a very warm welcome to bbc news. my name is mike embley. our top stories. it's been confirmed the chinese doctor first reported the coronavirus in wuhan and alerted authorities has died from it. a warning that for countries may not be able to cope if the virus reaches them. we speak to an expert on global development. resident trump celebrates his impeachment acquittal with an attack on the democrats in one of his own senses. and the white house claims american forces have killed qassim al—rimi, leader of the extremist group al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula.

hello to you. we start in china, where casualty figures from the coronavirus are still climbing. authorities now say at least 630 people have lost their lives and the number of people infected has spiked more than 30,000. it's now been confirmed that a doctor from wuhan was among the first to wa nt wuhan was among the first to want publicly of the emergence ofa want publicly of the emergence of a new virus has died in hospital. he was 3a and is being hailed as a kerry —— hero on social media. as authorities gci’oss on social media. as authorities across the region scramble to contain the virus, the bbc‘s rupert wingfield hayes reports from hong kong. this is what happens when fear takes hold. shops in hong kong today were being cleared of rice and toilet paper as rumours swirled of a complete shutdown of the border with mainland china. out in hong kong harbour, a huge cruise ship, the virus possibly loose on board. several passengers have

tested positive and no—one is being allowed off. possibly loose on board. several passengers have tested positive and no—one is being allowed off. from his balcony, hinsley lee can look out at his home town but cannot go there. translation: i am nervous but the only thing we can do is stay in our cabins and be careful. hong kong has now at least five cases of people with the coronavirus who have not been to mainland china and have not had any apparent contact with people from mainland china. also, three of them live in the same place, that is this building behind me here, and that may be the first indication of what is called community transmission. that is the virus passing from one person to another here in hong kong. building behind me here, and that may be the first indication of what is called community transmission. that is the virus passing from one person to another here in hong kong. experts here say they are now not optimistic that the virus can be contained and that a full pandemic may be on the way. not so, according to the chinese ambassador to london,

insisting china has the situation under control. it is our hope that the governments of all countries, including the uk, should understand and support chinese efforts. respect the professional advice of who, avoid overreaction, avoid creating panic. but at the same time, from wuhan, pictures the like of which we haven't seen in generations — stadiums, gymnasiums and conference centres all being turned into fever centres, so desperate is the shortage of beds for the sick. by phone, i managed to talk to a young woman in wuhan who described to me the stress of not knowing what is really going on and what to believe. translation: we don't feel safe. we don't know how the virus is passed from one person to another.

but we can't stay at home all the time, and we don't know when this will end. we don't know when we will be able to return to normal life. that's very stressful. there is some good news. these are patients who have recovered leaving hospital. tonight we learned the virus killed this man, dr li wenliang. in early december, this brave wuhan doctor had attempted to warn authorities about the spread of a dangerous new virus. his warnings were ignored. rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news, in hong kong. for more on this now live from oui’ for more on this now live from our correspondent stephen mcdonald in beijing. stephen, what's the latest from now? well, the latest there is what you heard, the death of li wenliang and this is going to bea wenliang and this is going to be a massive headache for the government. he's been hailed as a hero for trying to blow the whistle and in those early stages, if the government in

wuhan had listened to him and others, they got a got on top of this much more quickly instead. instead, he was hauled in by the police instead, telling him he was spreading rumours and castigating him. he was later cleared by the top court in this country and that doesn't help him because he's died, gone back to help ——to work trying to help the sick in the city of wuhan. it's just a clear exa m ple of the city of wuhan. it's just a clear example of everything thatis clear example of everything that is wrong with the command and control structure in this country and the government is desperately trying to contain the narrative on this. i mean, all through the night local time, the reports he is dead, he isn't dead, as a hospital desperately tried to save him and now the news that he has in fa ct and now the news that he has in fact passed away, it's bad news for the government, a government trying to tell people that it has everything under control. stephen, thank you very much indeed for that.

just a little later in the programme, we will hill hear from the bill and melinda gates foundation about the possible impact of the virus if it spreads to developing countries where healthcare systems will be far less able to cope. president trump has been celebrating his acquittal by the us senate, saying he went through hell during his impeachment. during a long statement full of vitriol and resentment, he claimed he'd been vindicated. laura trevelya n been vindicated. laura trevelyan reports. at the national prayer breakfast, the newly acquitted donald trump was in no mood for brotherly love or turning the other cheek. as everybody knows, my family, our great country, and your president have been put through a terrible ordeal by some very dishonest and corrupt people.

