us financial markets continued to fall dramatically on friday, following sharp declines on european and asian markets. investors are expecting the central banks to cut the cost of borrowing in the us, japan and other major economies. more from our business welcome to bbc news. correspondent samira hussain. i'm simon pusey. our top stories: the world health organization raises its assessment of the coronavirus threat to the highest level. us financial market were battered in a way not seen we have now increased our since the 2008 assessment of the risk financial crisis. the dowjones fell by of spread and the risk more than 12% this week of impact of covid—19 to very high. although on friday trading was able to come back from a 1000 point lost to close only 350 points lower. wall street continues to worry about the coronavirus the virus causes another and if the increasing number frantic day on global markets — hit with their worst week of cases outside china pushes the deadly virus into an epidemic. the white house has been trying since the financial crisis. to calm nervous investors. the trump administration's national economic director says nato calls for calm as turkey he does not believe hits hundreds of targets the stock market plunge will have a long—term effect. in northern syria — pay back for a deadly airstrike on its troops. and we speak to asia bibi, the pakistani christian who was sentenced to death the president himself spoke for blasphemy after an argument to reporters late on friday saying that some of these big with neighbours. drops can be attributed to investor fears

of the unknown. earlier in the day, the us central bank, the federal reserve, released a statement saying the us economy remains fundamentally strong but if there is a need for the fed to step in, it will. traders interpreted that as a possible cut to borrowing rates, something that other major economies are also considering. hello. the world health organization has raised the global threat level from coronavirus to "very high" — the highest possible level of alert. they're planning to send a mission to iran next week. officials there say 3a people have died, but health sources have told the bbc the actual figure is more than 200. in south korea, where 16 people samira hussain speaking have died, there have been a thousand new cases in the past 48 hours, earlier. bringing the total number let's get some of of infections to 2,300. the day's other news. rich preston has this update. the gare de lyon station in paris was partially evacuated after a large fire was inadvertently started by demonstrators. they were protesting against a congolese singer who was giving a concert nearby. they accuse fally ipupa of being too close to the congolese government. police say nobody appears the number of countries to have been hurt. reporting new incidence of new zealand's prime minister jacinda ardern has called australia's policy of deporting covid-19 foreign nationals convicted reporting new incidence of covid—19 continues to rise, new of committing crimes zealand, little when i, covid—i9 continues to rise, new zealand, little when i, belarus are among the latest to confirm their first cases. the world ‘corrosive'. health organization has upgraded the global risk of the

the comments were made virus. it calls for all at a heated news conference with her australian countries to educate their counterpart, scott morrison. australia has been deporting hundreds of people to populations, to expand new zealand — even though some left at a young age. surveillance, to find, isolate, and care for every case, to other news now: crisis talks have been taking place to prevent a major international escalation of the civil war trace every contact, and to in northern syria. it comes after a surge ta ke trace every contact, and to take and all of government and in fighting between turkish all of society approach. iran and syrian forces. 33 turkish soldiers were killed in an airstrike, and turkey has responded by targeting hundreds is now the biggest cause for of syrian government sites. concern, with more than 200 our international correspondent orla guerin has sent this people reported to have died, report. as authorities there tried to get control of the situation friday prayers in were cancelled, for the first time in a0 years. worldwide, there payback. have been more than 2500 deaths the turkish military from this strain of hitting hard today. coronavirus. the united nations as each country has to do is bit. we know containment is pounding more than 200 syrian government targets in idlib province. possible, but the window of opportunity is narrowing. and it was retaliation for this. so opportunity is narrowing. and soa opportunity is narrowing. and so a appeal for solidarity and full global support, but with the killing of 33 turkish troops in idlib yesterday. these massive airstrikes have all countries fully assuming their responsibilities. italy triggered a dangerous escalation.

continues to be europe's biggest cause for concern, with more than 602 cases and several towns in the north of the country still on lockdown. the uk has reported its first case ofa uk has reported its first case of a patient who caught the virus from within britain. in turkey has blamed the syrian regime but syria's ally, the united states, a second russia, controls the airspace. as the fallen soldiers case of community contagion in were given a hero's funeral, california as the number of turkey's defence minister hulusi akar says russia infections across the country has no excuse. passes 50. we haven't lost translation: even though anybody yet and, hopefully, we we told russia in advance can keep that interact. there the location of our troops, the attack happened. after the first strike, have been no deaths in the we warned them again, but it continued. united states at all. a lot of even ambulances were hit. thatis united states at all. a lot of that is attributable to the fa ct that is attributable to the fact that we close the border very early, otherwise it could bea very early, otherwise it could be a different story. other countries that haven't yet had the battle for idlib any confirmed cases of the is continuing. the regime trying to drive virus are preparing, bracing the rebels from this final themselves what is likely the stronghold. inevitable. rich preston, bbc news. more on the situation in iran where, as we've heard in that report, the bbc has learned that more than 200 people have died from the virus, but in the last two months, that's six times as many the bombing campaign has also as the officialfigure. driven almost1 million the health ministry has accused the bbc of spreading lies. but as bbc persian‘s kasra naji people from their homes,

