you're watching newsday on the bbc. i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. the headlines: possible murder charges for the head of a south korean religious sect over the coronavirus deaths of some of his followers. in the us, there are concerns the virus could have been circulating for weeks — up to 1,500 people may be infected. i'm samantha simmonds in london. also in the programme. in the us election campaign, mayor pete buttigieg pulls out — it could be a boost forjoe biden‘s campaign. after the us—taliban agreement, the qatari mediator tells us that outside countries could still wreck the chances for peace in afghanistan.

live from our studios in

the army has been deployed to deal with south korea's latest threat. they're battling this virus with disinfectant, but as more cases are confirmed, it appears this is a war they're not winning. a lot of public anger has been aimed at this secretive religious sect. the infection has spread rapidly among the followers of shincheonji church ofjesus. and as officials raced to trace the outbreak, it's claimed leaders hid the names of members. now they're being accused of murder. in a rare interview, the church denied all charges. translation: we feel very sorry for causing concern and worry to the people of korea and the world. i understand if people criticise us. but rather than point fingers, we think what's more important is to end this situation and to make sure no more confirmed cases come out. meanwhile, hospitals in daegu have been overwhelmed.

at least three people have died while waiting for a bed. doctors believe it's time to free up space for the most serious patients. translation: we can't quarantine and treat all patients. those who have mild symptoms should stay at home and get treated. we should change our end goal strategy to lower death rates. thousands fear they have the virus and are lining up to be tested. these drive—through clinics speed up the process. south korea is using every resource it has and still this infection continues to spread. laura bicker, bbc news, seoul. the coronavirus has now infected more than 88,000 people and spread to more than 60 countries around the world, rattling global markets and prompting unprecedented measures from governments. in europe, italy has been the worst hit. the number of cases has spiked and 3a have now died. courtney bembridge reports.

fears over the virus have pushed italy's economy to the brink of a recession, and looking at these quiet canals in venice, it's not hard to see why. nine days ago, italy knew of just three seemingly isolated cases. there are no more than 1700 nationwide. in the north, italian soldiers patrolled checkpoints outside 11 towns, home to 50,000 people. no one is allowed in or out. the two regions under lockdown, generate around a third of italy's economic output, home to everything from warehouses to cheese and dairy processing centres. even parts of the country not affected by the virus are taking a hit. italy's tourism agency says 90% of hotel and travel agency but still enough bookings for march up still enough bookings for march up and cancelled in rome and up to 80% in sicily. tourists did

show up to the lure museum in paris, but they were left waiting outside, after staff refused to go to work. we saw on twitter that people have been waiting for three hours, so, yeah, we are not going to do that. if it takes too long, we willjust go somewhere else. eventually, the visitors all left, with the promise of a refund. the closure came after the government cancelled all gatherings of more than 5000 people in confined spaces. staff argue that's a normal day at the museum. as fears sweeps the continents, facemasks are ata premium, the continents, facemasks are at a premium, and the health minister in france and switzerland have urged citizens to go to the neck forgo the greeting of a kiss on each cheek, as well as the customary handshake. this video is being shared online showing an alternate greeting, but still the disease spreads, and the czech republic has no registered its first three cases. there was some good news for tourists locked down at a hotel on the spanish island of

tender beef. they are now free to leave if they test negative for the virus and promised to continue their period of isolation in their home countries. the us state of washington has declared a state of emergency after its first step from the virus. there are no fears the virus has been in the community undetected for weeks, after scientists found similarities between new coronavirus samples and those from an undiagnosed patient six weeks ago. that could mean up to 1500 people have been infected. courtney bainbridge, bbc news. also making news today. an australian investigation has found evidence that detained chinese uighurs are being used as forced labour in factories that produce global brands. it said this was part of what china calls the re—education of muslim uighurs. the report added that the uighurs were not able to refuse the work placements. greece says it has stopped almost 10,000 migrants crossing over the land border

from turkey, which is struggling to deal with the number of people fleeing syria's civil war. the turkish president has said he will break his country's deal with brussels to prevent migrants entering the eu unless he gets greater support for his intervention in syria. new research suggests that australian summers are now twice as long as winters — due to climate change. the policy group, the australia institute, says raised temperatures mean that summers are a month longer than half a century ago, while winters have contracted by three weeks. a warm winter in 2019 has, for the first time, caused the failure of germany's harvest of ice wine grapes. the drink is a dessert wine produced from grapes that have frozen while still on the vine. none of germany's 13 wine—growing regions reached the required low temperatures to produce the rare wine. let's bring you some breaking news.

