polls have closed in more than half of the us states taking part in the super tuesday primaries. senator bernie sanders is projected to win formike, his bernie sanders is projected to win for mike, his home state whilejoe biden is projected to win virginia, north carolina, and alabama. estimated three other states could go either way. —— two win by my. the who says the mortality rate of those who might have had the coronavirus appears to be just under three and a half percent. that is higher than the usual rate for the flu. the us central bank has made an emergency interest rate cut over economic risk posed by the virus. and in the us, at least 25 people we re and in the us, at least 25 people were killed as tornadoes ripped through the city of nashville and gci’oss through the city of nashville and across the state of tennessee. buildings collapsed in tens of thousands of people are without power. those are the headlines.

we'll be back with their special coverage of super tuesday at the top of the hour. now on bbc news live to singapore for asia business report. america's central bank makes the biggest rate cut since the financial crisis. the us shares tumble on the surprise move. and a $10 billion industry under threat as a travel ban it means chinese students are not able to return to australia to continue with a university classes. let's begin with hong kong, and the cost of borrowing by half a percentage point to one and a half percent. following on from what the

us federal reserve did overnight. the main aim is to help ease the adverse impact on the coronavirus. hong kong monetary authority say that there is still little uncertainty in the ever looming of the epidemic and the in texas open black and the hong kong dollar is packed. they didn't have much of a choice. but it is highly unusual for the bank to cut and outline their needs. just a emergency moose of the financial crisis of 2008. that is raised fresh concerns about the state of the us economy and sent us shares tumble link by a nearly 3% overnight. 0ur north america business correspondent michelle fleu ry business correspondent michelle fleury sent this report. —— tumbling. with fears of economic contagions came in emergency rate cut. the us central bank has slashed interest rates. in the united states the most i said some action taken so far. a shot in the arm in a jenna legg for the us economy. america

central bank can't financial markets off guard, the surprise come unwelcome. 0ne off guard, the surprise come unwelcome. one big reaction came from investors and government debt and as bond. market interest rates on ten year us debt dip below 1%, the first time on record. indicated a pretty profound market pessimism about the prospects for the worlds largest economy. from panic bond buying two panic stock selling, the move was greeted with skepticism on wall street. they are doing it soupe support the markets but that makes people fearful that while we must be in bad shape, if they are doing such a large cut. to pull that bull out so a large cut. to pull that bull out so fast and so seriously leaves us with not that much ammo. but with a warnings the slowdown could tip countries into recession. those inside here the us federal reserve have more bullets to fight the impactand have more bullets to fight the impact and say europe and japan. where rates remain at rock bottom. and while it cannot cure the virus,

he can ease the pain. we do recognise that every cut will not reduce infection and fix a broken chain. we don't think we have all of the answers. but we do believe that oui’ the answers. but we do believe that our action will provide a meaningful boost to the economy. the heads of international finance also stepped in front will bring committed after to $12 billion in aid to $12 billion and 82 to $12 billion and 82 blues countries and virus response. this isa countries and virus response. this is a global public good. what we are trying to do is to limit the transmission of the disease and also ca re transmission of the disease and also care for patients. wall street remained sceptical. the dowjones industrial and matching up yet another big loss what's up with many investors wondering what other tools are available to policymakers too soften the economic blow. let's stay with the us because reports suggest that facebook may be scaling back its ambitions to up in the global financial system with this new

digital currency called liberal. according to tech news site based in silicon valley, following pressure from regulators, the company has decided not to make the currency available on the services and will instead offer digital versions of government backed currency i spoke with our north american technology reporter zoe thomas and asked her whether she could get a confirmation from facebook. so far, facebook is saying that it is fully committed to libra and it is not backing down from any of his plans but that reports are suggesting that perhaps along with this digital coin they are creating come of this new libra coin they will also have offers of government—backed currencies, you will be able to pay for things with us dollars in with your awesome all of the currencies we are familiar with and the reason for that estate got a lot of regulatory pressure on that. regulators in the us have been concerned about what it would mean that facebook started his own digital currency that did have a

system that was backed by governments. this is been a concern about a lot of digital conservancy and who secures it and how safe it is for people to use. regulators haven't wanted facebook come this massive company, to weigh in. feeling a lot of the pressure they be missing some of their partners in the libra project pull—out and facebook seems to be kind of weighing up what they can do it may be taking a step back or rethinking ita be taking a step back or rethinking it a little bit but so far the company is saying they are not giving up on the project and still going with it. let's never turn to oui’ going with it. let's never turn to our top story on the coronavirus. while much of china is still a lockdown from long company that is going back to work by the month is fox kind which makes nearly all of apples iphones. —— let us return. last month the company one that the coronavirus will have a significant impact on its revenues, so will this affect apple's fortunes? i put that question to the technology analyst. i think apple knows the situation

with foxconn, nothing that the workers have started coming back to the factory. and they have almost a 50% capacity utilisation now. and they will ramp it up to the sea than they will ramp it up to the sea than the levels by the end of march. i think this is below what good happened if the coronavirus had not happened. but it is a sign that things should hopefully come back to normal if the virus is contained. has apple been diversifying a way from china because before the coronavirus there was that trade war between the two countries coachella at this point i would say most of apple's production in the supply chain. it is still very much based in china. they have started it and other countries like india but that isi other countries like india but that is i would say less to diversify but more to comply with the local regulations in the country rather than have a broader that brexit the strategy. opinions seem to be split

