but the who's chief has warned that the recent reduction in new cases must be treated with extreme caution, and that the outbreak could still go in any direction. he spoke at the close of a research conference where public officials agreed a master plan to tackle the outbreak, which has now claimed i'm sharanjit leyl over 1,300 lives. in singapore. the headlines: china says virus cases are stabilising, but the world health organization warns the number of newly confirmed the epidemic is impossible to predict. cases reported from china has stabilised over the past week. but that must be interpreted with extreme caution. this that gives us an opportunity to prepare and to react, and still outbreak could still go in any gives us the opportunity for direction. the number of containment and potential interruption of transmission of countries reporting cases also the virus. it's the economy first, but indonesia's president has not changed since fourth of jokowi denies his country has become less tolerant. i'm kasia madera in london. also in the programme: february. of the 48 new cases confirmed outside china yesterday, 40 were on board the italy's parliament votes to allow former interior minister matteo salvini to go diamond princess cruise ship on trialfor stopping migrants from landing. which is currently quarantined

and it's a vegetable bed, in yokohama. but not as you know it. this syrian refugee camp and the head of the who is using mattresses 00:01:05,165 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 to grow food. emergency programme said the observations outside china give ground for some optimism. we definitely see that the behaviour of the virus outside wuhan, hubei and the rest of china, outside china, doesn't appear at this point to be as aggressive or as accelerated, and that's a good sign. and that gives us an opportunity to prepare and to react, and still gives us the opportunity for containment and potential interruption of transmission of the virus. but that's no guarantee. it's not a guarantee. it's not a guarantee. but we must continue to try to stop the virus, while preparing countries for the arrival of the virus. the bbc‘s global health correspondent tulip mazumdar sent this update from geneva. well, scientists here over the last two days have been really poring over all the data that has been coming in from the start of this outbreak. they are saying, and it is very early days, that it looks like the outbreak could be

stabilising, but that is just a snapshot of what's been happening over the last seven days, and that could change at any time. but it is at least a positive trend for the moment, and the world health organization has talked about how this creates a window of opportunity to, as it calls it, hammer this virus over the coming days and weeks. and that's what we've seen scientists really trying to get to the nub of here. they are trying to prioritise what research needs to happen, what needs to happen to make sure that this outbreak doesn't become a global pandemic. what they say urgently needs to happen, one of the first priorities, is coming up with a better diagnostic test. at the moment you've got to send samples off to a lab. they come back, it takes time. what doctors in china say they urgently need is a test that you can do and someone‘s home or in you can do and someone‘s home orina you can do and someone‘s home or in a local health centre and you can get the results very quickly. the other thing that scientists are looking at is how effective these quite extreme measures that we've seen extreme measures that we've seenin extreme measures that we've seen in china of quarantining entire cities actually is. it hasn't been done on this scale

ever before. early evidence suggests that it has actually been quite effective, but this is an outbreak of firsts, and scientists are continuing to learn new things about it every single day. and we have many more details on our website. let's take a look at some of the day's other news: the upper house of the italian parliament has stripped the former interior minister's political immunity, paving the way for matteo salvini to be prosecuted on charges of illegally detaining migrants on board a ship. if he is found guilty, he could face a sentence of up to 15 years. here is our rome correspondent mark lowen. well, this all goes back to matteo salvini's time in office as interior minister and deputy prime minister, before he quit the government last year. now, he built his career on an anti— migrant line, and his flagship policy while in office was blocking italian ports from migrant rescue boats. now,

prosecutors say that a decision he took lastjuly, which was to stop a migrant rescue boat coming from libya with 116 migrants on board, holding them on board for a few days in pretty dire conditions, amounted to illegal detention and abuse of power. so they filed charges against him, but under italy's laws, members of parliament here have immunity. so today the senate ruled for that immunity to be lifted, paving the way for matteo salvini to be tried. now, this isa salvini to be tried. now, this is a case that matteo salvini himself has welcomed. he said that he would take exactly the same decision again. he had his head held high, because he has built his career on the anti— migrant policies. he is a populist who rebels in this image of sort of defending italy against what he says is the migrant invasion, so it has played into his hands. and also, italian justice moves very slowly, so this could take quite a few years to come to a result. he could have a couple

of appeals, and even if he were convicted, well, he mightjust ta ke co mfo rt convicted, well, he mightjust take comfort from his predecessor as italy's corrupter in chief, sylvia bella stoney, who was himself convicted of fraud, his sentence was commuted, and then he made a very italian comeback, returning as an italian member of the european parliament. also making news today: nato says it will step up its fight against international terrorism by expanding its training mission in iraq. us president donald trump had previously demanded more action from allies in the middle east. nato has a 500—strong mission in iraq to train local government forces who are fighting the so—called islamic state. pope francis has ruled that married men cannot be ordained as roman catholic priests in remote regions where there is a shortage of clergymen. last year, bishops approved the idea, but conservatives within the church put pressure on the pope over relaxing priestly celibacy rules.