us media has been reporting that pete buttigieg, the former indiana mayor, is pulling out of the race to become the democratic party's presidential candidate. the 38—year—old became the first openly gay contender when he announced that he was running for the democratic nomination. he narrowly one the iowa caucuses early last month and came in a strong second place in the new hampshire primary but faltered badly and saturday's south carolina vote. that was won by former us vice presidentjoe biden. his resounding victory dramatically revived his bid to win nomination. 0ur north america editor jon sopel reports. so it would seem reports ofjoe biden‘s imminent demise were much exaggerated. the former vice president's southern firewall proved to be rock solid and flame retardant. his first victory tasted sweet. now, thanks to all of you, the heart of the democratic party, we just won, and we won

big because of you. cheering and applause. and we are very much alive. what made the difference was that this was the first state to vote with a significant african—american population. their support for him was almost as enormous as the food portions in this spartanburg diner. joe biden. biden. you're biden? yeah, i like biden. because he's an honest man. biden is probably my top choice. bernie sanders is the standard bearer for the left in this gruelling contest. he came in second last night, but is expected to return to frontrunner status on super tuesday, in a couple of days' time, when 1a states vote.

you cannot win them all. there's a lot of states out there, and tonight we did not win in south carolina. at this college, they are getting ready for the new baseball season. and among young people, bernie sanders is the runaway favourite. for all that, there is a clear majority supporting a centrist like joe biden. the trouble is, that vote is being split by another of other candidates who are also moderates. or to put it in baseball terms, there seems no—one capable of knocking it out of the park. jon sopel, bbc news, spa rtanburg, south carolina. and we are expecting to hear from pete buttigieg in the next hour or so. of course we will bring you that live on bbc world news. the afghan government has started picking over the details of the deal signed by the taliban and the us on saturday. the historic deal will see thousands of american troops leave afghanistan in return for commitments from the taliban — the focus is now on how the deal will be implemented and if

promises will be kept. 0ur chief international correspondent lyse doucet has this report. the first win for afghans, a week of relative calm. what was called a reduction in violence before the signing of a deal. what happens now? at least not in the public document, but in doha and kabul, they will keep monitoring it, so i asked qatar's special envoy, will this partial truce continue? we hope it will contine. the parties and the peoples of afghanistan, so the result in the reduction of violence, how many lives we saved, they saved, and i think they have more religious saved, they saved, and i think they have moral, religious and legal obligations. and if they don't respect them? well, again, we hope they...

hope is not a strategy, as the pentagon likes to say. we hope they respect their obligation in accordance with their agreement, but i'm sure if there's a violation from one side, the other side have the right to self—defense, to act accordingly, but, again, this is not the solution. what the taliban want to see next is the prisoner release, they say up to 5000 men will be freed. but in kabul, the president made it clear that's up to his government — the taliban had been refusing to talk to them. we need to engage the parties to have a proper discussion about the way forward, and they think they should compromise and i hope the parties move forward. this is the beginning of the talks, should start today, and i hope we can do something in the coming days. if you had to choose one thing

that worries you, that could cause this deal to unravel, what would it be? the spoilers. the spoilers, i think. the spoilers is a major obstacle in the past, and i'm afraid it might be this obstacle might... you know, remain. but i hope with this momentum and with the pressure from certain major powers, the spoilers should back off. the spoilers are in afghanistan or in neighbouring countries? mostly i would say in neighbouring countries. pakistan, iran? i'm not going to comment on this. i willjust... you can ask the taliban, and they will tell you. a lasting cease—fire, a peace deal are on the agenda for afghan talks. they are expected to start this month, if all goes as planned. lyse doucet, abc

lyse doucet, bbc news, doha. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: we'll hearfrom asia bibi, the pakistani christian woman who spent years sentenced to death for alleged blasphemy. she reveals how her faith helped her through her ordeal. first, the plate slipped gently off the restaurant tables. then suddenly, the tables, the chairs and the people crashed sideways and downwards. it was just a matter of seconds as the ferry lurched onto her side. the hydrogen bomb. 0n ferry lurched onto her side. the hydrogen bomb. on a remote pacific atoll, the americans had successfully tested a weapon whose force dwarfed that of the bomb dropped on hiroshima. i saw it went back,

back, backstopping the rights of these mergers are their rights as citizens of the united states, and they should be protected even in the right to test them out so that they don't get their heads and sent to hospital. this religious controversy, i don't want to say too much about it. it worries me, yes, but i hope everything will be all right in the end of the day. this is newsday on the bbc. thanks for staying with us. i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. i'm samantha simmons in london. our top stories: the founder of a secretive religious sect in south korea is facing possible murder charges over the coronavirus deaths of some of his followers. american media are reporting that the democratic party presidential contender pete buttigieg is pulling out of the white house race.

