hello and welcome to bbc news. i'm simon pusey. health officials in china have reported the total number of deaths from the coronavirus epidemic has now passed 1,600 — with 142 new deaths and more than 2,000 new cases confirmed. in france — an 80—year—old chinese tourist has died from the virus after visiting hubei province. it's the first fatality from the disease in europe. it comes as the head of the world health organization said that it's too early to know if the outbreak will become a global pandemic. nick bea ke reports from hong kong.

china has declared war on an invisible killer, sending more doctors and soldiers into the worst affected areas. now, the new coronavirus has claimed its first victim outside of asia. an elderly chinese man who travelled to france. translation: last night, iwas informed of the death of an eight—year—old patient who had been hospitalised since the 25th of january and who was suffering from a coronavirus long infection. back in china, all of those returning to the capital beijing after what has been an extended holiday have been an extended holiday have been told that they must quarantine themselves for two weeks. passengers of many nationalities are still stuck aboard the diamond princess of the coast of japan. 285 people have now tested positive for the virus on the ship. america says it will remove all of its citizens and fly them home.

there is no such escape from wuhan, the chinese city from where the outbreak began. for the rest of the world, we only have 500 cases and two deaths in china, there are more than 66,000 cases. let me be clear, it is impossible to read it which direction this epidemic will take. beijing claims its acted quickly and decisively to try and stop the spread but few are willing to predict what the global impact of this crisis will be. and for more details on the outbreak go to our website. you can find information on the spread of the disease, as well as in depth articles like this one, about how effective it is to wear a mask. just go to bbc.com/news to find all of that. at least eight football fans from ecuador have died after their bus plunged into a ravine in peru. they were on their way home from celebrating their clubs

qualifaction for the next stage of the copa libertadores — south america's biggest club tournament. aaron safir reports. a fall of 15 metres and a crash so a fall of 15 metres and a crash so violent it pulled the roof from this bus. at least a0 people were injured, the driver seems to have lost control in the early hours of the morning. translation: i was asleep at the time of the accident. i couldn't tell you what happened. ijust couldn't tell you what happened. i just felt the impact, the blow. it happened near this town notoriously dangerous stretch of the pan—american highway in northern peru. supporters of the ecuadorian team were salivating their teams qualification of the next date of the copa libertadores. dangerous curves, poor maintenance and scant enforcements make driving on peru's road is dangerous. they claim at nine lives a day according to the government. ecuador‘s president has

expressed his condolences and pledged help for the families of the victims whose loved ones are celebrations turns to tragedy. let's get some of the day's other news: the british television presenter, caroline flack, has been found dead at her home in london. a lawyer for her family said she had taken her own life. the a0—year—old had hosted one of the uk's top tv shows — love island. but in december, she stood down as the host of the show ahead of a trial for allegedly assaulting her partner. she denied the charge. police in paris have arrested a russian performance artist who posted a sex tape online which ended the election campaign of president macron's candidate for mayor of paris. petr pavlensky, who has previously set fire to a door at russia's state security headquarters, said he had wanted to expose what he said was benjamin griveaux's hypocrisy. the us secretary of state mike pompeo is in senegalfor talks with president macky sall about security ties and economic cooperation. his visit is taking place as the united states seeks to reduce its military

presence in africa. as we've been hearing the television presenter, caroline flack, host of some of the uk's biggest reality tv shows has been found dead at her home in east london. her family says she took her own life. ms flack who was a0, was on bail awaiting trial next month, accused of assaulting her partner, an allegation she denied. she fronted programmes that garnered many millions of viewers, including itv‘s the x factor and love island. she won strictly come dancing in 201a. here's our media correspondent, david sillito. it's the return of the flack! love island, x factor, i'm a celebrity, caroline flack was a presenter on some of the biggest programmes on british television. she was, until a few weeks ago, the face of love island — the glamorous, escapist fun. let's talk love. who's looking

for the real thing? but everything unravelled after she was arrested and charged with the assault of her boyfriend. in court in december it was clear that she was deeply distressed. today, she was found dead at her flat. her lawyer said she had ta ken her own life. friends and colleagues have spoken of their shock and heartbreak at the news. love island is a show that thrives on its impact on social media and tonight thousands were expressing their grief and sympathy. but her court appearance was proof enough that she was also facing intense scrutiny. both in the press and online. on its best days, social media is a very powerful tool for these presenters because they can effortlessly and immediately communicate with so many different fans and really bring their own personality to the fore. the problem is that on the bad days, that scrutiny and attention does not go away. it stays with them. the macdonut brothers! her tv career went back nearly 20 years.

