this is the briefing. i'm samantha simmonds. our top story: disney closes all its theme parks in asia as fears about coronavirus continue to spread. at least 33 turkish soldiers are killed in idlib. turkey says it will retaliate against syrian government forces, backed by russia. controversy at the cesars — director roman polanski cancels his appearance after protests from women's groups. the sell—off continues. asian shares fall sharply after wall street slumps the most in almost a decade — the dow racking up its biggest points loss on record.

a warm welcome to the programme, briefing you on all you need to know in global news, business and sport. and you can be part of the conversation. tell us what you think, just use the hashtag #bbcthebriefing. we wa nt we want to know if you have changed any of your travel plans a work plans because of the coronavirus. is it affecting how you commute? we start with the coronavirus. several new countries have confirmed their first cases of coronavirus as governments around the world continue to try to deal with the problem. the netherlands, denmark, estonia and lithuania are amongst those to reveal they do have patients suffering. the authorities in the south

korean city of daegu are set to charge a leader of a religious sect over the biggest outbreak of the coronavirus outside of china, while the impact on business remains huge. rich preston reports concerned about the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak, has sent international markets tumbling, rippling sellers across asia and the dowjones thing it's largest lost of points in one—day history. in california, a patient that didn't have any recent travel history or spent time with an infected person. the vice president is leading the us task force. we will make sure the full resources of the government are brought to bear in confronting the coronavirus here at home and i look forward to my new recommendations and

carrying those as we continue to deal with this issue. in europe, italy remains the country with the highest number of cases. the netherlands reported its first case, and the first case also in northern ireland. more cases were reported in several other european countries including denmark, estonia, romania and switzerland. the world health organization says the world is ata organization says the world is at a decisive moment. islamic public of iran, italy, and others demonstrate what this virus is capable of. but this virus is capable of. but this virus is capable of. but this virus is not influenza. with the right measures, it can be contained. in asia, where the virus started, japan has announced all schools will be closed until early april, 13 million students will be affected. translation: some local governments have a ready cancelled classes in their

areas “— cancelled classes in their areas —— have already, the next week or two are crucial. the health and wellbeing of children is of utmost concern. we would like to reduce major risk of infection in school environments as they are places where a large number of stu d e nts where a large number of students and their teachers regularly spend long hours together. cases in south korea have continued to surge, making it one of the worst affected places. rich preston, bbc news. 33 turkish soldiers have been killed in an attack by syrian government forces in idlib in syria. the northern province is one of the last opposition strongholds in the country and has been under sustained attack by the syrian regime backed by russian forces. turkey's president erdogan had already threatened action if the offensive continued. our senior international correspondent orla guerin sent this report. in the warscape of syria, rebel fighters may be making their last stand. they have retaken this wounded, empty town in idlib province,

but the assad regime and its russian backers are determined to retake all of idlib. not if turkey can help it. its troops are supposed to be observing a ceasefire in idlib. instead, its losses are growing. turkey's defence minister told us his battle plans are ready if talks fail to stop the regime. translation: hospitals are being hit, schools and civilian areas. it's notjust the bodies of children under the rubble. it's the conscience of the international community. you want a ceasefire and you want a negotiated settlement. but are you really saying, sitting here today, that turkey is ready for all—out war with syria, which would drag in russia? first of all, we want these negotiations to come to an end and reach a result. that is what we want, and what we are working for.

so the deadline is no longer this weekend? if this is not fulfilled, starting at the weekend, you will see our actions. and, as the clock counts down, this is the only refuge for some in idlib. they had to clear out the livestock and the cockroaches before bringing their children in. nine families live here now. this woman says the only mercy they receive is from god. like many in idlib, she feels forgotten by the world. let's brief you on some of the other stories making the news: police in hong kong have carried out a swathe of high—profile arrests linked to anti—government protests in the territory over

the past six months. those arrested include the media tycoon and founder of apple daily, jimmy lai chee—ying, and several pro—democracy politicians including the vice chair of the hong kong labour party lee cheuk—yan. more than 1,000 people have rallied on the greek island of lesbos in protest a new migrant camps. a day earlier, 60 people were hurt in violent clashes, most of them police officers. around 40,000 asylum seekers are living in poor conditions in the camps, which were built to hold only around 6,000. canada says it will stop providing protection for the duke and duchess of sussex in the coming weeks. the royal canadian mounted police have been providing assistance to the couple since their arrival in canada last year. it's not clear who will foot the security bill when they formally step down as senior royals next month. there have been more steep falls on asian stock markets — with japan's nikkei