let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. the japan times is leading with a story criticising the prime minister handling of the coronavirus outbreak. the paper says that critics are slamming shinzo abe for being "invisible" on the issue over the last month. singapore's straits times leads with analysis of the political situation in malaysia after the country's new prime minister — muhyiddin yassin — was sworn in on sunday. the paper says the turmoil is far from over, with former prime minister mahathir mohamad claiming that his successor does not have majority support in the house. and finally, the philippines star is predicting that injust 10 years' time, china's navy will be the world's largest.

they cite a retired us navy admiral who claims that while the us still dominates the seas, china is fast catching up. the star says that beijing's rapid naval growth is a concerning sign for the phillipines in the south china sea. and that brings you up—to—date with some of those papers. samantha, what stories are sparking discussions online? not surprisingly, it's a lot about the coronavirus. and its impact of the coronavirus outbreak on sporting events is attracting a lot of interest. on sunday, we saw the tokyo marathon crowds reduced from 38,000 runners to just 200 overfears of contagion. the sumo spring tournament which opens next sunday injapan will be held behind closed doors. the athletics world indoor championships, scheduled to take place in china next month, are already off and many are nervously waiting to see what will happen to the olympic games this summer. indeed.

let's get more on the coronavirus outbreak. dr sarah borwein is a family doctor in hong kong. she told me how it compared to the sars outbreak, way back in 2003. in beijing, fora in beijing, for a long time, there is denial that there was even an epidemic, and it was really the scariest thing at the time. i think there is some similarities. i even wrote at the time that china was a paradox because freedom of speech was still a work in progress and yet their ability to ta ke progress and yet their ability to take effective action had to command respect, and to some extent that is still the case now. we really have to respect the effective action... dr borwein you're saying china is taking some strides. let's look at the outbreak of it happen it at the outbreak of it happen it a similartime of at the outbreak of it happen it a similar time of year, winter

session, so do you see the same thing with sars? did it dissipate or did we manage to control it through very intensive public health measures? i do that is something we don't know. while it is tempting to speculative mice go away in the summer months, i don't thing we can afford to make that assumption. right. and at what is your professional opinion on how the world is coping with this particular outbreak? are you seeing asia has learned some lessons from sars and is therefore dealing with this somewhat better than europe for instance? i think it remains to be seen exactly how europe will deal with this, but i do think that there is a sense of prepared, mental preparedness, in asia, that people have been through this before, that the public knows how to react. and what will happen in europe is

still to be seen. it is u ntested. still to be seen. it is untested. you of course are seeing a lot of patients worried about this particular outbreak. tell us about the mental health of some of the patients you have encountered. it's interesting. i am sure, like singapore in a way but even more in hong kong, the people who are here in 2003, the population is a bit traumatised what happened during sars. i really thought that that would play out and that that would play out and that people would be very anxious about the disease. actually, most people take a sensible middle ground here. they understand that public health risk is very large. . but we do see is the mental health aspect of the isolation measures that have been going on since january. the schools have been out since then, the

home—schooling, many people are working from home, many people working —— so —— so it is not much fun. -- so it is not much fun. dr sarah borwein earlier. asia bibi, the pakistani christian woman who spent years on death row after being convicted of blasphemy, has said she hopes to be able to return to pakistan one day. she was in paris for the release of her memoir, finally free, in which she recounts her time in jail and her brutal treatment by guards. in the second part of an interview with the bbc‘s mishal husain, ms bibi says her faith helped her through the ordeal. nearly ten yea rs nearly ten years ago, a christian woman from pakistan's project province was sentenced to death for blasphemy. it was a case that spark international attention and outrage. and even after asia bibi was finally acquitted by pakistan's highest court, huge protests prevented her immediate release. she now has a new life and here in paris, she has been telling me her story.

translation: i suffered a lot inside the jail. i cannot even tell you what happens to me. i lived through all this misery, but god gave me patience and i got a lot of strength. you cannot imagine, but i have witnessed miracles. is difficult for you to talk about because you write in the book about how you were held by the neck and how difficult that time was for you. what was it that gave you hope in this period? translation: my strength came from my faith, and i learned that you should be courageous and you should be strong in your faith, and you should be strong in yourfaith, and and you should be strong in your faith, and you should never lose your faith. after everything you have been through, how would you describe your emotions today? do you feel bitterness? do you feel anger? translation: no. i am anger? translation: no. iam not anger? translation: no. i am not angry at all. iforgiven translation: no. i am not angry at all. i forgiven everyone from my heart and there is no ha rd from my heart and there is no hard feeling for me. there is

