months will be fiercely fought, and this may not be president trump's last state of the union address. ben wright, bbc news, washington.

0ur correspondent jane 0'brien is at capitol hill in washington. a part as an divide as ben called it. never has looked as deep. extraordinary scenes with nancy pelosi ripping up at speeds just behind him. i have covered several state of the union addresses and i have never seen anything like it at all. they had the spectacle of the president of the united states, invited to speak in that chamber, and then the house speaker notjust representing the opposition that night but the representing of congress sitting behind him and muttering and shaking her head and then that final declaration of disgust, ripping up the speech itself. as you can imagine, the republicans have said that nancy pelosi is to blame for the bad behaviour was not democrats are blaming donald trump for starting it all. and voters who are caught in the middle can only look at congress

right now and say washington is dysfunctional. how on earth can this lot get anything done? and that is in an election year. so not a good sign, nota in an election year. so not a good sign, not a good look from congress at all. let me tell you about some poles we have had today. donald trump talking about the economy and touting his achievements there. one poll has asked americans whether or not they will feel financially better off next year. three quarters of them and say they will. 59% of americans say they already feel financially better off this year than they did last year. so whether oi’ than they did last year. so whether or not you give donald trump credit for the economy, the point is the perception of americans right now is that they are doing all right under his administration. so good news for donald trump and more good news likely for him this evening with what looks certain to be an acquittal in that impeachment hearing. absolutely. we were looking ata hearing. absolutely. we were looking at a couple of wavering democrats to see if the moderate democrats would

ci’oss see if the moderate democrats would cross the aisle and vote with republicans to acquit donald trump. republicans to acquit donald trump. republicans already have the numbers. we know that he is going to be acquitted. but it does not look like we are going to see any voting except on party lines. this is a partisan vote. republicans will acquit him and democrats will convict him. but don't think it is over tonight because it won't be. you have gotjohn bolton's book coming out, the former national security adviser and democrats are already suggesting that even with impeachment now out of the way, at the moment, they still might subpoena him to get him to come before congress to tell lawmakers what he knows about these various charges of misconduct to do with ukraine and soliciting foreign government aid to investigate a political rival. and even republicans who are going to be acquitting him say he did something wrong, but it did not rise to the level of impeachment. so for now, they are going to put it away and

try and move on from it to him about the trip drip drip of damaging information i think is going to continue pretty much up until election day. all right, thank you very much, jane 0'brien there for us on capitol hill. we will talk more about impeachment later. we'll be talking more about us politics at 5:30pm with the pollster larry sabato. and don't forget you can join christian fraser and katty kay for a bbc news special this evening live from capitol hill in washington as the impeachment trial of us president donald trump concludes with a final vote in the senate. that's live on the bbc news channel from 8:30pm this evening. assistant commissioner of the met police neil basu says that the threat of terror attacks is not diminishing, despite efforts of the security services. earlier, commissioner dame cressida dick said convicted terrorist sudesh amman was able to stab two people in streatham while under surveillance because the operations are not "man—to—man marking". they are not, of course, providing a man—to—man marking,

if i could put it that way. they are there covertly, and that is a deliberate thing. so, it is inevitable that there could be a time delay before somebody totally unexpectedly does something. you know, it's in the nature of their work, they're following people who are doing unexpected things, they never know what's going to happen next, and they're highly flexible, of course. but i think to... in general terms, to be able to respond so fast is an extraordinary achievement. i wish i could assure the public that everybody who poses a risk on the streets could be subject to some sort of thing which would stop them being able to stab anybody ever, but it is clearly not possible.

