this is worklife from bbc news, with sally bundock and david eades. with at least 25 countries dealing with coronavirus cases, we examine how the outbreak is affecting the global conference industry. live from london, that's our top story on tuesday 11th february. more of us are traveling around the world to conferences and events. it's an industry that's worth billions each year but concerns over coronavirus

are seeing plans being scaled back. and asia's biggest air show in singapore is still going ahead. we'll be live to find out what's going on. and who decided to stay away. and living the single life injapan. how going solo is no longer a big taboo for many japanese people. and we'll be getting the inside track on one way to tackle climate change — we'll be talking to one guest who says he has come up with a substance allows you to capture carbon while you garden. today we want to know the tv audience for sunday night's oscars hit an all time low — so we'd like to hear from you. why do you think that is? are you bored of awards ceremonies? remember hashtag bbcworklife. do get and attach about the

oscars. many of you have done so already. many of you have done so already. many are pretty negative. if you are a real man, we would love to hear from you as well. let's get cracking and we begin with the coronavirus. as of this morning, the death toll within china has topped 1,000. nissan is the latest global giant to talk of its impact — the second car maker to suspend production due to a parts shortage. and it's having a huge effect — notjust on global travel and trade but with many events around the world being delayed or cancelled. the meetings, incentives, conferencing, exhibitions sector — or mice as it's also known — is worth a lot of money, over $800 billion in 2017. sony and amazon are among the latest to pull out of next week's mobile world congress in barcelona. meanwhile, the tokyo 2020 olympic and paralympic games are less than six months away, and organisers are growing increasingly

concerned. with us now is dan grogan, co—founder and director at global event partners. thank you for coming in. when we start to talk about the olympics, a massive event, you get a sense to the duration this can go on for. a lot of people in smaller events all over the place would actually quite like them to be cancelled because eve ryo ne like them to be cancelled because everyone is gripped with certain anxiety at the moment. that is a massive cancellation. depending on the size of the event will depend how much it has an effect. in my gp, we have events globally. we have seen a decline from our chinese companies and chinese investors that come with us every year. it has had an effect that, at the same time, business goes on and he had to

ensure that you do everything responsibly that you can. does it raise questions? it has become an industry of itself and there must be a lot of organisations wondering, do we actually need this in any case? is it we actually need this in any case? isita we actually need this in any case? is it a moment where people will reflect on, do you want to keep the conference going? when it comes down to doing business, we know for sure that when you look at things like online conferencing, it does not work as well as being able to meet people flesh to flesh and being able to discuss your company and its aspirations, where you are going and effectively doing business. some of the big major shows like the mobile world congress, i know that show very well, it is a huge show. a lot of business accumulates at that moment. vast amounts of money put into building huge stands and when people get there they are talking about their company and what is

happening. in the case of coronavirus, the risk is great, isn't it? next week, at mobile world congress, there are companies from all over the world, representatives from china with a stand. that raises a lot of issues. you have to work with the government and work with the world health organization and ta ke the world health organization and take the very best advice that you can. we had a huge amount happening in lagos in nigeria in two weeks. that is based around the oil and gas industry. that attracts vast amounts, an awful lot. what is the cost to the mobile world congress that many companies are pulling out by the day? they are saying, we are not going. from what we have seen what we know from talking to colleagues, you are getting a lot of people from china saying we are not going to travel. it may be

that their staff cannot travel and there are certain cases where places are being fenced off, so they cannot travel. i think the common—sense view is that if you are going to go toa view is that if you are going to go to a football match, if you are going to a shopping district, whatever you're going to do, you're going to encounter large amounts of people. it does seem to be localised to chinese companies.” people. it does seem to be localised to chinese companies. i get the impression you will be going to lagos. very much looking let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. forward to it. stories making the news. still on coronavirus — nissan is the latest car maker to temporarily shut one of its factories as it can't get parts from china. the firm will halt production for two days at a plant injapan, which makes the serena and x—trail models. global car brands are facing similar disruptions as much of china's manufacturing sector remains locked down due to the deadly virus. staying with china — the country has launched an app that allows people to check whether they have been at risk of catching the coronavirus.

