welcome to bbc news — i'm mike embley. our top stories: donald trump acquitted by the senate — just one republican votes against him. it is therefore ordered and adjudged that the said donald john trump be and he is hereby acquitted of the charges in said articles. chinese authorities spray the streets as the number of coronavirus deathsjumps by the biggest number in a single day so far. a plane breaks into three pieces after overshooting a runway in istanbul. one person is killed, many others are injured. iam i am spartacus! and the hollywood actor, star of historical epics — kirk douglas — has died

at the age of 103. as widely expected, the us senate has ended the impeachment trial of president trump by finding him not guilty of abuse of power and obstructing congress. donald trump was impeached by the house of representatives, where his opponents in the democratic party are in the majority — but the republican majority in the senate has cleared him, so he has evaded the attempt to remove him from office and will fight for re—election in november's election. this report from our north america editorjon sopel. senators, how say you? is the respondent, donald john trump, guilty or not guilty? a process that started last september came to an end today with senators voting one by one on the two articles of impeachment. mr alexander, not guilty. miss baldwin?

guilty. miss baldwin, guilty. and then the verdict. it is therefore ordered and adjudged that the said donald john trump be and he is hereby acquitted of the charges in said articles. but the wall of republican unity was broken by mitt romney. the former presidential candidate, with a bombshell speech, said he would vote to convict the president of abuse of office. the grave question the constitution tasked senators to answer is whether the president committed an act so extreme and egregious that it rises to the level of a high crime and misdemeanour. yes, he did. with the impeachment process now behind him, donald trump is seeing his approval ratings inching up. the republican party is standing right behind him and the democrats have had a shocking few days, after the shambles of the iowa caucus.

it's all turning out to be a very good week for donald trump. cheering and applause. and last night he delivered a highly partisan state of the union address that could have been for a republican rally. but the shadow of impeachment couldn't be missed, as donald trump pointedly snubbed the democratic speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, who'd led moves to impeach the president. her outstretched arm ignored. and the speaker's disdain was etched on herface, as the president made his remarks. and then, in an extraordinary act of defiance, or petulance — opinion is divided — nancy pelosi ripped up her copy of his speech. in his speech, the president focused on the strength of the economy, something he hoped would be his trump card in this election year. jobs are booming, incomes are soaring, poverty is plummeting, crime is falling, confidence is surging,

and our country is thriving and highly respected again. cheering and applause. but to look at the faces of those listening — loving from one side, loathing from the other. a microcosm of america, a foretaste of how bitterly contested this election will be. jon sopel, bbc news, washington. mica mosbacher is on the trump 2020 national advisory board. she's in washington. good to talk to you again. of course the political divide in congress reflects the political divide in the country to do think that politically the impeachment proceedings have had any impact? absolutely none. it was something that backfired on the democrat party. it was a colossal

political mistake in one of the reasons i think nancy pelosi ripped up her speech last night. going after impeachment was against her instincts from the beginning. look at iowa. it is in shambles and joe biden is trailing, he is numberfor right now with results trickling in. he is a victim of this impeachment sham. president trump last night delivered one of the most effect of speeches i have ever heard. he nodded and signalled that he was willing to reach across the aisle and work with democrats despite this impeachment nonsense, work with them on issues important to the american people whether it is infrastructure all lowering prescription drug prices. i think it is very interesting to see that mitt romney, who is now standing on a lonely island asa now standing on a lonely island as a castaway did not suit up and play with the gop. full

disclosure, i was one of his national i was disappointed with his vote that it was not unexpected. president trump, on the other hand, is in great shape going into this 2020 election. the republican national committee in combination with the trump campaign has raised a record $154 million. he has managed to pass to bipartisan trade deals, us and mexico canada and phase one of the china deal. i think that the democrats have a civil war going on that the democrats have a civil wargoing on in that the democrats have a civil war going on in their primary and unfortunately for example, nancy pelosi of cave to the left wing of the party. forgive mejumping in. i think those other talking points you wanted to get in. but i must put this to get in. but i must put this to you. the vote in the senate

suggests that it is ok for an american president to ask a foreign government to help him she'd in a presidential election. . up dirt on an opponent. and not only a foreign government but an ally united states that was under threat from russia, that was a war with russia. if barack obama had done that would you be ok with that? firstly, an acquittal is an acquittal. you cannot be... but what about the result? you know what that vote means. it approves what the president did. know it did not. approved that he did nothing wrong. he absolutely had a pause in the aid because fortune magazine called the ukraine one of the most corrupt countries in the world and president trump is a good steward of american taxpayer dollars and wanted to make sure that the ukrainian president would investigate corruption.

