this is the briefing. i'm ben bland. our top story: 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. and tougher measures are imposed in hubei province as the number of people now infected with the coronavirus in china passes 70,000. eight severe flood warning remain in place as storm dennis continues to batter parts of the uk. france's controversial new pensions bill comes before parliament today. but will it get the go—ahead or lead to more strikes? trying to tax the tech titans: large technology companies have long avoided paying

high levels of tax. we look at the latest efforts to get them to pay more. a warm welcome to the programme, briefing you on all you need to know in global news, business and sport. today, the chief executive of the airline delta says ask the person behind you before reclining your seat on a plane. it's after a video of an angry passenger sparked up the debate. where do you stand — or sit — on the issue? tell us what you think. just use the hashtag #bbcthebriefing. it's now been almost 50 days since the new coronavirus was first reported in china,

and still the world is scrambling to stop the spread of the disease and create a vaccine. the number of new cases is in decline. but public health experts have told the bbc that the heavy focus on quarantine isn't necessarily the best way to tackle the outbreak. freya cole reports. these pictures released by the chinese state media show a sparkling clean hospital floor with neatly prepared beds lined with neatly prepared beds lined with perfect precision for victims of the new coronavirus. but this unverified video shared on social media paints a very different picture. the person who posted it says this is the situation in the emergency department of hw bay provincial peoples hospital on sunday afternoon. the hospital is in wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak. it is cramped and overcrowded. the chinese

communist party has insisted it is managing to curb the outbreak. strict travel bands are enforced, especially in the hubei province. citizens are ordered to stay at home unless there is an emergency. some public health experts say warren teen isn't the only answer. this is a respiratory virus that has sufficient community spread. that is not something that you can actually expect to be contained. it is spread for probably we send china before anybody knew about it, at least since november. it is likely mixed in with the cold and flu season in many different countries because most of the cases are mild and not recognised, so i don't think it is something that is containable and we really need to move from containment mentalities to mitigation because we are wasting time and resources on containment. at an airport injapan, resources on containment. at an airport in japan, these resources on containment. at an airport injapan, these workers fitted in full protective gear away 400 americans who have been on board the contaminated diamond princess cruise ship. the holidaymakers are finally

on their way home after being confined to their cabins during a mandatory but controversial quarantine period. cruise ships are quarantine period. cruise ships a re really hot quarantine period. cruise ships are really hot beds for the spread of viruses and this was unnecessary, almost a political sta nce unnecessary, almost a political stance that endangered people and created more panic that it needed to. the latest official figures reveal there has been a decline in new cases, but the numbers are still high. more than 70,000 cases worldwide. scientists are working furiously to create a vaccine, but until then, it remains a volatile global health situation. let's get the very latest now from our correspondent in hong kong. joining me now is nick beake in hong kong. bring us up—to—date with where things are following the weekend. yes, i think that is very much the picture. we heard their that there have been more cases, more deaths, but the picture seemed to be one that

shows a gradualfalling of picture seemed to be one that shows a gradual falling of the number of cases. 0utside shows a gradual falling of the number of cases. outside of hubei province, the epicentre, it isa hubei province, the epicentre, it is a much better press —— picture. the number of cases have declined. that report with author up a number of questions about how do you best deal with this? in mainland china the authorities there have said that 58 million people in hubei province have to lock themselves away, and so their reality is that every three days just one member of the family can go out and buy some food. but that is basically the only time you are allowed out. in terms of the other shops, apart from places where you can pick up food and medicine, they are all shut, and the use of private cars has also been banned. very drastic measures. the chinese authorities are hoping this sort of thing will help stop this coronavirus spreading any further. many thanks indeed. something i didn't have time to ask nick.