down more than 4% — after wall street suffered its worst day in almost a decade. the dow jones industrial average fell more than 1,100 points — its biggest one day fall ever in points terms. investors are increasingly concerned about the impact of the coronavirus on the global economy. former federal reserve chief janet yellen has warned of the risk of a us recession. and goldman sachs says the virus could wipe out all profit growth for us companies this year. eileen burbidge is a technology entrepreneur and investor and partner at passion capital. shejoins me now. thank you for being here. is panic setting in the markets, do you think? yeah i would hesitate to use that word personally, but it does feel like everybody starting to prepare for it to get worse before it gets better again. and i think that is definitely the case. as you also mentioned, thejobs we have seen over the last four hours are on an absolute point spaces. on a relative basis, it is not as if we are seeing the

worst days of the markets across the world, we are seeing reaction, and i think that is reasonable considering the impact on workforces as well as on supply chain. i know it is difficult to predict these things and we are going to hold you to it, but given the coronavirus is only going globally one way at the moment, at least, do you perceive this would continue in the markets? i do. would continue in the markets? ido.i would continue in the markets? i do. i think this may continue for a bit longer, until it gets better, including the market reaction, i absolutely do. the fa ct we reaction, i absolutely do. the fact we are seeing more cases outside of china than inside of china means that people are understanding this is not going to be specifically focused on one region or to be specifically focused on one region 01’ even a to be specifically focused on one region or even a particular sector. it is going to have longer term ripple effect and longtail effects, so i think it will affect the market for a few more days if not longer. and goldman sachs is saying the virus could wipe out all profit growth for us companies this year. it's massive, we're talking about huge global economic dips because of this. i think it is going to have a

really, really be set of repercussions. if you think about the supply chain, those impacts take a long time to recover from. if we have an incident or a situation where, say worst case next week, it's not like we are back in business. in the following week, this will have quite longtail effects and you will see lots of suppliers and even distribution — lots of freight, for example, getting to suppliers will be really largely affected. eileen, we'll talk about this more in the news briefing, but for thank you. this evening in paris they're holding the cinema awards ceremony known as the cesars — the french equivalent of the oscars. topping the list of nominees is the film an officer and a spy — or ‘j'accuse' in french — by the 86—year—old french—polish director roman polanski. but there's fury among feminists and me too activists because of the long—standing allegations aimed at polanski of rape and sexual abuse.

hugh schofield reports from paris. the film is about a jewish man and soldier hounded by society and soldier hounded by society and the fight to clear his name. the dreyfus affair is a subject which roman polanski says he has i was wanted to treat. the result is a cinematic triumph. having audiences and 12 nominations at the awards. but whatever its execs as, the film j'accuse comes weighted with controversy. this is where the cesa rs controversy. this is where the cesars committee controversy. this is where the cesa rs committee french controversy. this is where the cesars committee french oscars are going to be held was that you can see they are putting the final touches on the outside right now. this is the focus of the row already on an adjacent wall there is graffiti against roman polanski. the point is, we are living now in a post me too weld and polansky isa a post me too weld and polansky is a director with a past. wherever he goes in public, roman polanski is dogged by the 1977 scandal after admitting unlawful sex with a

13—year—old, he then fled the united states. there are other allegations of rape and abuse, mainly also from the 1970s. the last was made just two months ago. feminists say that with this background it is disgraceful roman polanski should be honoured for this film. but for them, it should be honoured for this film. but forthem, it is typical of the french cultural elite. i think there is really a strong specificity in france to say that it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, in fact, you have the power, you are an artist, you are a genius, so you can rape and we don't care. this is still the case in france. roman polanski does not give many interviews but in a recent magazine interview he said this. "in 19771 did something wrong annually happy century later my family still paying the price. it's like a curse that keeps coming back." and polansky‘s curse that keeps coming back." and pola nsky‘s supporters curse that keeps coming back." and polansky‘s supporters say his work should be allowed to stand for itself. i think we should differentiate what is

the moral behaviour of a creator which can be very bad, and must be judged creator which can be very bad, and must bejudged as creator which can be very bad, and must be judged as everybody else, because a creator is not above the law. his films, his creations, why punish a film for the bad behaviour of his filmmaker? polansky says he himself has felt handed by society with its changing social values does make hounding. but his accusers, any hounding. but his accusers, any hounding is belated and richly deserved. hugh schofield, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: a return to the volcanic island in the philippines, devastated by last month's eruption and now uninhabitable. prince charles has chosen his bride. the prince proposed to lady diana spencer three weeks ago. she accepted, she says, without hesitation. as revolutions go, this had its fair share of bullets. a climax in the night outside

the gates of mr marcos's sanctuary, malaca nang, the name itself symbolising one of the cruellest regimes of modern asia. the world's first clone has been produced of an adult mammal. scientists in scotland have produced a sheep called dolly using a cell from another sheep. warren beatty and faye dunaway announced to the world that the winner of best film was la la land. the only trouble was, it wasn't. the mistake was only put right in the middle of gushing speeches by the team behind the modern musical. not for 20 years have locusts been seen in such numbers in this part of africa. some of the swarms have been ten miles long. this is the last time the public will see this pope. very soon, for the sake of the credibility and authority of the next pope, benedict xvi will, in his own words, "be hidden from the world for the rest of his life." you are watching the briefing. our headlines: after the killing of 33 turkish soldiers by syrian airstrikes on thursday, turkey's armed forces chiefs have headed to the border to direct

