this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk, on pbs in america or around the globe. i'm simon pusey. our top stories: two planes carrying hundreds of american passengers from the quarantined cruise ship diamond princess have departed for the us — those on board will face another quarantine once they land. hundreds of flood alerts remain in place across the uk with residential streets turned into rivers — as the second major storm in a week batters britain. at least 1a people killed and more than 30 injured in a road accident in the drc capital kinshasa. and forgiving the man who killed your father — indonesia's radical approach to preventing terrorism.

hundreds of american passengers who've been quarantined off japan on a cruise ship that's been hit by an outbreak of the new coronavirus are on their way home. two planes chartered by the us government are taking them to american air bases where they will stay for a further two weeks. 355 cases of the disease on the diamond princess have been confirmed in the past two weeks, accounting for more than half the total outside china. chinese officials say the number of new cases and deaths in hubei province — the centre of the outbreak — has once again fallen. from yokohama, rupert wingfield—hayes reports. announcer: only those american guests who are disembarking the diamond princess tonight... for the americans at least, this is the moment that for many could not come soon enough. on the dockside, the buses

lining up ready to take them to tokyo airport and an evacuation flight home. 355 passengers aboard the diamond princess have now been diagnosed with the new coronavirus. in the last two days, there's been a steady stream of ambulances removing them from the giant ship. 70 cases today alone. when i got through to american gay courter in her cabin, she was busy packing, more than eager to get off the ship. i do not feel safe on this ship. i don't know how more of us who've been sitting here for 12 days are getting contaminated, but something is going wrong. this is a failed quarantine. but i think we have figured that out in the first few days when the numbers kept rising. it is very clear from the statement that the us government has made that it is worried the quarantine on board the ship is not working, and that its citizens are in danger, and that's why it has decided to take them off. several other governments have now followed, including canada, hong kong and taiwan.

at tokyo's haneda airport tonight, the us charter plane's touched down. the american evacuees now face a gruelling flight and another quarantine. but those we spoke to say they prefer that to spending another day on a ship where they do not feel safe. rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news, in yokohama. so let's have a look at the number of new cases and deaths of coronavirus in mainland china, updated in the last few hours. there are 2,000 new cases and 105 people have died — that figure represents a decrease on the day before. the total number of cases is now over 70,000, with 1,700 deaths. dr amesh adalja is a senior scholar at thejohns hopkins university center for health security. he told us that quarantine is not the best way to fight the coronavirus.

we know that cruise ships are really hotbeds for the spread of viruses, and this was unnecessary and almost a political stunt that endangered people and created more panic than it needed to. if quarantine wasn't the correct thing to do, what do you think should have happened on that ship? they should have let the passengers disembark and medically screen them and allow those who needed medical attention to get it and others to be isolated at home and have proper instructions on what to do if they develop symptoms. this was completely unnecessary. what should have happened in that circumstance then? really what i said, allow the passengers to come off, screen them, medically screen, them and if they're sick they can get medical attention, if not, let them go home and self—isolate and give them instructions for what to do. this is not what we would recommend from a public health standpoint. would you say quarantining is ever the right thing to do or is that the danger, like has happened on this ship, it could spread

faster as a result? quarantine is always the last resort, and when you're quarantining you don't want it to spread and defeat the purpose of the quarantine amongst themselves. when we see quarantines, the time you use them is when someone is posing a threat to public health, like typhoid mary in the 1900s in new york city. that's when you use quarantine. you don't need to use it on people with the community spreading respiratory virus, it's already in two dozen countries and isn't going to be containable. this was not some thing that would have been expected to work and in hindsight people are going to how ill thought out this was. if we talk about off the ship, was the virus ever containable in china and what should've happened when it was first discovered? it's never been containable. this is a respiratory virus that has efficient community spread, that's not something you can expect to contain. it has spread for weeks in china before anyone knew about it, since at least november. it is likely mixed in with the cold and flu season in many countries because most of the cases are mild and not

recognised, so this isn't containable and we need to move from containment mentalities to mitigation because we are wasting time and resources on containment. and for more details on the outbreak, go to our website. you can find information on the spread of the disease. just go to bbc.com/news to find all of that. the uk has been battered by storm dennis, with heavy rainfall and high winds leading to major incidents being declared by emergency services in south wales and in parts of england. in the last few hours, authorities have increased the number of regions at severe risk of flooding, which means their is a danger to life in eight areas across the country. in total, there are more than 600 warnings in place. in a moment, we'll hear from our correspondent jon kay of a rescue in tenbury wells in worcestershire, but first tomos morgan reports from pontypridd in the south wales valleys. residents will never have witnessed anything like this. their road turned river, cars submerged, as storm dennis poured. carolyn has lived here for years.

