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 our 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 — donald trump's state of the union

address to a divided america. the hundreds of women who were failed by the rogue breast surgeon — now an mp comes forward. how should you pay for the bbc‘s programmes on tv, radio and online? ministers say it's time to look at the licence fee. and in sportsday at 6:30: after israel folau's move to catalan dragons, super league votes to have greater authority when it comes to controversial signings. good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. the world health organization has appealed for £500 million to help fight coronavirus.

the head of the orgnisation gave this warning, invest today or pay more later. the last 2a hours has seen the biggest rise in cases in a single day. despite a huge effort in china, the disease continues to spread. in a new development, ten passengers on a cruise ship injapan have tested positive — thousands of other travellers have been placed under strict quarantine. we'll have more on the cruise ship and the latest figures in a moment, but firstjohn sudworth reports on china's race to contain the virus. wuhan is a city at war with an invisible enemy. and they are trying everything they can to defeat it. state media is now full of images of a heroic struggle, the brand—new hospitals held up as proof it is one they're winning. but this man is not so sure. it took him days to find his granddad in this hospital corridor, but it was too late.

he fears his grandmother, who also has the virus, is dying, too. translation: if they had been admitted earlier, of course things would have been better. wuhan is overwhelmed by illness, with hundreds more cases than available beds and these patients hooked up to makeshift drips. one woman, who does not want to be identified, tells me that her uncle's death won't even be counted in the official statistics. translation: there are so many cases like his. this is the death certificate. he never made it to hospital. all of this might have been prevented. this massive banquet was held even though the virus was known to be spreading fast. the authorities, putting the economy and political stability ahead of public health.

with the epidemic raging, travel records show 5 million people were able to leave wuhan before the city was finally locked down. with infections now taking hold across china, other cities have begun imposing restrictions. nanyang, all requiring people to stay indoors. only one person allowed out every two days to buy food. the increasing disruption is why some countries, including the uk, are advising people to leave. others are getting out anyway. quite a bit disappointed, but i think it's ok because they're trying to keep us safe. the cost of all this is immeasurable. this was the middle of beijing in what should be the middle of a working week. the ruling communist party knows that as well as economic, there are political risks in all of this.

the deep public anger that the officials didn't do enough to tell people what they knew soon enough, which is why we have seen the highly unusual step of the ruling politburo admitting this week that mistakes were made. the big question now of course is can they fix this. with the propaganda in overdrive, the remotest corners are getting the public health message. but china faces a long journey yet. john sudworth, bbc news, beijing. here, the government is chartering a final flight to get british citizens out of wuhan — the city at the centre of this health crisis. it will leave china on sunday. there are two confirmed cases in the uk, but the health secretary matt hancock said the government is prepared for more. the key task for health experts is to limit the spread of the disease, to stop it becoming global. but as our medical correspondent fergus walsh reports — that is a huge challenge. this cruise ship, off yokohama near tokyo,

has become a floating quarantine for 3700 people. the passengers, some of them british, have been confined to their rooms for the next 14 days after several tested positive for coronavirus. it's just an extended two—week cruise, but it's not going to be a luxury cruise, it's going to be like a floating prison. the novel coronavirus was first officially notified in wuhan at the end of december, but it had been circulating there for weeks, which helps explain why the outbreak spread so quickly. the official number of coronavirus cases has rocketed to almost 25,000. it's rising by several thousand a day within hubei province, where nearly all cases and deaths have been — just two of nearly 500 have been outside mainland china. 25 countries around the world have reported cases. now, this outbreak is still largely confined to china,

but the key question is, will it become a pandemic, which means a global epidemic? for that, we need to see sustained person—to—person spread of this disease in other countries. that hasn't happened yet. it's simply too early to know whether this virus can be contained and a pandemic prevented. the world health organization has called for more than £500 million in donations to help fight the spread of the disease. this is not a time for fear. this is not a time for panic. it's a time for rational, evidence—based action and investment. these labs in north london have tested nearly 500 patient samples for coronavirus. only two people in the uk have tested positive.

it's thought the virus may be less contagious than seasonal flu. the transmission, as far as is understood from current evidence, is face—to—face. when a patient coughs on someone who is not infected, they can become infected from the droplets that occur in the cough. it's not propelled by a sneeze, which aerosolises virus in the air and spreads it from person to person at a distance. unlike flu, that may help prevent the spread of coronavirus, and reduce the risk of a pandemic. fergus walsh, bbc news. america's state of the union address — given annually by the president — is one of the key moments in washington's calendar. but last night's speech by republican president donald trump will go down as one of the most divisive ever. nancy pelosi, the most senior democrat in the house of representatives, tore into the speech — literally. our north america editor jon sopel reports.