ground and air attacks on president assad's forces. concern about the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak has continued to push down prices on the world's stock markets. now it's time to get all the latest from the bbc sports centre. hello, i'm katie shanahan, and this is your friday sport briefing. ajax, benfica, celtic and arsenal are among the big—name clubs who were knocked out of the europa league on thursday. arsenal's game with olympiakos was heading for penalties until the greeks scored in extra—time to go through on away goals. but inter milan, sevilla and manchester united are all through to the last 16. united were given a helping hand by bruges at old trafford when simon deli was sent off for a deliberate handball. bruno fernandes scored the resulting penalty to put united 1—0 up on the night and 2—1 on aggregate. just before half—time, odion ighalo scored his first goal for the club to give united a two—goal cushion. scott mctominay then made

it 3—0 on the night, with fred scoring twice in the second half as united completed a 6—1 aggregate win. very happy tonight. obviously we're in a moment now that we rotate a bit. players are given games. but when you score a goal and you play like this, you will have more confidence. it is brilliant to see the start of the game. i thought they had the right intent, created loads of chances, and when they got down to ten men, of course, the game was more or less over. cycling's tour of the uae had to be abandoned on wednesday with two stages of this year's race still go to. officials took the decision after two staff members

from one of the teams tested positive for the coronavirus. great britain's adam yates of mitchelton—scott was leading the race when the remaining stages were cancelled. chris froome of team ineos said on twitter that it's a shame the uae tour has been cancelled, but public health must come first. we are all awaiting testing and will remain at the hotel until further notice. there have been 650 cases of coronavirus so far in italy. that is the highest of any european country. world number one novak djokovic will bid to reach the final of the dubai tennis championships later on friday. he beat the seventh seed, karen khachanov of russia, in straight sets on thursday to progress to the semi—final, where he will now face gael monfils. second seed stefanos tsitsipas meets britain's dan evans in the other last—four tie. on the wta tour, it is semi—finals day at the qatar open in doha. the world number one, ashleigh barty, will face the 2018 winner, petra kvitova. barty sealed her place

in the last four by beating garbine muguruza in three sets. she won the decider 6—2. and something that has been making the headlines is this superb putt from an 84—year—old woman to win a flash new car. mary ann wakefield held her nerve with the whole crowd watching her at a basketball game during the break as she went on to sink a 94—foot putt. and just look at her reaction. you can get all the latest sports news at our website. that is bbc.com/sport. but from me, katie shanahan, and the rest of the sport team, that's your friday sport briefing.

bring sport briefing. us up—to—date on the picture bring us up—to—date on the picture in japan. we have seen figures suggesting that now 200 people have tested positive to covid—19. considerable concern about the fact that the numbers aren't slowing down, and there isa aren't slowing down, and there is a lot of consternation prompted by the prime minister, shinzo abe's call yesterday to close all public schools for more than a month as of monday, a lot of parents very angered and concerned about the suddenness of the decision, leaving them to make arrangements very, very arrangements very, very hastily. the mayor of at least one area is saying he is going to defy what is in effect an orderfrom above to defy what is in effect an order from above and just close schools in his area for a couple of weeks. in the meantime we are seeing daily life being curtailed to a degree. two disney parks have

announced they will shut for the time being. bad news for the time being. bad news for the parents who are going to have to entertain their children for a few weeks as of monday. the tokyo marathon is due to take place this weekend. it organises some time back announced it would be closed to all runners other than elite and wheelchair athletes, but of course, the big story and what eve ryo ne course, the big story and what everyone is waiting to hear about is what is going to happen to the tokyo summer olympics. at the moment the organising committee here in tokyo have said they may have to downscale the torch relay, which is due to start in just a few weeks's time. they are expected to make an announcement about that today. at the moment, with regards to the olympics themselves, the international ioc are saying right now it is far too early to make any decisions about what is going to happen. and jenny, south korea, which has the largest number of cases outside of china, also now closing one of its largest car pla nts closing one of its largest car plants in the world. yes, this

is after a worker at the he owned a plant tested positive for the virus —— hyundai plans. south korea is undoubtedly the focus of alarm in the region because of the sheer number of cases. they are growing all the time. many of those cases, more than half, were linked to a religious sect. the authorities have been trying to test every single member of the organisation, some 200,000 people, and it has now emerged they have actually arrested the leader of the group, accusing them of an effect obstructing their investigations by refusing to give out details about those members. and bring us about those members. and bring us up—to—date on the picture in hong kong. there have been developments there. yes, the number of cases in hong kong is also rising. it is now more than 90 people who have been infected. but some worrying news emerging. the authorities say that they took a pet dog