the president set about the business of score settling, reserving particular scorn for senator mitt romney, the lone republican who voted to convict him, citing faith as a factor. i don't like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong. house speaker nancy pelosi, who tops the president's list of enemies, fired back. i thought what he said about senator romney was particularly without class. hail to the chief plays later, at the white house, the music was the same and the president used his victory lap to drive home the message. we went through hell, unfairly — did nothing wrong, did nothing wrong — but this is what the end result is. and mr trump listed his grievances, portraying his impeachment as a continuation of the scrutiny he has endured for three years. it was evil, it was corrupt, it was dirty cops, it was leakers and liars

and this should never, ever happen to another president ever. thank you very much, everybody. thank you. thank you very much. no contrition from president trump today but he faces re—election election in november and sees his acquittal as a powerful tool in mobilising his supporters. laura trevelyan there. let's round up quickly some of the mom may news for you. the german state when you elected on wednesday with the help of votes from the bar like party afd has resigned to allow fresh elections. the election of thomas kemmerich in the state of during gear course criticism. experts have said climate change is causing a sharp rise in bumblebee numbers. the key pollinators playing a role in

agriculture. syrian government troops have reta ken syrian government troops have retaken the strategic town of saraqeb in italy. they have started clearing the town of minds. it's forced hundreds of thousands of civilians to flee their homes. to stay with us. much more to come on bbc news including this. the potential dangers for dolphins in the amazon. 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. the ban on the african national congress is lifted immediately, 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, 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. welcome back, good to have you with us on bbc news. the latest headline for you. it's been confirmed that li wenliang, the chinese doctor who first confirmed the coronavirus and we re confirmed the coronavirus and were hand and tried to alert

authorities, has died. that stay with the story. there are many countries around the world which would find it difficult to tackle this virus if it reached them, with extreme poverty, and limited access to quality healthcare. let's speak now in settled —— settled to doctor chris alliance, with the bill and melinda gates foundation. you very much for your time, i know you are very busy man. as far as we know, the virus hasn't reached these areas yet. why is it important we pay attention to the possibility does. thanks, mike. it's good to be with you. it's important to recognise when there is emerging infections like this, every country in the world needs to prepare and as we learned in 2014—15 with the ebola outbreak, that the countries with weak health systems suffer the most and the places where people are in

extreme poverty and 85% of the world's people living in extreme poverty live in sub—saharan africa and south asia and while we haven't seen cases there yet, we need to be prepared and so the bill and melinda gates foundation, we are working closely with the africa centres for disease control to prepare, to help strengthen the ability to detect, isolate and treat patients should this infection arrive in those very vulnerable countries. and of course, chinese workers have such a huge presence. is the concern people who travelled back home for the lunar new year are coming back to places they worked across the continent, perhaps bringing the virus with them? i think if you look at their global patterns of trade and travel, people travel everywhere, from many, many places and so right now, the effo rts places and so right now, the efforts are to isolate and contain this infection. china is making some heroic efforts

to do that. we've already seen infections however and 25 other countries so the countries in sub—saharan africa and south asia need to be prepared for this infection —— for this infection so having the ability to detect and identify and isolate and treat those patients, should they have this infection, is quite important. 0ne infection, is quite important. one of the things we've seen is when there is an emerging infection, it puts tremendous stress on the health system. back at the ebola outbreak five yea rs back at the ebola outbreak five years ago, we saw the health system is not only were stressed by ebola but that many children died from measles, many women died in childbirth because of the disruption of the health system so investing now in preparedness and the resiliency of those health systems is quite important. specialists tell us repeatedly there are usually three or four key questions in an outbreak like this. how serious is it, if you catch it, how

transmissible is it, how co ntrolla ble transmissible is it, how controllable is it in what chance of a vaccine? do you think we're close to any a nswers ? think we're close to any answers? i think there is a tremendous global effort under way to answer some of those questions and the data was just coming in. seen this before with other emerging infections. this is a novel coronavirus. there are questions to be answered. there are some elements of that are similar to the outbreaks we saw with the sars virus in 2003 and the middle east respiratory syndrome but this is a novel virus we have to do the studies and put together that global collaboration, answer the questions about transmissibility, understand how fatal it is and to be prepared for every eventuality. now, efforts today are two very much contain this virus, understand where it is, limit transmission but should those effo rts transmission but should those efforts fail and this become a global pandemic, we have to be

prepared with countermeasures like drugs, vaccines, diagnostics and another part of the bill and melinda gates foundation's invest months is going to be in working with the biotechnology pharmaceutical industry to try and develop those countermeasures as soon as possible. doctor chris elias, thank you so much. are a president trump has claimed that forces have killed the leader of the al qaeda in the leader of the al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. they say he died in a counterterrorism operation and he said that the killing brings the us closer to eliminating threats posed to national security. despite several attempts by us special forces, he eluded capture for five years. let's get more now from our correspondent. what is the latest on this?

