this is bbc news, i'm ben bland. our top stories: china defends its response to the spread of covid—19 as people returning to beijing are ordered to put themselves in quarantine for m days. the english premier league side manchester city are banned from european football for two seasons for breaking financial rules. a top us official says a seven—day truce between the us and the taliban in afghanistan will begin soon, and could lead to american troop withdrawals. the legal limbo is over for a top target of the president. former fbi deputy andrew mckay will not face charges over claims he lied about leaks.

hello and welcome to bbc news. the authorities in the chinese capital, beijing, are asking people returning to the city to quarantine themselves for 14 days to prevent the spread of the covid—i9 virus. state media says those who refuse will be punished. the order was issued to coincide with the end of the lunar new year holiday, extended this year to help contain the outbreak. speaking in munich, the chinese foreign minister defended beijing's management of the epidemic and criticised what he called the overreaction of some other countries. translation: this is a new virus, so it takes time for people to understand more about it, and it will be a gradual process. the same has happened in other countries. if we look at the past epidemics, we will

see that the government will eventually make decisions based ona eventually make decisions based on a series of tests, research and development. that is responsible government. the chinese government promptly picked up clues that emergency was happening at the first available opportunity by informing the world health organization. at the same time, we took up a vigorous assessment. in a short period of time, we identified and decided that this was a new epidemic. once that decision was made, we took a strong action by setting up a nationwide mechanism, and we put in place an interagency task force to deal with that. soi task force to deal with that. so i can say that the measures taken by china are timely, effective and strong. covid—i9 has, of course, spread outside china. japan has now recorded its first death from the outbreak, a woman in her 80s, and a cruise ship remains in quarantine in yokohama after more than 200 of those on board were diagnosed with the virus. rupert wingfield—hayes reports.

for ten days now, the giant diamond princess has been tied up at yokohama, its 3,700 passengers shut in their cabins, allowed out to exercise only once every two days. today they finally got some good news — no new infections for the last 2a hours. and this afternoon, this bus began taking some of the most elderly and frail passengers off the boat, to be quarantined elsewhere. the japanese authorities are now finally allowing some people from the diamond princess to disembark. those over the age of 80 and with underlying health conditions are being given the choice to be quarantined elsewhere. but there are still many questions about how the japanese government has handled the outbreak on board this ship, not the least of which is why have they still not tested everyone on board.

from their cabin, phil and gay courterfrom florida tell me they are in good spirits. but they say they are extremely frustrated the japanese government is taking so long to test everyone. we absolutely should have been tested. the test results could have been back. the people who tested immediately and were clear should have been off the boat. why couldn't we have all been tested? why couldn't we be off the boat? why couldn't we be home by now? we're the worst cluster afterwuhan, china, in the world, and we have people here from every country. doesn't that call for at least testing us? public health experts agree. they say the cramped conditions on board the diamond princess could be allowing the virus to continue spreading. i don't think it's the best solution, for many people on the ship are infected as a result. if it's airborne infections, they might be infected

via ventilation systems. but tokyo is about to host the olympic games, and japan is determined the virus will not be allowed to get loose onshore. it may already be too late, though. japan has now recorded its first death from the virus, and today nine new infections, including a tokyo taxi driver. all had no connection either to the diamond princess or to travel from china. rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news, in yokohama. we can update you on another ship, the ms westerdam. it is a cruise liner which had been refused permission to dock in five ports across asia because of fears the coronavirus could be on board. passengers have now finally been allowed to disembark in cambodia. they were met at the quayside by cambodia's prime minister, hun sen, after thailand, japan and taiwan turned the ship away. we have a special section devoted to the covid—i9

coronavirus outbreak on our website. you can find the latest details on the spread of the disease, the efforts being taken to contain it, and the best medical advice on what to do to protect yourself against it. just log on to bbc.com/news. manchester city football club says it will appeal against a two—year ban from the champions league for breaching uefa's financial fair play rules. the club has been banned from the continent's biggest competition from next season. manchester city is also facing a fine of more than $30 million from european football's governing body. in a statement, the club said: olly foster has this update