the government has launched a public consultation about whether failure to pay the tv licence fee should no longer be a criminal offence. at the moment, anyone who watches or records live tv, streams programmes live on an online tv service or uses iplayer without a licence is committing a criminal offence. in 2018, more than 120,000 people were fined for licence fee evasion. if the change is approved, it could have a major impact on the bbc‘s finances. earlier today, the culture secretary nicky morgan spoke of about the possibility of changing the licence fee model. i think there will have to be a full look at the whole licence feet model. the bbc has a model that runs until 2027. this year, we will look at whether they should be decriminalization but i do think there should be a broader debate with people or change in the with a

consume media. there is a much more collocated media landscape now and so collocated media landscape now and soido collocated media landscape now and so i do think we are going to have to look at the whether the licensing model is right for the 21st century. the bbc‘s director of policy claire sumner said the current system of dealing people who avoided paying the licence fee still works. first of all, we've got to remember the vast majority pay for their licence fee. 0ur audiences are supporting the bbc, and what we've got to look at is the most effective way to make sure that those people who don't pay are treated. and a government review looked at this in 2015 and found that actually, the current system is the most effective and fair, and alternatives like a civil system are much worse. julian knight, the chair elect of the department for culture media and sport, has also been reacting. he said...

let's speak now to colin browne, who is chairman of the voice of the listener and viewer, one of the consumer organisations that were consulted during the evidence gathering stage of the 2015 perry review, which concluded that the government shouldn't decriminalise licence fee evasion. thank you very much for being with us. thank you very much for being with us. people argue that it is just too heavy—handed to say that not paying your tv licence fee is a criminal

offence and to put people through the courts and eventually some of them injail. it isjust cracking the courts and eventually some of them in jail. it is just cracking a nut with a massive sledgehammer.” understand that point and i think it is fairto understand that point and i think it is fair to say. the latest figures show i think five people went to jail during the year but i understand that point completely. from our point of view, or organisation basically works to promote and support excellent quality and diversity in broadcasting and especially in public service broadcaster. clearly the bbc is a key cornerstone in this framework. so if this move were to lead to a significant reduction in the finances of the bbc, that is a matter of concern to us. so the question would be for example if the government prepared to refund the bbc of some kind of way in the next licence fee settlement for the finances it will lose as a real console of decriminalization. so make up that shortfall of £200 million? that is not very likely, is

it? anything the government doing that? i think the secretary of state said they would take a look at this issue when it came to the next licence fee and let's recall the licence fee and let's recall the licence fee and let's recall the licence fee itself is in the charter until 2027. it is when licence fee itself is in the charter until2027. it is when negotiations are going to start pretty soon on whether that is sustainable. the government people talking about whether it is perhaps not sustainable any more, the licence fee model is now out of date with all these rivals like netflix and so on. sure and i totally understand that. but i think those pushing for change need to come up with an approach that guarantees the same universality of service we have the moment and the same emphasis on quality. from our point of view, the licence fee has worked well and people have said for many years, decades even, it will not work in the future. at that moment, it does work pretty well. there is a separate issue of what the level of the licence fee should be in order to ensure adequate funding. a lot of things happened over the last few

yea rs things happened over the last few years that have undercut the bbc‘s funny. you have got potentially this issue and slicing of the licence fee as well. we need a really public open consultation about this issue. in particular, the context of settling the bbc funding and the need to be a much more transparent consulted process of there has been in the past when it tends to happen behind closed doors in the dead of night. it is not satisfactory. surely a subscription type system is the more modern way to go. is what people do with netflix and so on. they pay their subscription and the service. is that not almost inevitable now that that is the way the bbc is going to go and what will be wrong if it did go that way? lets see with the time span is for that be possible. as of now, you cannot have a subscription type service to everybody watched the really big programmes at the same time. that just would not work. it cannot

account for that. but more importantly come i think the issue here is what the bbc has achieved over many years and what we value as an organisation of public service broadcasting is a universal service available to everybody for a relatively modest cost. in the fact that it relatively modest cost. in the fact thatitis relatively modest cost. in the fact that it is available to everybody and everybody chips and pace of the fa ct and everybody chips and pace of the fact that it is available to everybody and everybody chips and pay something means it at a modest cost. i have no doubt the bbc as an organisation probably do very well asa organisation probably do very well as a subscription service but it made a very different kind of organisation. the culture would be to try to attract more subscribers and would look at more popular programming or trauma. and would look at more popular programming ortrauma. a and would look at more popular programming or trauma. a lot of the other material the bbc provides for a whole range of audiences would inevitably fall by the wayside. there is no way that this inscription model at the moment could come close to equalling the kind of funny the bbc has at present. and of course don't forget radio, much valued, and it is also funded. good to talk to you.