looking to fill you in on this as well. armed robbers have stolen hundreds of toilet rolls in hong kong as panic buying caused by the coronavirus is creating shortages. police said a truck driver was held up early on monday by three men outside a supermarket in the moan kok district who took toilet paper worth hundreds of dollars. toilet rolls have become hot property and supermarkets have found themselves unable to restock quickly enough, leading to queues and shelves stripped bare within moments of opening. more than 270 flood warnings are in place around the uk after storm dennis brought torrential rain to many areas. hundreds of people have been rescued from their homes in worcestershire and shropshire. the historic city of york is expecting to see its highest river level in two decades. graham satchell reports. a helicopter hovers over the welsh town. from on—board, you can see the coastguard getting ready to rescue people trapped

ina caravan. ready to rescue people trapped in a caravan. it was a weekend of devastating floods emergency rescues. near cardiff, the river burst its banks. it left ca i’s river burst its banks. it left cars submerged. more than 100 homes were flooded. the fire service may journey homes were flooded. the fire service mayjourney after journey, bringing out families with young children and the more elderly on stretchers. make some space. my dad who is 96, this is his birthdate today, the only thing they have managed to save his metals from the war. within two or three minutes itjust filled the war. within two or three minutes it just filled the house. what is the state of the house. what is the state of the house currently downstairs? totally absolutely wrecked, ruined. everything, they have lost everything. it isjust marred. pleasure out of the inside of her home here. she had three feet of water in the front room. claire does have flood defences but more than a month wasn't worth of rain has

fallen in south wales in just 48 hours. it did stop the water but then the water came over the top. the gate did stop us, but then it came over the top and over the top of the wall. storm dennis battered the whole country all weekend. this is glasgow and the river clyde. womack! this was a dramatic landslide —— whoa! car slowly start to drift away, lifted by the power of the water. newcastleton in the scottish border, the cleaner appeal now well under way. 40 people were forced from their homes. it was biblical the amount of water through here, tragic. it worcestershire, a late—night rescue, again, families evacuated as the river burst its banks. it is going

underwater slowly, the kitchen, living room, so... but we got the three dogs out. that is all that matters. back in wales, is there a thought for the landlord of this in. stuart macbrayne only took the pub overin macbrayne only took the pub over in october. it can't be good, no, but! over in october. it can't be good, no, but i will keep my head up, keep my chin up and paddled forward as they say, andi paddled forward as they say, and i will be here for the summer and i will be here for the summerandi and i will be here for the summer and i will be open for the summer. it is not going to beat me. it will be a day of cleaning up, and in some parts of the country, nervously watching rivers as they continue to rise. let's brief you on some of the other stories making the news. lebanon's national airline has scrapped a decision to accept payment only in us dollars from monday. middle east airlines said the reversal was made at the request of the new prime minister. the initial announcement on sunday had sparked widespread anger. many lebanese had rushed

to buy plane tickets in the local currency. heathrow airport has apologised after technical issues caused flight cancellations and delays. a failure in the airport's it system affected check—in services earlier and caused information boards to stop working. staff had to write flight information on white boards. the airport says it expects to operate a full schedule on monday morning. formerjustice department officials from both the democrat and republican parties in the us have called on the attorney—general, william barr, to resign. more than 1,000 have signed an open letter criticising mr barr for withdrawing a recommended prison sentence for a friend of president trump. president macron's controversial pension reform bill comes before the national assembly on monday. it's the start of what's expected to be a long period of debate. when the president announced

the plans, it sparked a series of strikes and protests in december and january. some unions appealed for a strike to bring the paris transport system to a standstill today, but that appears to have attracted few followers. hugh schofield reports. alexi drives a bus from the north paris depot. he spent much of the last three months on strike against detention reform. in the current system he enjoys a special status. he can retire at 57. but he insists it is not that that he is trying to protect. translation: the impact would lead to lower the level of people public pensions, already many pensioners are living in absolute misery and this low would make things even worse. it is not acceptable. since early december the country has been over pension reform. the rolling strikes may have stopped but there have still been weekly protests as the

government negotiated the final touches to its draft bill. it has already been several months in preparation, but now finally the pensions reform bill is coming before the national assembly. given president macron's huge majority here, there is no question it will eventually become law. but the whole process could still take several months, more time for the opposition and the protest to make themselves felt. the government says it is time for the protest is to stop and let the protest is to stop and let the democratic system proceed. there is fewer of them, but they are pretty determined, and i think their main enemy is maybe emmanuel macron, the president. but also there are it isa president. but also there are it is a bit ofa president. but also there are it is a bit of a flavour to the demonstrations, they are questioning the democracy as it stands. the truth is pensions are only part of it. for many on the left like these university let errors protesting about cuts, president macron's whole programme is wrong because they say it favours business and the

rich. all those people who are on strike, they are notjust about... i want a good pension. they are about i want a good life, i want a life with dignity, i want a life where i am not counting money, euro by euro. it is neverjust a reform, the pension reform. it is alsojust a reform, the pension reform. it is also just a general move towards society that we don't want. polls show that pension reform is not popular stop people feel anxious about losing protection. for the left, that makes it a very useful because, a banner headline for all the other reasons they oppose president macron. the french foreign minister has warned the uk to expect a bruising battle with the european union in negotiations for a trade deal after brexit. speaking at the munich security conference, jean—yves le drian said he believes the two sides will "rip each other apart" when talks begin next month.

