all welcome to bbc news — i'm james reynolds. our top stories: more cases of coronavirus outside china — the world health organization warns of a closing window of opportunity to stop it spreading. us intelligence agencies say russia is meddling in this year's presidential election to help donald trump get re—elected. a 7—day reduction in hostilities begins in afghanistan, paving the way for further talks between the us and the taliban. and has rome's founder been found? some italian archaelogists think this could be his grave.

the world health organisation is warning of a tipping point in the coronavirus outbreak. it says that countries must act quickly to contain the spread of the disease. although the window of opportunity is narrowing to contain the out break, we still have a chance to contain it. but while doing that, we have to prepare at the same time for any eventuality is because this outbreak could go any direction. it could even be messy. it's in our hands now. if we do well within the narrow window of opportunity, we can

reverse or avert any serious crisis. in south korea, there are a hundred new cases of the virus and the country's second death has been confirmed. meanwhile, british passengers who've been quarantined onboard the diamond princess cruise ship off japan for over two weeks — have finally been allowed to disembark. around 35 britons who've tested negative for the virus are now flying back to the uk. rupert wingfield—hayes reports from japan. they have had to wait longer than almost anyone else to get off the diamond princess, but tonight, finally, after 17 days of isolation, the british passages were loaded onto buses and began their long journey home. on board one of the buses, elaine spencer and her husband. before they left their cabin, they recorded this thank you message. thank you to the government for deciding to bring us home. we are coming home, we are seeing our family, and we can't wait, but also in a way it is strange, it feels like it has been our home for all that time.

and we can't wait, but also in a way it is strange, it feels like it has been our home for all that time. thank you. hopefully we are going to be home and i will see my family or ourfamilies, in the next couple of weeks. bye— bye. bye — bye. nearby in his cabin, alan sanford told me he and his wife are feeling the strain of such a long confinement. we have not stepped out of this cabin since we were quarantined on the fourth of february and it is now sort of the 21st, even though the quarantine on the ship is over, we're going to go on an aeroplane, get to the wirral, and do another 1a days of quarantine. that's going to make about 31 days altogether. we are going to have to deal with that, i mean, there's a lot of people worse off than that in the world but, wow, the thought we are only halfway through it. it may seem a little unfair that the british passengers

leaving the ship tonight, are now going to have to spend another 1a days in quarantine when they get back to the uk, having spent two weeks or more shut in their cabins on board the ship. but what we have seen with the americans, and now the australians, is that some of the passengers who tested negative for the virus when they left the ship, are now testing positive when they got back home. 164 australians flew back to darwin on wednesday. two of them have now tested positive for the virus, and been sent to hospital. as you know, we carefully screened everybody before they left the ship, before they got on the plane and during the flight but, as people also know, there has been ongoing detection of infection on the diamond princess cruise ship over the last few days, so it is not unexpected that some people might have been incubating the virus. meanwhile, in south korea, the number of cases of the virus has lept by 100 in the last 2a hours, and a second death has been reported. the outbreak is thought to have begun at this church, in the city of daegu. the streets of the city

are out empty, and the massive disinfecting operation is under way. as dawn approached the tokyo haneda airport, the big plane sent to pick up the british evacuees were still sitting at the gate. the 35 british evacuees apparently on—board, still waiting a little longer for the last leg of their long journey long to begin. i'll be speaking to an expert in public health later in this bulletin so do stay with me for that. russia has been told to stay out of american elections by one of the frontrunners for the democratic party's presidential nomination, bernie sanders. he was responding to a washington post report that us officials were warning that russia was trying to help his campaign. earlier president trump dismissed us intelligence claims that moscow was meddling in us politics as a hoax.

let's go live to washington and speak to our correspondent chris buckler. firstly, how is russia said to be interfering? james, as you know, us intelligence officials have long large you'd expect argued that russia tried to interfere in middle and the us presidential election in 2016 and ina presidential election in 2016 and in a briefing last week to members of congress, they warned that russia was doing the same thing again in 2020. they haven't been specific about exactly how this is happening but it seems to be a disinformation campaign, essentially getting involved in the internet and trying to sow division which might be why they are actually trying to help the campaigns of two people who are political polar opposites in terms of american politics, the very conservative donald trump and the very liberal and progressive senator bernie sanders. as you mentioned donald trump has been very dismissive of this whole idea, in fact so dismissive that he got rid of the acting director of national intelligence, such apparently

was his fury at this being handed out and information being given to members of the democratic party's part of congress who were consulted about this. on the other hand we had a very different response from bernie sanders. the senate has released a statement saying he acknowledges some russian interference. he says: he also went on to talk about the fact that some of what he talked about ugly stuff on the internet that's been attributed to his campaign has not come from him. instead he says it's likely to have come from russia and more specifically, vladimir putin. why did you not reveal... ? putin. why did you not reveal. . . ? why did you not reveal? because i get many intelligence briefings that i don't reveal. let me just say a