on the point and particularly on what you call corruption... at the end of the day he released the aid. it was released the aid. it was released within the deadline of congress. he did nothing wrong. democrats will continue with their talking points and may even have a rolling impeachment going forward. do you now expect to see joe going forward. do you now expect to seejoe biden and hunter biden for congress? i think the american people want to move on, quite frankly. they had hundred and 78 days of testimony in congress and they we re testimony in congress and they were more interested in prince harry and meghan. i think the democrats need to have results. they need to work with this president. i think that americans are tired of this, after all, the democrats have tied —— tried to go after president trump from day one. they called him a russian agent. the muller investigation the cost over $25 million ended

up the cost over $25 million ended up exonerating the president. we have to stay with current affairs here. we have spoken about that before and we will talk about it again. but for now we need to move on. thank you very much indeed. the chinese authorities are warning that they face a severe shortage of beds and equipment to treat the growing number of people with coronavirus as it spreads rapidly across the country and abroad. china says 563 people have now died, tens of thousands of others have been infected. meanwhile thousands of passengers and crew on two cruise ships have been placed in quarantine after a number of people on board tested positive for the virus. let's get more on this now — our correspondent stephen mcdonelljoins us from beijing. right across china government in many cities are announcing more strict measures to try and control the outbreak of this virus to some examples. in one

large city near shanghai they tell people that only one member of the household every few days can go out and do the shopping. this is not even a city in the absolute hot zone of where the virus has hit. for us, an announcement has come out, for us foreign journalists thatis, out, for us foreign journalists that is, an announcement has been made by the government that we are to declare to the foreign ministry if we go anywhere outside the city we live in. i am based anywhere outside the city we live in. iam based in beijing. ifa live in. iam based in beijing. if a correspondent was based in shanghai would be the same thing. if you leave the city and go anywhere in china, not merely wuhan, but anywhere, when you return you have to go into quarantining for two weeks. it could be many more interviews like is being conducted with foreign correspondent from many outlets. it gives you an idea

of how much more strict the authorities are becoming to try and slow the spread of this virus as the number of deaths and the number of infected continues to increase and i think it will not change. i think it will not change. i think they will become even more strict. it will not change until the numbers plateau. next week, shanghai, beijing, in theory, they return to normal with millions of people riding the subway and going to work. i don't think that will happen. what is more likely is that many more companies will tell their work was to stay away and if people can work from home they will. because at the moment this does not feel like a city that is about to return to anywhere near normal. you walk around the streets of beijing or shanghai or any major city in china and they are completely dead. people are staying in and that is whether

or not the government tells them to do so. things for you for staying with us. —— thank you for staying with us.. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: he was spartacus — and many other heroes. the hollywood icon kirk douglas has died, at the age of 103. this is the moment that millions in iran had been waiting for. after his long years in exile, the first hesitant steps of ayatollah khomeini on iranian soil. south africa's white government has offered its black opponents concessions unparalleled in the history of apartheid. and the anc leader, nelson mandela, is to be set free unconditionally. ..four, three, two, one... a countdown to a critical moment. the world's most powerful rocket ignited all 27 of its engines at once. and apart from its power, its this recycling of the rocket, slashing the cost of a launch,

that makes this a breakthrough in the business of space travel. two americans have become the first humans to walk in space without any lifeline to their spaceship. one of them called it a piece of cake. thousands of people have given the yachtswoman ellen macarthur a spectacular homecoming in the cornish port of falmouth after she smashed the world record for sailing solo around the world non—stop. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: at the end of his impeachment trial, the us senate has acquitted president trump of charges of abuse of power and obstruction of congress. just one republican senator voted to convict. at least 560 people in mainland china have now died as a result of the new coronovirus. the number of people infected has reached 28,000. in turkey, three people have

died after a passenger plane skidded off the runway at one of istanbul's airports, breaking into three pieces. the plane belonged to the turkish low—cost airline pegasus and had 170 people on board. rich preston reports. the landing that ended in tragedy. this is the moment a pegasus airlines boeing 737 arriving at speed and in wet weather lost control, skidded and overran the runway of istanbul's sabiha gokcen airport. seen from the roadside, the impact of the crash visibly split the plane's fuselage into several sections. translation: unfortunately, the pegasus airlines plane could not hold onto the runway due to poor weather conditions and skidded for around 50—60 metres. it fell from about 30—40 metres high. onboa rd were 183 passengers and crew who'd flown in from the country's

western province of izmir. for rescue teams, the scale of the task before them as they comb to the wreckage for survivors becomes apparent from the ground. more than 150 people are reported injured, none of them in a critical condition, but turkey's health minister reports at least one person has died in hospital. there will now be an investigation into what happened, there will be many who highlight this could have been much, much worse. rich preston, bbc news. back to those developments in washington, dc, the acquittal of president trump in his impeachment trial. geoff garin is a democratic party pollster and strategist. he's in washington. good to talk to you, thanks for your time. it's entirely possible, isn't it, that impeachment, whatever the morality, was a big litter call mistake and mrtrump morality, was a big litter call mistake and mr trump is painting this as another attempt by the washington establishment to go for him and