this, tmi on children's bbc, and in 201a she won strictly come dancing. the night she won, elation. but she spoke afterwards of her struggles with depression and then came the assault charge. she was accused of hitting her boyfriend while he slept. he stood by her, but they weren't allowed to communicate before her forthcoming trial. she was also advised to stay off social media — but she did post this on instagram. she thanked those who had been kind to her and added: another post read simply: caroline flack — who has died at the age of a0. earlier my colleague martine croxall spoke to the tv critic scott bryan and to the entertainmentjournalist, caroline frost who said caroline flack was integral to the successful reboot of love island. she personified the charm, on that programme's best days,

it's about glamour and fun and romance and the promise of a glittering future. and she seemed to personify all of that, she seemed to be on the side of the contestants, she seemed to effortlessly handle the show and within the format of it, really make the contestants feel as though she was rooting for them. and as all presenters talk about it, it's much, much harder than it looks. it takes huge professionalism and a massive does of authenticity. i think it would have been very apparent if she was to have faked that kind of appeal. as scott has said, it wasn't a one—off. she'd in other shows, she won strictly come dancing in 201a, she was on the extra factor and then on the x factor and her career was on the rise and culminating now. she can almost single—handedly take a lot of the credit for that incredible reboot. love island, it can't be overestimated, the surprise hit factor of it. every other tv show in the demographic is falling

by the wayside, people going to youtube and other platforms. love island has kept that young, crucial audience in its millions tuning in year after year and i think if nothing else, her legacy will show that she really was up there with the very, very best of prime—time presenters. it's easy to dismiss programmes like that but if you've got the right programme with the right host, it can make all the difference. and you will soon be shown up if you're not really, if you don't have the skills or talent to cope. tv is a powerful medium with that authenticity, you are able to have a relationship as if that person is a friend or somebody close to them, even if it's through a different lens. and it's also the fact that they are able to really guide through people when being on tv is a difficult thing. i think we're going

to have a discussion, as we have had many times before, that even though someone taking their own life, there are many complex issues, what we will be having a discussion about is the care of people in the public eye who get scrutiny because of our personal lives, who have tabloid stories written about them, who have social media with instant reaction from the public on what they're saying and what they're doing. about what they are saying and what they are doing and i think people are going to be thinking very carefully about their own conduct and we are going to have a discussion in terms of reality tv shows and their role in their lives and i think this is an important discussion to have as well. that was scott brian and karen frost speaking a little earlier. and if you've been affected by any of the issues raised, information and support is available from bbc

action line, and there's the number for you. homes have been evacuated in the scottish borders, where rivers swollen by the weekend's storms are expected to cause extensive flooding. two people were rescued from a car which was swept off a road in newcastleton, when a river burst its banks. in west yorkshire, the army has been drafted in to shore up flood defences, with river levels expected to peak overnight. helena wilkinson reports. amongst the first evidence of damage by storm dennis was here in south wales. this village is where people's homes are under serious threat. a similar picture tonight in harberton in devon. dozens of flood warnings are still in place across the country as the rain continues to fall. in ilkley and calderdale in west yorkshire — areas still recovering from last week's storm — the army has been called in to strengthen the flood defences. there are a number of places where the local resilience authorities thought they had

