a very warm welcome to bbc news. my name's mike embley. our top stories: italy in lockdown, public gatherings forbidden, tourists boats verse chilly deserted. doctors give stark advice to the public. stay at home and be prepared for a kind of war, because we are facing a war nogueira. in the us, a i—mile containment zone is in place around new york suburb new rochelle, around a large cluster of cases. joe biden deals another blow to bernie sanders in the latest round of the us democratic primary. and president putin has backed amendments that could see him stay in power until 2036.

hello to you. italy has been spending its first night under lockdown, unprecedented measures being enforced right across the country to limit the spread of coronavirus. as the number of cases and deaths arises sharply, italy faces growing isolation, with of flights cancelled and stringent water controls with austria and slovenia. other public gatherings in sporting have been cancelled. mark lowen has the latest. "all residents stay at home", orders the police. from naples in the south to the supermarkets of rome, to the financial capital up in milan, news of the restrictions spread as fast as the virus.

in bologna today, they began to adjust to the toughest limitations since the war. public gatherings banned, bars and restaurants closed from 6pm, tables a metre apart, schools, museums and nightclubs shut. everyone is affected. italians, tourists, and expats living here, staying put as several airlines stop flights. well, obviously we won't be able to travel in the immediate future. we've been told we can only take trains between cities in italy for reasons of work or health orfor some extraordinary emergency and apart from that we must stay put, but that seems sensible. and another thing is they have put this limelight, or spotlight, on age groups and it makes me feel really, really old. but i'm optimistic about it. moving around requires a form

which we also had to complete, allowing travel for work or health emergencies or to return home. we would have to produce it if asked. it says here that falsifying this document could lead to prosecution. never could people in italy have conceived of the idea that they would need this to be able to move within their own country. as we drove out, traffic seemed quieter. roads are open, though slovenia says it will close its border and austria has banned italians entering unless with medical certificates. we have come out of bologna now and we're on the motorway to rome and we haven't seen any police checks for the documents, so it's still not clear how these restrictions are going to be enforced. we pulled over and got through to a doctor in one of the worst virus—hit areas. hospitals are near breaking point. we need more beds, more doctors, more nurses, because i think that in one to two weeks we will reach

the top so if we will not have more facilities we will not know how to take care of the patients. we are facing a war now here. in rome, deserted tourist sites show the huge economic impact. the government now discussing suspending tax and bill payments to ease pressure. from inside the vatican, the pope led mass, urging priests to have the courage to visit the sick — a risky call. and often it's too late. even funerals are now banned, replaced with a restricted blessing. the virus is killing and taking italy's dignity with it. mark lowen with that report. a story very much on the move. new york's avenue has declared a i—mile containment zone around the town of new

rochelle, thought to have the largest cluster of coronavirus cases in the us. schools and places of worship are to because the two weeks and the national guard has been deployed to clean schools and deliver food. deployed to clean schools and deliverfood. president deployed to clean schools and deliver food. president trump has urged americans to remain calm. we are prepared and we are doing a greatjob with it. it will go away. just stay calm, it will go away. we want to protect our shipping industry, our cruise industry, the cruise ships. let's go live to new rochelle and its city manager. i'm sure you are very busy. bring us up—to—date on the situation, if you can. thank you for having me. we have had a long day here in new rochelle and the governor of the state has declared a containment zone of about a mile about the area where the virus was first affected. what that means it's people will be able to go on with their lives but large gatherings at any schools, synagogues, churches or places

like that will not be allowed for two weeks. so we are working with the state to implement what they have put in place and our residents are trying to be as cooperative as they can. and how are people dealing with this? i think they area dealing with this? i think they are a little concerned because people here, when they hear the national guard, they think of a lot of different things. but as you said earlier, the national guard in this case has been deployed to help deliver food and clean schools, not to be a military force. so hopefully we can manage cooperatively with the state so people in tapenade understand what is going on. they should be able to live their normal, everyday lives, at least for now, and we hope it stays that way and things get back to normal as soon as possible. on that point, what is your feeling about this? is it your expectation, what is happening now in new rochelle will be happening in other states in the us pretty soon, quite possibly? again, i'm not