from city's home ground. for all the tribes on the pitch, the stakes have never been higherfor pitch, the stakes have never been higher for manchester city. they are accused of cheating the system, breaching uefa's very strict financial fairplay regulations. their main accusation that they overi nflated main accusation that they overinflated just how much money they making from their title sponsor, etihad airlines, thatis title sponsor, etihad airlines, that is emblazoned all around this club, on their shirts, on the stadium. the complication, the stadium. the complication, the grey area that uefa have been looking at, is the fact that etihad are owned by the club's owner, the billionaires, the ruling family from abu dhabi. now, a fine of over $30 million, they won't worry about that, the club. but what is really going to hurt is exclusion from european foot pole, the very, very lucrative champions league. that is the one trophy in this abu dhabi revolution that they have failed to secure, and getting kicked out of the champions league for two seasons from the

start of next season, that is really going to hurt. there's been a really strong, belligerent response from the clu b belligerent response from the club themselves. they say they are disappointed, but not surprised. why not surprised? because, well, they say there have been so many leaks coming out of uefa saying they were going to get banned, even before the investigation had been concluded. they say it has been concluded. they say it has been a flawed process. what they want is an impartial, independent body to carry out such financial checks, not have uefa be the judge, such financial checks, not have uefa be thejudge, thejuror and carry out the investigation as well. they are going to appeal this, first up go to the court of arbitration for sport. they say they are going to overturn this ruling by uefa. but you just know that this army of lawyers, the legal team that they are now going to throw at this, with all their might, for the future of this club, that is now so much more important in the coming months than any team they actually put on the pitch.

in afghanistan, a seven—day truce agreed by the us and the taliban is expected to take effect very soon. the us defence secretary, mark esper, says it should lead to a fall in violence and could lead to more far—reaching peace talks, as well as a staggered withdrawal of american troops. the deal was announced at a security conference in munich, and our chief international correspondent lyse doucet is there. well, we have known for days now that the afghan taliban in the united states are very close to a historic deal. but what we have heard here from a senior american official at the munich security conference is that they are very close to a deal, and that the first part of this agreement, which would involve a taliban commitment for a seven—day period of calm, being described as a reduction in violence, would start very soon. if the taliban keep their word, if it is a period of quiet, then there will be assigning, possibly in the gulf

state of qatar, of a deal which would involve taliban security guarantees in exchange for a phased united states troop withdrawal. after that is the third and really the most difficult and more important pa rt difficult and more important part of this process, and that is that talks among afghans will start about ending what is for afg ha ns nearly will start about ending what is for afghans nearly four decades, more than four decades, more than four decades, of war. let's get some of the day's other news: turkey has sent more armoured vehicles to idlib province in syria, where some of its forces have already clashed with syrian government troops. idlib is the last stronghold of rebels fighting the military of syria's president assad, which is supported by russian forces. the turkish and russian foreign ministers are expected to meet this weekend to discuss the situation. the un has warned that east africa could be on the verge of a famine if huge swarms of locusts are not brought under control. aerial spraying of pesticides is the most effective way of fighting the swarms. but countries in the region do not have the right resources, and it can harm other insects needed to help pollinate crops.

