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. the democratic party presidential contender pete buttigieg is to end his bid for the white house. despite a promising start, he polled badly in the latest primaries in south carolina. 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.

more on our websites, the new of course. now on bbc news live to singapore for asia's business report. markets in japan markets injapan kicked off the new trading week lower, continuing the global sell—off, which started last week in asia, europe and the us. we look at how india's supply chain is disrupted by the corona outbreak. hello, and welcome to this monday's asia business report. of course, we know it's a brand—new week, and asian markets are in the red, extending the sell—off from last week over injapan, we take a look at which has been open for the last hour or so, down about half a

percent, it's actually scaling some of its deeper declines just a little earlier, still lurking near six month lows though, and of course, really taking its cues from wall street last week, which saw its biggest sell—off since the financial crisis in 2008. the snp 500 index for instance lost about 11 and of course, really taking its cues from wall street last week, which saw its biggest sell—off since the financial crisis in 2008. the snp 500 index for instance lost about 11 and a half percent all of last week, that's really a huge amount, and of course, we saw some $5 trillion can essentially wiped off global markets, and that is as more coronavirus cases came to light in europe in the us, also dampening sentiments, fresh data over the weekend from china, which showed factory activity slumping to a record low, essentially, in february, of course, that was the double whammy of the new —— lunar new year closures in the shutdowns due to coronavirus. no market a nalyst due to coronavirus. no market analyst expects the market sell—off to continue this weekend he explains why. i think that momentum will continue over the next matter of

days, that news comes forward, and i will only from the chinese numbers but of course from coronavirus. as a gains momentum, i think this probably further sell—off and contraction across many of those markets. now, you mentioned the damaging chinese factory numbers, certainly the worst on record. we have seen the chinese government obviously throwing money at their problem of stimulus measures, are they expecting them to do more? welcome i feel as though it will be a concerted effort across many of the developing countries, and, of course, the major markets. i'm sure that you will look at the chinese prepared to do whatever is needed to actually get that growth going forward , actually get that growth going forward, and you are looking at the major ones like the us with numbers coming out of the end of the week, as far as nonfarm payrolls, and you can see the fed also looking at cuts. australia ever seen, canada, so cuts. australia ever seen, canada, so it will be a hectic week for the markets. china isn't the only country putting in place stimulus measures, throwing money at their

problem, hong kong, singapore amongst others have done the same. so are you expecting most central banks in the region then to cut rates in the coming months? welcome i wouldn't be surprised. you know, we are, as everyone knows, we are at record lows, but i think that will continue. this coronavirus is really something that i don't think the markets were ready on, and certainly you know, as far as the push forward and what the impact has been, and there's no sense at the moment that we have actually got this matter under control. so banks will have to stimulate and that all comes down to cutting rates. all rights, all the uncertainty you mentioned, and of course, where you are, australia, the most china dependent development economy in the world, expecting some growth figures out this week. do you think going forward, australia will be particularly hard hit? welcome i think so. that's been demonstrated by the value of our dollar now when the 64 club. 6450, and ourfeelers

are there is further softness there. so, australia really feels that, and it's not uncommon for a commodity —based currency to really be hemorrhaged. tim speaking to me earlier. now come over to india, which is china's and second largest trading partner with billions of dollars with a bilateral trade every year. now come from you like tronics —— electronics to pharmaceuticals, they are all heavily dependent on they are all heavily dependent on the cheap raw materials coming from china. but with coronavirus outbreak of the supply chain has been impacted. we went to an industrial hub in northern india and sent us this report. for the past two years this has provided tele— dozens across india, they make 80,000 led tv sets every month. the glass panel and electronic trips use for it or not available in

india, so they are heavily dependent on china to import them. but with the coronavirus outbreak, factories there are shot. these are made in china. that has put 23-year-old, who manages this plant, in a tough spot. already, 60—70% of the components we are using are highly dependent on china, so the glass which opens has already been increased to 12%, so for the next quarter, if there is a shortage in supply, at least 10—15% of the prices will increase for the retailers. they expert over $50 billion worth of goods to india, while most of it is ready made product, there are crucial raw materials that are used by pharma and auto industries to name a few there will be a source of worry, while big traders do have some... too tight over the next 2—3 months isa too tight over the next 2—3 months is a small trade, struggling to meet

the pending orders. many businesses are having to look for suppliers outside china. translation: south korea and japan have electronic tip dealers that can help us, but coronavirus is spreading thereto, so it's better to get supply from there as soon as possible. but not everyone can afford it, and some like this pharma factory have cut production by half, as they run out of key chemical ingredients imported from china. translation: clement we are paying twice for the raw material, but because of the price cap on medicines, we cannot raise the cost for the consumers, so we have cut our production, and in the coming time, it will hurt the labour force as well. job losses in these small enterprises will further hurt the indian economy, and facing a slowdown. china is trying to get its factories back to work, but for customers like this, the shortage of materials will take weeks to clear.

