a very warm welcome to bbc news. my name is mike embley. our top stories. israel and palestinian authorities declare a state of emergency and place bethlehem under quarantine with seven cases of coronavirus. shares fall on world markets as prices are affected on international exchanges. a ceasefire in syria ‘s idlib province but civilians are counting the cost after months of brutal conflict. this is from the bomb? yes, civilians, civilians, we are civilians. elizabeth warren ends her run for the white house but does not endorse bernie sanders or

joe biden. and meghan and harry carry out one of their first official engagements before they step back as senior royals. israel and the palestinian authority have declared a state of emergency and decided to put the city of bethlehem under quarantine because seven people have been diagnosed with the coronavirus. the israeli defence minister ordered the army to enforce the closure with in co—ordination with the palestinian authority. emergency measures were announced by the israeli prime minister. 7 7translation: announced by the israeli prime minister. 7 ?translation: we minister. 7 7translation: we declare a state of emergency in all palestinian territories to combat the coronavirus and prevent it from spreading. all educational institutions such as schools, kindergartens and universities and others are

closed. secondly, employees of ministries and government institutions remain at work until other instructions are issued. movement between the palestinian governments are permitted only in the event of extreme necessity, especially in the government of bethlehem. we're looking the closure of bridges and between palestine and the rest of the world, if need be. as you heard there, from tonight no—one with a they are palestinian or rhys laney will be able to leave the city. all churches, mosques and schools in bethlehem are closed and the increased security measures come after violent demonstrations which stop to patients from being taken to hospital. our middle eastern correspondent has this. angry protests on the streets of jericho, this is where they planned to treat coronavirus patients. in bethlehem, real

concern. the main checkpoint into israel was closed and people have been told they can only leave in an emergency. the infected workers are all from this hotel. they have been in contact with a group of greek tourists who tested positive when they returned home. this place is now closed, as are all hotels in bethlehem and have been told they cannot accept any new tourists for the next 14 days. if man has been quarantined inside along with the seven people who tested positive. they are on a roll separate floor without medical treatment, he says. official information is scarce. we have done tests and have not received information back and thatis received information back and that is why we are struggling, we are not getting any information from the ministries. even the world ‘s old est ministries. even the world ‘s oldest church has been forced to close its doors. thousands have passed through the church of the nativity every day to

touch the spot where christians believe jesus was touch the spot where christians believejesus was born, and now, that is a problem. we have theseicons now, that is a problem. we have these icons and they have the place where they have to touch, the columns and even the staff when jesus was the columns and even the staff whenjesus was born and that is why if someone has this virus, they will easily transmit to others. all public places like this have been shutdown to try and contain the spread the virus. sad for closing, not even for church, they are closing all of bethlehem, nothing to do now. and that depends ioo% nothing to do now. and that depends 100% on pilgrims and tourist. this city relies heavily on visitors from around the world. is a state of emergency is declared, it is bracing for a double hit, to the health of its people and its fragile economy. governments around the world

are racing to contain the coronavirus embracing for the economic impact. in the past couple of hours, the us vice president co—ordinating the american response has been speaking about the up break from seattle, in washington state. i am here with a very simple message, to all of you who are standing with people in this state dealing with coronavirus, and the people of washington state, we are with you. iam washington state, we are with you. i am here to ensure that the full resources of the federal government are being brought to bear in support of the state of washington ‘s efforts. that is a vice president and our correspondent is in america with the latest on the cruise ship. over the last few hours, the coastguard has been using helicopters to drop testing kits on board the vessel. there isa kits on board the vessel. there is a medical team that will be testing, we are told fewer than 100 who have been identified as

being at risk, suffering from flulike symptoms, a total of 3500 people on board, passengers on crew but it seems the possibility that this bread for the infection is limited to a small number of people after, one person died — — this spread and that person was on a previous cruise to mexico, a round trip and it had gone on to hawaii and it was that leg of the crew that had to be cut short as people started to fall sick —— cruz. the outbreak generally brings worldwide trouble, and personal difficulties and tragedies but it is in the united states are real political hot potato, especially with a presidential election on the horizon —— cruise. the way that the president and his team deals with this is certainly being scrutinised and donald trump was on tv 2a hours ago about

the fact he believed it was ok evenif the fact he believed it was ok even if there were mild symptoms, go to work and he has been criticised for that and it is absolutely wrong advice to people, some say, and that if you are feeling sick, stay home and seek medical attention. the other focus of attention will be on the supply of the testing kits with mike pence a little while ago acknowledging there we re while ago acknowledging there were not enough kits, looking forward with the potential of many more being infected. what is the latest on the market? it has been a tough couple of weeks for investors around the world, especially in asia, a rollercoaster ride in this morning on friday, the japan's nikkei has opened lower and extending losses down over