he said it would be difficult to achieve the british government's aim of reaching an agreement by the end of the year. translation: i think that on trade issues and the mechanism for future relations, trade issues and the mechanism forfuture relations, which we are going to start on, we're going to rip each other apart, thatis going to rip each other apart, that is part of negotiations. now, have you ever had a situation at work where someone much younger than you has been put in charge of you? it's the kind of situation that is becoming more common as young people with the latest social media skills are brought into the workplace. simoney kyriakou, editor at financial adviser, joins me now. it is interesting because it is an increasingly common situation. quite difficult for some people if their boss is in some people if their boss is in some cases half their age.

absolutely, and your segment showed the lady saying it doesn't necessarily matter about age, we have to stop thinking of a does being all important, but to many people, it is. you think, i have 35 yea rs of it is. you think, i have 35 years of experience, how come this young hotshot has been parachuted and this young hotshot has been pa rachuted and above this young hotshot has been parachuted and above me straight out of university or college, or straight out of an apprenticeship? suddenly he or she is now managing me? that is obviously a sticking point for some people. how should people best handle that then? it is a difficult situation. if you really can't handle it perhaps look for another opportunity. i would caution bosses to think very carefully about doing this as well. if you have an older workforce, and you are thinking about parachuting workforce, and you are thinking about pa rachuting a workforce, and you are thinking about parachuting a younger person in because they have social media skills, perhaps the wisest thing for you to do would be to train up your existing staff on social media skills, so that they have the opportunity to put themselves forward for promotion

opportunities, then they are competing on a like—minded basis with someone who is young and has the social media skills. but if you are in that situation, there are things you can learn from each other. and if you love your workforce, if you love yourjob, if you love what you do, then you should not let the fact that someone who may be 15 years or ten yea rs who may be 15 years or ten years yourjunior affect who may be 15 years or ten years your junior affect the way that you do yourjob. it is a learning opportunity i think for everyone. thank you very much, we will go through the papers stories later. 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. you're watching the briefing. 0ur headlines: 400 americans who were

quarantined on the diamond princess cruise ship have left japan 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. almost two years ago, blackburn in the north of england was selected for a social experiment by the government, to try to break down ethnic and religious divisions. now, there are signs that different communities are beginning 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! 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. 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 of him? he's a good lad. and what do you reckon of 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. now it's time to get all the latest from the bbc sports centre. hello, i'm chetan pathak with your monday sport briefing. we start in portugal's primeira liga, where porto's 2—1win at vitoria de guimaraes on sunday was marred by racist abuse from the crowd directed at the matchwinner moussa marega. the mali international

scored on the hour and celebrated by pointing to his skin in response to a section of the home fans who had been targeting him before the goal. chairs were then thrown. marega was understandably incensed, but the referee chose to book him for his reaction. and after the abuse continued he tried to leave the pitch, but was stopped by his teammates. coach sergio conceicao eventually had to substitute him, and later called what happened to his player outrageous. in italy, it's a three—horse race for the title as lazio came from behind to move above inter into second place. it all started well for inter who went ahead through ashley young's first half goal, his first in serie a since signing from manchester united, but a stefan de vrij foul on ciro immobile allowed the league's top scorer to slot in his 26th goal in 24 games five minutes after the break.

