welcome to newsday on the bbc. i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. the headlines: china says virus cases are stabilising, but the world health organisation warns the epidemic is impossible to predict. 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. ‘it‘s the economy first‘, but indonesia's president jokowi denies his country has become less tolerant. i'm kasia madera in london. also in the programme: italy's parliament votes to allow former interior minister, matteo salvini, to go on trialfor stopping migrants from landing.

and, it's a vegetable bed but not as you know it. this middle eastern refugee camp is using mattresses to grow food. live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news. it's newsday. good morning. it's 9am here in singapore, 1am in london and 2am in geneva, where the world health organization has said the outbreak of the coronavirus covid—19 in china has stabilised. 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 over 1,400 lives. the number of newly confirmed cases reported from china has stabilised over the past week. but that must be interpreted with extreme caution. this outbreak could still go in any direction. the number of countries reporting cases also has not changed since 4 february. of the 48 new cases confirmed outside china yesterday, a0 were on board the diamond princess cruise ship, which is currently quarantined in yokohama. the bbc‘s global health correspondent tulip mazumdar sent this update from geneva. well, scientists here over the last two days have been really pouring 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 in 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 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. there certainly are. tulip mazumdar at the who meeting in geneva. we are getting new figures from china's central hubei province. our correspondent nick beake joins me live from hong kong. tell us what these new figures are? good morning. ithink we're getting two pictures emerging, one is the picture outside china that we have had the who talking about, the stabilisation of cases. but when we talk about hubei province in particular, the epicentre of this outbreak, on the surface of the it seemed there is some pretty concerning news overnight. the number of daily doubts was 2a2 yesterday. the contacts, the previous

tires number was 103. is that? —— previous highest number. there was some discussion. we only got this figure in the last hour or so but in the past few days it does seem the chinese authorities have been calculating cases in a different way and they have been including people who they have been testing in a new manner. another statistic i can give you is the number of new cases which we had been told was falling, over the past fortnight or so, that has lept up fortnight or so, that has lept up to 1480. it's a lot of figures, but in short, they are using a new way of testing people and the accounts for this increase. the bottom line is it is a pretty grim picture if you are stuck in hubei province at this very moment. what impact will that have on this message we have had from china that the situation is stabilising? from the figures you are saying, it doesn't look like that. yes, i think maybe

there is some credence, there is something in what the chinese are saying in that beyond hubei province there is a stabilisation because we know the vast majority of that have beenin the vast majority of that have been in that particular place. but we had yesterday from a very senior official in ageing saying the way they were dealing with this outbreak could be completely eradicated by april —— in beijing. some people said that sounds very optimistic and the world health organization said it could be 18 months before a vaccine is sorted. i think it is worth thinking all along the figures we are trying to analyse, we are reliant wholly on chinese parities. from the outset there has been accusations that they we re has been accusations that they were either slow to react to this either on a provincial level or on a wider governmental level, or they covered it up. that is the accusation from some. trying to put together this fragmented

picture is difficult, but certainly overnight it is not a good picture. next, thank you for getting us across those numbers so quickly. —— nick. 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's our rome correspondent, mark lowen. will this goes back to matteo salvini buzz matt simon offers 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 in office was blocking italian ports from migrant rescue boats. prosecutors say a decision he took lastjuly, which was to stop a migrant

rescue boat coming from libya with 116 migrants onboard, holding them onboard for a few daysin holding them onboard for a few days in pretty dire conditions, amounted to illegal detention and abuse of power. so they filed charges against him by the — under italy's laws, members of parliament here have immunity. today the senate ruled for that immunity to be lifted, paving the way for matteo salvini to be tried. this is a case that matteo salvini has welcome. he said he would take exactly the same decision again and has his head held high because he has built his career on the anti—immigrant policies. he revels in the image of defending italy from the so—called migrant invasion. 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 might take

comfort from his predecessor as italy's populist in chief, dallas kony, who himself was convicted for fraud. dallas kony, who himself was convicted forfraud. his sentence was commuted and he made a very italian comeback by returning as a member of the european parliament —— his predecessor silvio berlusconi. 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