the ‘close contact detector‘ tells users if they have been near a person who has been confirmed, or suspected, of having the virus. the death toll for the virus passed 1,000 on tuesday. the uk government will give the go—ahead for the entire high speed 2 rail line to be built, the bbc can confirm. an announcement on the rail project linking london to birmingham and manchester and leeds is expected by the prime minister later today. while the whole line will be built, the government will seek a review of the second phase covering the north. more on that main story. one event that's not been cancelled is the singapore airshow. the event usually gathers some of the biggest names in the aviation industry, particularly when it comes to the defence sector. monica miller is at the changi exibition centre — the event has been scaled back though? monica can i understand that your

body temperature has been checked quite a few times already this week. twice today. my crew and i could not even enter the facility before getting out of the car and having oui’ getting out of the car and having our temperatures taken. getting out of the car and having our temperatures ta ken. they getting out of the car and having our temperatures taken. they had put extra measures in place, there are medics on the scene with lots of hand sanitiser is. they asked officials at the weekend why they we re officials at the weekend why they were going ahead with this especially when the government escalated its alert rating to orangemen the same level they put into place during the sars epidemic. they said they did a risk assessment and decided there were hundreds but if not thousands, of people coming to this event and they could contain it. they have experience with this and they felt there would not be any problems. they did decide to go ahead. some remarkable people did pull out, including the largest defence contractor in the world. also ten chinese companies

pulled out. one of particular interest is arrival to airbus and boeing. let's show you the financial markets. that is the close yesterday from japan. no action in tokyo because it is a public holiday they had had a day of rest with regard to financial markets. in asia, pretty much gains across the board. the night before on wall street, the broader market closed at a record high yet again. the optimism about earnings, good company news, is overriding concern about coronavirus 110w overriding concern about coronavirus now look at europe briefly. a0 minutes into trade and you can see strong gains right across the board. a bit ofa strong gains right across the board. a bit of a bounce back because mendes was a very negative beginning to the week. we are talking a lot about conferences and where you

had conferences, you have hotels. now to the us, where hotel chain hilton is set to post its quarterly results amid concerns the coronavirus may have a negative impact on the industry's outlook. samira hussain has more from new york. around the world, people continue to worry about the spread of the coronavirus. those fears have been even seen on financial markets. companies that do business in china are facing a lot of pressure, as are those in the travel industry. just what big chains are thinking may become a little clearer when the hotel and resort chain hilton reports earnings a little later today. analysts are expecting that hilton will report a pretty solid quarter but many will focus on the guidance it offers going forward. remember, this latest set of earnings will report on the business before the outbreak of the coronavirus. the $31 billion hotel and resort operator gets 3.7% of its total revenue from mainland china. time now for our daily look at some of the newspaper and website stories which have caught our eye.

joining me is kirsty bashforth, founder of quayfive, a consultancy firm advising on organisational culture. thank you forjoining us. we start with a very prevalent story because it is about the british government, the foreign office, having a look at having an office in manchester, which is in the united kingdom. you might imagine that already. a big, news story. moving out of the south—east to the north. it is quite surprising we don't already have one. might matter you sound like a cynic. you live and work in harrogate. —— cynic. you live and work in harrogate. -- use sound. we are expecting to hear from the prime minister the announcement of hs2, all speed ahead. i am not a cynic but a frustrated businessperson who

lives outside the south—east, spending a lot of time travelling to and from london. the more we can keep talent in the north, wherever it wants to live and does not have to move some arouse, the better. i don't think the infrastructure has caught up enough to keep people where they want to live, so they are having to to london. h52 is a long—term project. isuppose having to to london. h52 is a long—term project. i suppose he would welcome quicker fixes. there needs to be something more radical in the north. do you think the article about the foreign office is tokenism? i hope it is not. many are globally engaged up in the north. you only have to look at manchester airport and the number of flights going around the world. i hope it is not tokenism. the bbc has established a major hub in salford

and that drives a lot of what we do. 2020 oscars broadcast hit rating is low. i watched it because i was at work and had to back give us your ta ke work and had to back give us your take on this. why are people tuning out of the oscars? it is three and a half hours long and ratings are 20% down on normal viewing and it is a0 minutes of commercials. if i think about it, i only want to know the top four macro categories. i wake up the next morning and go, who won? do you think there is the donald trump effect. he goes on about the glitterati and does it on an almost daily basis. i don't know if it is just that we are getting cynical and sceptical, that people who are having fantastically successful careers are wearing beautiful

