our top story: hundreds of passengers are leaving the diamond princess cruise ship. passengers have been quarantined on board for more than two weeks as the vessel grappled with the biggest outbreak of coronavirus outside of mainland china. so far, 542 passengers have been infected. the former mayor of new york city michael bloomberg has qualified for the democratic presidential debate in nevada on wednesday. it is the first time the billionaire will appear on stage alongside his rivals. and this story is trending on bbc.com. there are reports that former one direction singer harry styles was mugged in london. police confirmed that a man in his 20s was robbed at knifepoint, but they didn't name him. it happened on valentine's day. that's all, stay with bbc world news. more on our website,

bbc.co.uk/news, and the news app. now on bbc news, live to singapore for asia business report. floating petrie dishes. virus hit diamond princess passengers begin disembarking today. we look at how companies are boosting economic aid packages to fight the outbreak. in the future of waste. we take a peek at singapore's later solution on managing rubbish. hello and welcome to asia business report. i am karishma vaswani. let's begin with the coronavirus, also known as covid—i9, because in just

the coronavirus, also known as covid—i9, because injust over an hour or covid—i9, because injust over an hourorso, covid—i9, because injust over an houi’ oi’ so, passengers covid—i9, because injust over an hour or so, passengers and crew of the diamond princess which has been quarantined off the coast of japan will begin disembarking. that is what they are expected to do. more than 500 cases of the coronavirus have been detected, making it the biggest cluster outside the hubei province. it has been a public relations nightmare for the cruise industry. hannibal, which owns the ship, is the world's biggest cruise operator and says the outbreak will affect profits, with their share price down 15% over the last month. they are not the only ones. royal caribbean says the virus has forced them to cancel 18 cruisers and all of this could cost global tourism industry $80 billion, with the impact being felt until next year. meanwhile, here in singapore, the government has promised to spend $a.6 government has promised to spend $4.6 billion to help households and companies get this. almost $600 million will be spent on healthcare agencies to fight the out break.

households will receive about $1 billion, with every adult singaporean receiving a cash pay—out to help with expenses, while companies will receive the lion ‘s share in the form of tax rebates, subsidising salaries for local workers, and providing extra support to industry ‘s worst hit by the slowdown, like tourism, aviation and retail. 0riginal economist for cimb told me he expects other countries four countries to follow suit with these aid packages. given that the global forecast is running to a 1.5% contraction. it is about cushioning the impact of the outbreak. singapore is small and integrated in global trade. essentially it is about helping businesses with cash flow and and sensually encouraging businesses to retain labour itself. so private—sector consumption

pullback, government spending significantly expanded to cushion the economy. let's stay with the subject of the coronavirus and catch up subject of the coronavirus and catch up with our team in india, because the country's finance minister is expected to hold high—level talks with government officials to discuss the impact of the virus outbreak there, and what they can do about it. our correspondentjoins us from mumbai. whatare it. our correspondentjoins us from mumbai. what are you expecting from this meeting? well, this meeting is going to be headed by the finance minister, who will actually be meeting secretaries from various government ministries to essentially first try and understand the impact of this on various sectors of the indian economy. she will then hold consultations with the prime minister's office, further to which we are expecting that some sort of response or some sort of measures would be announced by the government to contain this damage. what these measures would be, that is still not clear. it should be clear in the

next couple of days, but the finance minister did meet about 200 industry ca pta i ns minister did meet about 200 industry captains yesterday, and they have been asking for everything from import duty cuts on chinese items as well as environmental licenses so they can substitute some of the manufacturing that happens in china into india. now, india does depend on china, about $30 billion worth of intermediate goods, so industry will be very closely watching this meeting. and you will be watching that story for us very closely. let's talk about the us presidential elections, because on wednesday mike lindbergh will take part in his first democratic debate. he qualifies for the debate in nevada because he has reached 10% in four national polls recognised by the democratic party. he skipped the first two votes in iowa and new hampshire, but being very rich is helping. mike bloomberg has spent over $400 million, more than all the

other candidates put together. but thatis other candidates put together. but that is just a fraction of the $2.5 billion that he has given over the yea rs billion that he has given over the years to philanthropic causes, and if you are wondering where this money is coming from, well, mr bloomberg has a net worth of over $62 billion, making him the ninth richest person in the world. well, the bbc‘s correspondent in washington has more on why mike blumberg made the switch from being a republican to being a democrat. well, he explains that the republican party moved away from him. while he may have been within the realm of the republican party in new york at the time that he was the mayor of that city, he felt like a party itself, particularly on a national level, became much more conservative. and so he was out of place in it. first he became an independent, and then more recently he registered as a democrat. he has very mainstream, even left of mainstream views for democrats on

climate change, gun—control, the risks of smoking and other things like that. so i think he feels like he became more of a fit for the democrats as time went on. staying in us, president trump has announced a raft of clemency is, pardoning amongst others this man here. he was convicted of securities fraud in the 19905. convicted of securities fraud in the 1990s. the news has been criticised by some. a former democratic campaign manager says it is hard to think of a collection of individuals less deserving of presidential intervention. the bbc‘s michelle fleu ry intervention. the bbc‘s michelle fleury has been following the story in new york. what you have is a series of white—collar criminals, the faces, if you like, for corporate greed and wrongdoing, who are amongst those who have received pardons or computations in their sentences by the president, and that is leading to some raised eyebrows. you mentioned michael milken. he really was very well known as a formerjunk bond really was very well known as a

