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. i'm 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. i asked her if the impeachment proceedings had had any impact. absolutely none. it was something that backfired on the democrat party. it was a colossal political mistake and 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 numberfour right now with results trickling in. he is a victim of this impeachment sham. president trump last night delivered one of the most effective 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 or lowering prescription drug prices. i think it is very interesting to see that mitt romney, who is 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 finance co—chairs in 2012. i was disappointed with his

vote but it was not unexpected. the vote in the senate particularly suggests that it is okforan particularly suggests that it is ok for an american president to ask a foreign government to help cheat in a presidential election and dig up dirt on an opponent. not only a foreign government, but an ally of the united states that was under threat from russia, that was at 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. no it did not. it proved 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 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 seejoe biden and hunter biden brought before congress? i think the american people want to move on, quite frankly. they had 178 days of 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, let's get some of the day's other news. the former mayor of south bend

indiana, pete buttigieg has maintained his lead over bernie sanders in the iowa democratic party caucuses — although still, only 85% of results are in. the process has been plagued by computing problems. elizabeth warren and joe biden are in third and fourth place. in turkey, at least 38 people have died in two avalanches in the eastern province of van, near the border with iran. five people died when the first avalanche struck on tuesday. many of those killed by the second rescuers searching for the missing. the far right german party, afd, has provoked outrage in the state of thuringia, where its members in the regional parliament helped oust the current premier by voting for a candidate from a different party. it's the first time a state leader has come to power with support from the far right. there've been protests and calls for a fresh election. 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. from beijing, the bbc‘s stephen mcdonell gave me the latest on the situation there. right across china governments in many cities are announcing more strict measures to try and control the outbreak of this virus. 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 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. iam based in beijing. if a correspondent was based in shanghai it 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 quarantine for two weeks. there could be many more interviews like this being conducted with foreign correspondents 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 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 force 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. 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 seven 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—60m. it fell from about 30—40m 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. 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. 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. mission control: ..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, it's 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. more than 560 people in mainland china have now died as a result of the new coronovirus. the number of people infected has reached 28,000. let's return to the acquittal of president trump in his impeachment trial. alan lichtman is distinguished

professor of history at the american university. he's just outside washington in bethesda, maryland. professor, very good to talk to you. is it looking like a strategic mistake by the democrats, the impeachment process , democrats, the impeachment process, it seems to allow donald trump to paint himself again asa donald trump to paint himself again as a victim of the washington establishment how to get him and by implication those who support him? it wasn't a mistake at all. if we look back at past impeachments, the impeachment of andrew johnson and bill clinton and the resignation of richard nixon, in no case did their party when the next presidential election. in fact the democrats lost in 2000 after the impeachment of clinton in an election they should have won easily at a time of peace and prosperity. trump did not get the acquittal he wanted. for the first time ina he wanted. for the first time in a history of a presidential

trial, a member of the president's own party voted to convicted him and remove him from office. this was not an obscure republican senator, this was mitt romney, the former republican presidential nominee, who gave just an extraordinary speech absolutely condemning the actions of the president. at the time when all this was going on, professor, it looked very bad to have the chaos in iowa and particularly forjoe biden? absolutely. look, the democrats looked like the gang that can't shoot straight but they have plenty of time to straighten that out and once they get a nominee, their hatred for president trump will unite the party but the real story is the decline and perhaps fall ofjoe biden. donald trump's main objective in shaking down ukraine was to get that on biden. well, he didn't get that but throughout the impeachment trial the republicans smeared joe biden,

with a series of lies, of course, but if you lie long enough and loud enough it sticks. looks likejoe biden has been pretty badly wounded, he can come back but he's got a long way to go. you're not in the prediction business but you have a good record of predicting results, how do the democrats deal with the fact the economy is strong and many republicans say they don't like him very much but he is doing what they want on abortion, tax, getting more conservative judges in place. you are right, and we saw that kind of partisan rallying cry in the state of the union address. he has a solid, unsha keable base but address. he has a solid, unshakeable base but it's only in the low 40% range, not enough to win a presidential election even in the electoral college. the democrats have to press on and i think they should invoke what george w bush did to defeat al gore in 2000 after the clinton scandal,

campaign both on restoring integrity and honesty to the white house and restoring a presidency that's going to work for ordinary americans and not for ordinary americans and not for the wealthiest of americans. it's going to be an uphill climb and very difficult, and right now on my prediction system, the election is too close to call. there are not enough factors out against trump to predict his defeat but as we know in the age of donald trump, things can change overnight and i a lot will happen i guarantee between now and perhaps a lot more damaging information about the ukraine scandal, his finances and other misdeeds by this president. the story of the president's abuses is not over. plenty of other points of view on that i'm sure. professor, we will be back to you. thank you very much indeed. my pleasure. the 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! you no i can't 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. if you want a big human interest story, you've got to give it a big human interest ending.

the critics applauded his roles in paths of glory and lust for life, in which he played vincent van gogh. but his lust for power earned him many enemies. he set up his own production company and hired and fired at whim, but he also defied the anti—communist witch—hunts in hollywood, crediting a blacklisted writer with the script for spartacus. i'm spartacus! spartacus was about a slave who rebelled against the roman empire, just as douglas himself 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 a call from jim lindsay the other day, dad. what's he calling you about?

kirk's son, michael douglas, became as big a star as his father and both appeared on screen with michael's son, 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. lizo mzimba or on kirk douglas, who has died at the age of 103. i asked our north america correspondent peter bowes how he would sum up kirk douglas. well, he was certainly the last ofa well, he was certainly the last of a generation. the golden age of a generation. the golden age of hollywood. he was a man of many talents, many personalities. we've 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 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, i think particularly for the #metoo generation, emerging that we 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. yes. there is certainly a lot more to the man and you're

absolutely right, it was a different time. perhaps leaving aside because 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, people are saying... 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 here 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 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?

oh yes, it 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 bowes for us there. 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. 3.5 minutes left... the competition was intense. but the duke's team took 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 the event today. across

two weekends this month, a focus in football grounds across the country will be mental health. football is covered by a roughly 16 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 can only help people still struggling. when i sobered up 24 years ago, we didn't talk about this stuff, it wasn't talked about and you have people like the prince coming out and leading it is remarkable. and that's even though he beat you 4—2 on the football table? i've got it on camera, there were two goals that var was used they would both be goals, so i'm claiming a draw. sarah campbell, bbc news. much more on that on the bbc website and much more on all the news, national and international, any time there. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter, i'm @bbc

mike embley. 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 hurtles 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. the 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.