the prosecution in the trial of the hollywood movie producer harvey weinstein has finished its closing arguments. they told the jury in new york he had used his status and power to prey on and sexually abuse women. mr weinstein denies all charges, which include rape and sexual assault, and the case continues. the us department ofjustice has dropped its criminal investigation into the former fbi deputy director andrew mccabe without bringing any charges. mr mccabe was accused of lying about leaks to the media during an investigation into the clinton foundation. he has consistently denied the allegations. here is our washington correspondent gary o'donoghue. it's been going on for a couple of years, it's been going on for a couple of yea rs, really, it's been going on for a couple of years, really, and andrew mccabe, who has become someone the president has focused on substantially, because he was

at the fbi with the fbi decided to investigate potential links between the trump campaign in russia, the president has gone on the attack over mr mccabe on a regular basis, particularly as he appears on television nowadays as a pundit. now, he was fired by president trump's then attorney general just was fired by president trump's then attorney generaljust days before he was due to retire from the fbi, removing his pension rights, et cetera. and then there was this criminal investigation over him, and now it has been decided by the doj that they are not going to prosecute him. stay with us on bbc world news. still to come: a new exhibition explores how conflict has shaped contemporary culture, beginning with the gulf war 30 years ago. nine years and 50,000 deaths after going into afghanistan, the last soviet troops were

finally coming home. the withdrawal completed in good order, but the army did defeated in the task it had been sent to perform. malcolm has been murdered. that has a terrible effect on the morality of the people. i am terrified of the people. i am terrified of the people. i am terrified of the repercussions on the streets. one wonders who is next. is the airlift got under way, there was no let—up in the eruption itself. lover streams from an event low in the crater flow into the sea on the east of the island, away from the town for the time being, but could start flowing again at any time. the russians heralded any time. the russians heralded a new generation space station with a spectacular night launch. they called it mir, the russian for peace. this is bbc news, the latest headlines:

china defends its response to the spread of covid—i9 as people returning to beijing are ordered to put themselves in quarantine for 14 days. let's stay with that story — and look at what we know of how the virus has spread and how many people it has affected. here's our medical correspondent fergus walsh. the new coronavirus has been described as public enemy number one by the head of the world health organization but how much of a threat is covid—i9 locally as well as globally? the epidemic is still mostly limited to mainland china, over 63,000 cases. but those tracking the disease reckoned the true total is at least ten times that figure because the vast majority have such a mild disease, they don't need treatment. so, out of probably hundreds of thousands of cases, there have been almost moo deaths in mainland china. elsewhere, there have been

around 600 cases spread to another 2a countries. there have been just three deaths outside mainland china, in hong kong, japan and the philippines. cases with no link to china are concerning. singapore has the most. if the virus spreads out of control beyond china, that is when a global outbreak, a pandemic, would be inevitable. as we've heard, beijing revealed the scale of infections among doctors and nurses for the first time on friday. i've been speaking to jennifer nuzzo — a senior scholar atjohns hopkins center for health security. she told me why the gradual increase in numbers of cases is worrying. as case numbers continue to climb that does not give me much confidence that we are controlling it. one thing we have to know when we hear of these cases is that it is hard to discern from the numbers when the cases occurred. we

know china is in the process of including clinical diagnosis and not including laboratory diagnosis so there may be a previous backlog of cases newly discovered. it is hard to say that these are all new cases.|j understand you will testify to congress about the coronavirus and its spread. what are the key points you want to get across to lawmakers there in the us? i testified last week and one of the main points i made in my testimony was that this virus is moving very silently and quickly and it is very difficult to say that we will be able to keep the virus out of our country through the travel restriction and warranties implemented. i want lawmakers and government officials to take seriously the possibility and the likelihood that we are going to have global transmission in —— local transmission in the us and what

we will do to mitigate the impacts of the virus. as i see it, that means protect the people likely to become severely ill, elderly and those with underlying health conditions. but we cannot hang oui’ conditions. but we cannot hang our hat on a strategy ofjust hoping we can keep it out of the borders. it strikes me that the borders. it strikes me that the areas of latest concern where there are big gatherings of people. we have seen conferences in london where just one person has resulted in several hundred people needing to be checked and tested. same thing on cruise ships. what practically can be done? it is impossible to stop those big gatherings of people, isn't it? absolutely. and we do not have a sense of where in the world the viruses circulating. many people only —— medicaid trees only test in relation to travel from china. but not testing