dresses and that is fabulous but i do not want to watch it for three and a half hours. we will get your views as well. you have not helped by this time. lovely to see you. —— held back. still to come... ways to tackle climate change. we'll talking to one guest who says he has come up with a substance that removes carbon from the atmosphere and traps it in the ground. you're with worklife from bbc news. as we were saying, the controversial high—speed rail link hs2 is expected to get the go—ahead today, despite criticism for being over—budget and behind schedule. the line will link london to birmingham and then from ther —— there to manchester and leeds. our reporter nina warhurst is at leeds station. tell us more. good morning. i can tell you there has been a real

sense of simmering frustration over the past decade about the amount spent on transport infrastructure in the north. in the last decade twice as much has been spent per head on people in london. today there is some optimism about hs2 and questions about whether it will lead to hss. questions about whether it will lead to hs3. let's speak to roger, who works with thousands of businesses across the north and ask you what will the announcement today mean? across the north and ask you what will the announcement today mean7m is important that business has some certainty about this massive infrastructure investment. as you said, it is notjust about hsz city to city, it is also about interconnectivity across the north. give us a sense of what it means to your businesses. the amount of frustration about getting out of what damage it does to business. there are a couple of things. there isa there are a couple of things. there is a huge, untapped economic

potential from businesses right across the north. secondly, access to talent and people getting around, as well as freight. it is important to improve infrastructure and make sure it is future proofed for generations to come. is there a fear that hsz generations to come. is there a fear that hs2 might bring businesses up from the south? i think that is a false argument. and oh concentrated busy south is great that we need a busy south is great that we need a busy north and a busy midlands as well. —— and over concentrated. it is fairto well. —— and over concentrated. it is fair to say there has been mixed reaction this morning. some feel it has been a very long time coming but also a desire for this to be one piece of a very big, very important jigsaw. thank you very much indeed.

other stories to look out for on our website, this one aboutjd sports and foot asylum. you're watching worklife. a reminder of our top story: at least 25 countries dealing with coronavirus cases, and the death toll in china has passed 1,000. now when many of us think about climate change, we place responsibility squarely on the shoulders of big industry. but our harmless everyday actions, like driving a car or using inefficient appliances, also contributes emissions of carbon dioxide on some scale. that's why our next guest, craig sams, decided to do something about it. he started carbon gold. it's a company that produces a substance called biochar, which he says enhances soil fertility and removes carbon from the atmosphere.

with us now is craig sams, executive chairman and founder, carbon gold. thank you for coming in. i guess the essence, the idea behind the company, is basically you want to monetise something that we all feel we need to do. if you emit carbon, you should pay a tax on it, you should pay for what you are emitting. if you take it out of the atmosphere, you should be rewarded for it. any action that removes carbon from the atmosphere, it looks up carbon from the atmosphere, it looks up in the soil or in a forest, or as we deal with biochar is keeping carbon, keeping the carbon level in the atmosphere down, counteracting emissions. your early slogan was ca ptu red emissions. your early slogan was captured carbon while you garden. explain what it does. the soil is a great carbon capture anyway.

biochar is basically charcoal. it is council certified, very porous black carbon. when you put it in the soil, it increases the growth of the beneficial microbes in the soil. it strengthens the immune system of pla nts strengthens the immune system of plants and ferries nutrients to them, keeping water in the soil, keeping it from drying out. it helps healthy growth of plants. that is the benefit from a farming or gardening point of view. in addition, it stays in the soil. once you put biochar in the soil, that carbon doesn't go away. it doesn't break down. we talked at length about this earlier today. it is all new to me. i had not had a biochar before. he started the company

ten yea rs before. he started the company ten years ago. in this current environment with everyone talking about the environment, do you feel you can sell your story? we have been battling away for a long time. the ipcc has said biochar is an important part of the solution to climate change. defra, the department of agriculture, has got it and sees soil and biochar is a way to solve this problem. we had waited a long time for that. we thought it was going to happen at the copenhagen climate conference ten yea rs the copenhagen climate conference ten years ago. it almost happened at madrid. the british government will make it happen in glasgow. has it needed that really? we are talking about it being a slow burn, pardon the pun. you

are a founder of green and blacks, which took a while to catch on. at green and blacks commit we used to say, their first square is free. within 20 seconds to half a minute, people got it and you had a customerfor minute, people got it and you had a customer for life. with minute, people got it and you had a customerfor life. with biochar, it is more complicated. —— you have a customer. tomato plants were propagated in holland last year make using our product. they get it but they need to see it happen because they need to see it happen because they have learned at school that you should use this fungicide by this fertiliser and we are saying you can rely on healthy biology. it has taken a lot longer from that point of view. yet other headwind we have had, ifi of view. yet other headwind we have had, if i cut down trees and chop them up and turned them into pellets and burn them at a power station in