she was rescued alongside her 96—year—old father, whose birthday it is today. the only thing i've managed to save is his his medals from the war. ruined, everything, i've lost everything. i've got a photo here now. at the time, ijust grabbed every towel, blanket i could find and pushed up against the front door, just thinking it was going to come in through the front door because we'd already got sandbags there, because sometimes the floods a small amount with the drains. but as we were trying to block the front door, it was all pouring through the back door as well and there was nothing could do. here in nantgarw, just north of cardiff, over 100 homes have been ruined by the rain.

rescue services have been here since 5am, taking residents from their home to safety, after storm dennis wreaks havoc across south wales. after the met office issued its highest red warning for rain this morning, it was clear the welsh valleys would suffer. at around lunchtime, a major incident was declared here. by then, though, pontypridd high street had already been underwater for several hours. across south wales, other communities, like crickhowell near brecon, have also needed the emergency services to help them to safety. the residents of aberdulais near neath were evacuated in the early hours as the river neath burst its banks. as the day wore on, water levels began to subside and some wanted to take stock of what's now a disaster site. louise bedgood's hair salon was the end terrace of this wrecked street. all her hard work and her

livelihood now ruined. i've been here six years now, and i've loved every minute of being here. and obviously you can see the devastation at the moment. you can see on the walls here how high it must have been at one stage. this is the beauty room now. all gone, you know? a lot of hard work. there's nothing salvageable here, is there? there's nothing. we're going to have to get rid of everything. further weather warnings remain in place for wind and rain until tomorrow. last week, ciara bruised the country. this week, dennis has battered south wales. tomos morgan, bbc news, in the south wales valleys. a race against time in tenbury wells tonight. the water, still rising. the river teme has burst its banks. one by one, rescue boats bringing people

from their flooded homes. it's going underwater slowly. the kitchen, the living room, so... but we got the three dogs out. that's all that matters. it's shocking, never seen it this high up before. never like this? nope, never this bad. being carried by the fireman was rather inelegant! but anyway, i'm very thankful to them for collecting me. carol thought her house would be safe, but tonight she's one of more than 100 evacuee in this worcestershire market town. our house is flooded completely up there. must be terrifying to see. absolutely, yeah. i don't like water at all. and i'm not very good with my balance because of arthritis. yeah, it was a bit scary. what state is the house in? terrible. wrecked, really. how long have you lived here? 11 years.

ever seen anything this bad? no, never, no. i don't want to see it again. it's very upsetting. these rescue teams are going to be working through the night, going down the streets, from house—to—house, trying to find if anybody is still trapped inside. from the river clyde in glasgow to the far south—west of england, dennis has been an unwelcome weekend guest in almost every part of the uk. vast areas overwhelmed by huge quantities of rainfall. we are doing more and more than ever before in terms of investing in flood defences, protecting more homes than we have been able to before but we are seeing a higher frequency of these sorts of freak weather events. absolutely terrifying. we could lose everything. butjules in tenbury wells says communities like hers need more protection. they could have put nonreturn valves on the drains, to stop that. they could have built flood defences down there. they haven't done anything. the government say they are doing more than has ever been done.

i think they are in big conurbations, but not little towns like this. we are last on the list of priorities, aren't we? one more rescue. this time, this family. including 16—year—old winston. it's quite scary. just thinking you're going to fall off or something. they were carrying you tight, right? yes, 0k. you felt safe? yeah. tonight, they're on their way to an emergency shelter and tenbury wells is pretty much cut off. jon kay, bbc news, worcestershire. susan fraser lives in nantgarw in south wales. the village and susan's home have both been badly affected by the floods. she says the local authorities gave them no notice. we had no warning at all. there was no warning whatsoever.

my mum, she lives in the same street as myself, and she'd gone to bed about 2am and it was about 3:30am, 3:45am, when she phoned me to say that the street had been flooded. it was within those couple of hours that it had dramatically changed. i phoned the floodline, we had no warning from them. there was no text updates or anything to say to do anything. there was just no warning at all. it's obviously a devastating time for you. obviously very important that you're 0k. how has the community, sort of, rallied round? are people sticking together through this? ah, the community's been absolutely amazing. big thankyou to the emergency services for helping out the elderly and more vulnerable people. they came out with their dinghies and took them to local places. taffs well rugby club, big, you know, cheer to them. they opened up, laid on teas, coffees. they've also been collecting for people in the area. also as well taffs well the community centre. and i believe some people

are also taken to llanishen leisure centre as well. messages from friends — even people who don't seem to have nothing to do with us, they've also offered their services. there's people offering to come and lay carpets down if you need them. so the whole community — not just our community, but extended as well within rct. they've been absolutely amazing. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: how one english town is attempting to break down barriers between its white and asian communities. nine years and 15,000 deaths after going into afghanistan, the last soviet troops were finally coming home. the withdrawal completed in good order, but the army defeated in the task it had been sent to perform. malcolm has been murdered. that has a terrible effect on the morale of the people.