396 and extending losses down over 3% and the hong kong index is now down by almost 2% and if you look at airline shares, they have been hit the hardest, especially after the warning that carriers will be moving millions of dollars because of the coronavirus outbreak and of course the asian markets are taking their cue from wall street, where we saw all the three major indices on wall street, the dow jones, three major indices on wall street, the dowjones, the smp and the nasdaq falling by more than 3%. of course, we have seen a recovery than 3%. of course, we have seen a recovery early in the week but it really has been a week but it really has been a week of wild swings going in and out of the positive and negative territory because —— s&p investors are growing increasingly concerned about the outbreak, especially now worried the outbreak may push the global economy into recession. what is your sense about the level of concern, how severe it is? some of that must be factored in, people for this

coming? yes, at some point but at the beginning if you remember, it was really about china, how it is a factory of the world, how are these cities and provinces being on lockdown how that may affect the global supply chain. now we know it is a global problem and we have been reporting about all the travel restrictions and that is why many airline shares have been hit hard. at the same time, that also means many people are not travelling to spend money abroad but many people at home, they are staying indoors, many schools are shut around the world which affect working parents ability to go to work and be productive. all of that effects the economic activity and that is why some experts are starting to worry that this could lead to a global recession, possibly the one we saw during the global financial crisis back in 2007— 2008. we have been hearing from

institutions like the imf and the world bank offering billions of dollars, especially to developing countries, in order to fight and boosted their healthcare systems and continue fighting the coronavirus outbreak. a ceasefire has come into effect between russia and turkey. un officials estimate the fighting in syria has forced almost 1 the fighting in syria has forced almost1 million people from their homes since december. russia backs the bashar al—assad regime and in the early hours of thursday morning, airstrikes killed 16 civilians sheltering at a farm. our correspondent was there and her report does contain upsetting images.

working my flashlight to retrieve the dead and the living. by day, just hours before ceasefire talks began in moscow, this devastation was russia ‘s handiwork. moscow, this devastation was russia 's handiwork. last night, i was sleeping here, here. this is my home. here. when the russian aircraft bombed. this is from the bomb? yes. civilians. civilians. all civilians. and they were killed as they slept. though the syrian regime and its russian

backers say they are targeting terrorists. when you take a look around here are among the scattered belongings, you can see this was a home, a place where parents were trying to keep their children safe. some of the toys are still here and the dishes are smashed at my feet. what possible justification could there be for bombing a place like this, full of civilians? but in idlib this has been happening day in and day out and there is a sound now of more explosions and we have been hearing bombings in the distance since we arrived. this man tells me it's fine if he dies but he is worried for his children who, by chance, were not here last night. where will you sleep tonight? i don't know, he says, wondering if anywhere in his broken homeland is safe. not

the local hospital, it is a target like all medical facilities. here, we found victims of the airstrikes, like this boy, as old as syria ‘s war. i want to be a doctor, he says, to treat patients so they get better and no—one dies in syria or the rest of the world. willa ceasefire bring an end to the agony here? or will this mess are less, multilayered wall keep doing its very worst. —— mr not surprisingly many are trying to flee and everything has a major impact on the refugee crisis and our middle east editor has been with some

of the thousands trying to cross into the european union and we will hear from cross into the european union and we will hearfrom him in a moment. stay with us on bbc news, this to come as well, a final—round duties, harry and meghan carry out one of their last official engagements before they step back a senior royals at the end of the month. first, the plates slid gently off the restaurant tables. then suddenly, the tables, the chairs and people crashed sideways and downwards, and it was just a matter of seconds as the ferry lurched onto her side. the hydrogen bomb. on a remote pacific atoll, the americans had successfully tested a weapon whose explosive force dwarfed that of the bomb dropped on hiroshima. i had heard the news earlier, and so my heart went bang, bang, bang! the constitutional rights of these marchers 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 broken and are sent to hospital. this religious controversy — i know you don't want to say too much about it — but does it worry you that it's going to boil up when you get to the states? well, it worries me, yes, but i hope everything will be all right in the end, as they say. welcome back. glad to have you with us on bbc news. the latest headlines: bethlehem is placed under quarantine because of seven cases of coronavirus. concerns about the out—bra ke cases of coronavirus. concerns about the out—brake leader falls on the international markets. elizabeth warren ends her bid for the white house, but steps back from endorsing joe biden or bernie sanders for the democratic party's nomination. the fighting in syria has put more pressure on turkey which is already sheltering almost 4