chairman of the voice of the listener and viewer, many thanks for being with us. ajudge in spain has ordered an indedendent investigation to be held into the deaths of three british family members who drowned in a hotel swimming pool near fuengirola. 52—year—old gabriel diya, his nine—year—old daughter comfort and 16—year—old praise—emmanuel died on christmas eve at the club la costa world hotel. the initial police report concluded that the incident was a tragic accident, partly blamed on the family not being able swimmers. two avalanches on a mountain road in turkey have killed more than 30 people. officials say an emergency team had been to sent to van province, near the eastern border with iran, to look for people missing after an avalanche on tuesday when a second one struck. several people have been rescued and taken to hospital, but dozens more are believed to be trapped in vehicles. soldiers, locals and specially trained dogs have joined the rescue effort.

the united nations has called for an end to hostilities in syria, after nearly 600,000 people, most of them women and children, were displaced in the idlib region in the last two months. a renewed offensive by syrian goverment forces against the last major rebel enclave has seen some of the most intensive bombing of the nine—year long civil war. our world affairs correspondent paul adams reports. this war has displaced millions, and after nine long years, it's still happening. idlib, the last rebel stronghold, a mass of desperate convoys. as president assad's forces close in, whole communities are on the move. many, like the moglaz family, packing their belongings in the town of binnish, fled here from other besieged towns and provinces. they're being uprooted again. it's a grim, familiar routine.

translation: i lived in kafr aweid, we were safe and happy. then the bombing and war took place, and we were displaced for the first time, then a second and a third time. the government's offensive on idlib is remorseless. towns pulverised by shelling and air strikes, inhabitants forced to flee north and west. some places, like ma'ar shoreen, now ghost towns. the un says that almost 600,000 people have been forced to move in the last two months and the process is picking up speed. they're slowly converging on the turkish border. many of the displaced have left with nothing but the clothes on their backs or what they could pile on to ramshackle vehicles, and they urgently need shelter, food, water and sanitation support, health support, emergency education and, not least, protection. turkey is building up its military presence in the region. the latest fighting has seen deadly

clashes between turkish and syrian government forces. a deal reached two years ago between turkey and president assad's russian backers now hanging by a thread. translation: we hope the regime will pull back from our observation post before the end of february. if they don't, turkey will be obliged to take matters into its own hands. as always, civilians are paying the highest price. this man is struggling to comprehend what has happened to his family. he lost his wife, two daughters—in—law and two grandchildren on sunday, killed when a barrel bomb hit their house in the town of sarmin. many of syria's children have known nothing but war. death and displacement have stalked them wherever they go, and with this conflict's ninth anniversary approaching, there is clearly much more to come.

paul adams, bbc news. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news this afternoon. a 23—year—old burglar has admitted murdering and sexually assaulting an 89—year—old woman in north london after changing his plea part—way through his trial. dorothy woolmer was attacked by reece dempster in her home in tottenham last august. dempster is expected to be sentenced tomorrow. the trial of the manchester arena bomber‘s brother has been told he attempted to get friends to buy acid for him online that could be used to make explosives. hashem abedi has pleaded not guilty to murder, attempted murder and conspiring with his brother salman to cause an explosion. one of david cameron's bodyguards has been taken off operational duties after he reportedly left a gun in a plane toilet. the weapon was handed to flight attendants on a british airways flight between new york and london. as a former prime minister, mr cameron is entitled to continued security provided by the metropolitan police.

now, it's time for a look at the weather with ben rich. a very good evening to you. we could have some problems with fog through tonight and tomorrow morning but for all intents and purposes, things are calm for the time being. that will not last. as we get to the weekend, things are going to change quite significantly. largely dry tonight with a lot of cloud feeding into northern ireland and western scotla nd northern ireland and western scotland and may be an odd spot of drizzle here and clear breaks elsewhere allowing it to get relatively chilly but nothing unusualfor a february relatively chilly but nothing unusual for a february night. relatively chilly but nothing unusualfor a february night. some spots to freezing or a touch below and some frost and fog for the midlands, wales and the south of england. some could be slow to clear. areas of cloud and some sunny brea ks clear. areas of cloud and some sunny breaks tomorrow and the best in eastern and southern parts and temperatures 7—9d or a bit lower if you get stuck with fog all day long. friday looks sunnier with a stronger win and that will break the cloud up