explains, there are fears the government, unsure of how many towards to handle the outbreak, the turkish border. president putin and president is covering up the extent erdogan, seen here meeting last year, have held urgent talks over the phone of the spread of the virus. but they are supporting opposite sides in idlib and so far neither appears we are getting reports that the spread of the virus is much more serious to be backing down. than what the government is admitting to. today we have managed to get a figure of 210 from our sources in iran, as turkey struggles hospital sources in several cities where they say at least 210 people have been killed with the fallout in idlib, or have lost their lives because of the virus and that is almost more it wants the west to feel its pain. than six times the official here is how. figure of 3a that was given by allowing refugees by the health minister to head for europe. at lunchtime today. small groups began leaving today after word went out the authorities here would no longer try to stop them. 25—year—old mohammed hit the road fast. he fled damascus four years ago. a source of concern we are going to greek on foot. is that the government is not quite sure how to handle today, at least, he the situation and also it does could not reach europe. not have quite all the now we are trying to cross facilities or the kids that it needs to control it. on top of that we also have the issue of religiosity, the river but greek commandos the issue of religious figures

who do not want to close down their places of worship in iranfor example. frequenting the holy city said no, no. of qom, the centre of a serious outbreak there and the religious authorities are still refusing to close and here in istanbul, down these main shrine a clamour to board a bus there saying it is the people's religious duty to visit these for the border without places of worship and we the risk of being detained. cannot close them down. turkey has been coping with almost a million syrian refugees for years. so all that has added many have built new lives here. to each other to the extent but the threat of an exodus gives turkey leverage with the international that there is a lack of community. orla guerin, bbc news. confidence in the government's ability to handle the situation and also the government's 00:05:34,478 --> 2147483051:39:31,953 figures coming out from 2147483051:39:31,953 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 the health minister and others. i'm joined now by dr oya dursun—ozkanca, a professor of international studies at elizabethtown college and an expert on turkey's relations with the west. thanks forjoining us. how likely do you think a major international confrontation is at this point? well, right now there is certainly a risky strategy that is going on. we

are at the age of a potential escalation of conflict between turkey and russia, which has, in the last couple of years, been improving the relations, ever since 2016, to be exact. and they have been increasingly engaging in defence relations. however, what we are seeing right now is brinkmanship, basically both parties pushing the situation to the brink of a disaster. undoubtedly there is a humanitarian tragedy right 110w a humanitarian tragedy right now in idlib. it is the last rebel stronghold in syria and turkey is saying that the russian back to syrian regime is actually breaching the agreement which designated idlib as one of the demilitarised zones in syria. so since december of last year 9a8,000 people have been internally displaced. so most

of them are trying to get into turkey and, last night, turkish authorities have announced that they are going to open the borders with europe so that the syrian refugees can cross into european territories in order to increase the pressure on european allies in order to give a helping hand to turkey in its struggle against the syrian regime that is backed by the russians. and, last night, we have seen the largest casualty level this month, 33 people have been killed from the turkish military. and this has been made possible through the air support that was provided by russia. so there is certainly a very risky situation that is going on, with the potential for escalation, further escalation. in fact, turkey has called on

consultations with the nato allies and the meeting took place yesterday in brussels and, according to that, the nato secretary general, yen salt number, has called upon russia and syria to stop the attacks on turkey —— yann sommer sultan boag. that is the extent of the support we have seen so extent of the support we have seen so far. of course we should remember that turkey's a nato allies and if there was an attack on turkish soil then the need to allies, the turkish authorities could call upon article five of the nato alliance and call for the other allies to come to the defence of turkey. however, so far, the escalation is only limited to syrian territory. hence article five cannot be applied. it is clearly a really, really, get a picture. thank you so much for

summing it up so concisely. that was dr oya dursun—ozkanca, talking about the situation between turkey and syria. roman polanski has won best director at the cesars, the annual awards for france's film industry, for his film an officer and a spy. mr polanski was a controversial nominee, having been a fugitive from justice in the united states since 1978, after admitting unlawful sex with a thirteen—year—old girl. he did not attend the event, saying that he feared for his safety. more than 100 women's rights activists protested at the award nomination, clashing with police near the venue. after he was announced as the winner, several actresses left the ceremony in protest. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: how an argument with her neighbours led to eight years on death row. pakistani christian assia bibi recounts her ordeal in an interview with the bbc.