million refugees. accusing the european union of a lack of help on the issue, thousands have tried to cross into the ear. asjeremy have tried to cross into the ear. as jeremy bowen have tried to cross into the ear. asjeremy bowen reports. -- eu. syrian refugees have learnt to be sceptical about ceasefires. in western turkey thousands who escaped the battles before idlib and other middle eastern wars, followed a fence to the greek border. they went because turkey's president finally came through with his threat to pressurise the eu by creating a new refugee crisis. greece kept its gates closed. for a generation that grew up with death, with war, stealing their chances of education, it was yet another blow. translation: my future has gone, that is why i think more about the future of my children. i want to have a house for them, give them

a good life, where they don't need to rely on me or anybody else to support them. this family with six children had made it to greece where they said the police stole all their money and burnt their id papers before they were sent back. trying to salvage some dignity. translation: there are women here and we don't have toilets, what should they do? we have girls ten and 11 years old, they can't go in the open in front of people. if you look at the leaders in the countries who have interfered and been involved with the war in syria, can you look at somebody and think, they are to blame? it's theirfault? translation: the main person responsible for us is basher al—assad, as president it is a pity that you kill a child or harm a human being just to stay in power. these people are pawns

in a much bigger game. its roots lie in the catastrophic international failure to stop the war in syria and the players in the game are the big military powers who have intervened in the syrian war in their own interests with little or no regard for the safety of millions of people. a local turkish man gave out food, "let europe see this", he said, "i hope you're ashamed". it was cold, he made a fire of plastic rubbish to heat his baby son's milk. most of them slept out in the open. three sisters were under these blankets. no tents, no tarpaulins, no hope. jeremy bowen, bbc news, turkey. let's get some of the day's other news

at least 11 people have been killed when a building collapsed in the pakistani city of karachi. the 5—storey building collapsed suddenly damaging buildings next to it. police say at least ten other people were injured. the high court in london has found the rule of dubai, sheikh mohammed al—maktoum, abducted two of his daughters and subjected his former wife of a campaign of intimidation. in a series ofjudgements the court said allegations of physical abuse could be relied upon and overruled the sheik‘s evan smith keep the findings secret. —— attempts. the us secretary of state has criticised the international criminal court's decision to authorise an investigation into alleged war crimes in afghanistan by us military personnel and others. mike pompeo called it "a truly breathtaking and reckless move by an unaccountable, political institution". the icc overturned its previous decision to block the investigation. it said alleged abuses by all sides in afghanistan could now be investigated. elizabeth warren became the latest political casualty of super tuesday's vote. the massachusetts senator

is leaving the race. she failed even to win her home state. a day earlier, former new york city mayor mike bloomberg also threw in the towel. warren's departure means there are no prominent female candidates left in the race. she had this to say about the issue of gender. gender in this race, you know thatis gender in this race, you know that is the trap question for every woman. if you say," yeah, there was sexism in this race." everyone says there was sexism in this race." everyone says "weiner". and eve ryo ne everyone says "weiner". and everyone says no sexism, about a bazillion women say what planet do you live on? a promise you this, i will have a lot more to stay on the subject later on. more on that now from dr cornfield, who's associate professor of political management at george washington university. the race is now between two white ageing males. it was and there were persons of colour on there as well. but in the end those two old, white guys are the most familiar candidates. bernie sanders has been running

for president almost nonstop since 2015, and of course joe biden was the vice president of the united states. so the fact they are one year different in age and in their70s is coincidental. we got a sense from the democratic voters our correspondents spoke to who said they liked and respected elizabeth warren but they felt if hillary clinton couldn't beat donald trump, she couldn't either? well, that may be true. elizabeth warren was a very strong campaigner. she had a very appealing and pertinent autobiography that she told whenever she spoke, she established human touches in her campaign. she would make random phone calls to donors and surprise them and that would be videotaped and would circulate around the country. she did pinkie promises

with little girls, all of these brought her a lot of affection and a lot of support. she was famous for her policy plans, i think they were close to 100 when she finally stopped. she had one majorflaw, she couldn't stick to one message. and that brought her down from her heights in october to the point where she had to pull out today could there be a comeback? do you think she still has a future in politics? could you still have a comeback? surely there is some lasting impact, surely the running mate now has to be a woman? i agree with that, and i think she deserves some credit for that. she put another big crack in the proverbial glass ceiling that hillary clinton spoke about, that ceiling that keeps women from ascending to the highest office in the land. but, no, i think she will resume her career as a front—line senator or take a position if the democrats win the presidency, but i don't see her making another run for the presidency.