to some extent. into the weekend things changed dramatically. a deep area of low pressure heading our way and has been named by the met office and has been named by the met office and wherever you are across the uk, there is the risk of some damaging winds. it is worth staying tuned it to the forecast. this is bbc news. the headlines: the government's emergency cobra committee is meeting now to discuss the coronavirus, as chinese authorities step up their efforts to contain the disease that has so far killed nearly 500 people. hours before president trump is likely to be acquitted in his impeachment trial, house speaker nancy pelosi rips up a copy of his state of the union speech. here, the government launches an eight—week consultation over whether failing to pay your tv licence should be treated as a criminal offence. and this is the scene

at turkey's istanbul airport, live, where a plane has skidded off the runway and broken into three sections. there are no reports of fatalities. but there have been quite a number of people injured on that plane. let's cross to the bbc sport centre and join katie shanahan. good afternoon. rugby league's super league has voted unanimously to have "greater authority" to stop future "controversial signings". this follows israel folau's move to catalans dragons. the club's held crisis talks over the signing of folau at a super league board meeting earlier today. folau grew up playing rugby league, but has not played a match of any kind for 10 months since writing a homophobic post on social media. he was sacked by rugby australia for the post. several clubs have backed hull kr's threat of legal action over the deal. here's the super league

chief executive. the super league has clearly and consistently outlined its position on this man. with the decision under way, we now feel it is important for super league to separate what is an on field matter to what is happening off the pitch. we respect the decision to register him and the board has voted unanimously to put in place measures that ensure super league has great authorities to stop controversial signings such as this in the future. as a sport, we have an impressive and an enviable track record when it comes to reporting and investing in inclusion and we will continue our work in those areas. sports authorities in shanghai have recommended the suspension of all sporting events in the city as a result of the coronavirus. the move casts even more doubt on the chinese grand prix, which is in shanghai on 19th april. well, here is the shanghai circuit. discussions are set to take place today, but it's also believed

that the race will have to at least be postponed. the number of cases in china has now jumped to more than 24,300, with almost 500 deaths so far. meanwhile, the international olympic committee have dismissed fears of the virus after the organisers of the tokyo games said they were seriously concerned about its effect. the ioc said they were in contact with the world health organisation and had full confidence that tokyo 2020 were in control of the situation. 20 cases have been found in tokyo. translation: i am seriously worried that the spreading of the infectious disease could throw cold water on the momentum towards the games. i hope it will be stamped out as soon as possible. the tokyo 2020 organising committee will co—ordinate with the ioc, etc, and the tokyo metropolitan government to tackle

this issue thoroughly. england winger anthony watson will miss saturday's six nations match with scotland with a calf problem. the bath fullback trained on tuesday, but suffered a recurrence of the injury and sat out today's session. watson was forced out of the opening defeat in paris. he's scored 17 tries in 42 games for england, and it's another blow for head coach eddiejones, who has manu tuilagi ruled out with a groin strain. and the former tottenham midfielder, christian eriksen, feels that he was blamed that he was blamed for their slump in recent months and paid for that he was blamed for their slump in recent months and pa the price for being honest about his desire to leave the club. he told a danish newspaper last summer that he wanted a new challenge elsewhere. and after being linked with real madrid and manchester united, he then completed a £17 million move to inter milan at the end

of the january transfer window. if you have a short contract, you will be the black sheep, and of course i did the interview. i was very honest. i felt that i had to be honest. i did not want to hide stuff like a lot of players do. and they work in their own way, everybody is different, but i was honest. i wanted to try something new, and i said that out loud. i did get the blame for a lot of stuff, i didn't read all of the bad stuff. i did read something about being the bad person in the changing room and "ever since he said he wanted to leave, he is no good". but in the end, you are still the same player. you can follow coverage of tottenham against southampton in the fourth round of the fa cup on 5 live and the bbc sport website. just go to bbc.co.uk/sport. that's all from me. bye for now. let's get more now on all the latest in american politics — and president trump's annual state of the union address, where he hailed his first three years in office as ‘the great american comeback‘. he delievered the speech just a few

