this is bbc news. the headlines: joe biden has been handed a major boost in the democratic contest to take on donald trump in november's election. the former vice president has won the party's primary in south carolina. it's be a welcome result after poor performances in the race so far. 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.

more now on the coronavirus and our health editor, hugh pym, has the latest on the preparations the government is making here — he said that containment remains the main strategy. that means taking cases who are diagnosed positive straight to hospital to isolation facilities and then tracing their contacts. and health officials still feel it's possible that will bring this virus under control. but there's a recognition that things could change very rapidly, globally and in the uk, in terms of the number of cases. and, to that end, the government's about to ramp up its response with a series of announcements over the next week, starting tomorrow with the health secretary, matt hancock, who's appearing on the marr programme. it will require a lot more co—ordination of government departments to focus on the virus as a priority, working with the devolved administrations. there will be an action plan announced during the week. one of the measures being considered is something that will allow a rapid redeployment of retired health staff, bringing them back into the nhs, getting them reregistered quickly. that's being considered. and you've only got to look across the channel to see what can happen. in france, week or so ago

there were only a dozen cases, now it's more than 100. and today the french authorities have announced a ban on all events involving more than 5000 people in confined spaces, for example a big agricultural show in paris. an example of this sort of thing governments are considering. and, of course, here the chief medical officer for england has raised the possibility — only the possibility — of school closures and events been cancelled if things escalate from here. hugh pym there. and you can find out more about the symptoms of coronavirus and how to protect yourself against it on the bbc news app and on our website bbc.co.uk/news. now on bbc news — our world. do you have a thing for people of my race? erm... during apartheid south africa,

you could go to jailfor dating somebody outside your race, but now, more than 25 years later, a whole generation, the born free generation, have grown up together and more and more of them are falling in love with each other. and it's notjust black and white — what's it like dating between people of colour? apartheid was south africa's government sanctioned segregation based on race... destroy white south africa and this country will drift into chaos and poverty. ..and officially ended in 1994 when nelson mandela became president. everyone born after this year is part of the born free generation, but dating amongst this group is a minefield in race relations. being in south africa, now it's a bit like a cappuccino nation, you have, like, your little sprinkle of integration on the top. and hang—ups from apartheid are real. you know, we were very racist. on to be honest with you, because i come from old school

and that stigma's always there. so just how free are the born free generation of south africa? ithra and tumelo are a blasian couple. tumelo is black and ithra is of mixed asian descent. the tiered levels of apartheid meant that mixed asian, indian and coloured people were often given preferences over black people, meaning that divisions were just like and white. lots of people are in interracial relationships? is everyone at it? there is more non—interracial relationships than interracial relationships. and friends, in our friends... within ourfriends, it's more interracial but it's more an indian person with a white person, not necessarily with a black person. there's no other blasian relationship in our class. not in our class, but i have seen some around here.

our class is 300 people. around the school, one or two, but it's not common. it's not a common thing but it does happen. so our parents are meeting for the first time on saturday. my mum and stepdad and siblings and his mum and dad. i'm excited actually. tumelo, i don't know if he's teasing me but he says his mum's going to cook traditional food and it's going to be mopane worms — worms like, live worms i'm going to eat. i'm excited but i'm nervous at the time time because it can go one or two ways. 0ur mums are both, like, i think they're more or less the same person and they're both, like, very loud. they must know me the way i am. yeah, i mustn't pretend to be something that i'm not, yeah. they must take us as we are, and we're going to take them as they are, that's it.

ithra's family are from cape malay, a community of mixed asian ethnicity that have been in south africa for decades. ithra's mum, rhianna, who actively opposed apartheid, straddles the divide of someone who grew up in the system but raised her own daughters out of it. i remember when reality hit home that she's dating a black guy. it's really hard for me to even say it, because it's not part of our conversation. it was, like, "0k, how will i deal with this as a mother? how will i deal with this in terms of my family and friends?" a lot of questions that i had which i haven't really had the chance to process. but interracial relationships in south africa have become more common among ithra's generation. data shows that there's been an increase in relationships between white and black and white and asian people since apartheid ended, whilst blasian marriages have only increased by 0.1%.