from a woman who tested positive for the virus and tested sa m ples positive for the virus and tested samples from the animal, in which they did find the virus. now, they are very keen to put paid to any widespread concerns. they are saying, look, right now we don't have any evidence as yet that the virus can be transmitted either from a pet animal to its owner or vice—versa. but they are continuing to monitor the dog. it is ina continuing to monitor the dog. it is in a special animal quarantine facility as we speak. thank you for the update. let's take you to the philippines now, where people living around the taal volcano are slowly returning to their homes. it erupted earlier this year. our correspondent howard johnson went with some of them. you may find parts of his report distressing. this is how taal island looked before the volcanic eruption, and here is how it looks now, the once—verdant philippine jungle now so heavily laden with volcanic ash that it resembles the surface

of the moon. we are travelling across taal lake towards the island here. we can see some dust in the background emanating from the main crater. the alert level has been reduced here, which means some residents are returning to the island to see the damage caused by this eruption. and this is what we saw. here, a once vibrant community church now looks like an archaeological site, building after building buried under sulphurous ash. you see this house is completely covered in ash. the roof has collapsed in on itself under the weight. and here, another sign of everyday life before the eruption, a satellite dish completely ca ked in volcanic ash. nearby, we meet a group

of neighbours digging out ash from a buried house. they have returned to the island to look for a man who has been missing since the volcano erupted. translation: please reveal yourself. fighting back tears, the man's wife says she won't rest until she has found him. we saw his mosquito net and mattress. nothing. we dug in the living room area. we also saw our dog here, dead. more than 4,000 people like gloria remain in evacuation centres away from taal. the island itself has been declared a permanent danger zone, with residents forbidden to return to their homes. islanders once made a living from tourism, fishing and farming. but many, like renz greco, have lost crucial livestock. translation: the boats were buried, the fishes died. our plastic sack business all gone. the total damage is $us20,000.

both renz and gloria said they have received food and shelter from authorities, but as yet are unclear if they will receive aid to rebuild their lives. the family of an australian boy who was filmed crying after being bullied have turned down a crowd funded trip to disneyland. an online campaign raised more than $308,000. the nine—year—old's can't say the family was touched by the gesture but would donate the money to charity instead. stay with me on bbc news. i'll be back with the business briefing in just a few moments. we will have more on the impact on stock markets around the world which have taken a big hit, as we know, in the past few days over fears of the

coronavirus and the impact it is going to have on the global economy. we have been asking whether it is impacting on whether it is impacting on whether or not you are staying at home to work and if you are commuting. get in touch. use the hashtag #bbcthebriefing. thursday was marked by the fact that some areas saw their first snow of the winter season thus far and, yet, it looks as though the rest of february will revert to type. more heavy rains so further flooding can be expected, details on the weather website. the day does not really start in that vein, but towards the eastern side of the british isles, a ridge of high—pressure overnight will have cleared the skies and temperatures will have fallen. that is not the case closer by to that weather front where increasingly through the course of the night i think we will find mild air pushing in from the south—west and from the word go i am afraid it will be cloudy, wet and windy and that regime rather than cold dry bright that winds out across many parts of the british isles during the course of the day.

—— wins out. some of the rain quite heavy and it will turn mild for england and wales as parts of northern ireland as well later on. much colder across a good part of scotland, and that is not the only weather front we have to contend with. nor is it indeed the only weather system, because the spanish authorities have named this deep area of low pressure storm jorge, which will dominate the weather right through the course of the weekend. saturday starts on a wet and windy note. we need to press that weather front across all parts and then another portion following on to gang the showers up across scotland, northern ireland and the north of england, as well, where it will stay resolutely cold and not much warmer

further south, despite the presence of sunshine. throughout saturday into sunday, it will be very windy indeed. there are already met office warnings about the strength of this wind, and some of the gusts, and when i show you that chart, it's no surprise to see those gusts of 50—60 mph. some exposed locations could see 70 mph. that is where we could get disruption to travel plans, and it could mean that there are power outages as well. sunday, away from the centre of the low, and these showers and longer spells of rain or snow depending on elevation will not be a bad day. some sunshine around, a couple of passing wintry showers, but it will not feel overly warm. so watch out, keep

an eye on the flooding, and also on the forecast.

this program is live captioned by red bee media. this is the business briefing. i'm samantha simmonds the sell—off continues. asian shares fall sharply after the dow racks up its biggest points loss on record. plus — out of office. is coronavirus forcing the world's biggest ever experiment in working from home? and here are those market numbers. those sharp losses continuing in asia after us shares lost more than 4% on thursday. it's shaping up to be the worst week on the markets since the financial crisis more than a decade ago.