we had a relatively short statement from the white house that does not contain detailed. there had been reports for the past week or so about this counterterrorism operation in yemen but the statement does not really clarify when it happened other than to say that it was carried out under the orders of president trump three was eliminated, to use the words of the statement. he is a significant further —— figure and has been involved with al qaeda for several decades, initially in afghanistan and for the past five years in yemen leading this particular group that is considered by the united states as one of the most deadly groups within al qaeda's global network. as far as we can tell this is a confirmation, this is absolute fa ct. confirmation, this is absolute fact. in these situations it is a lwa ys fact. in these situations it is always difficult to get absolute facts. the statement

is categorical clear not introducing doubt. the only doubt is the fact that it is rather short of detail as to exactly where and when this happened. perhaps those details will come out in the coming days and weeks, perhaps there has been a verification process going on between the time we had initial reports about this and the statement coming out from the white house now. the final few lines indicate the thinking of the president and clearly this is the message to the american people, the political message if you like. he says we will continue to protect the american people by tracking down and eliminating terrorist who seek to do us harm. thank you very much. the group that calls itself islamic state may have been defeated in iraq and syria and itself style caliphate has been destroyed on the ground. the

campaign continues in other parts of the world. quentin sullivan has been to the philippines where local insurgents are stepping up their attacks. 0n sulu, the philippine army has been out in force and in numbers never seen here before. here, a local insurgency has been upgraded. the islamic state group has made them more vicious and broadened their ambition. sulu is an island under siege. soldiers flooded here after is struck at its heart and brought carnage to the island's catholic congregation last january. 23 christians died in their attack when they detonated

their suicide vests inside and outside jolo cathedral during morning mass. one year later, jolo cathedral has been patched up and repaired, but the christian community here still lies in pieces. for victoriana and her friends, this was their sanctuary. she's been too scared to return until now. translation: when i turned my head, i saw a lot of dead people near me. the wounded were screaming "help!" but i was thinking, who would help us? is have more thanjust a foothold here. local militants, the abu sayyaf group have sworn allegiance to them and firmly planted the black flag in the philippinejungle. a small army of soldiers are now deployed here, searching for the islamic state group's affiliate. but they have not been able to stop more attacks and they admit that no—one knows these jungles better

than their enemy. the men are moving pretty fast on this patrol. because they know somewhere in this jungle the new self—declared leader of the islamic state in the region. he has hundreds of his own men, filipino, but he has more. he has arab fighters here, they've come from iraq and syria, they've brought family members with them and he has already shown he is willing to do the bidding of the islamic state. we obtained this footage of fighters in battle. in their ranks, farfrom home, an egyptian fighter. he died in another suicide bombing on the island late last year. in the jungles, the islamic state group roam wild and terrors lie in wait here.

they have had drought and bushfire in our parts of s —— south—east australia are being deluged with rain. roads have been closed in sydney but the rain is expected to ease the fire risk in the state. the emergency service said it is still fighting at least a0 fires. the amazon river dolphin isa fires. the amazon river dolphin is a friendly mammal that appears to grin and turn pink when it gets excited that it is under threat in brazil. fishermen hunt and kill it illegally. environmentalist iran grieve the legislation protecting the dolphins is no longer being renewed. the red dolphin are intelligent, friendly, green like humans and turn a shade of pink when they are excited. the dolphins live in amazonas state

and for researchers, they are a special part of the wildlife. translation: i fall in love with these animals every day. they are fascinating. but the dolphins are under threat from fishermen who catch them and kill them to use as bait for catfish. in 2015, the state succumb to pressure from environmental groups and introduced a ban on fishing for the catfish saying it was responsible for the death of around 2500 dolphins each year. but that ban was only temporary. government sources at the time said it would probably become permanent but that has not happened. and the ban ended last month. there are fears now the dolphins will once again fall victim to the fishermen's nets. translation: we do not want the dolphins to become just we do not want the dolphins to becomejust a legend of amazonia. we want them to exist for a long time. vera and her tea m for a long time. vera and her team catch the dolphins and ta ke team catch the dolphins and take them to a floating