so my previous boyfriend was croatian and german. and what was... did you notice any difference in terms of how people reacted when you were dating a white guy to dating a black guy? so, his mum actually wasn't very accepting of me initially, so that was, like, kind of our biggest challenge. unlike past experiences, ithra having a black boyfriend has led to family tensions. so we have a family group, and then... a whatsapp group? a whatsapp group, yeah, and then i came home from a night shift at the hospital and i was really tired, and i saw everyone from my family left the group so i thought, something is happening. so i phoned home and my sister was, like, no, my gran found out i'm dating a black guy and apparently she... but she didn't even ever address me about it, she phoned my aunt in cape town to ask what her opinion was and she phoned my sister. where she comes from there very

much about the community and the community was everything, so she's very concerned about what people think. we stopped speaking about two to three months ago, 2.5 months ago, yeah. and there's been no contact? there's been no contact, no. when you were growing up, would it have been possible to date outside your race? no, no. that wouldn't happen. what would have happened if you brought home an indian boyfriend? i don't know, i don't know. what i know is that was not possible. i think i would be thrown out of the house, and i would be disowned completely. there is no ways that i could bring home a black boy. it was indians, it was blacks, it was whites and that's it. if you're black, you marry a black guy or a black woman. if you're indian, you marry the same... an indian boy or an indian

girl, and that's it. tumelo introduced me to his friends. they're all part of the born free generation, also described as mandela's generation of hope. in theory, these young adults are free to live wherever and love whoever they want, and i wanted to talk to them about what this meant in practice. joburg's a very cosmopolitan place, and when you go to smaller places there's a lot more of each to their own. would your parents be ok with you dating a black girl? they wouldn't love it, i think, but they've said yes but theory and practice is to different things, but i'd like to think so. preferably stick to your culture kind of thing. being in south africa now, it's a bit like a cappuccino nation. so you have, like, your strong black society at the bottom, and then you have your white and then you have your little sprinkle of integration on the top, 0k?

so, a few people actually integrate, but a lot of the country is very much divided. so even though we're born frees and we're living in this new south africa, we are still quite divided and we still have a long way to go as a country. people have a hierarchy that was, like, built up in their head. they think, "0k, great." honestly they think white is better, then comes this, then comes that. everything except white, it's a bit mixed depending on who you are and what you think. it's not necessarily white people saying we are better, but it's a lot things like black people saying, "we are not as good." back home, ithra and her sisters are worrying her mum's honesty about race may be misinterpreted. i know, ithra, you were eavesdropping. 0ur twitter, it's called black twitter. i've heard of black twitter. it's hectic, you know, so...

i've never reared you guys to be racist, but the reality is it's the first time i'm stepping into a black family under the context of possible in—laws, you know? somehow it sits differently, but it goes back to what you were saying, that people are not ready to have the difficult conversations. it's just sensitive, everything is so sensitive around the race issue. because i lived in apartheid, those divides were real. i remember being so angry with my parents and my grandparents for not doing something about it. how could we be part of such a cruel and unfair system and you allowed it? now, when you have that kind

of purpose, of course i'm going to have kids that i've raised that is free of that reality, but i'm also human and i come from a certain community so, you know, it does go deeper. more than 500km south—east ofjoburg, durban has the largest indian—origin population in africa. one of the features of apartheid meant that people of different races were made to live in different areas, a segregated city planning that still exists today. shivana did not grow up around black people. even today, her extended indian family live on the same street, and her black boyfriend has not welcomed by everyone. my mum, she didn't like it at all, and she proceeded to make life difficult for me via texts.

what were the kind of messages that she sent? the kinds of things she said was, like, that i was sullying myself by being with a person of this race. it's not what she envisioned for me, just things around those lines, and it was purely because of his race. durban's chatsworth market is a former indian township, but today asian origin and black storekeepers work side—by—side. have you ever dated a black boy? not really. you think this community would accept it? not really. have you ever dated an indian girl? no, why not? i like malaysian. you like? malaysian. we don't integrate, we don't form

