hello, and welcome to bbc news. we start with the news breaking this hour, that the former us vice—president, joe biden, has won the crucial south carolina primary. many pundits speculated that anything less than a convincing victory could have spelled the beginning of the end for biden‘s democratic presidential nomination. let's go straight to our correspondent barbara plett—usher in columbia, south carolina's state capital. yeah, this was definitely the resultjoe biden was looking for. he has been struggling in his campaign and he always said

he would be able to turn it around with support from black voters here in south carolina, and it really looks as though thatis and it really looks as though that is what has happened. the results have been called on the basis of exit polls, they were so basis of exit polls, they were so clear. they have given him a resounding victory. the votes are still being counted but so far they have been hovering between 53 and 63%, which puts him way in the lead. and what it does also is establish him as the second runner in the overall race. so he is now second to bernie sanders, who is the front—runner, and going into those crucial super tuesday votes next week, where 14 tuesday votes next week, where 1a states vote at once. this is the kind of bounce that mr biden wanted. we are expecting him to come out shortly to give a victory speech and i think we can say that his campaign is relieved and also celebrating. who is the biggest loser here? bernie, or bloomberg? mr bloomberg has not been on the

ballot yet, he will be on the ballot yet, he will be on the ballot on tuesday. we will see how much of a challenge he will be tojoe biden. the plan of his campaign and ofjoe biden‘s campaign was to get a big bouncy, and off the back of the present himself as the main establishment alternative to bernie sanders. so he has actually been getting endorsements now from senior democrats, a very senior one endorsed him just in the last hour, and off the back about they are hoping to get not only they are hoping to get not only the credibility of this kind of support but also money. —— back off that. campaign donations. his campaignjust said off that. campaign donations. his campaign just said they made more money in the last hours and during his whole campaign. —— last hour than. so thatis campaign. —— last hour than. so that is how he is positioning himself as the best way to defeat bernie sanders, the left—wing candidate, and hoping they will be momentum coming off this victory which will help him to do well as well in the 14 states on super tuesday. that doesn't mean he will. he doesn't have as much of a presence there as he has had in south carolina. but this is, i

am sure, something that will be focused on in the coming days. yeah, really good night tojoe biden. barbara, thank you. president trump has said he'll meet taliban leaders after the united states signed a deal with the afghan militant group. america could begin withdrawing its troops in months. here's our chief international correspondent, lyse doucet. they fought the world's mightiest army, but today they sat together. old enemies shaking hands on a deal. the first step towards ending america's longest war. a glimpse of hope that afghanistan can finally move towards peace. but the us‘ top diplomat says that is up to the taliban. first, keep your promises to cut ties with al-qaeda and other terrorists. keep up the fight to defeat isis. welcome the profound relief of all afghan citizens, men and women, urban and rural, as a result of this past week's massive reduction in violence, and dedicate yourselves to continued reductions.

but for the taliban, today was a victory march. there is no doubt that you won the war. there is no doubt. otherwise, the foreign forces have not come to afghanistan. what would you say to those now who fear the return of the taliban? they should not fear. because the government which will come after this, will be acceptable to all in afghanistan. watching from the sidelines in kabul, an afghan government shut out of this deal. the taliban refused to talk to it. today, the nato chief and us defence secretary also sent them a message. they are still standing shoulder to shoulder with their afghan allies and their troops won't start leaving until peace talks start. but this is a different country from the dark days of brutal taliban rule. in doha, one deal is done.

making peace will be much harder. history is being made in this moment. this is not a peace deal, but it is a significant step forward and for all the uncertainty and scepticism, afghans know this is their best chance to move towards peace in a very long time. but they worry about a us rush to the exit. especially in an election year, when president trump wants to bring his troops home. lyse doucet, bbc news, doha. the state of washington in the us has declared a state of emergency after reporting the country's first from the coronavirus. health authorities say the victim was a man in his 50s, as rich preston reports. the man was one of two patients who were confirmed to have the disease at a hospital in seattle, in the us state of washington. health officials there have now

declared a state of emergency. at a press conference at the white house, president trump said there was no reason to panic. additional cases in the united states are likely, but healthy individuals should be able to fully recover. and we think that will be a statement that we can make with great surety now that we've gotten familiar with this problem. it comes after confirmation that three people in the us contracted the virus from within their communities. the world health organization says the total number of confirmed cases in the us is 62. worldwide there are more than 85,500 cases. in the worst hit part of south korea, the army has been drafted in to disinfect public spaces. france, which has more than 100 confirmed cases, as banned gatherings of more than 5000 people as part of efforts to tackle the spread of the disease. italy has extended the closure of schools and universities.