the us regulatorfor airline safety has been accused of failing in its oversight of the domestic carrier southwest airlines, putting millions of passengers at risk. an audit of the federal aviation administration says it allowed southwest to operate dozens of second—hand planes without ensuring they met us safety standards. the faa said it accepted the criticism in the report, but southwest called it unsubstantiated. the indian prime minister, narendra modi, has urged more indians to pay taxes to fund development projects. he said, out of a population of 1.3 billion, only 15 million were paying any individual income tax. the tax avoidance by the majority of people, he said, would put more pressure on those already paying their dues. now, this is the us‘s fifth—largest oil refinery going up in flames late tuesday night. an explosion at the exxonmobil facility in baton rouge,

louisiana resulted in a huge fireball which turned the night sky red. the company said the fire was contained in the area it occurred and there were no reported injuries, with all personnel accounted for. the indonesian president has told the bbc thatjobs come before human rights. in an exclusive interview, joko widodo rejected criticism that his presidency has become increasingly restrictive. he said he needs to set priorities for his second term, and that the economy comes first. he has been speaking to our asia business correspondent karishma vaswani.

what are the rights that you wa nt to what are the rights that you want to protect of your citizens? is it more important to protect economic rights, so that people have jobs and have good strong careers and futures, or is it also about protect thing their religious rights, their human rights, and their environmental rights?

under your watch, underyourwatch, indonesia under your watch, indonesia has become less tolerant, minorities are not being protected, and people and press friedan isn't as free as it should be in a democracy —— press freedom. indonesia has had a bad experience in the past with dynastic politics. would you stop members of your family from getting into politics?

including your kids? you can watch karishma vaswami's full interview with indonesia's president, joko widodo, here on bbc world news on saturday and sunday on the times on your screen. over the past few weeks, countries across the world have been evacuating their citizens from wuhan, the chinese city at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak. but pakistan, which has close

economic and political ties to china, has decided not to. the decision has caused anger amongst the relatives of the approximately 500 pakistani university students living in the city. secunder kermani reports from islamabad. currently i am in wuhan, and here i am living with my family, and this is an apartment where i am living with my wife and three kids. stu d e nts with my wife and three kids. students asif and his young phd students asif and his young family have spent almost the last three weeks inside their home in wuhan, where the coronavirus outbreak began. it's very difficult for the kids to stay in the home for a long time period, because we are locked down for the last 20 days. his family back in an eastern city are desperate for them to be allowed to return. translation: they don't have enough to eat or drink, so we

are enough to eat or drink, so we a re really enough to eat or drink, so we are really worried. they can't go outside. the children are very small. all the other countries have been taking their people out. our government isn't doing anything. china and pakistan are anything. china and pakistan a re close anything. china and pakistan are close allies. flights between the two are running now as per usual, but no—one from wuhan has been allowed to return for fear the virus could spread. chinese officials have praised the authorities here for not imposing a travel ban on all passengers from the country, and for trusting them to look after those pakistani stu d e nts to look after those pakistani students stranded in wuhan. more than 500 students and citizens of pakistan in wuhan, they are safe and sound. they are well attended and looked after by the local government. and your embassy, the pakistani embassy in beijing, is also following the situation. this

is my community, and i am outside the apartment. you can see here all the roads are empty. now, here i am in the vegetable market. as you can see, all these shops are closed. only one shop is open. there are concerns about how pakistan could cope with any outbreak of the coronavirus. and some pakistanis in wuhan say it is better they stay there. for others, theyjust wa nt to there. for others, theyjust want to come home. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: escaping wuhan. we speak to one british teacher about his experience food in a camp for syrian refugees.