paradoxically, the standout moments from the speech contained no words. it was the psychodrama between the president and the democratic speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, the woman who led the moves to impeach donald trump. first off, he very deliberately refused to shake her hand. and look at her facial expressions as the speech progresses. and finally the coup de grace — as republican lawmakers are blistering their hands from clapping so much, nancy pelosi made clear what she thought of the speech. impeachment was never mentioned directly. instead, it was a victory lap on his achievements — particularly the state of the economy. jobs are booming, incomes are soaring, poverty is plummeting, crime is falling, confidence is surging, and our country is thriving and highly respected again.

it was a speech aimed at his blue collar and conservative base, but there was also an attempt to broaden his appeal. this is election year, after all, and it was noticeable how much he talked about the african—american community. african—american youth unemployment has reached an all—time low. african—american poverty has declined to the lowest rate ever recorded. but look at the sea of faces, either loving or loathing — a microcosm of america. jon sopel, bbc news, washington. later today, senators will vote on whether to acquit donald trump on

those impeachment charges, and they certainly will. his popularity ratings are going up. the republican party is right behind him. the democrats have had a shocking few days after the shambles of iowa. it is turning out to be a very good week for donald trump. thank you very much. a conservative mp, who was operated on by the disgraced surgeon ian paterson says there needs to be a total recall of all the patients he treated. rachel maclean, the mp for redditch, has been left with doubts about her health years after surgery. she believes a recall assessement would give peace of mind. paterson is serving a 20—year prison sentence for wounding patients, by performing unnecessary mastectomies and other surgeries. our health editor, hugh pym reports. ian paterson manipulated and lied to patients, he broke the rules to carry out inappropriate and unsafe operations, and left a terrible legacy — the words of the independent review. but patients, it said, were let down as well by a health

care system dysfunctional at every level. some of his former patients who'd suffered from his treatment gathered to hear the review findings yesterday. they were told there could be more than 1000 who'd been harmed in some way by paterson. today, a conservative mp, rachel maclean, revealed on twitter she had breast surgery for suspected cancer by ian paterson more than a decade ago and still had doubts about it. she told me to review findings had prompted her to discuss it for the first time. it's very concerning, and the reason i'm speaking out now is because i know there will be so many other people who are left with that doubt in their minds — are they ok, do they need to go back and get checked again to make sure it's ok? and i think we do need to make sure that the system is safe for people. even since i put that tweet out on social media, so many people have been contacting me. have you had any form of recall by the hospital? nothing, nothing. at the very least, it would have been nice to know that someone has looked at your case and reviewed

it and just offered me that reassurance. i think that's the key for people. the former health secretary now chair of the commons select committee said he wanted the committee to look at improving patient safety. the select committee will certainly look at that, because when you look at the scale of the tragedies in this whole incident, then there is nothing more important for the nhs to address. more than 200 patients and relatives gave evidence to the review, but what's clear there are potentially thousands still worried about their treatment by the rogue surgeon. hugh pym, bbc news. the time has just gone 6.13. our top story this evening: the world health organization wants £500 million to fight coronavirus, as china sees the biggest rise in cases. and still to come — prince william takes ta kes to takes to table football to promote good mental health.

and on sportsday in the next 15 minutes, we'll look ahead to a potentially history breaking week the british women's basketball team as they attempt to qualify for the olympics for the first time. the way in which the bbc is funded and how that money is collected looks set to become a major talking point in the weeks ahead. the government is launching a public consultation, and a key issue will be whether failing to pay the licence fee should still be a criminal offence. not paying could become a civil offence, similar to non—payment of council tax. the culture secretary, baroness morgan, is arguing that in the digital age the way we get our news and entertainment is changing and the bbc may have to change too. here's our media editor, amol rajan. right, back to the studio floor... it's almost a century old, yet the chances of the bbc existing with its current funding model

for another decade are receding faster. the health of our oceans is under threat... three—quarters of the bbc‘s money comes from the licence fee, a compulsory payment for households who watch live television or the iplayer. it means bbc programmes, such as those starring sir david attenborough, are funded not commercially or by the state, but by the public. this morning, the culture secretary made the case for reform in the context of a revolution in global media. the bbc has a current charter that runs until 2027. there's always a review midway, and what we'll be doing is looking at the amount of the licence fee now and this issue around whether there should be decriminalisation of licence—fee evasion. the bbc says its focus is programmes, not prosecutions. there are some myths that need to be busted here. the current system works effectively. only a small number of people are prosecuted, and a tiny proportion of people, five in england and wales last year, went to prison not for failure to pay a tv licence, but for failure to pay a number of fines. it's fashionable to say that