word about russia. mr putin is a thug, he is an autocrat, he may be a friend of donald trump but is not a friend of mine. let me tell mr putin. the american people, whether republicans, democrats or independents are sick and tired of seeing russia and other countries interfering in our elections. intelligence community has been very clear about it but whether trump recognises it or not or acknowledges it or not, they did interfere in 2016, the intelligence community is telling us they are interfering in this campaign right now in 2020. and when i say to mr putin, if elected president, trust me, you are not going to be interfering in american elections. chris, in 2016, russia was accused of interfering in order to favour donald trump. now in 2020, it's been accused of interfering to phase —— favour trump's potential opponent bernie sanders. how does that work?|j

understand sanders. how does that work?” understand some people are going to be a bit confused by this but what seems to have been suggested is that they are interfering to try and support both bernie sanders and donald trump and if you think about it, in america, this country has been split by this presidency, it's caused a great deal of division. it is pretty much split down the middle between those who are fans of donald trump and those who are against him and a suggestion from the intelligence services here is actually what is happening is russia is involving itself in both campaigns, trying to really cause more division, really trying to sell yet more discord as this country prepares for an election. in the argument potentially coming forward is that as far as they are concerned, that could be good for russia, it could create more deepest d step expect destabilising influences in america. we should say russia deny this entirely beyond that, donald trump continues to make an argument that actually there is no way they would be supporting him that he did seem

to suggest earlier at a rally in las vegas that perhaps they might want to support bernie sanders given they had honeymooned in the soviet union. let's get some of the day's other news. jurors in the sexual assault trial of the former american film producer, harvey weinstein, have ended four days of deliberations. the judge has instructed the jury to resume on monday. earlier, the jurors asked judge james burke if they could give split decisions on two of the most serious charges. he directed them to continue to seek unanimity. voting has ended in parliamentary elections in iran, after polling was extended several times to allow late—comers to cast their ballots. the field of candidates is dominated by conservatives and ha rdliners loyal to the supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei. the authorities banned thousands of moderate would—be candidates from running. queen elizabeth's grandson, prince harry, and his wife, meghan, have dropped plans to use the brand name "sussex royal" once they step back from theirformal duties at the start of april. the couple announced last month that they wished to pursue

a life outside of britain. they will stand down from royal duties and work towards financial independence. an agreement on a week—long reduction in hostilities has come into effect in afghanistan. the deal was reached between american and taliban negotiators after more than a year of talks. if the truce holds, the two sides will begin the first phase of a process aimed at bringing an end to the 18 year conflict. dhruva jaishankar is with the independent analysis think—tank observer research foundation, in washington. what other chances of this partial reduction in leading to an actualfull partial reduction in leading to an actual full peace deal? well, i think we should be very cautious about this. it's a welcome first step. the reduction in violence is really in some ways a step over the next seven days as to whether both sides could really hold their ends of the bargain,

whether they are going to constitute a reduction of violence agreement would actually overlap significantly with each other. the taliban has not held direct talks am i right with the afghan government itself? is that likely to happen? that would be another step. one of the things we've in last year or so is some concern in fact, anger in many situations as has been the case in kabul but with the united states and those negotiators, for seemingly working around kabul. in terms of negotiating directly with the taliban. those bridges seem to have been mended a little bit over the last few weeks in fa ct, bit over the last few weeks in fact, in fact the president of afghanistan welcomed in recent steps in the does seem to be a bit more co—ordination now but i think we are still in a stage where all the major parties involved, the us government, the afghan government that has been elected and the taliban

are themselves all very divided about how to progress, how to proceed. is the taliban prepared to share power in afghanistan or would it want to go back where it was in 2001 where it had almost complete territorial control of the country? one taliban brit leader recently articulated in the new york times what he saw asa the new york times what he saw as a path forward. —— one taliban leader. there are many reasons to take that with many grains of salt. he himself was deputy leader of the taliban, known for being one of the most notorious warlords, of the haqqani network you represent, one that the us fought so fiercely against, and they were successful against those forces in afghanistan so there was a great deal of scepticism about what kind of government the taliban would like to see, they

have said, whether they can keep their promises and whether again everyone within the taliban is on the same page as to how to proceed. can we expect us troops to leave afghanistan? there are 13,000 at the moment. i think you know, again, this isjust a first step, the plans appear to be based on reports in the public domain, about 8500 troops and again, depending on how the situation on the ground is, there may be further reductions but i think at this point in time, the first step, if the reduction in violence are if the reduction in violence a re successful, if the reduction in violence are successful, if there is an agreement in a week's time also, the next step would be a move towards about 8500 troops in afghanistan. thank you so much forjoining us. stay with us on bbc news — still to come. a stranger in the neighbourhood — the wild bear taking a stroll through the california suburbs.