recent countries to announce their first cases include qatar and ecuador. the virus was first reported at the end of december last year. efforts to develop a vaccine are ongoing, but there's no clear idea of when one may be available and how easy it would be to roll one out on such a huge global scale. rich preston, bbc news. downing street has said boris johnson has full confidence in his cabinet, after the home office's top civil servant resigned with a fierce attack on the home secretary. sir philip rutnam accused priti patel of orchestrating a "vicious" media campaign against him and then lying about it. he's said he intends to sue the government for constructive dismissal. 0ur political editor, laura kuenssberg reports. you're not meant to have heard of him. permanent secretaries are the backroom bosses

of the government machine. but this rainy saturday morning became a personal and a public storm for him. in the last ten days, i have been the target of a vicious and orchestrated briefing campaign. it has been alleged that i have briefed the media against the home secretary. this, along with many other claims, is completely false. the home secretary categorically denied any involvement in this campaign to the cabinet office. i regret, i do not believe her. she has not made the effort i would expect to dissociate herself from the comments. priti patel has made no effort to engage with me to discuss this. i believe that these events give me very strong grounds to claim constructive, unfair dismissal and i will be pursuing that claim

in the courts. priti patel is known as a straight talker, but denied doing anything wrong when whispers about her behaviour made their way to the press in recent days. are you a workplace bully, home secretary? but there are now demands for an enquiry, with herformer top official taking the government to court and listing the accusations against her in public. i have received allegations that her conduct has included shouting and swearing, belittling people, making unreasonable and repeated demands, behaviour that created fear and needed some bravery to call out. sir philip's time in charge was not without problems. the home office, a notoriously tricky part of government. you've probably already read a great deal more about permanent secretaries in the last few days than you ever expected to... but an exit like this is serious and highly unusual. the prime minister has to get a grip on this and notjust

allow this chaos to continue. you have to have a positive functioning relationship between civil servants who work immensely hard to deliver and also ministers who need to show leadership and be held to account. tensions between ministers and officials are nothing new, but this exit is on a different scale. there's no sense from number 10 at the moment that there will be consequences for priti patel and they have made no secret of the fact that they want to change things and they are not afraid of ruffling feathers, but there is a difference between decisiveness and dysfunction and ultimately this government, any government, needs the civil service to get things done. this has been a very difficult decision. but i hope that my stand may help in maintaining the quality of government in our country. sir philip, do you think that priti patel is fit for office? he will say no more for now. but for the government's opponents, sir philip's decision to go public speaks volumes alone. laura kuenssberg, bbc news.

just hours after the announceent from sir phillip rutnam, it was confirmed that boris johnson and his girlfriend, carrie symonds, are expecting their first child. the couple also announced that they are engaged. mrjohnson will become the first prime minister to have got divorced and married in office since the earl of grafton in 1769. the met office has said this february was the wettest on record. an average of more than 200mm of rain fell across the uk, surpassing the previous record from 1990. it comes as storm jorge batters the country, bringing more heavy rain and strong winds to flood—hit areas. in east yorkshire, people evacuated after severe flooding, still can't go back to their homes. from there, 0livia richwald reports. residents in the village of east cowick were rescued by canoe today as efforts to alleviate flooding in east yorkshire moved into their fifth day. we thought we would wait, because this is totally unprecedented and then,

at god knows what time of the morning, bang, bang, bang, we heard, you've got to get out. so, here we are. residents sandbagged their homes and environment agency pumps tried to prevent more homes from being inundated. it has been the wettest february since records began. pictures filmed on a drone show flooding up to the roof of kevin and catherine laurieman's bungalow in the town of snaith. it has just been heartbreaking. we are going to have to demolish, i think. so, that has gone. we are up to the gutter line, as you have said. and, you know, i can't even explain. where i am standing is half a mile from the nearest river. this area is called the wash lands and these fields are designed to flood, but this time the sheer amount of water just overwhelmed the man—made defences and flooded the town and now, there is nowhere for that water to go. the environment agency has more than 100 staff working in the area.