the bbc should be more like netflix, a subscription service worth around £125 billion today. but the comparison is lazy. netflix has racked up billions of data on a spending spree and has negative cash flow of around £2 billion annually. where would the bbc get access to that kind of finance? and moving to a subscriber base would change the very nature of the bbc from a universal service to one tailored just for those willing to pay. the bbc licence funds content across tv, radio and online. but the younger you are, the less of it you consume. i don't think people really watch tv nowadays. and everything's online, isn't it? so... i know you can access bbc online, and that's free. i don't think we should be paying for it. i think that's outdated now. i think it's fine for what the services that you get. ithink... we pay sky monthly, but a lot cheaper,

and stop prosecuting people. # step into christmas... # the bbc still produces big hits from gavin and stacey to fleabag. but ultimately it can't do more and more with less and less. amol rajan, bbc news. voters in ireland go to the polls this week in a general election. three years ago, when the openly gay and mixed race leo varadkar became the irish prime minister, he was seen as a symbol of modern ireland. but now he is facing a possible defeat, while there appears to be growing support for the irish republican party sinn fein. here's our ireland correspondent emma va rdy. the ancient west of ireland has seen rapid change. galway, now the 2020 capital of culture. but long—time resident nuala ward, the woman behind ireland's oldest gay pride, remembers a less liberal city. i came out as lesbian.

i didn't know the word lesbian, and i didn't know what coming out was. leo varadkar has been symbolic of ireland transformed, the legalisation of abortion under his premiership a watershed moment. yes, there's been enormous, huge positive change, and it is wonderful, particularly for our young generations, but we have a hell of a way to go. homelessness, our health—care system. there's been an awful lot of cuts in leo varadkar‘s time too. the high cost of living, hospital overcrowding and a major shortage of housing are turning people away from the main parties, while polls have indicated a dramatic increase in support for sinn fein. the housing crisis is so big that people are going out to vote on that topic. graduate niamh has struggled to rent a place. there are families that are living in emergency accommodation, and then you've got the other part of it, where there's the likes of me and other working professionals that are young that are just looking for a room to live in.

hello, and you're very welcome to prime time: the leaders' debate... after a poll by the irish times suggested sinn fein were now in the lead, the irish broadcaster rte was forced to make a late change and include sinn fein president mary lou mcdonald in last night's debate. but in large parts of ireland, the party still struggles to shake off its historical links to the ira. i think they've become the voice of the left in ireland, but their history makes it difficult for a lot of people to be able to reconcile their progressive policies with the bloodied past. younger people are judging based on policies. sinn fein‘s past is less important? yeah, i guess so, i mean, i'm focusing on the future. the surge for sinn fein has become the shock of the selection, but because of the party's own connections, fianna fail and fine gael insist they won't go into coalition with them, and no party is expected to win overall majority. brexit hasn't been a major topic.

there is broad agreement about the country's approach, but whoever emerges as taoiseach will influence the trade deal the uk is hoping to achieve. and while scars still remain from ireland's strict past, it's the new social problems that are driving voters‘ thirst for change. emma vardy, bbc news, dublin. all flights at istanbul's sabiha gokcen airport have been suspended after a plane skidded of the runway and broke into three sections. the boeing 737, operated by turkish low—cost carrier pegasus airlines, was carrying 177 people. officials said dozens of passengers were injured but no—one died. the trial of hashem abedi, the younger brother of the manchester arena bomber, has been told a friend refused to buy sulphuric acid for him after learning it could be used to make explosives. hashem abedi denies murder, and assisting and encouraging his brother, salman abedi, to carry out the attack in may 2017 which killed 22 people

and injured hundreds more. emily thornberry has told the bbc that she fears she is being "squeezed" by her rivals for the labour leadership, sir keir starmer and rebecca long bailey. the shadow foreign secretary says there would be a "leap of credibility" if she won the top job. in the latest in our series of interviews with the leadership candidates, ms thornberry has been talking to our political editor, laura kuenssberg. the whole approach is just wrong. an awful lot went wrong for labour. she is lagging behind her rivals in this race. people are giving us their e—mails... but could emily thornberry, london mp and shadow foreign secretary, be the person to put it right? the labour party doesn't need to go through some kind of great existential crisis about who it is that we are. i think we know who we are, and we're proud of it. i think whatjeremy brought to us was an authenticity and an ability, and a confidence to speak from the heart. i think there were some terrible tactical errors in relation

to the general election. and i have been open about disagreements i had. you were in the room, you were part of the team that led the labour party to an historic defeat. do you think, then, this isn't a crisis for the labour party? no, but i think what we should be doing is not going back to having this crisis about who are we, what are we doing. i don't disagree with anything that was in the manifesto, i'll be honest with you. but there was far too much of it. there was far too much of it. we were announcing four orfive policies a day. i mean, i couldn't keep up with it, let alone anyone else. you were part of the misjudgments that got the party to that place. so, i ask again, why should you be, how can you be part of the solution? what i'll say is that politics is a team sport. and i was part of a team. and i did what i could do to try to make things go the right way. but, in the end, it is a matter... all you can do is advise, if you are not the leader. i believe it is my duty to stand up at this stage and say, i can help sort things out. with me as leader, we would be doing things in a different way.