meaningful relationships, so there is this chasm between us. we don't fraternise, so therefore we get along because neither of us are bothering each other. that's not getting along. we are doing a film about interracial relationships, do you think it's ok to date outside your race? no, it's not right, it's not right at all. it's not right. we didn't expect a generation, a generation that turned so much, because we were living in a place which was colour blind. we looked on one section, the whites are living there. since this government took over with maturation and new south africa, this is what the bosch is all about. mixing their own national people together, like blacks, whites, green, blue and all. this is what happened in the centre because they acknowledged blacks are doing more problems than the indians. who says that? i is. you say that? i'm saying that, because why? normally an indian girl falls in love with a black guy, right? she says, 0k, fine. after a couple of months,

he's giving her blue eyes. i've been told about a young blasian couple in the rural province of kwazulu—natal. it's home to the most brutal riot between indian and black people. the durban riots of 1949 was anti—indian and resulted in more than 140 deaths. here in our area, like, i feel like we're the couple that... we're the only couple in this area. yeah, we are. are there any other places where you would not hold hands in public? we don't even hold hands in public! because, like, so unromantic! we don't hold hands in public! i was so, so scared of my father, especially, that i just kept my whole pregnancy a secret from the whole family. we are scared about telling our father. "daddy, i'm about to have a baby... ..with a zulu guy." it was just... i was like "oh, gosh.

i think i'm going to die right then and there!" and i told my dad "daddy. i did the thing you're gonna hate the most!" i literally gave birth on my bedroom floor. and my mother was just there like "oh my gosh! she's having a baby!" i told my auntie "please tell my parents that i've got a baby now with an indian girl." then my auntie told my parents and they phoned me. they're like "why you never told us this?" they were, like, shouting at me. but then after two weeks' time, they were fine with that. they were like "so when can we see the baby?" and there's the baby now! and there's the baby. there is the baby now! you couldn't date an indian girl, you couldn't date a white person, so i would say this shows that there is freedom now in south africa, and we are born frees. it's the evening before ithra and her partner's family meet for the first time.

although ithra and her grandma have not spoken since they found out about tumelo, ithra's grandma agreed to speak on camera. you know, we're saying it is a new south african now. before, it would have been different but everything is so very, very different and, you know, to us really, it's not about colour. it's not about colour. it's more culture. culture. and also, it depends on religion also. because we are all religious people. and he seems a nice person and he comes from a decent home and that is very important, and they love one another. what can we say? there's nothing we can do. would you want to do anything? in the beginning, it is a bit tough because, you know, like, we are from old school. where i come from, in the era where it was apartheid. it was the apartheid era and,

you know, there were barriers. the whites one side, the coloured one side, and the blacks one side. but as the years are going by, we are accepting one another. we have to. we are living in south africa and it is the rainbow nation. but what were the initial worries that made the kind of lack of contact — what were your initialfears? 0k, let me put it to you like that. it's a culture. and dating a white guy or a black guy, does that make a difference? i mean, that's being racist, actually. that is racist. you know, we were very racist — i'm going to honest with you — because we come from old school and the stigma is always there. it will never go away. but it is strange when it comes to your own family. then it's a different scenario and then, you have to accept it, you see? and what is wrong? like i said, it's more cultural. and it's social. it's — that's what it is, yeah?

yeah. it's the rainbow nation. chuckles. 0n the big day, i went along early to help tumelo's mum prepare for the family lunch. it's like a worm. 0nly it's alive. i am scared of it, it is like a worm, it's a worm, and they're from a tree — you have you pick them up from a tree. and they've got segments — they look slightly like a fat caterpillar! yeah, it looks a caterpillar! sourpap. which is like maize? yes. and then you have got the chicken feed which still has the nails on! yes! and you were telling me how to eat them, which is... you first start by taking off the nails, and then you spit it out, and then you eat. what if ithra's family are not fans of mopane worms or they're not fans of chicken feet, and they're like "oh, i don't know if i can eat all — like, i don't know if i can eat tripe?"

how would you feel? no, like, tumelo's going to buy halal meat. they're going to make halal meat. and then, if they don't like this, they will have the halal. would you be offended if they did not like mopane worms or chicken feet? no, but what they said to me is ithra and her mum, they said they cannot wait to eat mopane worms. they said that? yes, they told me yesterday that they cannot wait. have you ever had other the girls coming over before? yeah. with theirfamily? no, never. and that's why also this is such a big thing, like, it's making me nervous, because it is like this is an example of what it really means to integrate. like, it's like 0k, cool, we're going to come here, you're gonna come here and you're gonna see it, but you're gonna eat, like, our food. you're not gonna — we're not going tojust make you — you're not going to get pizza. like, i'm not — i'm notjust accepting you as ithra and then your culture and your religion and everything is like — like, i'm not going to be a part of that but i will be a part of this.