there's mr mandela. mr nelson mandela, a free man, taking his first steps into a new south africa. iran's spiritual leader ayatollah khomeini has said he's passed a death sentence on salman rushdie, the british author of a book which many muslims say is blasphemous. the people of haiti have flocked to church to give thanks for the ousting of their former president, 'ba by doc' duvalier. because of his considerable value as a stallion, shergar was kept in a special, secure box in the stud farm's central block. shergar was driven away in a horse box the thieves had brought with them. there stepped down from the plane a figure in mourning. elizabeth ii, queen of this realm and of all her other realms and territories. head of the commonwealth,

defender of the faith. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. i'm kasia madera in london. our top stories: the world health organization says reports from china that the coronavirus outbreak has stabilised must be treated with extreme caution. in an interview with the bbc, indonesia's president joko widodo has rejected criticism of his leadership — and said his country remains tolerant of minorities. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. the new york times reports from egypt on mixed emotions as the country reaches a major milestone. it now has 100 million people after the birth of a little girl — but is there the space

for all those citizens? the south china morning post brings the story of an 18—year—old man in hong kong who was arrested by the police on suspicion of money laundering and drug trafficking. the police said the boy received $48,000 hong kong — which isjust over $6000 us — from activists raising money for anti—government protesters. the philippine star talks about how this valentines day could be an unromantic one for some people. as the fear around the new coronavirus covid—19 continues, the department of health in philippines asked people to be more disciplined this valentine's day as a measure against the virus. can old mattresses be used to grow food? well, scientists in a syrian refugee camp in thejordanian desert are using mattress foam instead of soil to grow hundreds of plants.

they're not just growing food for the camps, but are recycling piles of discarded mattresses and are providing a hobby for the people living there, many of whom were farmers back in syria. our science correspondent, victoria gill investigates. gardening in the confines of a refugee camp. muhammad's family lost their home and their farm when they fled the war in syria. now here in the jordanian desert he is able to teaches children how to grow vegeta bles teaches children how to grow vegetables in a very unconventional way, using old mattress phone. it sounds like the garden has made this more ofa the garden has made this more of a real home is that fair to say? translation: absolutely. it makes me feel like i am in my home village back in syria. 80,000 people live here and this is essentially a city that sprang up in a short period of time. most of the people who live here used to farm in syria and now there is very limited

space and the soil is extremely poon space and the soil is extremely poor. enabling people to grow their own food is a vital step towards making this a sustainable place to live. everything gets reused and repurposed. nothing is thrown away. and their sustainability mission to the camp, these scientists found what was thought to be a problem here is actually a way to give everyone actually a way to give everyone a garden. there was a warehouse feel that matt fuller and they did not know what to do with them. there was no disposal mechanism. i went to a landfill site and saw a tomato plant grow on an old sofa. and that is why i knew it would work. this is hydroponics. the foam supports the plans so there is no need for soil in this method requires much less water because it is where it is needed rather than draining away. this whole system is made from recycled materials here. this is just from recycled materials here. this isjust one from recycled materials here. this is just one of the plants

andi this is just one of the plants and i don't know how many are here, hundreds. and a bit of foam, here is the old mattress and that just pops foam, here is the old mattress and thatjust pops in their so it can get all its nutrients. it is amazing. everything is recycled. so far more than 1000 people have signed up for demonstration sessions like this. everybody gets a starter kit. they all get a starter kit and they take it back to their home so they can start their own. i see there is a lot of interest. it is quite crazy. it is spreading so fast and everybody is getting interested. what is your favourite thing about the project? having their home screen again. growing nutritious food in a place with limited water and limited space could provide lessons for urban environments all around the world. we could all end up living like this. as climate change plays out who knows what will happen. my whole family

works with me on this. mohammed 110w works with me on this. mohammed now dedicates hours every day to his garden. this knowledge, we can share with our children so one we can share with our children so one day they can benefit from it and share it with their own children. here, this was an idea born from necessity. but it could help future generations grow nutritious food in the most challenging environments. british art teacher michael hope spent over a year teaching teenagers in wuhan. when he left wuhan for the uk in the chinese new year, he had heard of a "mysterious" virus going around but had little idea of its extent given the limited information available and that he speaks no mandarin. after arriving in the uk with some symptoms, he was quarantined for more than 24 hours until he tested negative for the coronavirus. he shared his experience