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 exxon mobil 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 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 protecting their religious rights, their human rights, and their environmental rights? under your watch, indonesia has become less tolerant, minorities are not being protected, and people and press freedom isn't as free as it

should be in a democracy. indonesia has had a bad experience in the past with dynasty politics. would you stop members of your family from getting into politics?

including your kids? and you can watch the full interview right here on bbc world news on saturday and on sunday on the times that are shown 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. phd student 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 the eastern city of faisalabad are desperate for them to be allowed to return. translation: they don't have 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 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 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, they just 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 at the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak. also on the programme: bringing new meaning to a mouldy old mattress, the revolutionary technique being used to grow 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 kong kong, which is just over us$6,000, from activists raising money for anti—government protesters. the philippine star talks

about how this valentine's day could be an unromantic one for some people. as the fear around the new coronavirus continues, the department of health in philippines asked people to be more disciplined this valentines day as a measure against the virus. and that brings you up—to—date with some of the papers. sharanjit, many thanks. 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.

mohammad's family lost their home and their farm when they fled the war in syria. now, here in thejordanian desert, he's able to teach his children how to grow vegetables in a very unconventional way, using old mattress foam. it sounds like the garden has made this more of a real home. is that fair to say? translation: yes, absolutely, it makes me feel like i'm in my home village back in syria. about 80,000 people live here. this is essentially a city that sprang up in a very short period of time. most of the people that live here used to farm in syria and now there is very limited space. 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, repurposed. nothing gets thrown away. on their sustainability mission to the camp, these scientists found that what was thought to be a problem here was actually the way to give everyone a garden.

there was a warehouse full. and it was, "oh, we don't know what to do with these." there was no disposal mechanism. i'd been to a landfill site and seen a tomato plant growing on an old sofa. really? yeah, yeah, yeah. and that's why i knew it would work. this is hydroponics. the foam supports the plants, so there's no need for soil and this method requires much less water because it's kept where it's needed, rather than draining away. in zaatari, this whole system is made from recycled materials. this is just one of the plants. there's a whole, i don't even know how many are here, hundreds. old coffee cup, bit of foam, there's the old mattress, and thatjust pops in there so it can get all its nutrients. it's amazing. everything is recycled. so far, more than 1000 people have signed up for demonstration sessions like this. everybody gets a starter kit.

yeah. they get the starter kit and they take it back with them to home so they can start their own. right. growing nutritious food in a place with limited water and limited space could provide lessons for urban environments all round the world. victoria gill, bbc news, jordan. 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 wasn't anything major. not a major conversation and then we moved on to the next chat. so i didn't really understand the severity of what was happening until i went to the train station in wuhan to get a train to shanghai and head back to england. it sounds like you weren't really aware of this outbreak 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? i got back. 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 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. michael hope spent over a year teaching teenagers in wuhan. of course a lot of concern for his friends who are still there. 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 how businesses continue to grapple with coronavirus outbreak as more major events get cancelled. and, sharanjit, let me introduce you to siba, a three—year—old standard poodle who's just been crowned top dog at the westminster

kennel club show in the us. congratulations to her. hello there. wednesday saw a break in all this wild weather as more parts of the country enjoyed some sunshine and the showers became fewer. mind you, it's still a wintry scene in the hills across the northern half of the uk and here in southern scotland in particular. it's 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 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 central, southern england 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. there winds will ease down a bit through the afternoon as they push into eastern england. further north, an improving story with many places drying off and brightening off, still damp and 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 clearer skies and it will get cold enough for a touch of frost, maybe some icy patches and a few fog patches first thing. 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 scotland this time and elsewhere the snow will melt because we get a south south—westerly wind, much milder and temperatures will rise. 8- 12 8— 12 degrees. not much 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 that is running between scotland and iceland and that 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 and the south—west. threatening more flooding.

i'm kasia madera with bbc world news. our top stories: the world health organisation 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 presidentjoko 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 exxon mobil plant