patience. i learned how to be patient after having to leave my children behind. it surprises me even. how have i learned to be so patient? how can any mother be patient after leaving her children? but god made me patient and i survive the hardships turn my way through my patients. there are people today in jail facing blasphemy charges. what would you say to them? translation: i can give them hope. i am translation: i can give them hope. iam now translation: i can give them hope. i am now free. translation: i can give them hope. iam now free. i translation: i can give them hope. i am now free. i am outside. i want to request all media that they should work so she is also freed and i can tell her that there will be a day when she will also be free. asia bibi's long ordeal is now over, but the issue of blasphemy in pakistan is not full sub there are still questions and muslims being targeted by the lot today ——

there are still christians and muslims. the question is whether the country will take action to prevent abuses and to protect its citizens, whatever their religion. we put allegations about misuse of blasphemy laws to the authorities in pakistan. they said pakistan has taken considerable steps to prevent its possible misuse and constantly reviews its implementation. the cases of blasphemy are brought before the court and follow due process of the law. the acquittal of asia bibi is a testimony of pakistan's resolve to protect its citizens as per its constitution. about the allegations of abuse in prison, they responded... you have been watching newsday. thanks very much for being with

us. i'm samantha simmonds in london. and i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. stay with us. we will be looking at the impact the coronavirus outbreak is having on india's manufacturing industries as disruptions to the supply chain from china continue. just before we go, we'd like to leave you with pictures of russians bidding farewell to winter and welcoming spring. this is russia's pre—lent festival known as maslenitsa — better known as pancake week. notjust a day not just a day there, notjust a day there, they have a whole week of it! it has its roots in pagan traditions, when people marked the end of winter and the beginning of spring with massive bonfires. the festival eventually became part of russian orthodox christian tradition and it is now a week of folk celebration and plenty of feasting on blini, the traditional russian pancake that symbolizes the sun. we certainly had lots of

pa nca kes we certainly had lots of pancakes here last tuesday. don't know about you. that's all for now. stay with us on bbc world news. hello. with rivers running high and many fields still underwater, we could do with a little bit of better weather news and to a certain degree, we'll get that this week. it's likely to be completely dry but certainly compared with recent weeks, it won't be anywhere near as wet or is wendy. the jet stream is taking a more southerly track but all that does mean is we are into slightly cooler air. it will certainly be chillier particular by night, with frost likely. and that is how we start the monday morning commute. more in the way of frost and ice around. not quite as frosty toward southern counties of england. 0utbreak severing here and a bit of sleet and wet snow first thing in the morning, clearing away from east anglia and southeast quite smartly but than brightening up. showers in the west. in mixer of rain hail, sleet and snow. more of you

will spend the day complete the dry, with one or two showers passing away. winds will overall be latest. not could be quite as cold during the afternoon, but the breeze will be picking up across the northwest later. we could see gills for a time during monday night into tuesday. more in the way of showers starting to develop through the night and they will push their way eastwards. in the hills in northern ireland in northern england's... northern ireland in northern england's. .. temperatures will soon be close to freezing in many areas. frost and ice, the greatest risk. cultus of the weather first thing on tuesday morning towards the east. this isa morning towards the east. this is a set up for tuesday —— occultist of the weather. more rain bearing weather fronts the road to down towards france and iberia things to that southern track. it could be close enough to produce some rain. more specially in the channel islands. more showers around by and large to start tuesday

morning. a wintry mix. those will clear away and it is back to sunshine and showers for many into the afternoon. showers mainly across some western areas. temperatures similarto western areas. temperatures similar to those on monday. as we head into the middle part of the week, it looks like many will still stay largely dry. still some showers around here and there. chance of some rain close to the south coast on wednesday but overall, we continue with that largely dry story. it changes a little bit towards the end of the week. thursday night into friday, we'll see a weather pushing east. this will bring us only speu east. this will bring us only spell of rain briefly. the chains of some more wet and windy weather towards the end of the week and into next week and. by and large, still the rivers responding to the rain, and with the forecast towards the end of the week, never to stay too far from our flood warnings, there for you online.

i'm samantha simmonds

with bbc world news. our top story. the founder of a secretive religious sect in south korea is facing possible murder charges over some of the country's coronavirus deaths. the infection has spread rapidly among the sect‘s followers, and the authorities say its leaders concealed the names of members. after saturday's deal signed between the united states and the taliban, the qatari mediator has told the bbc that what he called outside spoilers will try to wreck it. and this story is trending on bbc.com australia's summers have become twice as long as its winters with increasing temperatures driven by climate change, according to new weather analysis. the australia institute found that summer across most of the country over the past 20 years was about a month longer than in the mid—20th century while winters had become shorter.