a problem with the flood defences that are currently in place so we have been asked to support them by putting some more makeshift flood defences in in both places. some of the worst affected parts could see up to iao millimetres of rainfall and gusts of up to 80 miles an hour. certainly with the amount of rain that is forecast, 100mm or a month's worth of rainfall on top of what is incredibly saturated ground, we are worried about the risk and that's why we are warning people to take action and that's why we are doing the kind of things we're doing here. not far away, in hebden bridge, there's no respite from the persistent rain. the scottish environment protection agency has issued flood warnings and advice for residents here in dumfries and galloway plus elsewhere in the borders, south lanarkshire and south ayrshire. for many, the half term getaway has ended up with a lesson in travel disruption. easyjet have cancelled around 350 flights over the weekend. almost 100 from here at gatwick. at heathrow, 60 flights were grounded — most of them british airways.

and on the roads, driving conditions were tricky. tonight, there are amber warnings for rain for most of the country, meaning flooding could cause a danger to life. communities are waiting and hoping that their preparations will be enough to protect them. helena wilkinson, bbc news. our correspondent phil bodmer is in mytholmroyd in west yorkshire which took a heavy hit during storm ciara last week. tonight, the rain is falling and the rivers are still rising. this is the calder and you can see how quickly it's now moving. you maybe can see these big bags of ballast which have been brought into bolster the flood defences. earlier today we saw the arrival of about 100 soldiers from the north scots, they have been helping to install temporary flood barriers. they are being supported by around another 100 part—time soldiers from the yorkshire regiment who have been

dispersed between here, the calder valley, and up in ilkley, where there is great concern about the falling rain tonight. the environment agency say they are expecting peak river levels here on the calder in the early hours of this morning sometime between 2am and aam, but that rain is still coming down tonight stop in the meantime, people living all along this valley, all they can do is watch, wait and hope that we do not see a repeat of what we saw here last weekend. and for the latest information on storm dennis in your area, you can find out more, on your local bbc online pages, or, tune in, to your local radio station. this is bbc news, the headlines: china says deaths from the coronavirus epidemic have now passed 1,600. and in france an 80—year—old chinese tourist has become the first european covid—19 fatality. at least eight people have been killed, after a bus carrying

football fans from ecuador plunges into a ravine in peru. now, canada has hosted a meeting at the munich security conference along with the four other countries, which lost citizens when iran's military shot down a ukrainian passenger plane five weeks ago, killing all 176 people on board. canada is pushing iran to release the black boxes from the crash so their data can be properly analysed by facilities in france. our chief international correspondent lyse doucet sat down with the canadian foreign minister after the meeting in munich and asked him whether any progress had been made. after 30 days of trying, you have to come to the conclusion that you need to look at another alternative. and we know at that point that the french have offered that they have the latest technology, they have the expertise, to read the content of the black box, to download the content, and to do that in a transparent fashion. but would you consider iran's request from the foreign minister, saying, give us the technical support

to examine the black boxes in iran? couldn't you do that? well, the experts have spoken. the experts have said it's not the type of equipment you can transport. it looks more like a lab. for those who are watching at home. it is not like a piece of equipment you can put in your luggage. it's the software and the hardware you need to have to do that, especially when the black boxes have been damaged. so what we are saying is we saw that you requested that, the answer has come back to say that on the equipment side there's no way that we can send that in iran. so the only remaining alternative is to send it to a third country which would be in this case france, which has offered to assist, because i think france understands the international community has a lot of questions. and i always say that the best antidote to conspiracy is transparency. have you made any other progress here on the other big issue, which is compensation? you say, many say, that 57 of the passengers out

of 176 were canadian. iran says they were iranians. they of course have the two passports. so the compensation you are asking for, iran says, they cannot accept. is this something where a compromise can be found? are you finding it? well, what we have hopefully established by now is that the compensation to be paid to the heirs of the victims will be the same to everyone. and we also said that this process of negotiation, of a global settlement, should start quickly. i remember meeting this young girl who lost both parents, i mean, this is a tragedy. you know, let me bring it back to, for canada, this has been a national tragedy. families have lost their loved ones. i was there with prime minister trudeau, we went to meet families, grieving families, who said, stand up for us. stand up to the regime. make sure that they‘ re accountable. we want closure, we want