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."

this is bbc news, the latest headlines: the world health organization has raised its assessment of the coronavirus threat to the highest level. there was a frantic day on the markets. they've been hit with their worst week since the financial crisis. let's stay with our top story and the spread of covid—19 around the world. mike mulvaney, the acting white house chief of staff, says the media is stoking a virus panic to bring down president trump. joining me now from bakersfield is doctor jeanine kraybill from the department of political science at california state university. the markets are tanking around the world and this is clearly a global crisis. i should the world and this is clearly a global crisis. ishould donald trump be concerned by this? donald trump is concerned by this because he is prioritising

social and economic policy over a transparent government where he is giving information out to the american company. that's why they argued after his trip to india, he had the point person in the united states be his pipe vice presidents mike pence as opposed to various health organisations and the science council and moreover, two doctors in infectious disease centre have repeatedly told the work white house that we need to be more active in oui’ we need to be more active in our preparedness but largely, this seems to be the fact that, donald trump seems to be nervous about the fact the market has not been doing well and he is touting a healthy and robust economy and not wanting this to impact him electorally in any way say he is trying to downplay this and make it, package it as a way of fodder

for his political opponents be critical of him and the comments of mike mulvaney are indicative of that. people are comparing him to george bush and hurricane katrina in 2005 any never got over that in his reputation of inaction and indecisiveness and is this the worst possible scenario for donald trump? it could be you. that is something that will definitely never leave the legacy of george w bush, his endemic response to hurricane katrina and really not having oui’ katrina and really not having our national disease agency to be able to handle that, fema, and the aftermath of hurricane katrina. i think that is a good analogy to compare with the response of donald trump and on monday he did allocate over $2 billion to this but congress decried that was not a sufficient amount of funding. almost 3000 have died from

coronavirus and i believe over 80,000 have been infected or are in danger of being infected. this centers for disease control in the united states have also told the trump administration that it is not a matter of if the coronavirus hits the united states in a work capacity, but when, so, many are concerned that like china, donald trump and his administration, is not being as transparent or active as they should be about what this potentially can happen to the united states and this may largely be because the dow jones had its worst week since 2008 this week. and he is probably trying, donald trump, to make sure that the coronavirus will not impact a healthy economy. markets crashing all over the world and it will be interesting to see what happens for the presidential election. thank you forjoining us, doctor jeanine kraybill, in

bakersfield. hong kong police have arrested three veteran pro—democracy figures, including one of the city's most high—profile entrepreneurs, jimmy lai. his supporters have questioned the timing, as the city tackles with the threat of coronavirus. courtney bembridge reports. an unexpected high—profile arrest. police entered the home ofjimmy lai, one of the few amongst hong kong's elite to be openly critical of beijing. he was led outside and taken to the local police station. the newspaper he founded, apple daily, is critical of hong kong and chinese leadership and his arrest is seen as another blow to hong kong's independent media. the 71—year—old is facing two charges, the first, illegal assembly, relates to a banned anti—government march last august. mr lai is accused of attending, along with thousands of others who flouted the band. two other pro—democracy figures, both politicians, were arrested over the same protest. the maximum penalty

is five years jail. translation: what happened on that day is in violation of the law. that is the reason they have been arrested today. it was not an authorised assembly. mr lai has also been charged with intimidation over a clash with a journalist from a rival newspaper at an event in 2017. he has been arrested before. in 201a, he refused to leave a key pro—democracy protest. he was a vocal supporter of the so—called umbrella revolution. we have to be in touch with these young kids. they are human beings. these kids are wonderful. they have done a greatjob. over the past year, pro—democracy protesters have again been filling hong kong's streets. the rallies have been temporarily halted by the coronavirus outbreak but protesters have vowed to return once

the threat eases. in 2010, a christian woman from pakistan, asia bibi, was sentenced to death after being convicted for blasphemy after an argument with neighbours. she spent eight years in jail before her conviction was overturned. her case drew international attention to pakistan's blasphemy laws, and to the question of religious tolerance fears for her safety led her to flee to france. she spoke to my colleague mishal husain. the fury in pakistan just over a year ago as a woman sentenced to death for blasphemy was acquitted. asia bibi had been convicted on the flimsiest of evidence. now, she has broken her silence about the nightmare that began when she was accused of insulting the prophet muhammad. translation: i was very scared. i couldn't even imagine something like this would happen to me. for a year and a half i kept going to court, not once did the judge hear my side of the story. they sentenced me to death without letting me speak.