very briefly, i ask you to look into your crystal ball of political management for us. who is going to face donald trump and who is going to win? joseph biden, is going to be the nominee. and who will be president? yep, well, i'm just about to answer that. i think that really depends on the spread of the covid—19 virus and how president trump is in handling it. i think this is a big issue, americans look to presidents for confidence, for guidance and if president trump is perceived as falling short on that, he will lose. on the other hand, if the virus turns out to be contained, he will get credit for that and he will win. so i'm really thinking that that of all things — this pandemic — will be decisive was a very interesting.

doctor cornfield. the duke and duchess of sussex have attended one of their last official engagements together before they step back as senior royals. they were at awards in london to celebrate the sporting achievements of wounded and ill service personnel. this report from our royal correspondent, nicholas witchell contains flashing images from the start. lights, a lot of them, cameras lots of them. but when it comes to action of the formal royal variety, there won't be much more of it from these two. this was the first public appearance by meghan in this country for two months, since she harry and announced their new direction, and one of the last by the couple before they begin their new life in north america. they were at the mansion house in london for the endeavour awards for service personnel. and looking — by all accounts — very relaxed. it's the kind of royal duty — recognising achievement over adversity — that is expected of the royal family. the kind of thing harry, with his own military background has

a natural affinity. both appeared on stage, meghan, to present one award. good evening, everybody. it's very nice to be back. and harry, to speak about the experience of serving. for some, the military community represents a brotherhood or sisterhood that no other organisation can provide. and for others, it is a way of life which you never want to leave. for a lot of us, it's both. being able to serve queen and country is something that we all are rightly proud of and it never leaves us. it was a powerful speech, harry sounded motivated and fulfilled. puzzling, that in a few days he and meghan will step away to return to canada. nicholas witchell, bbc news. there is more for you on all the news any time on the bbc website. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter — i'm @bbcmikeembley. thank you for watching.

good morning. parts of south—east england had over an inch and a half of rain on thursday. now, that area of low pressure is bringing heavy rain, gale force gusts of winds across the near continent. it's also bringing significant snowfall over the alps as well. but behind it, clearer skies, lighter winds. so it means for us a chilly start to our friday morning, with many places offering around orjust below freezing. the exception, the far south—east, clinging on to some cloud, and maybe into northern ireland. here we could see some showers from the word go. elsewhere there could be a little bit of early morning mist and fog, that will lift away to dry, sunny spells for many. some of those showers out to the west will merge together for longer spells of rain into the afternoon and some of the showers will lingerfor a time. but elsewhere it stays dry, largely fine, with temperatures ranging from 7—11 degrees.

now, as we move out of friday into the start of the weekend, there's another area of low pressure starting to showers its hand from the atlantic. but it's really worth emphasising, for many of us this weekend, we will see some usable dry weather in the story. the winds, though, are going to become a feature once again, increasingly windy and there will be some rain around at times. but, hopefully, for most of us it arrives through the night. so you can see on saturday, despite it clouding over and being a windy day, a good deal of dry weather. the heaviest of the rain through the afternoon across western scotland, northern ireland, and eventually into north—west england as well. the winds will strengthen, too, with gusts in excess of 50 mph in the rain. highs ranging from 7—11 celsius again. now, as we move out of saturday into sunday, that wet and windy weather sweeps its way steadily south—east, driven along by those gale force gusts of winds at times. so there will be a spell of heavy rain as it moves its way south—east,

but hopefully it will clear south—east england first thing on sunday, and then leave another day of sunny spells and scattered showers. but with strong, blustery winds, some of these showers could be heavy, with some rumbles of thunder and some hail mixed in there as well. just with the nature of showers, some of you may escape them altogether and some of you, particularly the further west you are, could be quite frequent. and it looks as though this theme is set to continue into the early half of the new working week. sunny spells, scattered showers, and blustery winds to go with it. that's it. take care.

this is bbc news. our top stories: israeli and palestinian authorities have declared a state of emergency and pace bethlehem under quarantine because there are seven cases of coronavirus in the city. governments are raising to contain the virus with concerns about the spread and increase in spread have caused markets to fall. a ceasefire have come in to the province of italy between russia and turkey. escalating fighting in recent weeks have increased fears between direct confrontation between russia and turkey. elizabeth warren has dropped out of the running for the

democratic party nomination. ahead of the super tuesday primaries. she has declined to either indoorsjoe biden or bernie sanders as nominee. the government is to accelerate work on its plans to tackle coronavirus, introducing further measures to stop spread once the strategies decided, it will be down to local authorities implement it. we report from brighton in how we are readying ourselves. brighton's already been hit by coronavirus. it contained the outbreak well, but like everyone else in the uk, it must now tackle

delaying any further spread.