a medical professional but i would say it is likely that there are many, many more cases in the united dates than we know. the more people that get tested, the more they will probably have positive cases —— in the united states. all i know, in new rochelle we have 100 or so cases in our city of about 100,000 people and that isa about 100,000 people and that is a scary thing for people. we are doing our best to come everybody and let them know the state and local government, we have a state county and the local government are working cooperatively to address this is best we can. i'm going to interrupt you, i'm sorry. why do you think you have what is thought to be the largest cluster in the us? well, what happened was there was a first person who got the disease, and he happened to belong to a synagogue in the northern end of our city, a synagogue of about 1000 people. before he was symptomatic he went to a bar mitzvah, a funeral and

their regular services. that put him in interaction with up to about 1000 people and that is why it spread in that area as it did. that is the largest area in new york, based on the statistics we have from the state. so they are certainly working with them but that is way we think it is here. what is your feeling about the way the new york governor and the president have been dealing with this? the authorities in general? do you have enough testing kits there? well, i can only tell you we have been dealing with the state government. we haven't been to dealing with the federal government. it is clear we need more testing kits, that is coming soon. the more people we get tested the quicker we can fade out who has this. i, as a local official, i'm not going to opine on who is responsible for the number of tests, but i hope the state and federal government can come up

hope the state and federal government can come up with enough tests so we can test you we need to in this state, which is obviously one of the largest in this state —— who we need to. thank you very much for your time. have a good evening. passengers have been disembarking from the grand princess which has finally docked in the port of oakland. all of this part of the coronavirus story, of course was the chris buckler is there for us. it has been a very, very long process. hundreds have now disembarked, including the british holidaymakers who are now making their way back to the uk. there will be a flight about wednesday, in does make to birmingham. as forthe wednesday, in does make to birmingham. as for the other passengers, we think it would take 24 2a hours for them to get off the ship. it gives you a sense of the scale

of what they have been trying to address here. the seekers, and those who have been diagnosed with, 19 have been taken to hospitals in the california area and they are being treated —— covid—19. as for the wider issue of how you deal with the coronavirus, that is something the american authorities are still grappling with. for example, here in california they have done their best to basically try to ensure there are gatherings of 1000 people or more, it has led to sports events being cancelled, it has led to concerts being cancelled, and on the other side of america, on the is closed, in new york state, in new rochelle they have put in place a containment zone. they have the national guard cleaning schools, counselling schools, it gives you a real idea they are trying to tackle this problem. but at the same time, you do get the impression from health officials it will ta ke from health officials it will take something to address this properly. it is a tough, tough issue. they now have got testing kits, they have now got

resources , testing kits, they have now got resources, but ultimately what they can do to try and drop coronavirus spreading is a real issue for the authorities. chris buckler in oakland for us. chris buckler in oakland for us. a health minister in the british government has tested positive for coronavirus. she is self isolating at home and health workers are trying to establish how she came in contact with the disease. on thursday she attended a downing street reception hosted by the pro— minister, boris johnson. —— prime minister. us politics now. joe biden has taken a closer step to clinch the democratic nomination. joe biden is now projected to win the biggest prize of the night, michigan. bernie sanders had been pinning his comeback on winning michigan, 125 delegates up winning michigan, 125 delegates upforgrabs. winning michigan, 125 delegates up for grabs. peter, what is the latest? well, it does look like bernie