hours before he is likely to be acquitted on impeachment charges, whilst his rivals the democrats are struggling to choose their next presidential candidate, after technical problems during their first major vote in the state of iowa. let's see how this might play out with us voters — joining me is doctor larry sabato, who previously worked democratic party campaigns in the ‘60s and ‘70s, but is now a non—partisan political analyst and is the founder and director of the university of virginia's centre for politics also, i'm joined byjim mclaughlin — a republican strategist and pollster, who at the last us election accurately polled and predicted a victory for donald trump and is part of the president's 2020 polling team. thanks so much both of you for being with us. larry sabato, first of all, washington looked so divided at the moment with the impeachment trial coming toa moment with the impeachment trial coming to a head tonight. nancy

pelosi ripping up donald trump's stated the union speech just behind him... what you think the voters will make of it, when it comes to the crunch in the next presidential election? oh, i think the crunch in the next presidential election? oh, ithink most the crunch in the next presidential election? oh, i think most voters are well aware of how divided we are, how much hate there is in our political system today. it is as or worse as it was in the 1960s, or early 1970s. i can only think of one period in american history when it has surpassed this for poll relations and partisanship and that was the civil war. let's hope we don't have another one of those. last night, it would almost encourage one to think it is coming. it was depressing, it was concerning and yes, both sides have participated in the polarisation. you mentioned president trump, when he came to the voting, turned aside nancy pelosi's handshake. he did not shake her hand and at the end, she

tore up his speech. there were a lot of moments in between when both parties showed their nasty sides and their nasty sides are getting nastier. jim mclaughlin, do you agree with that? that both sides are getting nastier and if that is true, does that benefit donald trump or hurting in the next election? you know, there is no question that there are divisions right now in american politics, but i think if you are donald trump, what you want to talk about, which is what he did la st to talk about, which is what he did last night, is he talked about his successes. and here in the states, usually in our present presidential elections or our elections in general, they are decided on the two peas, peace and prosperity. last night gave the president a great opportunity to talk about the successes we have had with the economy, lower unemployment, wages going up. and the great part about it is wages and the economy is

getting better for lower and middle class workers and that is something that politicians have been trying to deliver here in the us for decades. finally we have a president who is doing it. you can see it in the polling numbers. a poll yesterday said that two thirds of americans we re said that two thirds of americans were giving the president —positive job approval on the economy. if you are donald trump, there is of the kinds of things you'll want to talk about. i think he did a greatjob of that last night and quite honestly, i think the stunt that nancy pelosi pulls at the end there, and i think it was a preconceived stunt and it was really out of place when you consider the type of speech that the president gave, when she taught his speech. there is reallyjust no place for that at a state of the union address. lets talk about the democrats, larry. we are not quite clear on who their contender is going to be in the election. in your due, who is best equipped to take on donald trump and to defeat him? due, who is best equipped to take on

donald trump and to defeat him7m may well be former new york mayor, michael bloomberg. it is hard to understand and see how he could manage to get nominated because he was a republican for so many years and endorsed the two presidents, bush and giuliani. these would not be popular video tapes for democrats in primaries, but bloomberg is worth $55 billion and being willing to spend several billion dollars of his own money on the election, would probably be the strongest. the others all have major drawbacks. they have strengths as well, but we a lwa ys they have strengths as well, but we always say there is no perfect candidate and i would argue here thatis candidate and i would argue here that is really true stop there is absolutely no perfect candidate to carry the message against a tramp. trump is creating most of the votes that democratic nominee will get, so it is still a very divided electorate and it is bound to be a

reasonably close election. we don't have landslides any more, i think john would agree with that. we will just have to see... nine months and a million things to happen between now and november. let me put these in question to you, jim, in the same way. which of the democrats does donald trump fear the most? honestly, none of them. larry is 100% correct when he says they all have their flaws and i actually worked for michael bloomberg. that was a great question you pose to larry. i think his biggest problem is going to be trying to win the democratic primary and the reason i think that is because larry's is right. he has taken a public position over the years and by the way, some of them are pretty good positions. things that people say that people say were successful... the interesting part is now he is running any democratic primary. and one of the things that really goes one of the things that really goes on in the democratic primary is they