by connection to go for the people who support him? the evidence doesn't bear any of that out. the final poll right before the senate vote, which was conducted by the economist and youguv, showed the majority of americans thought president trump was guilty of the conduct he was accused of in the articles of impeachment and a small plurality wanted him removed from office. the lasting impact of this is it leaves a stain on president donald trump. it reinforces a view that people already had that he is not particularly ethical in his conduct and he is the type of person that would put his own selfish interests ahead of the national interests. i don't see it helping president donald trump in any particular way and in many ways it is hurting other republicans who have to run for

office in 2020, and there is no evidence that it is doing anything to hurt democrats who are running for office. geoff garin, as a democratic strategist how do you deal with the fact the economy is very strong, clearly that's true, and there seems to be a whole bunch of people who may not like mrtrump very bunch of people who may not like mr trump very much but he's doing what they want a republican president to do, on immigration, tax, abortion, getting more conservative judges into office. some of thoseissues judges into office. some of those issues are true only for his base. among the electorate asa his base. among the electorate as a whole, the reality is theirs majority disapproval of his policies on immigration, for example. people think his focus on the wall has been misplaced, it's a waste of time and a waste of money, and his immigration policies are far too harsh and cruel at a certain level. even on the

economy, that narrative wears a little thin because while people do recognise there are morejobs than people do recognise there are more jobs than we've had in the past, the most important economic reality for people today as they have a hard time keeping up with the cost of living. we asked people in our polls what is the more important economic factor, that millions ofjobs have been created or the stock market is up created or the stock market is up or people aren't keeping up with the cost of living and the cost of healthca re with the cost of living and the cost of healthcare is up, and bya cost of healthcare is up, and by a factor of three to one people say the most important thing is healthcare costs are going up and wages are going down. only a third have said they benefit from his policies. briefly, you would have to acknowledge for a party who says they want to form a government, the chaos in iowa looks terribly and particularly forjoe biden? those are two separate questions. the chaos in iowa should never have

happened. it's clearly not very helpful. i'm not sure it has a long shelflife, but democrats need to be able to run a competent nominating process in which most importantly all democrats have confidence in the results. i think separately the results. i think separately the outcome in iowa, the apparent outcome in iowa, is not good for vice president biden. it really sends a warning shot to his campaign that they really need to be able to inject a lot more energy and enthusiasm into the message that they are communicating than voters in iowa apparently heard. jeff, thank you very much indeed. thanks, thanks for your time, mike.

hollywood legend kirk douglas has died at the age of 103. his son, the actor michael, paid tribute to him saying, "to the world, he was a legend, but to me and my brothers, he was simply dad." lizo mzimba looks back on his life. for the first time in my life, people cheering for me! he made his name as a washed—up boxer. champion earned him the first of three oscar nominations. he played a ruthless, selfish, fiercely—driven upstart, a bit like kirk douglas himself. i can beat him! the ruthlessness and drive of his childhood. he was born issur danielovitch demsky, the son of illiterate russian immigrants and brought up in extreme poverty. what other way could we have done in the first place? the easy way. and why should we do that? he enjoys playing villains more than heroes — like a journalist at a mining disaster who wouldn't let anything get in the way of a good story. you have a big human interest story, you've got to give it a big human interest ending.

sir, would you like me to suggest what you can do with that promotion? the critics applauded his roles in paths of glory and lust for life, in which he played vincent van gogh. but his own lust for power earned him many enemies. he set up his own production company and hired and fired at whim, and defied the anti—communist witch—hunt in hollywood, crediting a blacklisted writer for spartacus. i'm spartacus! spartacus defied the roman emperor, much like how kirk douglas often defied hollywood. i didn't want to become a tycoon or anything. it gave me a chance to do movies i wanted to do. like, i wanted to do spartacus, i wanted to do a movie about vikings, paths of glory, even though they were successful, it wasn't easy to get the financing for them and all that but that's why i had my company. i had ihada i had a call from jim lindsay

the other day, dad. what is he calling you about? his son became as big a star as his father. both appeared on screen with their son, cameron. by both appeared on screen with theirson, cameron. by that time kirk had had a stroke. kirk douglas had craved affection from his own father but never received it. in the end he became the founder of a hollywood dynasty and one of hollywood's greatest stars. let's go live to la and speak to our correspondent, peter bowes. he was a man of many talents, many personalities. we just heard about his extraordinary career. i think he'll be remembered in this town of hollywood as much for what he did on the big screen as he did in real—life. he was quite a formidable figure. we've heard