former junk bond king really was very well known as a formerjunk bond king here on wall street —— commutations. he was the face of insider trading scandals backin face of insider trading scandals back in the 1980s. 0riginally he was sentenced to ten years in prison for crimes when he was working for an investment bank and basically banned from the securities industry. since then, he has really sought to try and burnish his reputation, and so you saw donald trump today, when he announced that he was being pardoned, he sort of praised his work for cancer treatment. and again, this will certainly please mr milken, like i say, who has certainly sought to restore and repair his reputation. singapore's only rubbish dump is nearly full, with the city—state producing almost 8 million tons of rubbish every year. the races on to reduce the of rubbish sent to landfill stop researchers think they have found a way to dojust researchers think they have found a way to do just that, and perhaps make some money at the same time. lucy martin has more. from rogue shipping containers full of toxic trash to beaches choked with

plastic, rubbish in asia is on the nose. there is a realisation in the minds of many people, perhaps for the first time, that this is a major issue. singapore is arguably asia's clea nest issue. singapore is arguably asia's cleanest nation, but it has problems of its own. it generates more than 7 million tons of waste annually, and the city—state's only landfill is expected to fill up in just 15 yea rs. expected to fill up in just 15 years. i think it is very urgent because 2035 is not that far away. that's why i think institutions like ours that do research can also begin to walk the talk. singapore's technological university is testing a new way to take out the trash. in the past, this rubbish, up to eight tons of it every week, would be sent tons of it every week, would be sent to an incinerator, and the leftover ash would go to landfill. but not anymore. this rubbish is going on a

slightly different journey. anymore. this rubbish is going on a slightly differentjourney. it ends up slightly differentjourney. it ends up here at singapore's first waste to energy research facility. it is hot, it is dirty, and it smells terrible. but this could be part of the solution to singapore's rubbish problem. so behind that while there is extreme temperature... the rubbish is burned in a process called slapping gasification. it generates electricity and produces less waste than regular incineration. ultimately we dispose only of the fly ash that consists of about 3% of the incoming waste. that means huge savings in terms of transportation, and later on, savings in timing, prolonging the lifetime of the landfill. and this is what is left. there is metal which can be recycled, and a substance called slapping. the goal

is to sell this product to the construction industry. who knows? perhaps in the future we will be able to see the skyscrapers made of concrete that utilises this slapping. but this is in the future, and still a long way to go. for now, the government is using the treated trash to make footpath like this one. with singapore hoping to become a zero waste nation, it seems the road to sustainability is literally paved with rubbish. and that's it for this edition of asia business report. thank you for watching. this is bbc news. the top stories this hour: hundreds of passengers are set to leave the diamond princess cruise ship after a two—week—long quarantine. and new york's former mayor michael bloomberg qualifies for the democratic presidential debate on wednesday, his first appearance

with his rivals. there are warnings tonight that the aftermath of storm dennis there are warnings tonight could still cause widespread damage and endanger life. evacuations are underway in towns along the river severn in shropshire, with parts of south wales, herefordshire and worcestershire also under water. 0ur correspondentjon kay reports on a day of devastation for communities across the uk. the river wye should flow between those trees, but look at it now. even though this is a flood plain, it has never looked like this before. the far set of trees — you can just see a treeline — that's where the river should be. there's 60 acres between us and where the river should be. ally‘s family have farmed in herefordshire for generations, but now their land is under unprecedented amounts of water. it's devastating, to be honest.

in shropshire, 500 tons of water has been flowing under the bridge every second, and the river severn won't peak until later tonight. downstream, worcester, a city trying to keep going despite the challenges. and further south, in upton upon severn, the flood barriers are holding out for now, but it is still a precarious situation. in tewkesbury, where they have suffered so badly before, they are preparing for the worst again tonight, while in hereford, they hope the worst is behind them. all over the shop. pete wondering when he can reopen — beer, wine and spirits destroyed by water. itjust makes you think, well, you know, sometimes, is it worth it? you know, you live by a river, you accept the fact it is going to flood, or whatever else have you, but you don't ever believe it's ever going to be as bad as this. 0h... 24 hours after they were rescued by boat, ray and maureen are back

to see the damage. oh, my god. nearly 90, they're trying to be strong. i've never seen anything like it. i really haven't, honestly. looks like a jumble sale. don't worry, ray, we'll get it sorted. ray is being treated for cancer. ex—military, he now faces another battle. what will tomorrow bring? don't forget you can get in touch with me on twitter and instagram. i'm @bbcnuala now on bbc news, it's sport today. hello. i'm chetan pathak and this is sport today from the bbc sport centre. coming up on the programme: the european champions liverpool are beaten on a frustrating night in madrid. al nassr come from behind to beat al ain in the asian champions

league. and we speak to tyson fury ahead of this weekend's heavyweight showdown with deontay wilder in las vegas. welcome to the programme. thanks forjoining us. liverpool's hopes of defending their european champions league title hang in the balance after they were beaten by a goal to nil at atletico madrid in the first leg of their last 16 tie. the french champions psg have also lost — beaten 2—1 by borussia dortmund, as erling haaland's incredible goal scoring run continues. earlier, i wasjoined by our football reporter john bennett who says atletico's win was another defensive masterclass from their manager diego simeone. never write off a diego simeone team or write off atletico madrid. going

into this game everyone