research centre in 11,000 square kilometres of flooded ra i nfo rest square kilometres of flooded rainforest and wetlands where the dolphins are checked, marked and released into the reserve. the dolphins only reproduce every 3— five years making them especially vulnerable to extinction. and although they can be found across the amazon basin at the moment, researchers fear they could disappearfor good moment, researchers fear they could disappear for good like yangtze river dolphin in china which was fished to extinction in 2006. the decades now we have been warned about the potential perils of automation and rapid technological advances leading to people being replaced by robots in the workforce. if you think this is a phenomenon devoted only to manufacturing or heavy industry, think again. injapan, or heavy industry, think again. in japan, robots or heavy industry, think again. injapan, robots are getting everywhere. when it comes to bartenders, this is probably the sort of

thing you have in mind. smartly dressed, skilful and attention to detail. experts in libation and lubrication. but this is a bartender of the 21st century. a repurposed industrial robot ready to take your order. translation: there is a labour shortage problem in restaurants and we installed this to solve the issue. in addition to that, we hope to create a system where humans and robots can work together. this particular robot is nothing if not versatile. it can pour you a beerin versatile. it can pour you a beer in a0 seconds, makes you a cocktail inside one minute and can also chat about the weather, reading its customers expressions using artificial intelligence software. for some, it is even better than the real thing. translation: dealing with people can be a hassle. with this you can just come, get drunk and go home.

each robot costs around $80,000, roughly equivalent to the annual salary of three human bartenders. so come in, ta ke human bartenders. so come in, take a seat. lit —— let mr robot for you one for your baby and one more for the road. talking of technological advances, let's leave you with these pictures. this is the titanium tabby. found on the streets of a siberian city in blistering cold, his paws were frozen. he would have been the latest victim of the unforgiving winter had not been found by volunteers brought to a pioneering russian vet who fitted him with prosthetic walls made of titanium. clearly still adding used to his new pins. they were fitted using a similar technique to dental implants for people. there is much more on all the news for you at any time on the bbc website. you can reach

me and the team on twitter. hello there. we have got some very windy weather on the way, and over the next few days, the wind will pick up day by day. on friday afternoon, we could see gusts reaching 50 or 60mph around western areas of scotland, but the winds become much more widespread on saturday for both scotland and northern ireland and the wind will get stronger as well. gusts reaching 60 or 70mph, potentially disruptive gusts of wind. worse is to come. on sunday, storm ciara arrives, bringing strong winds across all of the uk but the strongest reaching in excess of 80mph, damaging winds are on the way. for the time being, although there are pictures of frost around at the moment, as the breeze picks up across western areas that will increasingly lift the frost. as we head into friday morning,

the frost will become confined to central and eastern parts of the uk. a cold start to the day with a fair bit of sunshine around. northern ireland will see thicker cloud in the afternoon and patches of rain and then we get the wind starting to ramp up in the west of scotland as we head through friday afternoon and on towards the evening time as well. in fact, as we head through friday night, it looks like being a blowing and blustery night as a band of rain pushes its way eastwards, all of us will notice those wind increasing in strength. but because it will be a windy night, it will also be relatively mild with temperatures potentially no lower than 10 degrees or so. that takes us on into the weekend's windy weather is forecast. look how tightly packed the isobars are on saturday, particularly as the weather front approaches off the atlantic. saturday, many of us will have a dry bright start to the day with wind strengthening through the day and becoming very strong

for northern ireland and scotland, potentially disruptive. rain and some hill snow in the forecast for scotland, so we could have some weather impacts around as we start the weekend. it's on sunday that storm ciara arrives. here it is, and on and ahead of this cold front, we will get some very squally winds indeed and then we will get another swathe of strong winds, tucking around the southern flank of the area of low pressure. so there are multiple zones of strong winds that are forecast for sunday across the whole of the uk. quite widely, inland 50—60mph gust of the windiest areas could get gusts in excess of 80mph. these are damaging, disruptive gusts of wind so we are likely to see transport disruption and we could also see some power cuts as well so stay tuned with our latest weather forecasts over the next few days.

the latest headlines from bbc news. it's been confirmed the chinese doctor who was one of the first to raise concerns about the coronavirus outbreak has died of the illness. li wenliang has become a hero in china for his early warnings. he was summoned by police at first and told to stop spreading rumours. president trump has lashed out as the senate rejected moves to impeach him. he described impeachment is a terrible ordeal and lashed out the damp at the democrats, claiming they were corrupt people who are trying to hurt the nation. the white house is claimed that us forces have killed the leader of al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula. in a written statement, mr trump said qassim al—rimi, who has led to the group since 2015, was killed in a us military operation in yemen.