play a lot of what we call identity politics over here. you know, somebody is the women's candidate, somebody is the women's candidate, somebody is the women's candidate, somebody is a candidate for hispanics, and i just somebody is a candidate for hispanics, and ijust find it really ha rd hispanics, and ijust find it really hard to see that somebody like michael bloomberg, who is a former republican, no matter how much money he has spent right now, just winning the democratic primary. you know, it is kind of a 77—year—old white businessman... i don't think that is what the democratic primary voters are looking for right now. but the other piece of it is he has a seat at the table because of the amount of money and resources he is spending is unprecedented. we have never seen spending is unprecedented. we have never seen it spending is unprecedented. we have neverseen it in spending is unprecedented. we have never seen it in any republican or democratic primary before. you say america doesn't do landslides before, larry, but can you get a prediction on what is going to happen in the next presidential

election? do you think another narrow presidential election victory for donald trump? you want me to predict the presidential election nine months before the election and before we even know who the democratic nominee is? good try. i am not going to do that. what i will tell you is that it is going to be a very difficult campaign for the country as a whole. all of our campaigns are nasty, but this one is going to be tough to take and i hope people will take that into account and will try to keep things within the lanes if possible. it is a forlorn hope, probably. jim mclaughlin, the same question to you. i have a feeling i know what your answer is going to be. can donald trump get back into the white house? i don't think there is any question as we were saying before, those two factors are peace and prosperity. at the end of the day, it is going to be a binary trace and to be honest with you, i'm not even

sure who the democrats are going to nominate at this point. when of the interesting thing is i wasjust looking at some of the numbers of the returns that are coming in. it is bizarre. they are cunning and really slowly from eyewear. we still don't know. they are saying that we are ahead in terms of candidates, but on the first vote count, bernie sanders is actually beating him, so they have a lot of explaining to do there. that will be interesting. but i think larry is right. our electorate right now, the way the country is right now, it is pretty split and evenly divided. i think the great part about it is a lot of those same states that decided the selection last time are going to decide at this time. and i think no matter how you slice it, donald trump has the ability to get over 50% this time. last time, neither candidate got over 50% of the vote and we feel really good about things, just by the president

running on his record. thank you for talking to us, larry andjim. running on his record. thank you for talking to us, larry and jim. doctor larry sabato talking to us, larry and jim. doctor larry sa bato and talking to us, larry and jim. doctor larry sabato and jim mclaughlin. the headlines on bbc news: the government's emergency cobra committee is meeting now to discuss the coronavirus, as chinese authorities step up their efforts to contain the disease that has so far killed nearly 500 people. hours before president trump is likely to be acquitted in his impeachment trial — house speaker nancy pelosi rips up a copy of his state of the union speech. the government launches an eight—week consultation over whether failing to pay your tv licence should be treated as a criminal offence. an update on the market numbers for you — here's how london's and frankfurt ended the day. and in the united states this is how the dow and the nasdaq are getting on. more than a0 people have been arrested in a crackdown

on so—called courier fraud across england and wales. police say more than 3,000 people, most of them elderly, have been duped into withdrawing large sums of money and handing it to a fraudster who's posing as a courier or a police officer. our home affairs correspondent danny shaw reports. early morning in central london. police are out in force for a raid on a flat in kings cross. police! it's part of an operation targeting criminal gangs involved in courierfraud. a sniffer dog is brought in to find items that might be hidden, like mobile phone sim cards and memory sticks. carol norton was a victim of courierfraud. she was caring for her terminally ill husband when she was tricked into handing over £4000 in cash. a man phoned her, pretending to be a detective who needed help on an undercover investigation.