unfortunately, the levels got so high in the wash lands, they have actually over topped some of those barrier bags which is why we have had the flooding here. so, while things have operated as designed, we need to find out exactly why this happened and what we can do in the future. volunteers in snaith are providing hot meals, tea and coffee and donations of food and clothes. after weeks of flooding across the country and, with more weather warnings in place this weekend, the kindness of communities could well be called on again. 0livia richwald, bbc news, snaith. the united states and the taliban have signed a historic agreement in doha which may eventually lead to the withdrawal of american troops from afghanistan. the us has recorded its first death from the coronavirus. donald trump told a news conference everything possible was being done, and said there was no reason to panic.

more now on our earlier story, that historic agreement for afghanistan. joining me now is jarrett blanc from washington, dc. he is a senior fellow at the carnegie endowment for international peace and a former acting special representative for afghanistan and pakistan. can you just tell us your thoughts on this deal? is it a win—win for both sides, do you think? i think it is the best deal available today, and so in that sense it is a win—win. it is an opportunity for both sides to move towards a peaceful resolution that addresses the security concerns of all involved. it doesn't end the conflict, but it creates an opportunity to do so. significant, really, but afghanistan and the government are not yet involved. talks between afghanistan and the government and the taliban are due to take place? that's exactly right. so, a large part

of the disagreement between the us and the taliban for really a decade about how to negotiate a settle m e nt decade about how to negotiate a settlement to this conflict has been about the order of operations. is there a negotiation between the united states and the taliban first, followed by the taliban and the government of afghanistan? 0r, as we long insisted, does that tell have to start with the government and then turn to us? the major concession that the trump administration media was agreeing to have the us i taliban negotiation first and then start the taliban negotiation with other afghans. that is where we are and it is probably the hardest part of this process. what does this mean for the people of afghanistan? you would assume that a reduction in violence can only be a good thing. certainly the last seven days, the reduction in violence has been met with tremendous excitement and joy in afghanistan. i think people need to be aware that there is not a long—term ceasefire in this deal. the reduction in

violence lasted seven days. the government of afghanistan and the taliban are now going to begin their negotiations. part of the agreement between the taliban and the us is that a ceasefire will be an agenda item in those negotiations. my expectation is that they will be quite a bit of violence as the peace process proceeds, if the peace process proceeds, if the peace process proceeds. and if in the next few days, the next seven days of the amount of time this reduction in violence amounts to, if that is a success, what happens next? well, the reduction in violence was the last seven days. the reward was be signing in doha today. the next phases for the intra— negotiations to begin. —— intra—afghan. intra— negotiations to begin. —— intra—afg han. march intra— negotiations to begin. —— intra—afghan. march ten was suggested, it is likely that state will slip. slipping by a few days or a week would not suggest there is a breakdown in the process. both sides will need a bit of time to regroup and suggest they have got their negotiating teams and their agendas sat. it is going to be

an interesting time to see what happens next. lots of parties in play there. that is all we have time for now. thank you for that. thank you. let's get more on our breaking news thatjoe biden has won the latest democratic presidential primary. as we've heard, victory in south carolina was regarded as vital to mr biden's survival after unimpressive performances in previous state ballots. back now to our correspondent barbara plett—usher in columbia, south carolina's state capital. barbara, would you say this is very much a turning point in the campaign? it could be, it very well could be. this is the vote that mr biden was looking for. he had to win big here not only to stay in the race, but to become a contender in the race, and it is an overwhelming victory, according to the exit polls, propelled by strong support from african—american voters. at the moment, he is

now ina voters. at the moment, he is now in a solid second place, behind the front runner, bernie sanders. and that is what he wanted, as momentum going into those crucial votes 0n super tuesday next week. that is a crucial time for the presidential campaign and he will be going into it in a strong way. as i said, bernie sanders is still the front runner, he came in second place here, but mr biden has set himself up as the strongest alternative to him at the moment, going into super tuesday. yes, how do you think he won so big here, if the exit poll is correct? he had all the momentum against him. there's obviously been a lot of talk about the african—american vote. well, remember that he was first in the polls for most of last year, and it was only in the last month, when the voting started in the primary races, and he came in... made very poor showings and some of the earlier contests. that