how would it be different? we would be more professional. we would be more believable, we will be more credible, and people would say, oh, thank goodness the labour party's back. there is a lot of meet and greet to do. she's less than a fortnight to scoop up support from unions or local labour parties to get into the last round. thank you, thanks a lot. bye — bye. the contest has been dominated so far by two others, keir starmer and rebecca long—bailey. why do you think you are so far behind? unfortunately, the labour party can very easily fall into the good old way of fighting things in the labour party, it's left versus right. for the leader to take us forward, we need to have the best candidate. so, to a certain extent, it's a good old—fashioned squeeze. and i always have people saying to me, well, emily, i was going to support you, but we've got to stop keir starmer, so i'm voting for rebecca long—bailey. and then i've had other people to saying to me, i was going to support you,

but i can't, because we've got to stop rebecca long—bailey, so i have to vote for keir. and i'm going, hang on, hang on, isn't the thing to do to vote for the best candidate? do you have any tory friends? rebecca long—bailey said she didn't think she did, and keir starmer told us of course he did. i think i probably have some tory friends. particularly members of my husband's family. but i have never kissed a tory in that way. that would be true to say. making it to the top job right now seems unlikely. but emily thornberry has rarely gone down without a fight. laura kuenssberg, bbc news. prince william is hoping mental health will be the talk of the football terraces this weekend. the heads up campaign he leads uses football as a way of getting people to talk though some of the challenges. every football tea m from premier league to the fa women's national league will get involved. sarah campbell reports. three and a half minutes left! the competition was intense. it's going to go in! with the duke's team taking an early lead.

after six minutes of play, the final score... cheering. 4-2. despite the opposition‘s call for var, it was a royal victory. there was, of course, a serious message from today's event. across two weekends this month, the focus in football grounds across the country will be mental health. football is followed by roughly 60 million people in this country. and if we can use the power of sport, use the power of football bringing people together to have a really big conversation on mental health, then that could only help people who are still struggling. when i sobered up 24 years ago, we didn't talk about this stuff. it wasn't spoke about. and to have people like the prince coming out and leading it is remarkable. and that's even though he beat you 11—2 on the football table. got it on camera, there was two goals that if var was used, they'd both be goals.

so i'm claiming a draw. sarah campbell, bbc news. time for a look at the weather, here's matt taylor. looking rather hectic! it certainly is, let's take a little look ahead, the potentialfor disruptive and impactful weather into this weekend, a very active jet strea m into this weekend, a very active jet stream overhead in the north atla ntic stream overhead in the north atlantic will fire up an area of low pressure, already named as storm ciara, could bring widespread gales to the uk, transport disruption is certainly possible. all the latest weather warnings are on the website and on the bbc weather map. for the time being, relatively quiet, high pressure around this area, there

will be frost around into the morning, and a greater chance that england and wales, southern scotland will see dense fog patches, temperatures only around five or 6 degrees. still fairly cloudy in some areas, isolated showers, mostly dry, sunny spells through the afternoon, temperatures around where they should be. as we go into friday, a frosty start, a lot more sunshine around as the breeze picks up, particularly through the eastern half of the uk. in the west, the cloud increasing, one or two showers at this stage, but something milder, 9-11d at this stage, but something milder, 9—11d out in the west. friday night, the first batch of rain pushes through, winds will pick up with that, nothing too severe. the weekend starts fine for many, lots of sunshine to begin with, lasting into the afternoon in southern and eastern areas, but turning blustery, without heavy rain in western scotland, northern ireland later in the day, gales developing through the day, gales developing through

the night, and into sunday the impactful weather is expected. i will keep you updated. george. that's all from the bbc news at six, so it's goodbye from me, the world health organization says it wants £500 million to fight coronavirus as china sees the biggest rise in new cases since the outbreak started. that's all from the bbc news at six, so it's goodbye from me, and on bbc one we nowjoin the bbc‘s news teams where you are.

hello, you are watching the bbc news with me. here are headlines. the government's emergency cobra committee has been meeting to discuss the coronavirus, as china

stepped up its efforts to contain the disease. it has now killed nearly 500 people. just hours before president champ is likely to be acquitted in his impeachment trial, nancy pelosi rips out her 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 an airport in istanbul, where a plane has steered off the runway and broken into three sections. turkish officials say 120 people have been injured. now, injusta moment, it will be time for sports day, but first a quick look at what else is coming up here on bbc news. at half past eight, we will be live on capitol hill for a special programme as president trump's impeachment

trial reaches its