i'm terrified of the repercussions on the streets. one wonders who is next. as the airlift got under way, there was no let—up in the eruption itself. lava streams from a vent 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 their new—generation space station with a spectacular night launch. they called it mir, the russian for peace. this is bbc world news, the latest headlines: 400 americans who were quarantined on the diamond princess cruise ship have leftjapan on two charter planes bound for the us.

hundreds of flood warnings remain in place across the uk, following heavy rain caused by storm dennis over the weekend. a road accident in the democratic republic of congo has killed at least 1a people and injured more than 30 others. the multi—vehicle pile—up occured on a busy road in the region's capital kinshasa. hospital staff say many of the victims are young children and fear the death toll could rise. freya cole has this report, and a warning, some viewers might find these pictures distressing. this is the aftermath of what has been described as a terrifying crash. witnesses say the driver was flashing his lights, prior to impact, trying to warn those in his path. translation: this accident was caused by the driver of a truck that had no brakes. he hit several buses. so many people died. i can't believe it. the lorry driver had been transporting large stones, when he lost control of the vehicle. he slammed into several

cars in front of him, causing a pileup in the busy thoroughfare. many people either in vehicles or pedestrians were killed or seriously injured. they were taken to a nearby medical clinic, where relatives were told the devastating news. this hospital worker says some of the victims were young children. according to the world health organization, africa has the highest rate of road traffic deaths globally and many countries, including the democratic republic of congo, are in need of stronger law enforcement. translation: we need to have better control of the road network, because there are too many road accidents. so first of all, i recommend those in charge of road traffic to do theirjobs properly. for now, though, families are forced to come to terms with their loss, and the wounded face a lengthy and painful recovery. freya cole, bbc news.

let's get some of the day's other news: more than a thousand former justice department officials in the united states are calling for attorney general william barr to resign. they're accusing him of interfering in the sentencing of president trump's friend and ally roger stone who was convicted last year of lying to congress. mr trump criticised the recommendation as ‘horrible and very unfair‘. the first step of a partial truce between the afghan taliban and the united states could start as soon as this week. talks on the deal, which would begin with a seven—day reduction in violence, have been taking place at the munich security conference in germany. the uk's biggest airport, heathrow, has apologised for disruption to flights — after a computer breakdown meant flight information boards and check in terminals unable to function. staff used whiteboards with handwritten details — one passenger said it had created ‘utter chaos'. the airport says the issue is now resolved. in 2002, more than 200 people from around the world

were killed in bombings on the holiday island of bali. the string of attacks was carried out by a local militant group with links to al-qaeda. in an attempt to stop future attacks, indonesia has taken a radical approach that includes making bombers meet their victims. the bbc‘s rebecca henschke gained rare access to witness one such meeting. garil‘s father was a taxi driver, waiting here, in the heart of bali's tourist district, when the huge bombs exploded. this, his car afterwards. now, with his mother, he is about to meet

one of the men responsible for killing his dad. ali imron is serving a life sentence. his brothers were executed for the bali bombings.

they talk for over an hour and something extraordinary happens.

hundreds of people in lebanon have been rushing to buy plane tickets after several major airlines said they would only accept payment in us dollars. the change will be imposed from monday and includes the state—owned carrier middle east airlines. lebanon is in the middle of a financial crisis. almost two years ago, blackburn in the north of england was selected for a social cohesion pilot by the government, to try to break down ethnic and religious divisions. now, there are signs that different communities are starting to come together. as part of a new bbc season, crossing divides, our home editor mark easton has this report from blackburn.