like, you have to be part of the whole thing, notjust a part of it, like a little piece. so, yeah. do you think she's outside? oh, i do think she's outside — i can see them, actually. they are outside. yeah, they're right there. i'm going to go say hi. yeah, all right. hello! hello. long time! finally! my friend! i am with my friend! lam rhianna. i'm modjajdi. modjajdi. i'm good, and how are you? good, thanks. nice to meet you. he's the favourite. oh, i know! happy chatter. modjajdi had almost

the same reaction — if you were, ithra, tumi's age, if you bought home a black boyfriend, what the reaction would have been, and i asked the opposite question to modjajdi — exactly the same reaction. no way! way! it's true, hey? how things have changed. you know what i was thinking, what i was thinking about? because obviously, last night was pretty intense. we went to see my mum and dad. 0k. and they spoke on camera. and actually, it was the first time we really got to hear how they really felt. i know. and that reaction was based on fear. we got straight to the reasons of racism and, you know, everything else that media is feeding us, but when we look at it from an emotional point of view, it looks a little bit different. it is. can we please say black people and not blacks? thank you. i'm actually — i really don't know, and i said this yesterday as well on camera, i struggle

to say black generally, you know, because ijust don't feel that we should be using this, you know, these words. because i've heard blacks be used so, like, often as a derogatory term that it makes me uncomfortable, like, to hear black people be referred to as blacks, or the blacks. sure. thank you for raising that. if we really want to move away from how the word 'colour' is associated and with it, a brand of racism, a brand of discrimination. same as how black's always portrayed as wrong and white is portrayed as pure. always, correct. if we just listen to people's language patterns and then we inherit that and society inherits that, itjust creates more prejudice and more discrimination. but do you think saying "0h, a cultural, you know, division is what we are concerned about, or a religious division is what we are concerned about"

is actually giving an easier excuse to being bigoted? now, post—apartheid, everything is ok and everyone is living happily when it isn't. there are still subtle racism and structural racism. when mandela got elected as the president, that was the moment. but it was never the moment, right? i tell you, in my view, things actually got a little bit worse than what we thought. i want to raise my kids to go to probably a better school because i think that was what i was aiming, and that would be non—racial — in other words, it will have other races, so that they must learn what i couldn't learn. i've never interacted with indians at all, until very late in my life, when i was working. this generation will solve it. every generation has its own problem and i think this generation, this is their problem. they'll sort it out. the born frees make up around 40%

of south africa's population. soon, the majority of the country will be populated by people who were born after apartheid ended. but for now, a true rainbow nation seems at least a generation away. what would be your hopes for chloe and her future? i do feel like if people are more open to it and, like, more people start to date outside of their race, then it could possibly be less of an issue going forward. because people would see chloe as an example that two people love each other, they've created something so beautiful. i feel like that could be enough to change people's minds, eventually.

hello there. we've 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 isoba rs. 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 into 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 modestly low hills — about 200 metres. so, with those strong winds, it'll be blowing around, so blizzard conditions. fewer showers further south but they'll 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, for 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 longer further north. but it'll 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, then, through the night. as it comes across, we think, southern parts, it's falling into cold air, it could give a smattering of snow for the downs, for the chilterns, potentially, towards rush hour, and certainly making things slippery. with a colder night on the cards, fairly widespread frost, as you can see, going into 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 won't be as strong, however. now, as we take that one 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 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, so 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 — welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm simon pusey. our top stories: a boost for biden‘s bid to take on trump — the former vice president secures a much needed win in south carolina's democratic primary. the press and the pundits have declared this candidacy dead. now, thanks to all of you, the heart of the democratic party, we'vejust one, and we've won big because of you! the us sees its first death from the coronavirus — but donald trump calls for calm and says everything possible is being done. a moment of history — the united states and the taliban sign a deal that it's hoped will end 18 years of war in afghanistan a shock result in slovakia's general election, as an anti—corruption campaigner ousts the sitting prime