welcome, i'm kasia madera with bbc world news. our top stories: the us president has been trying to calm fears over the spread of coronavirus, telling the us people the risk is very low. for the first time, more new cases have been recorded outside china than inside. there's been a sharp rise in cases in iran. a gunman in the us has killed at least five at a mass shooting at a brewery in milwaukee. local media say the gunmen, who had earlier been sacked, also died. these images are doing well on our website, getting a lot of attention, a massive eight lotion at the largest crude oil refinery on the west coast of america. fire crews say they contained the blaze in the compound and nobody had to be evacuated, but part of the complex remains closed. that's all me, keep watching. bye— bye.

much more on the coronavirus and all oui’ much more on the coronavirus and all our stories on our website and you can even try the bbc news app. now time for asia business report with mariko oi in singapore ‘s. —— singapore. south korea surprise. the country's central bank dashes expectation it will... new york bands and single use plastic bags, joining california and hawaii, but are use plastic bags, joining california and hawaii, butare new use plastic bags, joining california and hawaii, but are new yorkers ready? —— bands. —— bans. welcome to asia business report, live from singapore with me, mariko oi. south korea has the highest number of coronavirus cases outside china. its economy has also been hit

ha rd by china. its economy has also been hit hard by factory closures in china because 90% of south korea's exports go to mainland china and exports make up almost half of the country's economic output. these include things like smartphone chips as well as displays and many economists were expecting a helping hand from the central bank, hoping it would cut the cost of borrowing to a new record low, but the bank of korea made a surprise decision this morning to keep rates on hold at one point to 5%. the central bank will hold a news conference in the next hour to explain its decision. earlier i spoke with economist alex holmes, who spilt out other ways south korean officials could boost the economy. we don't yet have much information on what the fiscal support will be but we suspect it will be something along the lines of what was announced in singapore last week, mainly focusing on helping businesses to weather the storm,

emergency cash flow loans, corporate tax breaks and that kind of thing. you've lowered your 2020 growth forecast for south korea from 2.5% to i%, forecast for south korea from 2.5% to i%, but is quite a lowerfigure you have changed too, so is that the kind of impact you're expecting from this outbreak? or is it more about the chinese factory closures? immediately we thought the economy would be affected by economic ties with china. as you said, it exports a lock to china but production has been disrupted by the fact it can't get many of the components it needs for its own production lines. now the virus has started to spread within korea, we expect a bigger hit to domestic demand as people don't go to the shops and restaurants and cut back on spending. private consumption makes up about 50% of gdp, and it is set to slump. as we told you, us president donald trump has announced a task force to deal

with coronavirus, and there are 59 confirmed cases. when asked about share prices slumping due to the outbreak, and the dowjones slumping due to the outbreak, and the dow jones has slumping due to the outbreak, and the dowjones has lost 2000 points oi’ the dowjones has lost 2000 points or more this week, here's what he had to say. i disagree with the said, they've made a big mistake, and it would have made a big difference, even without the 2000 points, we started out 6000 and we'd be at 28,000, we are going to crack 30,000, we've had increases like nobody has seen before but we're doing well —— the said. nobody has seen before but we're doing well -- the said. in a vote at the company agm, apple shareholders have rejected a proposal to make the iphone maker commit to uphold freedom of expression. the measures specifically focused on the company removing apps from the chinese app store that allowed users to get around the country's internet restrictions. from san francisco, oui’ restrictions. from san francisco, our technology reporters zarif

thomas has more. a measure that would have required apple to publicly commit to respecting freedom of expression as a human right got nearly 40% of shareholder votes at the agm. it's a big deal and it comes as apple is getting more public scrutiny about how it handles requests from beijing in the wake of hong kong protests. it's not the first time investors have voted on the way the company handles human rights and freedom of expression, but it's the first time it seems to be gaining traction with shareholders. it wasn't the only thing on investors‘ minds, shareholders. it wasn‘t the only thing on investors‘ minds, apple boss tim cook said the company would open its first physical stores in india in 2021. india is the second—largest mobile phone market in the world and it is seen as a big for apple, which lags behind huawei and samsung in global sales. they also said a friends reunion wouldn‘t appear on their tv, and they said it wa nted appear on their tv, and they said it wanted to focus on originals and not spin—offs. climate change now, and a new report

warns about rising sea levels threatening asia‘s biggest manufacturing hub. china‘s pearl river delta, home to many factories, is most vulnerable to the rising tides and it has an economy worth $1.5 trillion, almost as big as south korea‘s. in particular, guangzhou and dong—won, those are the two chinese cities in the delta most vulnerable, which produce about 20% of the world‘s smart phones, and they are home to three of china‘s five busiest ports. william nichols, one of the authors of the report, gave me the details of the study. the sea level rise index is a combination of sealevel rise forecast from thousands of points around the world and a digital terrain model, and, as you say, identifies a number of asian cities most at risk of sealevel rise over the coming century and as well as

the coming century and as well as the pearl river delta, we spotted jakarta, tokyo, ho chi minh city and shanghai. what we mean by risks in terms of sealevel rises, notjust the flooding at but amplified affects of typhoons and real pressure put on infrastructure, like ports, communications and energy. you mentioned some of the cities that are vulnerable but which cities have, i guess, the financial means to deal with this? it's a great question because you‘d imagine chinese cities in the pearl river delta probably better equipped to deal with the financial aspects and cities like ho chi minh city or some of the other areas in india or bangladesh they identified, and that‘s a real problem for companies because then they have to make a decision about whether or not they can rely on those national investments or whether they have to make their own investments to improve resilience. governments are doing some things but what about companies which will be the ones