affected his place in the polls in south carolina. but there we re in south carolina. but there were a number of things. he had quite a strong performance in the debate this week, and then he was endorsed by a very senior democrat here in south carolina, which seem to have had quite a lot of influence. and hejust had quite a lot of influence. and he just started to make a resurgence in the polls. and as we can see from the exit polls, black voters supported him three to one. now, that would probably be less than some other time in his career, because the younger generation here has been looking to other candidates that are more change candidates, people like bernie sanders, for example, but he does have strong support amongst the older generation, especially as the man that barack 0bama, the first african—american president, trusted. and he really works that angle, and in the end he did get that kind of support from black voters that he all along said he would. he all along said he would. he all along said he would. he all along said don't look at how i am doing in the primary race now, wait until i get to south carolina. that's when my campaign will really launch, and by all accounts, it looks

as though that has been the case. and it looks as though he is about to take the podium. what do you expect his message to be when he gets there? well, i think he will say we're going to win. i think he is going to say we are going to win nomination, that they will beat the other contestants, and that ultimately he is going to say he is the best man to beat donald trump. but frankly, this is just donald trump. but frankly, this isjust a moment donald trump. but frankly, this is just a moment for him to savour personally. it is the first presidential primary vote that he has one in decades of political career. so it is really something that he can celebrate. it is going to be really interesting to see what the final result there was, and indeed what he has to say. thank you very much indeed for that latest update. we will of course bring you the latest news from the results of that vote as we get it. the un says 13,000 migrants have gathered along turkey's border with greece after president erdogan vowed to open the door to europe for refugees. he said his country could no longer cope with huge numbers of people fleeing fighting in syria.

0ur correspondent 0rla guerin is in greece at the kastanies border crossing. well, greek border police are in position here, with riot shields. they've been holding the line, preventing anyone from getting through. we're basically in no—man's—land here between greece and turkey, and the crowd has been building in the last few hours, from hundreds to more than 1,000. we've met iranians, afghans, syrians. there are many families here, many people with many young children. there are women with babes in arms. the smell of teargas is still hanging in the air. people have been telling us there has been volley after volley today from the greek side, trying to keep the crowd back. people say they have no water, they have no food. many slept outside overnight, in the biting cold, exposed to the elements. we've seen them building fires today to try to keep warm. now, president erdogan

engineered this situation. he wants to create pressure on europe, and the message from the turkish leader is that there could be many more refugees to come. for the past few years, turkey has been sheltering almost 4 million syrians, and that's a huge burden for any economy. but the people here are also being used as leverage. they're being used as bargaining chips. with the opening of turkey's sea border, migrants have also been braving the perilous crossing across the mediterranean sea. inflatable boats carrying people trying to reach europe have continued to arrive on the greek island of lesbos, the scene of recent clashes between locals and police over the construction of new migrant camps. thousands of people have marched through the centre of moscow to mark five years since the prominent kremlin critic boris nemtsov was murdered. the march is the first major opposition gathering since president putin announced a plan to overhaul russia's constitution, which many believe is meant to allow him to stay in power indefinitely.

0ur moscow correspondent sarah rainsford reports from the march. five years after boris nemtsov was murdered here in moscow, a big crowd has come out in his memory. as you can see, some people have brought flowers that they plan later to lay at the spot where mr nemtsov was shot in the back, just a few metres from the kremlin. this crowd have come carrying photographs of boris nemtsov and also quotes, things that he said during his life, of things he has stood for — forfreedom, freedom of speech, freedom of election, for the right to choose their future. mr nemtsov was very well—known in the opposition here in russia, and many people saw his murder as a blow against democracy.

there's a lot of young people here at this protest, too. this group shutting for change. a lot of people representing those that they're calling political prisoners, protesters and others who are in prison now, many people here saying unfairly. if the government does not see resistance, that means that they can go forward with political repression. and i think that politically active people, young people, they perfectly understand this. but people have come out here with their own causes, too. this group is demonstrating against changes to the constitution that president putin has initiated. they believe that these changes are about him staying in power forever. so now they're shouting, "russia will be free." and what is the biggest message that you are trying to send with this march today? we're trying to say no to putin, basically. we're trying to say no to all the negative things that

are happening to us for the last 20 years, because of this power which never changes. well, lots of people have started making their way here, from the protest to the spot on the bridge where boris nemtsov was actually murdered, and where volunteers have been keeping the shrine, guarding it night and day, ever since that moment. and people have brought flowers to lay at the spot, and to say that they remember boris nemtsov, and they remember what he stood for. there is no evil, a film by the iranian director mohammad rasoulof, has won this year's top prize at the berlin film festival. the film, made up of four stories, explores how individualfreedom can be expressed under an authoritarian regime. the director is currently