accountability, we want justice, we want transparency. that's what animates me every time i meet them. and that is why prime minister trudeau said he went to attend the meeting you had with the foreign minister of iran, even though it was at a foreign minister level. but some of the families are expressing concern about the look of that, the photos of a smiling encounter, holding hands, was that a mistake? well, the prime minister came with one purpose. it was to make sure that the iranian counterpart understood how serious the issue was. not only for the grieving families in canada, not only for the government of canada, but i think for the world. i think having a prime minister come into the room and state that, it just reinforced the message. that was the canadian foreign minister speaking to lyse doucet earlier. the venezuelan government says huge numbers of soldiers and civilians have begun a two—day military drill to prepare for what it describes as the threat of invasion by us—led forces. the opposition leader,

juan guaido, dismissed the manoeuvres as a propaganda exercise by a dictatorship. earlier the bbc‘s americas editor, leonardo rocha, explained why president maduro had decided to hold the military exercises now. he is, in a way, making a statement and giving — sending out a message to the united states that the venezuelan people, or at least more than 2 million people who are part of this militia who support him, are prepared for anything. his advisers — his military advisors are cuban, many of them trained in cuba and they learned from the cuban example. if you arm the population, if you have well—organised neighbourhood committees, anyone that tries to get into venezuelan knows that there'll be a bloodbath. so he's pitching himself and the people against america? against america and now — i mean, there are — the two big neighbours of venezuela.

colombia and brazil have hostile governments. jair bolsonaro in brazil and ivan duque, right—wing governments, which is one of the reasons of why these exercises — nicolas maduro said those two countries are harbouring terrorist groups, they are training on their territory to prepare a possible invasion if things — if the opportunity‘s ripe. they might launch attacks and invade venezuela. so his strategy at the moment is to align a nationalistic hope and get that up against what he would say are his enemies in surrounding countries? yes. we have to bear in mind the fact that venezuela has the highest inflation in the world. violence, more than almost 5 million venezuelans have left the country in the last few years. so, the economy is in a mess. the political situation is in a stalemate, you have a very difficult situation. and what the opposition says is he's creating a diversion. you create the threat of

an enemy, while nicolas maduro says the empire — american empire is trying to invade venezuela, it has the biggest known oil reserves in the world. so there is all that playing on his side. in the meantime he is hoping the economy will recover. it has recovered somehow, so he could gain the confidence of the majority of venezuelans. what is juan guaido's strategy here? this time last year he was big news every day in terms of would he be taking the presidency, but he seems to have pushed back. he seems to have lost the momentum. his strategy is to keep pushing and be there if the opportunity comes. if the government deteriorates he's there, but he's lost the momentum somehow. it's been one year since the us recognised him as the legitimate leader of venezuela but nothing has happened in real terms since then.

a british asian singer on youtube is warning her audience of the risk of heart disease to young people. this singer has not stuck millions of years on youtube including his latest video dedicated to his wife ofjust six months. that's the first timei six months. that's the first time i had been able to put my feelings onto paper about after a yearand a feelings onto paper about after a year and a half. especially about dealing with things. writing it down in a song. the first time i had seen him was in the video, and really after that it was quite painful.

natasha passed away after a sudden cardiac arrest in september, 2018. he just collapsed, frankly she just collapsed, frankly she just collapsed and i called mark 999 and did cpr for a long time. that was a harrowing process but that was it. she was declared dead on the spot. for the first time since his wife's depth, arjun has agreed to have a hard check—up. every week, over 12 young people under 35 in the uk die from heart —related conditions. in 80% of cases, there are no prior symptoms. and on what should have been his second wedding anniversary, is organising a concert with a host of stars in memory of his late wife. he is hoping the show will raise money for the charity cry — cardiac arrest in the young.