01’ strategy. opinions seem to be split or how quickly the recovery could be made. what do you say? there is still a lot of uncertainty on how the situation will pan out. if they look at china, the number of cases seem look at china, the number of cases seem to be coming down but if you look at other countries, they are rapidly rising. in leaves there will bea rapidly rising. in leaves there will be a lot of uncertainty in terms of how they workers come back to the factory and how the travel restrictions are used and how the logistics get back to the number four. a lot of this will wait on how the operations and the production within china and supplies to other countries get affected and the smooth things out. whether that happens in march or goes on to april 01’ happens in march or goes on to april or may. let's stay with the coronavirus. it is also having an impact on the education sector. if it's estimated that 100,000 chinese stu d e nts it's estimated that 100,000 chinese students are unable to return to australia because of a travel ban in the university of sydney says that the university of sydney says that the fallout will knock off more than

113 million us dollars from his budget. the bbc‘s phil mercer reports from sydney. with so many of their friends stuck reports from sydney. with so many of theirfriends stuck in reports from sydney. with so many of their friends stuck in china, law stu d e nts their friends stuck in china, law students abby and lauren are the lucky ones. abby flew to sydneyjust before the travel restrictions were imposed. while karen spent thousands of dollars circumventing the van, travelling via thailand. of dollars circumventing the van, travelling via thailandlj of dollars circumventing the van, travelling via thailand. i am so frustrated when the travel ban was imposable because a lot of my friends are still in china and enjoy the holidays with their family but they can't come back any more. very frustrating. we felt like it is the trail to our students. to continue my education, i will be so happy. chinese students contribute $10 billion to australia's universities. the coronavirus outbreak showjust

how dependent australia gate universities are on chinese students. with so many still stranded back home. many campuses are quieter than normal. there is of course uncertainty, nobody knows when the travel ban will be lifted. 0r when the travel ban will be lifted. or what is longer term consequences could be. for our struggle is lucrative education industry. also getting universities are extraordinarily dependent on china, more dependent any other universities outside of china itself. that's australian or university. we have courses that are over 85% chinese. we are in effect renting an offshore chinese university some department. some high school student from china will be allowed to travel to australia under strict conditions. chinese university students who spend two weeks in a third country are also able to come. but now, abby and karen are happy to get on with their education. but until the

restrictions are lifted altogether, schools and universities in australia will be counting the cost. staying with australia because the country just released as staying with australia because the countryjust released as growth figures for the fourth quarter of last year and the economy grew by a better—than—expected 2.2%. but of course economies are projecting about 2% annual growth but this reading doesn't cover probably the impact on the bushfires or the coronavirus. that is it for this edition of asia business report. thank you for watching. welcome. you're watching bbc news. 0ur welcome. you're watching bbc news. our main story... polls have closed in more than half of the us states taking part in the super tuesday primary. senator bernie sanders is projected to win the state of vermont. joe biden is projected to

win virginia. north carolina and alabama. high streets across the uk are continuing to face challenges with the rise of online shopping. more than one in ten shops in town and city centres is vacant according to research for the bbc. sarah 0rcutt reports. this is bishop of oakland in co. durham. it could be many high streets anywhere in britain. durham. it could be many high streets anywhere in britainm durham. it could be many high streets anywhere in britain. it is a bit daunting really coming and seeing the shop empty. every time i walk past i'm trying to look into it. most of the big retailers are long gone. the smaller ones that i left are struggling. if he gets any lower than this, it will bulldoze the place down. the main shopping centre... rewind to the 60s and 70s, the talent was bustling, once at the heart of the coal industry. but decades of industrial decline have left their mark. now many of the big name chains have gone, what was was a primary retail space has been left

to decay. and almost one in every four shops here is empty. that is nearly double the national average. after more than a decade on the high street, bernadette called time on her shop. she didn't want to sign a new nine year lease, so now work from home. i haven't got the overhead didn't like i had in the shop. we looked at moving further into the marketplace. we were talking about thousands of pounds a month rather than hundreds. across the uk, more than 17,000 shops are forecast to close this year. that is up forecast to close this year. that is ‘7 forecast to close this year. that is up 9% on 2019. but this town has something others do not. a multimillionaire really make a multimillionaire really make a multimillionaire building tourist attractions in the restoring 0akland castle. and now independent retailers are investing. castle. and now independent retailers are investinglj castle. and now independent retailers are investing. i used to work for nissan. martin is putting

his life savings into a new cafe. this is a massive career change in a bit of a leap of faith. completely. there is one empty next to me. and a shop to the other site empty. it is a little worrying. ijust walked up, somebody else might be encouraged to open upa somebody else might be encouraged to open up a gift shop next door. hopefully that will have a domino effect. people just are taking the town back for what the town should be. the view here is of high streets are not dying, they are evolving. finding a new place in peoples lives. in this town is at the start of this journey. hello, i'm chetan pathak and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on the programme... the international olympic commitee tells athletes to keep preparing for the tokyo games as planned — amid growing concerns over the coronavirus. chelsea are through to

the quarterfinals of the fa cup — as liverpool are beaten for the second game in succession. and rain could wash away australia and england's hopes at the women's t20 world cup. welcome to the programme, thanks forjoining us. the coronavirus continues to impact global sport... but the president of the international olympic committee says it's still full steam ahead for the scheduled start of the tokyo games in july. thomas bach's been speaking at an executive committee meeting in switzerland on tuesday. 12 people have died injapan with almost a thousand cases of the virus identified. japan's 0lympics minister says the games could be postponed until later in the year if neccesary, but bach says that isn't being considered at the moment: there is a task force in place since