running on stock markets in the united states and europe. the dowjones index in new york has slumped more than 6% since opening on monday. earlier, europe's stock exchanges all ended the day about 2% down. the global total of covid—19 cases is now above 80,000, with a sharp rise in cases in south korea. more than a dozen people were killed in the indian capital, delhi, in the worst rioting between hindus and muslims for decades. and trending on social media is the moment two of the world's most famous young women campaigners met. nobel peace prize winner, malala yousufzai, told climate activist, greta thunberg, she was the only person she would skip school for. that's all. thank you for watching bbc news. more on our web site

bbc.co.uk/news and the news app. now on bbc news live to singapore for asia business report global stocks slump deepens. asian markets are lower after the dow jones loses another 3% as coronavirus fears spread. hong kong stimulus budget. we look at the major challenges facing the city as it unveils its major spending plan. good morning and welcome, live from singapore. let's begin with the coronavirus and its impact on the world ‘s financial markets because the pressure on global share prices

is continuing. in asia, japan's nikkei down by more than 1.5% and continuing to fall in early trading, extending their losses from yesterday and on wall street the dow jones followed by nearly 900 points oi’ jones followed by nearly 900 points or 3%. 0f jones followed by nearly 900 points or 3%. of course, we also saw a shuffle on monday so in two days it has lost nearly 2000 points, wiping of all of this year's game. if anyone thought wall street was going to be less spooked on tuesday, they would have been wrong. for the second day in a row, us financial markets have vomited, dropping more than 6% in the last two days. in an effort to calm investors, the donald trump administration advisor said the coronavirus would not result in an economic tragedy. he went on

saying that by advising america's investors that it would be a good time to buy stocks. clearly wall street was not convinced. a sense from some investors that the numbers of coronavirus are as low as reported. further stoking fears is donald trump asking for further funding from congress. it is possible there is more panicking from the administration. 0n possible there is more panicking from the administration. on tuesday, it was advised america should prepare for an outbreak of the virus and that it would be bad. businesses in the uk are worried about the outbreak in china will impact their bottom line as well. that is the

ta ke bottom line as well. that is the take home message from a chamber of commerce in china. half of english businesses expect revenue from china to drop at least 10% because of the covid—i9 outbreak. i enjoyed from beijing by the managing director of the chamber. i mention the expectation of 10% fall in revenue. elaborate on what your other findings are? thank you very much. this is a second server we have launched assessing the evolving impact of covid—i9 and it is very concerning. 0ver impact of covid—i9 and it is very concerning. over 50%, impact of covid—i9 and it is very concerning. 0ver50%, half our businesses saying that revenue will be dropping by over 10% and a porter saying by 20% so this is specifically going to impact smaller medium enterprises who are feeling the pinch at this moment in time.

what is causing the pessimistic views? as you can imagine, there is a plethora of concern. the top three, uncertainty around the market, a reduced demand for products and services and global travel restrictions. we severed our members two weeks ago and these consents have increased. the impact of the virus is more severe than we first thought. is there anything that has benefits are doing to try to minimise the outbreak was make absolutely. contingency plans are being put in place. major corporations have more sophisticated contingency plans with a supply chain but they are feeling the pinch and putting in because contingency plans in place. we are saying to members to get out that and support

small british businesses at a time like this. this is a time to begin and support business here and market and support business here and market and show the resilience of british business. looking back at the sars outbreak, the recovery was relatively fast. do you expect it this time as well? we are monitoring the situation. we are hopeful with regard to the resilience of british businesses. we had that the who say china has bunted the virus peak so we are hoping business will get back to normal. we are hoping that business remains resilience and remain supported by both the british government and the chinese government and the chinese government to support business and market. thank you forjoining us this moment. in hong kong, in about

18 minutes' time will get the city annual budget detail which many will hope will include handouts to help jumpstart hope will include handouts to help jumpsta rt the economy. hope will include handouts to help jumpstart the economy. the last year has been tough for the city. months of political unrest, the us— china trade while an hour the coronavirus. later today will get the official fourth—quarter growth figures and initial estimates have shown the economy shrinking by nearly 3% in the three months ending in december, compared to a year earlier putting hong kong into recession defined as two quarters of economic contraction. this was before the virus had its impact, remember. a relief package was announced with 4 billion us dollars to help bail out businesses that have been hit the ha rd est businesses that have been hit the hardest and the government has signalled it will possibly increase spending dramatically in today's