directly affected by issues like coastal flooding? are they doing anything? companies are starting to look at this. primarily we are seeing companies still rely on municipal and national governments to deal with this. we want them to start planning for sealevel rise in their long—term investment proposals. we know sealevel rise is moving faster than project, which really brings in the timeframe from which we might see these risks closer to the present day. if you‘re making investments in long—term assets like powerpla nts, making investments in long—term assets like powerplants, airports, things that are going to be around in 40, 50, things that are going to be around in 40,50, 60 years, you things that are going to be around in 40, 50, 60 years, you need to ta ke in 40, 50, 60 years, you need to take sealevel rise into account when you‘re making those decisions today. staying with the environment, because new york starts banning plastic bags on the first of march, joining california and hawaii in cracking down on single—use plastic bags. the law is aimed at reducing the estimated 23 million plastic

bags used each year by new yorkers, but are they really ready for the change? michelle fleury went to find out. an endangered species act, the plastic bag. many american supermarkets started using them in the 1980s but with the ban starting march the first, all new yorkers will have to bring their own reusable bags to the grocery store oi’ reusable bags to the grocery store or pay 5 cents for a paper one, so what do shoppers think? there is no recycling purpose for them, they just fill landfill, so good. half the staff in the store you buy is made out of plastic that holds the food, so plastic bags... doesn't make sense. you food, so plastic bags... doesn't make sense. you are food, so plastic bags... doesn't make sense. you are ahead of the ban, you have your reusable bag?m is very sturdy and useful for many reasons. to help shoppers prepare, this shop in brooklyn is giving away reusable bags to any customer that spans over $20 and while the owner thinks this is the right thing to do for the environment, he said some

will find it inconvenient. change is hard, people use plastic bags for everyday use, they use them to pick up everyday use, they use them to pick up dog poo and in their trash bags and in their bathrooms. soon to become an unfamiliar sight but not all plastic bags are banned. for example, those used for prescription drugs and take out food are exempt and that will limit the effectiveness of the ban in reducing plastic waste. a new york recycling plant. one of the aims of the law is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions hide to the disposal of plastic bags. the plastics industry has fought the ban and claims it won‘t even address the problem of plastic waste. a plastic bag being here in the united states isn‘t going to have a significant impact because up to 95% of the plastics going into the oceans comes from ten river systems in the us, asia and africa. as new yorkers prepare, one chain

has done this, turning their plastic bags into a collectors item. who knows, maybe they will be worth something in the future. let show you the markets before we go because the nikkei injapan extending losses, further down 1.5%, and hong kong, which hasjust opened for trade, down more than 0.5%. the dow has continued to lose as well. it has lost more than 2000 points this week, or nearly 7%, all because of the coronavirus outbreak. that‘s it for this edition of asia business report. thank you for watching. welcome back. our main story is this our: us president donald trump has been trying to calm fears over the spread of the coronavirus, telling the us people the risk remains very low —— stories.

international efforts to contain the outbreak intensifies. more new cases have been recorded outside of china than inside. former chancellor sajid javid has used a personal statement to the commons to attack the way the government is run. he stood down earlier this month after boris johnson demanded he sack his special advisers. mrjavid told mps his resignation was necessary to uphold the national interest and sensible checks and balances in government. here‘s our chief political correspondent, vicki young. sajid javid did all the things you‘d expect a chancellor to do. but he only lasted eight months in the job and never got to deliver a budget. reporter: mrjavid. good afternoon. he resigned after the prime minister told him to sack his own advisers and rely on a joint team based in number 10. speaker: i call sajid javid. today, he told mps why he‘d refused. a chancellor, like all cabinet ministers, has to be able to give candid advice to a prime minister, so he is speaking truth to power. i believe that the arrangement proposed would significantly inhibit that and it would not have been

in the national interest. and there‘s little doubt who he blames for what happened. now, i don‘t intend to dwell further on all the details and the personalities. jeering the "comings jeering the "comings and goings", if you will. that was a dig at dominic cummings — he‘s the prime minister‘s most senior and controversial adviser, who‘s keen to change the way government operates and is making some enemies along the way. sajid javid was clear today what he thought the approach should be. to keep spending under control, to keep taxes low, to root out waste and to pass that litmus test that was rightly set in stone in our manifesto of debt being lower at the end of the parliament. sajid javid‘s resignation was about more than a row over advisers. he, like many conservatives, is uneasy about the idea of increased spending if it means more borrowing and higher taxes. he will now be a very senior figure

making that case on the backbenches. that could cause the prime minister trouble in the months ahead. in two weeks, the new chancellor‘s first budget will tell us how much cash he is willing to spend and who will pay for it. vicki young, bbc news, westminster. as always, much more on our website, including lots of advice on how to protect yourself against the coronavirus. you can get in touch with me via social media. that‘s it from me. mike will be here at 2am. now it is sport today. bye—bye. hello, i‘m katie shanahan and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: late drama in european football as manchester city fight back against real madrid. maria sharapova says

"goodbye to tennis" — retiring at the age of 32. pakistan stun the former champions the west indies, while england beat thailand to secure their first win of women‘s t20 world cup hello and welcome along to sport today. right, it‘s been a big night in european football, with two matches taking place in the last 16 champions league. lyon stunned the italian champions juventus, but we‘ll start with the two favourites for the trophy as manchester city fought back from a goal down to beat ten man real madrid 2—1. here‘s our football reporter rob schofield to run through all the details. a huge night for manchester city. on the day that their appeal for this two year european ban from uefa was lodged. they have arguably the most famous night in europe. and it all

started terribly for