and lazio got their winner amidst a scramble in the box, sergej milinkovic—savic slotting home 20 minutes from time as inter fell to only their second defeat all season. the english premier league enters a crucial stage of the season this week — chelsea and manchester united begin a 13—game run—in during which they both hope to claim a champions league spot. on monday they face each other at stamford bridge where a win for chelsea, who are currently fourth, would take them nine points clear of the visitors. but ninth—placed manchester united have strengthened their ranks in the january transfer window with the signing of nigerian striker 0dion ighalo — he is in united's squad but manager 0le gunnar solkskjaer hasn't confirmed if he'll play a part on monday. i never said he was going to be

ready to play on monday, he will be involved with us and he will be involved with us and he will travel down with us, and we have... obviously now he is out of that two—week period of precaution, it isjust out of that two—week period of precaution, it is just a precaution, it is just a precaution we made so he will travel with us and let's see if he is involved or not. and before we go, have a look at this. referees often get plenty of criticism on social media, but here's one who's gone viral for all the right reasons after making a diving save to catch a knocked—out fighter before his head hit the ground. the referee was officiating a muay thai fight in bangkok when one of the fighters received a knockout blow, but the referee saw it all the way and made a diving save to protect his head from the canvas. you can get all the latest sports news at our website — that's

bbc.com/sport. but from me, chetan pathak and the rest of the sport team, that's your monday sport briefing. the race to the white house is in full swing, with the us election later this year. and president trump may have taken that literally, as he took a lap around the daytona racetrack in florida in the presidential limousine, "the beast". he led the 40 racing cars around the track before pulling over to let the real race get under way. he follows in the tyre tracks of ronald reagan and george w bush, who also attended nascar events at the florida speedway. apparently mr bush ‘lapped' it up. 0ur talking point is about reclining seats while on a plane. it is after the delta chief executives said you should always ask the person behind you before you do it. this is after a video on

social media divided opinion about the etiquette and the rights and wrongs of doing it. i have —— been asking where you stand, or sit on the issue. "i personally wish all reclining seats were cancelled in economy class, there is simply not the legroom for it to make you not feel claustrophobic". kevin tweets to say "always ask before reclining, it is common decency". we also had a tweet from cappy who said "how about the airlines stop —— cathy who said how about the airlines stop shoving people in like sardines so this isn't an issue." another tweet said "it issue." another tweet said "it is the airlines are always at fault, at the end of value have a red the details of the airlines you are flying with, you can always upgrade". use the hashtag #bbcthebriefing. stay with us here on bbc news —

so much more to come. hello there. the very heavy rain that storm dennis brought us, over a month's worth across the hills of south 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. the about being held back. temporary flood defences doing the temporary flood defences doing thejob. we the temporary flood defences doing the job. we still have over 300 flood warnings in force across the uk. for some communities are fighting could get worse before it gets better, even as the rain stops coming down. i am talking of rain, we have more to come in scotla nd rain, we have more to come in scotland over the next few hours as the core of storm dennis passes close to the north once it gets some strong

winds here, dusting 70 miles an hour. we will also see windy conditions in the irish sea co— and —— seacoast and english channel coast could also see gusts of 60—70 mph and there will be showered around as well. monday speaking —— broadly speaking monday is a day of showers, most frequent across the north and west when they will come across with hail and under, temperatures 8— 11 degrees, feeling colder than that given the strength of the wind. another windy day to come on tuesday, a trough will bring organised showers eastwards across all parts of the country. these showers could be heavy with some thunder mixed m, heavy with some thunder mixed in, and behind that trough gets colder so showers term wintry for a colder so showers term wintry fora time, colder so showers term wintry for a time, snow over the high ground in scotland, feeling colder in scotland, ireland, northern england, dropping to around 6— seven celsius. the wind finally comes down through tuesday night thanks to this ridge of high—pressure head of next weather system that is coming through the wednesday.

that means it will be a fine start to the day, if a little chilly, the cloud thickens in the west, we will start to see rain in northern ireland, got into western scotland, western parts of england and wales as we had through the afternoon. temperatures rising through the date and they will continue to rise into wednesday night as the warm air swings in. for those that we will see some showers following, coming down so showers following, coming down so it will feel cooler again, but by friday it will be wet and windy, gales and even severe gales. in the short term the main concern is the risk of flooding.

this is the business briefing. i'm ben bland. trying to tax the tech titans: large technology companies have long avoided paying high levels of tax. we look at the latest efforts to get them to pay more. the generation gap: we look at how people are increasingly working for a boss younger than themselves, in some cases, just half their age! and on the markets, asian shares reversed earlier losses and moved higher as chinese efforts to cushion the blow from a coronavirus outbreakcheered investors. —— coronavirus outbreak cheered investors. japanese stocks faltered amid growing recession risks.