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 am 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 down to the sea on the east of the island, away from the town for the time being, but it 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 news, our top story: more coronavirus infections have been detected outside china, notably in the middle east. the world health organisation has warned the window of opportunity to contain the virus is narrowing. let's stay with that story now. i'm joined now from wellington by professor michael baker an expert in public health. there in public health. are concerns that infections there are concerns that infections outside china have no clear link to china with the outbreak was first reported. are you surprised by this? not at all. for the last three weeks, this infection's epidemic has been on a trajectory to become a pandemic and it has been widely expected that we would start to see a

pattern like this, you have a transmission where people have something, may be a mild cold or no symptoms in some cases, are transmitting the virus very widely, and it is only when someone who is really vulnerable is in for it is that they develop pneumonia and get tested. this is a pattern we are seeing now in these new cases. for nonscientists, hearing the word pandemic can be slightly scary. what does a pandemic actually involved ?m basically means very widespread transmission, some would say global transmission and that is a pattern we are starting to see, and many epidemiologists who have been writing for around two or three weeks to say that the characteristics in this infection have all the hallmarks of a pandemic, so it is highly transmissible and things very hard control as we see because you are going into to try to contain it, and they are not accessible. we have

seen reported cases in iran, in south korea, what kind of pattern might you be able to detect her? this is consistent with that pattern of silent transmission and cases just appearing again as vulnerable people are infected, so we would expect to see more of the continuing pattern, and in low—income countries where they have the resources to test for the virus, there may be lots of silent transmission occurring before cases are being detected. this have been africa or poorer countries in asia? what kind of places because scientists concern. all of those places you mentioned are less a ble those places you mentioned are less able to manage people who are very less able to manage people who are very sick, particularly in very large numbers. do you consider china's quarantine measures to be working, from your point of view with yellow

they are clearly not working but they have given the world a bit more breathing. clearly it has reduced the speed of transmission from china, but there are so many links to china in terms of workers going back and forward, the virus has now been seated very widely that we're going to see more of this orchard in italy, more of this orchard in italy, more of this exponential increase. for more on the ongoing coronavirus outbreak — head to our website. that's at bbc.com/news — where you can follow the links. alternatively you can download the bbc news app. archaeologists in italy say they've uncovered a sarcophagus in the remains of an ancient temple in rome — which may belong to romulus — the figure who's said to have founded the city along with his twin brother remus. the stone tomb, along with its circular altar, dates from the 6th century bc. rich preston has the story.

it is a 2500—year—old mystery that might — might — have been solved. beneath rome's highest hill, is this the tomb of the once—great romulus, father of rome? translation: romulus is a person who founded rome. he gave life to the city. it is thanks to him that the roman people were formed. the tomb was first found under the capitoline hill, inside the old roman forum, at the start of the last century but was then lost. translation: we forgot the place and the precise location, during these 120 years, and therefore thought we would not find it intact. so for us to find it was a great discovery, to find it exactly has described. legend says, romulus, son of the god mars, founded the city of rome in the year 753 bc but it came at a cost. in the battle for the city he killed his twin brother, remus.

but experts say we might be getting ahead of ourselves. no bones were found inside. translation: we cannot say it is the tomb of romulus. we do not have any scientific evidence. we only have a room inside that has been preserved in front of the curia. so the fact that it has been preserved makes us understand that this is an important place. and depending on your beliefs, romulus was either transported up to heaven or torn to pieces by his own senators, jealous of his powers. translation: romulus's body is not there. we have to imagine this is a place of memory, a cenotaph. the city's first king, for nearly 3000 years, nothing more than a legend with a cult following, now, maybe, a physical memorial

at last to this ancient city's beloved if not possibly mythical founder. rich preston, bbc news. yes, but what about remus? let's stick with legends, because... there's been a lot of hype, ahead of what's being billed as the most anticipated heavyweight boxing re—match, in almost twenty yea rs. in the early hours of sunday morning, the american fighter, deontay wilder, will take on britain's tyson fury, in their long—awaited second fight. our sports editor dan roan has more from las vegas. cheering. it wouldn't be fight week in vegas without the posturing, the posing and the promotion. but, when push comes to shove, in a city built on hype, there's a real sense that tyson fury‘s rematch against deontay wilder could just live up to the billing. 1a months ago, the first meeting produced an epic. fury, out—boxing his opponent and then somehow surviving a ferocious 12th round knock—down, before a controversial draw.