everybody and knowing that potentially there are many mild infections out there mean it is difficult to know where the viruses circulating. so when you think about the measures to employ to stop its spread, it would be much easier if we did know where the virus was. you cannot just shut down know where the virus was. you cannotjust shut down all life for a year or so until we get a vaccine. we must go on. so i think that the most rational strategy is to focus on trying to find patients who are sick and when they are sick allowing them to stay home as long as they are well. that will require help from public health authorities so they can support those individuals and making sure that if they get worse they can get to hospital for ca re they can get to hospital for care and making sure we reserve hospitals to treat those who are most sick. ijust want

hospitals to treat those who are most sick. i just want to ask, those sound like measures for the authorities and health officials and governments. people who are watching this, wherever they are in the world, if they are worried, how can they best protect themselves from catching coronavirus? stay home if you don't feel well so you do not spread to others, particularly others who may not do so well with the virus, the elderly and those with underlying health conditions. washing hands is always important and covering your cough so you do not spread it to others. and, also, if people have not had a flu vaccine and it is still flu season, it would be helpful to be vaccinated. the more flu patients we keep out of the hospital system, the more beds there will be four coronavirus patient. we looked at how the us might be moving towards pulling its military out of afghanistan earlier in this bulletin — but now let's turn to another long—running conflict involving america — iraq.

the us military involvement there dates back three decades — and now it's become the subject of a controversial exhibition in the moma psone gallery in new york. it's called ‘theatre of operations' — and we went to take a look. the show was an historic exhibition. we wanted to look back at this period of 1991 to understand where we are today. it is really a time capsule to understand how artists were responding differently to events that were happening directly to them, events they we re directly to them, events they were watching on tv perhaps or reading about online. the condition of war and sanctions physically affected what artists were making and how they were working. this piece is memorialising the victims of a bomb shelter bombing. in 1991 us and coalition forces bombed

a civilian shelter in baghdad and all 400 and eight people who are seeking refuge inside we re who are seeking refuge inside were killed. so she is finding photographs of those victims and reproducing their likeness by burning pieces of canvas and collage in them together. not eve ryo ne collage in them together. not everyone who was killed in this bombing had a photograph so for those who are missing an image she is writing out their names ina she is writing out their names in a numerical system that speaks to the obstruction of these kinds of casualties. and there are also these brass plates she produced in arabic that says he has no picture, she has no picture and viewers can see their reflection in these plates. within the exhibition we were interested in how media representation is key and how these conflicts and not wars are framed. the gulf

war was the first war that was televised around the world. people were watching what was taking place. and with the satellite technology you had reporters live reporting what was happening as it was taking place. it changed the media landscape and it is something we ta ke landscape and it is something we take for granted today, that 24—hour news cycle. in 2003 when the iraqi war started this is the rise of digital technology. for our visitors it is important that we understand these events are not happening ina vacuum. these events are not happening in a vacuum. there are connections between them and to also understand the impact on human life, on culture and what impact on culture means for a society, for a country. how would it feel to have thousands of people milling

round your home, day in day out? la pedrera is an apartment block commissioned more than a century ago — and designed by the spanish architect gaudi, in barcelona. it's still home for a chosen few but they have to share the iconic building with around a million tourists a year, as the bbc‘s sergi forcada has been finding out. from outside and one of the major avenues in barcelona, la pedrera looks like many other tourist attractions with lines of visitors queueing to get in and taking pictures of the uneven stone facade designed by gaudl uneven stone facade designed by gaudi. most tourists are unaware they are about to enter a landmark if you call home. unaware they are about to enter a landmark if you call homelj did not know anyone was living here. i would not be comfortable living here was not maybe at night, but not during the day but at night it would be quiet, why not? one of the three remaining tenants is this