of being in the isolation room. well, it was simply a friend said in passing that seven people had gotten ill in a market and that was said in passing. there was not anything major. not a major conversation and then we moved on to the next chat. so i did not really understand the severity of what was happening until i went to the train station in wuhan to get a the train station in wuhan to geta train the train station in wuhan to get a train to shanghai and head back to england. it sounds like you were not really aware of this out rake and, as you say, it was just before chinese new year and you left in mid—january. what happened when you arrived in the uk. mid—january. what happened when you arrived in the uki mid—january. what happened when you arrived in the uk. i went home and logged on to the internet and then realised how severe it was. everybody was wearing masks when i was in the

train station but i didn't realise the severity of it until i logged onto the news and when i got back to the uk. it must have been quite a shock to you. you were then taken to quarantine. you were in an isolation room. what was that like? i rang my gp. i did not wa nt to like? i rang my gp. i did not want to go to the doctors because if i was presenting symptoms it was inappropriate for me to do so. so i called my doctor and had an online consultation and it escalated from an online consultation until, yeah, an ambulance picked me up and i was in quarantine for 27 hours. that was michael hope who spent over a year teaching teenagers in wuhan and it is good to hear that he is ok although he still has many concerns for those who left find. —— he left behind.

you have been watching newsday. i'm kasia madera in london. and i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. stay with us. we will be looking at the coronavirus when we return and the impact it is having on business which is continuing to grapple with the rake. many major events are being cancelled. they certainly are. before we go, let's turn away from coronavirus because i want to introduce you to this three—year—old standard poodle, siba, crowd top dog at the westminster kennel club show in the united states. and to celebrate this when she was taken for a trip to the empire state welding following by a ceremonial meal in manhattan. before she embarks on a world when two, her handler says she would get to enjoy plenty of her favourite treat which i am informed, reliably, is chicken. congratulations to siba and her

fabulous hair and her handler as well. thank you for watching newsday and stay with us here on bbc world news. wednesday saw a break in all this wild weather is more parts of the country enjoyed some sunshine and the showers became fewer. mind you still a wintry scene in the hills across the northern half of the uk and here in southern scotland in particular. it is still cold in scotla nd particular. it is still cold in scotland as well. we are seeing the weather change in the winter strengthening from the south—west, pushing in all the cloud. for many parts of the country we will find rain continuing overnight are pushing in from the south—west of england where it will be particularly mild. further north we still have cold air so

it is not just north we still have cold air so it is notjust rain but also snow and even in the rush hour some snow falling in the central belt of scotland. most snow over the hills and sentence government —— and for northern ireland so it could be wintry for a while but it is mostly rain, even that petering out during the morning. further south, heavy showers and those will be driven on by some gale force winds across southern england through the english channel and channel islands with gusts of 60 mph. further north an improving story with many places drying off and brightening off, still damp and grey and cold for south—east scotla nd grey and cold for south—east scotland and north—east of england. the area of low pressure bringing all that weather is going to push away during thursday evening and by the time we get to friday we have the next weather system approaching from the north—west. in between overnight, a ridge of high pressure and clear skies and it will get cold enough for a touch of frost, icy patches and

a few fog patches first things. the wind will pick up as it is already in northern ireland in the morning where we see wind and rain here and that will come down from the north—west. snow over the mountains of scotla nd snow over the mountains of scotland this time and elsewhere the snow will melt because we get a south south—westerly wind, much milder and temperatures will rise. not a lot of rain for eastern parts of england. it is getting milder on friday and that mild weather continues into the weekend but we also see the arrival of this deepening area of low pressure thatis deepening area of low pressure that is running between scotla nd that is running between scotland and iceland and that is storm dennis and dennis will bea is storm dennis and dennis will be a menace through the weekend into monday. two main elements to the weather. first, the wind strength reaching 60 mph, and there will be some very big waves as well. secondly, the rain. that will be heavy at times, particularly across england and wales, over four inches possible over the hills

of wales in the south—west.

i'm kasia madera with bbc world news. our top story: the world health organization says reports from china that coronavirus infections have stabilised must be treated with extreme caution. the organisation's head warned that the virus could still spread. at a meeting in geneva, public health officials from around the world agreed a master plan to tackle the outbreak. the indonesian president, joko widodo, has rejected criticism that his presidency has become increasingly restrictive. however, in an exclusive interview with the bbc, he said thatjobs come before human rights. and video of a huge fire at the fifth—largest oil refinery in us is attracting a lot of interest on our website.

a pipeline caught fire on tuesday night, but was put out within hours. there were no reported injuries at the exxonmobil plant