yorkshire, i get a generous taxpayer funded subsidy from the government will do if i turn that same wood into biochar, put it in the soil and lock that carbon up, i get nothing. it is that misguided policy that also needs to change and is changing because people realise biofuels and burning wood is not the answer.m still plenty of headwinds there. thank you forjoining us and good luck. in a moment, we'll run through some viewer responses to our twitter question. but first, let's turn to japan, where in the past many japanese people were said to be so embarrassed to be seen eating alone in the school or office cafeteria that they'd opt to eat in a bathroom stall. appearing friendless was a no—no, leading to what became known as "benjo meshi" — taking a "toilet lunch." but many thinkjapan is changing in a big way. from cocktails to karaoke, more japanese people are going it alone. let's take a look.

there inhabit. it is a right to go solo in japan there inhabit. it is a right to go solo injapan now. the oscars has been a huge talking point, not least because of a falloff in the number

of people watching their show. we have had quite a lot of response from you. lucas begins by pointing out the oscars weren't aired on brazilian or argentinian television, they were on decisive soccer matches for the tokyo olympics. many of you think the oscars are not relevant. kev says, "there are times i've needed an ambulance orfireman or doctor, but i've never needed an over—paid actor," adding he thinks in this world we celebrate the wrong people. we know where he stands. alison says, "not much of a cinema—goer, so haven't seen most of the films. same with football — don't watch that either." cb is scathing. "lovies congratulating other lovies. why would anyone watch that?" something like 23 million dead, i think. many of you had been in touch in the last few hours commit really negative. ricky gervais, at the beginning of the golden globes, summed it up rather well. figures went up last year for the

oscars when they gave up on having a host i went they went up in south korea. south korea they went up, didn't they? goodbye. good morning. fairly similar weather to how it was yesterday for many of us. still a strong and cold north—westerly wind blowing. drier and brighter in the south east. in the north and west we will continue to see wintry showers with more snow accumulations in the highlands, five to ten centimetres here. a very strong north—westerly wind blowing. feeling very cold with blizzard —like conditions. where there are wintry showers, some hail and lightning with

showers continuing. gusts in the north west of scotland, 60 to 70 miles an hour. that brisk winds will be felt right across the country. it will be try and bite of england and wales today spells of sunshine and temperatures between four and eight celsius. overnight tonight, there wintry showers are likely to continue, turning to snow across the high ground. in the south and much of england and wales, in more sheltered spots we will see a touch of frost developed with temperatures very close to freezing. on wednesday we have pressure starting to building from the south. looking mostly dry other debt could be showers bidding into the south west of england, into parts of south wales and the midlands. try and brighter with spells of

sunshine. still some wintry showers in the north west of scotland. —— dry. it will not feel as chilly tomorrow with temperatures peaking between four and with temperatures peaking between fourand nine with temperatures peaking between four and nine celsius. watch out for the rain creeping into the south—west of england. it will turn windy again on thursday. this system continued to sweep its way eastward across the northern flank. some of the rain will turn to snow. still uncertainty regarding that. more u nsettled uncertainty regarding that. more unsettled on thursday. a quieter day on friday that it threatens to turn stormy at the weekend. —— but it threatens.

you're watching bbc news at 9 with me, annita mcveigh. the headlines: police investigating the murder of the journalist lyra mckee in londonderry arrest four men. the entire hs2 rail line will be given the go—ahead by the government — an announcement is expected at lunchtime. a transport overhaul — the government is pledging £5 billion to buses and cycle links across england. there is all sorts of investment we need in transport infrastructure in particular across the country. i mean, i have long said i don't think successive governments have invested enough. and coming up at 9.15 — we'll be speaking to the green party co—leader at westminster. as the coronavirus

death toll hits 1,000 — the world health organization will begin a two day meeting to speed up research. a deportation flight to jamaica has left the uk despite a last—minute legal challenge, but with fewer people on board than planned. the row between finn russell and gregor townsend continues. russell hasn't played any part in scotland's six nations campaign after it's claimed he breached team protocol during a drinking session at the team hotel. good morning and welcome to the bbc news at 9. we begin this hour with breaking news that police in northern ireland investigating the murder of journalist lyra mckee