woman. she moved to la pedrera 30 years ago and it took her a while to get used to tourists. translation: at the beginning i was annoyed by having so many tourists at home, especially in the entrance. i had to elbow people to get in with my bags and my children. but now i feel accompanied by the security personnel, hostesses and tourists. the whole construction is a continuing curve and without straight walls it is difficult to place furniture. the building is also full of security cameras and smoke detectors and while anna feels very safe, she also feels controlled. translation: feels very safe, she also feels controlled. translatiosz feels very safe, she also feels controlled. translation: ifi think there is some —— if i burn a steak and there is more smoke than usual, security calls. there is no privacy. la pedrera was designed as a residential building, mainly for rented apartments. one century ago up to 120 people

live here but now there are only three tenants left which begs the question, what is the future for this building? translation: this is a big question. what will happen when the three of us are no longer here? for now, when people hear, flats are turned into offices. the owners of the landmark, a local cultural foundation, hope to keep residential tenants for a long time. but they admit may be used for business and cultural ends. in the meantime, the current tenants have no intention of moving out of this famous home. now there are sporting prodigies and then sporting prodigies. meet neo. two years old and absolutely loves ice hockey. he is from norway and was a natural on the rink. he is so crazy about the sport that he sleeps every night with his hockey stick and gloves. he

has been described as remarkable and is so precocious he trains with six —year—olds. that looks like my kind of move at the end there. thank you for watching. dennis is sending wind and rain towards us. messy weather at times this weekend and dangerous as well. a deep area of low pressure with the wind strengthening on saturday. several spells of heavy rain, particularly across parts of england and wales on saturated ground and even by the end of sunday it is still windy, the closing right at the centre of storm dennis. the met office has a number of warnings, amber for southern and western england in the rain, there will be some snowmelt as well. go online and get across those warnings, find out what they mean for where you are.

saturday for where you are. starts with dry weather saturday starts with dry weather around and outbreaks of rain to the south. it will turn wet quite quickly with rain pushing east as we go through the morning. in the afternoon eastern areas make elsie dry interludes and northern ireland may brighten a bit but there will be more heavy showers, more persistent rain heading through northern and western england and some spots on the south as well and into wales. all the time the wind strengthens inland with dust up to 60 mile an hour, sutherland posts could be up to 70 miles an hour. it is very mild but for mary of us that make many of us wet and windy. into sunday, clear spells and heavy showers for scotland and northern ireland but this area of heavy and may be torrential rains sit through these parts of england and wales and the rain is at its heaviest the wind will be gusty and squally and much of that during sunday will gradually move its way south. it will clear for some of us on sunday, it will brighten up behind the rain and

turned colder but look at the showers packing in for the north—west. hell, thunder, wintry on hills in scotland and again with very gusty and squally wind. again it will be windy on sunday with the wind easing when you see the back of the rain to the south but it could strengthen further and the day on sunday and tickly in scotland. there is an indication that behind the rain the temperature is dropping and it will feel colder. again, to reinforce the point that while for some of us at the end of sunday the wind believes, scotland, ireland, northern england, north—west wales they windy with further disruptive windy with further disruptive wind around first thing monday. the met office ample warnings for rain, as mentioned, within these areas you could see a month or more worth of rain in a short space of time. rain and snow melt in southern scotland, get across those warnings. even if you are staying in with your feet up all weekend, better to be in the know.

this is bbc news. the headlines: chinese authorites say they are not overeacting by ordering everybody returning to beijing after extended lunar new year holidays to quarantine themselves for two weeks. people who ignore the advice, a bid to combat the coronavirus, have been told they will be punished. manchester city football club says it will appeal against a two—year ban from the champions league for breaching uefa's financial fair play rules. the club has been banned from europe's biggest football competition from next season and is facing a fine of more than $30 million. and the us department ofjustice has dropped its investigation into a former deputy director of the fbi. andew mccabe, a top target of president trump, was suspected of lying about leaks to the media during an investigation into the clinton foundation. he denied all allegations.