banned from travelling by the iranian authorities and was unable to collect the award in person. now to a case of biting off more than you can chew. it could have been the end for monty the jungle carpet python, who got a bit peckish and decided to eat an entire beach towel. thankfully for him, an australian vet was on hand. dr 0livia clarke told the bbc about her strangest day at work. never have i seen or even heard of a snake eating a towel. we got a long, flexible endoscope, so a tube with a camera on the end, to go down into her mouth, through to the gastrointestinal tract, down to her stomach, to locate the towel. and then we had the forceps through the endoscope to grab onto the towel, and then we were able to gently, eventually, pull the towel out. it looks like it's happening quite fast in the video, but it actually took us quite a long time to get the towel out. and it was a lot of kind of steady traction, whilst being gentle enough not to cause any damage, but strong enough to be able to get a towel out. i think it took us about half an hour, really, to get

that towel out, so it took quite a while. we cheered at the end. we were all really happy. it was an amazing feeling, because you don't go to work thinking that, 0k, today i'm going to pull an entire beach towel out of an animal's stomach. let's get the weather now, with helen willetts. hello there. we have seen the rainfall from storm jorge compounding the flood issues. there are numerous flood warnings in force across the united kingdom, and storm jorge is still producing some very large gusts of wind, as well, from these tightly packed isobars, and several more hours of that to come, really, through sunday morning. now, those gusts of wind are quite likely to cause some travel disruption, but could also bring down some powerlines or some trees as well. now, they'll still be with us through the early hours and sunday morning. but, as well as that, we've got this curl of rain just affecting the northern half of the uk. but it's notjust rain, it's snow to moderately low hills — about 200 metres. with those strong winds,

it will be blowing around so blizzard conditions. fewer showers further south, but they will still be around, blown in by that very strong and gusty wind. temperatures largely just above freezing, but it's clearly going to be icy where we've got the snow in particular. and still that rain keeps coming for the northern isles. tending to ease a little bit through 0rkney as we go through the day. but that rain, snow, slowly meanders northwards. more of it around, i think, to scotland than we had on saturday but tending to become more showery for northern ireland, for england and wales. won't be a totally dry day, but hopefully there'll be more sunshine around, and the winds by the afternoon are starting to ebb away, just maintaining their strength a little bit for longerfurther north. but it will make it feel chilly, if you're out and about. for the start of march, barely double figures, even in the south. below par, really. you might say, the temperatures for the start of the meteorological spring. and then this area of rain is a concern through the night as it comes across, we think, southern parts, it's falling into cold air. it could give a snatching

of snow for the downs, for the cheltenhams potentially, towards rush hour and certainly making things slippery, with a colder night on the cards, fairly widespread frost, as you can see, going not monday morning. so we clear that away, but it takes its time. as i say, could be a smattering of snow on the hills. and then the showers that follow, because it's still cold air will be wintry as well over the hills, so only 6—9 degrees celsius. yes, the winds will not be as strong, however. now, as we take that area of low pressure away later on monday, we've got another one rushing in towards southern areas. that could be our next dollop of rain. potentially need to keep an eye on it. all through the week, it looks as if the low pressure will dominate towards the north—west, and we may eventually see high pressure building actually towards the south. but for most of the week, temperatures will be lower than they should be, both by day and night. some night frost. and it's a bit of a showery picture, with an occasional risk of some lengthier spells of rain. as ever, there are warnings out. they are on the website. this is bbc news, the headlines: president trump says it's time for american soldiers to come home

from afghanistan after the us signed an agreement with the militant group, the taliban. he said the us had committed to withdraw 5,000 troops by may and that he would meet taliban leaders in the nearfuture. the president's also urging calm after coronavirus claimed its first life on us soil. he said more cases were likely but that the country was well—prepared. the victim who was in his 50s, was being treated in hospital in washington state and is said to have had underlying health conditions. joe biden is expected to be handed a major boost in the democratic contest to take on donald trump in november's election. networks in the us are projecting the former vice—president will win south carolina's primary. it'll be a welcome result after poor performances in the race so far. more now on the coronavirus and our health editor, hugh pym, has the latest on the preparations the government is making here.