i believed every word he said. he really sounded, he was concerned about me. he did say he was concerned about my husband. and hejust seemed a genuine police officer. when you learned that it was a scam, how did you feel? what was your reaction? ijust cried. it was awful. i really felt upset because i had let my husband down. police believe courier fraud is a growing problem across england and wales. in the past two years there have been more than 3,100 victims. £12 million has been stolen, with some people losing hundreds of thousands in pensions and savings. courierfraud is believed to be coordinated by organised gangs who may be linked to wider networks involved in drug trafficking. it's helped by the fact that there is a degree of anonymity, when the fraudster can phone the victim. quite often we see fraudsters coming from places like london and urban locations, travelling up and down the country,

using public transport and then arriving on the doorstep of the victim. in police raids since november, 44 people have been arrested including two men at the flat in london. they have since been released while investigations continue. 1a others have been charged as police continue to tackle what they say is a despicable crime. danny shaw, bbc news. the leaders of the three largest parties in the republic of ireland have clashed in the final tv debate of the general election campaign. voters go to the polls on saturday to decide who should lead the government in dublin, as ireland deals with the fallout from the brexit process. chris page reports. ireland is a nation on the edge of europe and the frontline of brexit. it's the only country which has a land border with the uk. after a financial crisis a decade

ago, it has recovered strongly and now has the fastest growing economy in the eu. but opposition parties are highlighting issues like housing shortages, hospital overcrowding and the cost of living. in the last major tv debate before the election, the prime minister emphasised his role in the brexit talks and claimed a change of government would be a risk. it's only half—time, brexit isn't done yet. the next big step is to negotiate a trade deal between the uk and the eu. that's absolutely essential for the 200,000 people who work in export industries in ireland, our rural economy, our agri—food sector and our fisherman. but the leader of the main opposition party said he was up to the task because all parties had the same approach to brexit. the idea that you can't change the government because of brexit i think makes absolutely no sense. governments change all of the time in europe and there's always many key issues facing the european union and member states. both mr martin and mr varadkar‘s parties are in the political centre ground. they have dominated irish politics for many decades. but they are being challenged by a left—wing party, sinn fein,

which is performing strongly in opinion polls. the theme of this election has emerged as a thirst for change. i'm very clear what that change means. everywhere that i have gone people have said to me that they recognise that fianna fail and fine gael, essentially identical parties, have had it all their own way now for almost a century. the other two leaders said they wouldn't go into a coalition with sinn fein, mainly because the party had links to paramilitary violence during the conflict in northern ireland. sinn fein emphasises its role in the peace process. no group is expected to win an overall majority of seats in the irish parliament. complex negotiations to form a government are set to follow the general election, which will be held on saturday. chris page, bbc news. a uk—government backed target to improve ethnic diversity at the highest levels of britain's

biggest companies looks set to be missed. in 2017 the parker review gave the boards of the ftse 100 four years to meet its target — have at least one non—white member. but according to the review‘s latest annual update, 37% of the boards of the uk's 100 biggest companies are still all—white. and the figures are even worse for the ftse 250 — the country's 250 next biggest companies. more than two—thirds of them have all—white boards. i'm joined now by dr nneka abulokwe, she is the founder of micromax consulting and sits on the boards of several comapanies and institutions as a non exec director. thank you very much for being with us. so you have done it. the problem is so many other people haven't. what is the problem and what needs to be done to change it? oh, we know this problem. this problem has been there for a long time. they say the

lack of representation at the top table. the governing body of most organisations, the highest governing body. the problem really is, as we are told, the lack of diversity. people of ba and e backgrounds there to fulfil these roles. they met backgrounds. and a director or sat on the board level of a multinational company and today we have a rich pool of... we have several lists that are published and they are published on an annual basis. they are publishing top talent across industry. so when we are told there is a lack of diversity or lack of resource or talent for these top roles, i struggle to understand why. so you

mean the people are there, you had identified the people and they are just not getting an roles on the top boards? honestly. and i am not alone. we have the bame100 list, we have the top tech and we have all industries collaborating with some known brands like the financial times and we are just not getting through though. why do you think that is? to the companies not want to increase diversity? do think it isa to increase diversity? do think it is a matter of not wanting it or... ? what is the reason that there are still so many white only boards?m isa still so many white only boards?m is a combination. there is fear, there is inertia, but also they are looking in the wrong places. so if they were looking at the right places, micelles and several others would have been taken up a long time ago to fill those roles. it is not for a want of seasoned good people