budget which would create the city ‘s first deficit in 15 years for the city. the key question is will there be cash handouts to residents? hr consulting chief executive told me what the city is facing. the first budget deficit in over 15 years and probably further contraction and pressure on unemployment but on the plus side were expecting to seek relief measures or stimulus packages released by the government and it will be interesting to see what actually is released today. do you expect this to cushion the blow, not just short—term but long—term was make the short—term impact will depend on how quickly these relief measures will get into the hands of individuals and businesses that actually needed. if the one released last week could get into the hands very quickly, there will be a

positive impact with regards to survival. the longer term impact will be more dependent on stimulus and how the government can stimulate the economy as it comes through and out of the impact of the coronavirus. if you look back at the sars outbreak, the economy is recovered fairly quickly. do you expect a similar recovery after this outbreak was make i certainly think the recovery will be quite quick after coronavirus but the issue is that it after coronavirus but the issue is thatitis after coronavirus but the issue is that it is worldwide. sars it was affecting countries in particular but this has widespread effects across the world. we cannot estimate how long it will take the global economy to come out of this change and there will be a fair amount of uncertainty to regards to how it comes out. 0 one and cute you will be critical. "q2.

comes out. 0 one and cute you will be critical. "02. anything businesses can do to minimise the damage? they need to be planning very deliberately. mercer is working with companies around flexible policies, alternate working but then companies need to focus on business as usual as much as possible so we can continue to keep the economic omentum going as economy recovers from the coronavirus. let's bring you up—to—date with other business news making headlines: walt disney's bob iger says he will step down but stay on as chairman with immediate effect. he said that with the successful launch of disney was make direct to consumer businesses and the integration of 21st century fox under way, i believe this is the optimal time to transition to a new ceo. he will be replaced by the man running parks and products division

for mercer. virgin galactic have seen it she has come back to earth after losses. the space tourism adventure reported a loss for the december quarter. it shares fell in after hours trade by 6%, causing a rise that has seen the company tripled in value this year. looking at the markets before we go... japan's negate down by more than 1.596, japan's negate down by more than 1.5%, extending their losses from yesterday and we saw sharp falls on wall street as well. thank you for watching. you're watching bbc news. the top stories: the coronavirus outbreak has sparked sharp falls for the second day running on stock markets in europe and the us.

more than a dozen people have been killed in the indian capital, delhi, in the worst rioting between hindus and muslims for decades. the former liberal leader, lord steel, has resigned from the liberal democrats and announced his retirement from the house of lords, in response to being criticised by the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse. the inquiry found that, as party leader in 1979, he didn't act on claims against the mp, cyril smith, because he considered them to be "past history". our home affairs correspondent tom symonds reports. do you want a man to represent you or do you want a party robot? cyril smith, the big political figure in rochdale in the 60s and 70s, accused of abusing children, neverjudge. and 70s, accused of abusing children, never charged. in 1979 he admitted to david steel, then the leader of his party, the liberals, that he had been investigated by police a decade earlier.

last year, now lord steel, told the abuse enquiry he believed smith was guilty but he did nothing. he could for all you knew still be offending against children? i had to admit, that never occurred to me and i am not sure it would occur to me even today. but the enquiry‘s verdict was that he turned a blind eye. lord steel hit back today... smith is now dead but victims‘ lawyers believe lord steel had a responsibility to act. because david steel failed to act on these allegations, cyril smith was able to remain in public life, cyril smith went on to abuse children at knowl view school, in rochdale, in the 1980s. this enquiry examined another big allegation. in 2012, labour's tom watson demanded an investigation into... clear intelligence suggesting a powerful paedophile network

linked to parliament and number 10. so what happened ? the enquiry said today it had done its investigation and found no evidence of that. but over the years, concerns have been raised about individuals like cyril smith and little has been done. this report says that is because politics came before the safety of children. and it demands all political parties improve their child protection policy. tom symonds, bbc news, west minster. hello, i'm gavin ramjaun and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: a thumping at the bridge for chelsea, as bayern run riot in their european champions league tie. it is finely poised

between napoli and barcelona. barca coming from behind, but farfrom impressive in italy. and an olympic committee member refuses to rule out the 2020 tokyo games being cancelled completely, amid the spread of coronavirus. hello and welcome to the programme. chelsea have a seemingly impossible mountain to climb if they are to have any hope of making the champions league quarter—finals. the english premier league side were outclassed in london by bayern munich, the german league leaders cruising to a 3—0 win. ian dennis has more. bayern munich were outstanding and outclassed chelsea. they were the superior side, but chelsea them at bay in the first half, caballero twice denying robert lewandowski. muller's header hit the crossbar. the shot from marcos alonso were skipped away. but there was no escape in the second half of the ruthless bayern munich held off their advantage. lewandowski set

them off in the second