now these two unbeaten heavyweights have got it on again. i think this is the biggest fight in the last 50 years. i've got his number, because he put me down and he couldn't keep me down. and that must be playing on his mind. because everybody else, he's knocked out, apart from the gypsy king. so, yeah, i'm coming for you, baby. but the bronze bomber is known as one of the hardest hitters in boxing history, remarkably, 41 of the american's 43 victories coming by way of knockout. and now wilder wants to cement his status as the dominant force in the division. this is the moment in time that we have all been waiting for. the biggest fight of both of our lives. unfinished business, as i call it. and i can't wait. not since the great lennox lewis beat evander holyfield here in vegas, some 21 years ago, has there been such anticipation ahead of a heavyweight rematch. and now another british fighter will hope he can deliver on the grandest stage of all. here in the boxing capital

of the world, there are hopes fury—wilder two could break all pay—per—view records, and return this division to the status it enjoyed during its glory days. this, a rivalry breathing new life into the sport. dan roan reporting from las vegas. residents in an upmarket californian community have received a somewhat unwelcome guest — a wild black bear. the animal — weighing nearly two—hundred kilos — could be seen wandering around the streets and gardens of monrovia — a town near los angeles. the bbc‘s tim allman takes up the story. believe it or not, this isn't exactly an uncommon sight around these parts. monrovia backs onto the angeles national forest, so black bears do occasionally take a stroll through the neighbourhood. ‘stroll‘ being the operative word. this particular animal, described by wildlife officials as an old lady, seemed to be in no particular hurry. from driveways to gardens, she sauntered very much at her own speed. that laid—back attitude

seemed to be infectious. no—one seemed too perturbed. capturing the moment on camera seemed to be the priority for some. and it was hard to work out who was the more ferocious. a big black bear, or some slightly smaller animals. the local police were alerted and said they were monitoring the situation, adding that the california department of fish and wildlife were on their way. eventually, they arrived and the bear was tranquilized and taken away for a checkup. assuming she's ok, she will be returned to the wild. in the meantime, someone may need to buy a new sign. a reminder of our top story: more coronavirus infections have detected outside china, notably in the middle east. the world health organization has warned that the window of opportunity to contain the virus is narrowing.

you can reach me on twitter — i'm @jamesbbcnews. please stay with us. hello there. some of us should see some sunshine this weekend but it's looking decidedly unsettled again. we'll have plenty of showers around and some of these will be heavy. snow across the north of the country and for most of us, particularly today, it's going to be very windy, with pretty widespread gales. you can see why. the pressure chart shows lots of isobars on the charts right across the country. a couple of weather fronts working their way south across england and wales, lots of showers packing into the north and west of the uk. so it could start quite grey on saturday with the bands of rain spreading south—east. most of them should clear away by the afternoon and we should see sunshine and showers, most of these showers across western areas, the odd heavy one, and plenty of snow showers across scotland. the winds featuring 40, 50—mile—an—hour gusts quite widely, 60 miles an hour for northern england and northern ireland,

up to 70 miles an hour in exposure in the north and west of scotland. heavy snow showers will continue to pile through significant accumulations on the hills, and there will be blizzards as well when you factor in the strength of the winds. cold in the north but mild in the south, 10—13 in the afternoon. saturday evening and overnight, we continue with the snow showers in the north. further accumulations on the hills and we see a ripple in that weather front, which will push some rain back northwards to parts of northern ireland. quite a bit into england and wales, especially across western areas. milder in the south, cold in the north with the risk of ice. sunday, this weather front will be slow to clear from england and wales through the day, eventually it will do, so it's a slow improvement, quite a wet morning, i think, for many parts of england and wales. slowly, though, the skies will brighten up and cloud will come back across southern counties of england towards the channel. also, sunshine developing on further showers across scotland also begin. these will be wintry

over the high ground, as it will be another chilly day in the north, mild across southern counties of england. that brief ridge of high pressure will settle things down for a while later on sunday and early into monday, but its short lived. this next deep area of low pressure will hurtle in on monday and bring a spell of severe gales and snow. some snow could be disruptive across the far north of england and the central belt of scotland on the monday morning rush. it will transfer north and revert back. widespread gales and severe gales in the north, further south, a belt of a rain sweeping east across england and wales, with sunshine following on behind, maybe one or two showers. temperatures 10—12 in the south, feeling cold in the north.

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this is bbc news, the headlines: there's been a growing number of coronavirus infections outside china, notably in the middle east. there's been a sudden spike in cases in italy, linked to a bar. the head of the world health organization has warned that the window of opportunity to contain the virus is narrowing. the frontrunner for the democratic party's presidential nomination, bernie sanders, has told russia to stay out of american elections. earlier president trump dismissed as a hoax, reports of warnings by us intelligence that moscow was helping mr sanders' campaign in an effort to get mr trump re—elected. a tentative seven—day reduction in hostilities has come into effect in afghanistan, after an agreement between american and taliban negotiators. if the agreement holds, the two sides will sign a further deal on security guarantees next saturday. that could pave the way for new talks among afghan representatives. now on bbc news, hardtalk.