asia bibi told me she was working in the fields near her home in punjab province when the mob came to drag her away. her daughters, then aged eight and nine, saw it happen. they have since been reunited with their mother. translation: it was so strange to see my husband and children after so long. i couldn't make sense of my emotions. but when i think about my daughters' childhood... i see them crying at being separated from me. that i cannot forget. after international campaigns and eight years on death row, pakistan's supreme court dismissed the charges but there are still christians and muslims being targeted by the blasphemy law. what would your message be to the government of pakistan?

translation: to prime minister imran khan i say, whenever something like this happens, it should be properly investigated. innocence should not be punished and innocent people jailed for this should be freed. in a statement, the government of pakistan told us it had taken considerable steps to prevent misuse of the blasphemy law and that minorities are treated as equal citizens. this afternoon, asia bibi went to meet president macron. she may be granted asylum here in france or in canada, but this period is one of huge adjustment for her. she told us she isn't sure yet what the future holds. mishal husain, bbc news, paris.

that is it from me. tuesday watching. hello. friday brought more rain to areas which didn't need it. another 10—15mm fell across shropshire. around a0mm of rain fell in around 12 hours in cardiff. meanwhile, across scotland, further snow. through the weekend, parts of the highlands could see another 20—30cm of snow, and all eyes this weekend are on this area of low pressure. this is storm jorge, which was named by the spanish met service. through the early hours of saturday morning we will see squally rain pushing east. cold air coming in behind, we could see icy conditions across parts of northern ireland first thing on saturday. but the main focus this weekend is the strength of the wind. gales, if not severe gales, across a large swathe of the uk, gradually easing down through sunday. wet and windy first thing across the eastern side of england. sunshine following. showers pushing in from

the west, likely to be wintry. wet and windy across the northern isles through the afternoon. more persistent rain and maybe hill snow across northern england and into southern scotland. a cold day, particularly when you factor in the strength of the wind. temperatures not much higher than 6—7 celsius in places, and some gusty winds, quite widely a0—50 miles an hour, but through the afternoon, some really strong winds developing across parts of wales, northern england and into southern scotland, where they could gust up to 75 miles an hour, maybe even 80 miles an hour on the western coast of scotland. also some heavy persistent rain for a time across northern england, southern scotland, northern ireland and also some snow once again over higher ground. through the early hours of sunday morning we keep this focus of rain and hill snow across northern england and southern scotland. to the north and south of this, clear spells, but squally, blustery showers. the strength of the wind should keep the frost at bay first thing on sunday morning.

storm jorge slowly pulls away north through sunday. we're keeping an eye on this feature here, which will start to push outbreaks of rain into south—east england through sunday morning. two things to keep an eye on. the winds will be slowly easing down, but still some outbreaks of rain and snow across northern england and southern scotland. rain for a time perhaps across south—eastern england. we will need to keep an eye on the timings of that. between all of this, spells of sunshine, wintry showers, the wind slowly easing down, but it's still a windy day. certainly still feeling cold given the strength of the wind. we start to lose those severe gales as we go through sunday. it's a blustery day and for most there'll be a mixture of sunshine and showers. that's the theme into next week. it won't be as windy. it will be somewhat drierfor a time. still, some showers around. goodbye.

this is bbc news, the headlines: the world health organization has

raised its assessment of the coronavirus threat to the highest level as more than 50 countries report infections. but the head of the organisation says there is still a chance to contain the virus if its chain of transmission can be broken. fears that the outbreak could hit the global economy led to a sixth day of sell offs in stocks and shares. in the us and london, markets suffered their biggest weekly loss since the financial crisis in 2008. companies around the world have lost more than $3.5 trillion in value. there've been angry scenes outside france's most prestigious film awards, the cesars, after roman polanski, a convicted rapist, won best director for his film an officer and a spy. more than 100 women's rights activists clashed with police near the paris venue.