about some of his struggles. the time he wasn't particularly popular, certainly in the 19605, popular, certainly in the 1960s, with some. of course, very popular with others, as he worked to end the hollywood blacklist, the ban on using filmmakers with suspected communist sympathies. it was a very tough time in hollywood. i spoke to him in 2008 and he said that was one of the things he was very proud of, proud of his achievements and the way he stuck his neck out at that stage in his life for something he believed in. peter, there's some pretty uncomfortable things, particularly for the me to generation, that may or may not be true, we don't have enough information to deal with that, but there was a hinterland, a lot more to do with him than the acting, and the acting was pretty epic. there was

certainly a lot more to the man and you're right, it was a different time. we don't know the truth of the matter, some of the things that perhaps are being said about his personality and how he worked with others, especially actresses in hollywood. but at the end of the day, especially in his latter years, he was a great man for his generosity. he and his wife worked tirelessly to raise money and also donating money, millions of dollars to good causes and especially causes in los angeles involving young children and troubled youths as well. he was very passionate about building school playgrounds, which he and his wife were involved in, he wa nted wife were involved in, he wanted to fit youth, fit teenagers, and that is something he believed in strongly and really dedicated the latter part of his life to that kind of work. briefly, a lot of what he was involved in will live on? it

will certainly live on and he's pa rt will certainly live on and he's part of a dynasty. of course he has a large family, and we've already heard from michael douglas and i'm sure we will hear from many others over the next few days and no doubt a tribute at the oscars on sunday. peter, thank you very much indeed. briefly, back to to the main story, as widely expected the us senate has ended the impeachment trial of president trump byfinding impeachment trial of president trump by finding him not guilty of obstruction of congress and abuse of power. he was acquitted by this and it —— the senate. he was convicted by the house of representatives representatives. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team

on twitter, i'm @bbcmikeembley. hello there. our weather is expected to morph into something very wild this weekend. but in the meantime, we still have high pressure to bring us fine and settled weather. in fact, you could call the next few days the calm before the storm. here is our area of high pressure, slowly retreating back towards the continent as we head through thursday and friday, but it's still going to be strong enough to influence our weather. light winds across central and southern areas means we could start this morning with some mist and fog patches, some of which could be quite dense and could be stubborn to clear. some areas might hold onto it all day. but for most it should clear eventually. and we should see variable amounts of cloud but also some sunny spells, most of the cloud across western scotland and into northern ireland.

these temperatures generally peaking around 7—8 degrees, but colder than that where any fog lingers. as we head through thursday night it is going to stay dry again. more of a breeze picking up in the west, generally more of a breeze, so it looks like it shouldn't be quite so cold to start friday as what we've seen in the last few mornings. so we start friday off with a bit more breeze but also some sunshine and that means we're probably less likely to see some mist and fog. so some good spells of sunshine through the day, wind picking up from the south, particularly across the western areas, where we'll see the first series of weather fronts bringing outbreaks of rain here. notice temperatures lifting to 10 degrees there. that first weather front spreads through on friday night, it will be quite a breezy night, even windy in the north—west. the rain eventually clears away from the east early on saturday morning and then we have got a window of fine weather. in fact, this sunny weather could be the best weather of the weekend for most of us. it will be turning windier, particularly in the west, gales starting to develop later in the day with this next weather front moving in with some heavy rain

and snow on the hills. temperatures reaching highs of 8—9 degrees. it turns much windier on saturday night for all, but particularly across western areas, widespread gales here and outbreaks of heavy and persistent rain. now for sunday's named storm, we'll have to go back to the united states, where this low pressure's already developed. it has brought troublesome weather to the south and the east of the united states and will be picked up by a very strong jet stream across the north atlantic as it hu rtles towards our shores. and it's likely to bring some damaging winds. look at all the isobars on the chart associated with storm ciara. a lot of the models are agreeing with this, which is why the met office have named this storm very early on. so some concerns about storm ciara, which will arrive saturday night through sunday to bring some damaging winds, likely to have some disruptions, so stay tuned to the weather forecast.

this is bbc news, the headlines: the us senate has acquitted president trump at the end of his impeachment trial. senators voted along party lines with mitt romney being the only republican to vote in favour of convicting the president. democrats said the acquittal meant little because republicans had refused to allow witnesses at the trial. the number of people in mainland china known to have died as a result of coronavirus has risen to 563. 73 people died on wednesday — most of them in the province of hubei. the total number of cases across china has reached 28,000. hollywood actor kirk douglas has died at the age of 103. star of spartacus and many other hollywood epics, he earned several oscar nominations in the 1950s for both his acting and producing. his son, the actor michael douglas, described him as a movie legend and a great humanitarian.