blackburn's white british and muslim asian communities are said to live parallel lives. neighbourhoods, schools and workplaces are deeply segregated here. but with government backing, blackburn has been testing ideas to reduce racial tensions and form friendships across the traditions. did you watch the documentary? arts 2 heal mixes paint and paper and passion to emphasise what unites rather than divides. shared feelings, common humanity. we have had so many people getting involved from so many different communities, and it is so relatable, and creativity is a fantastic tool to bring people together. the council is exploring the idea of new bus routes to encourage more mixing between white and asian communities, working class neighbourhoods which share the struggle to make ends meet in a deprived town. blackburn was once regarded as a northern powerhouse. but the end of the cotton mills and the long decline of the local economy opened up some community divides. now, government promises to revive

england's northern powerhouse are seen as key to preventing the social fabric from tearing still further. i've not seen you for ages. i know! chloe and shabnam represent a story of hope. local blackburn girl meets afghan asylum seeker and become best friends. you look very sweet. they met training to be community ambassadors, with an inspiring commitment to bring their town together. me and shab, we are a similar age, we have a lot of common interests, so, literally, when she came along, we kind of clicked. yeah, we talk on social media and, yeah, we go for nando's! the challenge is significant. far right groups have been active in blackburn. this club, though, uses martial arts to fight prejudice. not one of these people on here, on social media, will put anything extreme. if they are from a certain background, they won't share

any of tommy robinson's stuff, because they've got to come and train with them on a monday. i was excluded for being aggressively racist and violent to two young muslim lads. like, the majority of my best mates are now muslim lads. you don't really mix where i'm from, and coming here, everyone's altogether and everyone is mixed and that is the nice thing about it. what do you reckon to him? he's a good lad. and what do you reckon to him? he's a good lad, he is a good mate of mine now. there is no easy win, but perhaps this once great mill town can take the strands of different traditions and weave them together to create a strong and durable future. mark easton, bbc news, blackburn. you can get more news on our top stories, including the coronavirus and the latest on the weather in the uk and the weather warnings in place, all on our website. from me and the

rest of the team, thank you for watching and stay tuned. hello there. the very heavy rain that storm dennis brought us, over a months worth across the hills of southern wales, well, that's left some very nasty flooding conditions. we still have four severe flood warnings in force along stretches of the river teme between ludlow, in shropshire, and eardiston, in worcestershire. it was only thanks to these temporary flood defences, put up by the environment agency, that these properties in bewdley stayed away from the floodwaters. the river severn just about being held back. and talking of flood warnings, we have over 300 flood warnings still in force across the uk. and for some communities, the flooding will get worse before it gets better, as all of those flood waters slowly work down the river catchments. and talking of rain, well, we've got more of that to come over the next few hours, particularly so in scotland, as storm dennis passes quite close to the north. it is also going to become very

windy here for a time. mind you, it's not the only place that will see strong winds — around the irish sea coast and the coast of southern england, we could get gusts of 60 or 70 miles an hourfora time. so a blowy, blustery start to the day on monday. a day of sunshine and showers. the showers always most frequent across north—western areas, where they'll come along with hail and thunder. but it's a day where no—one is immune from seeing an odd heavy downpour. temperatures 8—11, feeling colder than that, giving the strength of the wind. now, for the rest of the week, areas of low pressure will be pinned across the atlantic so we we'll get cool days, and then the weather turns a bit milder, then a bit cooler, then a bit milder. all the while, it's gonig to stay quite windy, and pretty unsettled as well. now, here's tuesday's weather forecast. we've got a trough, this line of rain, pushing eastwards across the country. that will mean that we'll have some pretty heavy downpours with the risk of thunder. and as that clears, colder air follows. so for scotland, northern ireland and northern england, it's going to start to get colder — temperatures around 6 or 7 degrees. and over the hills of scotland, we'll see some of the showers

following turn to snow. now, the winds finally calm down for a time tuesday night, as this ridge of high pressure builds in. that is ahead of this next weather system that's coming through for wednesday. wednesday then, starting off on a quiet note, with bright or sunny spells, particularly across eastern areas. it then clouds over in the west, with more rain on the way. the rain getting into northern ireland, western parts of scotland and england, wales as well. temperatures, they should be rising through the day and probably rising through the night across western areas, by a few degrees, as that milder air continues to push in. that's wednesday's forecast. the rest of the week — thursday further showers, turning a bit cooler. friday, more outbreaks of rain are on the way and it will get windier with gales or even severe gales. but for the next day or two, flooding is our major concern.

this is bbc news, the headlines:

hundreds of american passengers who've been quarantined offjapan on a cruise ship that's been hit by an outbreak of the new coronavirus are on their way home. two planes chartered by the us government are taking them to american air bases where they will stay for a further two weeks. more than 700 flood warnings and alerts remain in place across the uk, following storm dennis. eight are in the most severe category, meaning there's a danger to life. parts of wales had more than a months worth of rain in 48 hours causing major flooding and landslides. a road accident in the drc‘s capital kinshasa has killed at least 1a people and injured more than 30 others. hospital staff say many of the victims are young children and fear the death toll could rise.