back to school on a sunday, well, that's what these students in japan did, that was really to pick up assignments for the coming weeks, because last week, of course, we reported that the government made a surprise announcement that all elementary middle and high schools injapan elementary middle and high schools in japan would elementary middle and high schools injapan would close elementary middle and high schools in japan would close for elementary middle and high schools injapan would close for a month from today, that's really to try to contain the spread of coronavirus, not the only place in the region to impose school closure, because we know students in the hong kong have already missed around five weeks of classes since january. city government said schools will remain closed until at least the end of april. parents are really starting to find it challenging, balancing working from home while their children are also home. 0ver working from home while their children are also home. over in china where the virus was first discovered, there has been no word yet on when schools there will reopen. earlier, ispoke yet on when schools there will reopen. earlier, i spoke with a co nsulta nt reopen. earlier, i spoke with a consultant emilyjones and for

advice on how companies can accommodate parents working from home in these unprecedented situations. it was a surprise to everybody, and so the hr community has kinda been rallying around, lots of pandemic policy sharing, and supporting each other in it, you know, what is working and what is not working. you know, my heart goes out to all of those front—line workers who are out there trying to support, control the virus that suddenly you have childcare issues. that's rates, what can be done then, because quite aside from the front—line workers, some other can actually be done from home, but we know that agent doesn't have a work from home culture, so what needs to change? well i think what is going to be interesting is what employees go forward start asking their employers for. i think people will get a taste from working from home, a taste of flexibility, my concern comes from that then meaning that we don't have the same level of

controls over where people are and what they are doing, i think companies are going to have to look at how they monitor and control productivity going forward. i think, you know, there has got to be a lot more flexibility going forward, and expectation on both sides. so, the strategy to shut schools in the first place, obviously a mention japan, china china, singapore has not, is it a good strategy, what would you advise governments to do? personally, my children are in school here in singapore, they are ina school here in singapore, they are in a local government school, i'm happy that the school is still open. it gives me flexibility to still work as well as my husband. and it's a controlled environment. they have been great around keeping parents informed, they are temperature checking regularly. they have controlled, you know, group activities, staggered recesses, you know, in the classroom rather than the assembly hall, you know, it's a controlled environment, and if we do start to see social spread, we are

going to know it's coming from. emily joins going to know it's coming from. emilyjoins speaking to me earlier, let's ta ke emilyjoins speaking to me earlier, let's take a look at the market. as i mentioned, this is scaling back some of its much steeper losses at the open, down only .4% right now, hong kong has also opened fairly flat, and that's really possibly due to some bargain—hunting from investors, expectations as well there might be some stimulus measures to try to counter the impact of coronavirus, which has absolutely pummeled markets last week. that's it for this show. thanks for watching. this is bbc news — our main headline. the founder of a religious sect in south korea could face murder charges over the coronavirus deaths of some of his followers. a woman taking legal action against an nhs gender clinic says she should have been challenged by medical staff when she told them, aged 16, that she wanted

to transition from female to male. alison holt reports. keira bell is 23 years old and her adult life so far has been defined by the decision she made when she was much younger. at 16, she was prescribed drugs to delay the signs of female puberty. she later took male hormones, so her voice deepened and facial hair grew. initially, i felt very relieved and very happy about things, but i think, as the years go on, you start to feel less and less enthusiastic or even happy about it. keira was treated here at the uk's only gender identity clinic, run by the tavistock trust. she's taking legal action against them because she believes, when she started taking puberty blockers and cross—sex hormones, she was too young to understand the implications. she says, as a child, she felt isolated and different and, as a teenager, she was desperate to change her gender. but she now believes she should have been challenged more and had more

psychological support. i feel angry that i was allowed to run with this idea that i had, you know, almost like a fantasy, as a teenager, i was allowed to run with that and it has affected me in the long run. i've onlyjust kind of stepped into adulthood and i had to kind of, you know, deal with this burden. what would you tell your 16—year—old self now? that's kind of the point of this case, is that when you are that young, you don't really want to listen to anyone and a lot of things won't get through, so i think it is up to these, you know, institutions, like the tavistock, to step in and make children reconsider what they are saying, because it is, you know, a life—altering path that you are going down. it's a difficult area and the head of the gender identity clinic says they are always cautious, working closely with children and families to help them make their decisions. so this is a really complex area with strong feelings on all sides, and, for young people, they come to us in often

really great distress around their sense of themselves. we are talking about identity here, their identity and a feeling that their gender identity does not match that body. and what goes along with that is huge distress. the clinic says it welcomes keira's case, as it will allow a considered review of the evidence about the most appropriate way to support young people. alison holt, bbc news. hello, i'm chetan pathak and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on the programme: vinicius jr makes history as real madrid beat barcelona in el classico. manchester city win their third

english league cup in a row after beating aston villa at wembley. england thrash the west indies to reach the semi—finals of the t20 world cup — along with south africa, who see off pakistan. welcome to the programme. thanks forjoining us. real madrid are a point clear at the top of la liga after a 2—0 win over barcelona at the bernabeu on sunday. vinicius junior got the opener 20 minutes from the end, becoming the youngst el clasico goalscorer this century at 19. mariano then got the second in stoppage time with his first touch of the season in la liga. this was the first time barcelona failed to score away at real in the league since october 2006. sevilla threw away a 2—0 lead against ten—man 0sasuna before scoring a stoppage time winner that takes them third in la liga. atletico madrid remain two

points behind in fifth