the duchess of cambridge has been speaking about one of the most personal moments of her life — dealing with the birth of herfirst child. appearing on the ‘happy mum, happy ba by‘ podcast, she talks about the pregnancy and the crippling morning sickness that forced her into hospital. here's our royal correspondent, daniela relph. the podcast was recorded during a visit to this south london nursery. improving the lives of families with young children is now the priority for the duchess of cambridge and dominates her royal work. with podcast host giovanna fletcher, the duchess spoke personally about everything from the value of her own stable upbringing to the guilt that can come with motherhood. here leaving hospital after being admitted with severe morning sickness while pregnant with prince george, she also described the terrible strain of the condition. lots of people have it far worse but it was definitely a challenge, notjust for me but also for your loved ones around you and william did not feel he could do much to help and it is hard for everyone to see suffering without actually

being able to do anything about it. catherine revealed she used hypno—birthing — a breathing and relaxation technique — when pregnant. and she was asked about that very public hospital departure. it was slightly terrifying, i'm not going to lie! and actually, for us to be able to share thatjoy and appreciation with the public, ifelt, was really important. but equally, it was coupled with a newborn baby and sort of inexperienced parents and the uncertainty about what that held. these insights tie in with the duchess' campaign to get more help earlierfor vulnerable families. she said billions of pounds were spent fixing the problems in later life — a cost she described as crazy. daniela relph, bbc news. time now the weather with chris fawkes. hello. storm dennis continues to batter britain. looking back at saturday, well, it was windy everywhere,

wasn't it? but the strongest gust of wind was at aberdare in the llyn peninsula, 91mph gusts recorded here, and we've seen lots of rain as well, but the rain has been causing problems particularly across parts of northern england, wales, the west midlands and south—west england. now, there are lots of flood warnings in force and the number of flood warnings continues to rise hour by hour. and with more heavy rain in the forecast, that's clearly not a good thing. now, looking at the satellite picture, this is storm dennis. the centre actually near iceland. but it's this trailing weather front stretching for thousands of miles out into the atlantic that's causing the problems. because the winds are blowing parallel and the front rather than across is and what that means is the front gets stuck and what that means is we've got a lot more heavy rain to come as we head into the first part of sunday. now, some of the heaviest falls of rain will be across wales, the west midlands and south—west england. if anything, the rain much heavier than we saw on saturday

for example, and there will be some heavy falls as well in northern england at times. given that we already have a number of flood warnings out in force, things could get really quite nasty for a time here as we head into the first part of sunday morning. cooler air across the north—west with blustery showers. now, looking at the weather picture through the rest of sunday, our weather front tracks its way towards the south—east. now, there is a risk that this front could be slower to clear southern and eastern areas of england. in other words, still could be quite a bit of rain left over even into the afternoon here but it's going to be a windy day everywhere. gusts inland, 50, 60mph. 70 around some of our coasts, and those winds still strong enough to bring down an odd tree or two. so there is the risk of transport disruption whether from the flooding rain or those very powerful gusts of wind. showers continue to feed in across the north and western. and as we go on into sunday night, if anything, the winds will get stronger for a time as the centre of dennis passes close to the north of scotland. so the winds picking up could cause problems here for transport as we head into monday morning for

scotland. as we head through the rest of monday, it's a day broadly speaking of sunny spells and showers. and the winds will continue to make it feel quite chilly across these northern areas. beyond that, it stays unsettled for the rest of the week ahead. rain or showers in the forecast for most of us and it will stay quite windy but the most of us it will say on the mild side. temperatures up to 1a degrees for london next weekend. that's your weather.

this is bbc news, the headlines: health officials in china say the total number of deaths from the coronavirus epidemic has now passed 1,600 — with 139 new deaths and more than 1,800 new cases confirmed. in france — an 80 year old chinese tourist has died — the first covid—19 fatality in europe.

the british tv presenter, caroline flack, has been found dead at her london flat. the a0—year—old had been due to stand trial next month for assault — an allegation she denied. her family say she took her own life. flack stood down from the dating show love island after being charged. much of western europe is being battered by a storm front that's causing severe travel disruption. in britain, winds have been gusting at up to 120 kmph. in the north of england, troops have been deployed in villages under the threat of flooding. now on bbc news: dateline london