out there. also, within establishments and organisations internally, because the report has talked about board directors, and these are nonexecutive as well as executive directors. executive directors when the organisations of other organisations, the day—to—day running. 0rganisations need to ensure they have a talent pool to come through and fill these roles. 0rganisations also need to create an environment in which people feel co mforta ble, environment in which people feel comfortable, in which you can show up comfortable, in which you can show up and be your best self. we talk about diversity, but the one thing we need to talk about two is inclusion. people need to feel included. people need to see their senior management and are a representation of themselves in that senior management. we need to get a line of sight to give people that inspiration that they can get to that point in an organisation. i have worked and sat as an executive director of a large, multinational

tech company, and i know the impact it had, myself, the power of one person, being able to ripple across that organisation. that organisation was forward—thinking in themselves in appointing me to sit on the executive committee to run a large pa rt executive committee to run a large part of the organisation and i know the value it brings. but if you know the value it brings. but if you know the value it brings. but if you know the value that brings, but that is still not happening in so many other companies... what is the way round that? should we be naming and shaming these companies? should punishing them in some way? how do we change this? it is already happening. this report has been written and there is a growing social consciousness. clients buy from people that represent them as well. maybe we will get to that point where we name and shame, but i don't think we are there yet. 0rganisations need to wake up. target have been set for next year, the footsie is behind. we need to play catch up and stop blaming the fa ct play catch up and stop blaming the fact that there is a lack of

resource or people to play these roles. there are boards of seasoned professionals, like myself and quite a few others, but organisations need to also develop internally, but externally start to finish and roll that net across the headhunting, the exec searches as well. thank you so much for coming in. fascinating to talk to you, dr nneka abulokwe. thank you very much for your time. now it's time for a look at the weather. a very good evening to you, fog could cause one or two problems as we go through this evening, but generally speaking things are calm at the moment and will stay that way until friday. but then there is a big change in the way to something that looks like it could be rather stormy. high pressure in charge at the moment which is keeping things mainly fine and calm. closest to the centre of that area of high pressure

is where we will have the clear spells tonight. a touch of frost and a bit more cloud just happening around in two parts of northern ireland, western scotland, with the odd spot of drizzle. 0vernight temperatures dropping to around freezing or a touch below, not unusualfor a freezing or a touch below, not unusual for a night in freezing or a touch below, not unusualfor a night in early february. what is unusual is fog across parts of the midlands and wales. it could be quite dense tomorrow morning and quite slow to clear, but tomorrow is another fine day. particularly across western scotla nd day. particularly across western scotland some cloud though, but mostly fine, temperatures between 7-9d. it mostly fine, temperatures between 7—9d. it will stay foggy, but a bit chilly as well. friday will bring up brisk winds, which should give you fog problems, and break up be cloud a bit more to get some sunshine, but he was one weather system and another pushing in from the west towards the end of the day. initially some showers and then more persistent rain, pushing its way

eastwards for friday night. this sta rts eastwards for friday night. this starts to introduce change to something more turbulent for the weekend. after a mainly fine start to saturday, we will see outbreaks of rain spreading from the west and an outbreak of gales initially than the western part and working eastwards for saturday night. that is not the end of it. sunday's weather is currently in development across the south of the usa. a mixture of rain and snow, which is going to be swept up by the jet stream. the wind is higher in the atmosphere are likely to blow at 270 mph fora time atmosphere are likely to blow at 270 mph for a time over the next few days, bringing this lump of wet weather in our direction, spinning it up into an exceptionally deep area of low pressure, which even at this stage, several days ahead, has been named by the met office stormont hero. it has the potential to bring damaging winds across just about any parts of the uk, so wherever you are if you have plans for this weekend, with severe gales in evil because it is worth staying tuned to the forecast. it could be

very turbulent indeed. in china, fighting the virus street by street, home by home — the country has just seen the biggest rise in patients in a single day 0ur message to the international community is, invest today or pay more later. for the first time, passengers on a cruise ship in the region have tested positive — tourists have been told to stay in their cabins. here, the government is organising a last and final flight for brits to get out of wuhan. also tonight... god bless america. thank you very much. that's one way to show you didn't like the speech —