sanders' hopes have been dashed in michigan. he really needed to win big in that state, he did when it four years ago when he was fighting hillary clinton for the democratic nomination. of course, she went on to be the nominee but was defeated by donald trump, who won the state of michigan. it is one of those swing states, a bellwether state and it will be a major battleground come the election in november. that is weight is so in november. that is weight is so important and joe biden showing he can do well in that blue—collar state —— why it is so blue—collar state —— why it is so important was that it does him if you democratic party voters are thinking it is too easy for president trump to attack bernie sanders for his democratic socialism. president trump has been calling him a communist. similarly, ifjoe biden advances there will be more mentions of ukraine. we can only expect that, yes. i think there will be lots of mentions of the issue that surrounded the impeachment trial, the president was found not guilty and he will try to use that to his advantage. you

are absolutely right, a lot of democrats have been thinking very ha rd democrats have been thinking very hard about this in the last few days, the last few weeks sincejoe biden managed to win in south carolina. what the exit polls are telling us tonight as well as those decisions have been made relatively at the last minute because they believejoe biden is indeed the best candidate of the two to win in a general election against donald trump. and obviously every vote matters, every voter matters, every state matters, but michigan is a very big prize. it adds to that sense of momentum. mr sanders and his supporters will have difficult decisions to make. i think there will be a lot of soul—searching by bernie sanders and his supporters. and perhaps key will be the decision of bernie sanders, if and when he comes to dropout, and when he comes to dropout, and there is certainly no sign at the moment that he would plan to do that was that he has a lwa ys plan to do that was that he has always that he would take this to the convention, but then he can't argue with the mathematics of the situation and it may become just an

insurmountable fight that he has to step back. and what he says to his supporters in terms of directing them how to vote in the future may well be crucial to the unity of this party as they move forward to the general election. peter, thank you very much for that. thanks to you for being with us. thanks to you for being with us. do stay with us if you can on bbc news. there is much more to come including this was that we are inside yemen's conflict. how five years of war has divided the city. the numbers of dead and wounded defied belief. this the worst terrorist atrocity on european soil in modern times. in less than 2a hours then the soviet union lost an elderly sick leader and replaced him with a dynamic figure 20 years his junior. we heard these gunshots in the gym. then he came out through a fire exit and started firing

at our huts. god, we were all petrified. james earl ray, aged 41, sentenced to 99 years and due for parole when he's 90, travelled from memphis jail to nashville state prison in an eight—car convoy. paul, what's it feel like to be married at last? it feels fine, thank you. what are you going to do now? is it going to change your life much do you think? i don't know really. i've never been married before. welcome back. glad to have you with us. the latest headlines: the number of cases of coronavirus in italy are still rising as the country is in lockdown. in the us, new york's, has announced a containment zone around the

town of new rachelle, which has what is thought to be the largest cluster of cases in the united states. —— new rochelle. this month marks five years of the conflict in yemen, a civil war which has become a proxy war which has become a proxy war involving major world powers. the us, uk, saudi arabia and iran. fighting has intensified recently, and taiz in the south—west is the centre of one of the longest running battles. the city is split in two, between tim —— between houthi rebels backed by saudi arabia, and the government, backed by the west. sneaking through shadows. slipping behind walls... we're taken to the streets in the line of fire. taiz, city of snipers. one street, one lane is safe, the other is not. that's the nature of this shifting front line in taiz, dividing streets, dividing

homes, shattering lives. this side of the wall in government hands. the other, houthi fighters. both sides shooting. the face of the front line drained of life. other streets shot through with danger. a short drive away, the first neighbourhood reduced to rubble when this war began. it's lasted longer in taiz than almost anywhere else in yemen. but in the safe spaces, life explodes. children ambush the ice cream man. but they carefully keep to this road. they all know it's the safest route on their way home from school. gone from the skies for now, the rumble of saudi warplanes.

taiz was one of the most heavily bombed areas, causing the most civilian casualties. often with british or american made bombs. this is my home. marwan remembers this air strike as if it was yesterday. ten members of his family perished as they slept in these rooms. eight neighbours died, too. life is still shattered five years on. stuck in this stalemate.

see the green scar slashing taiz in two? the houthis control the heights beyond there, a third of this city. the roads running through taiz, once bustling, are now blocked. to get from one side to the other you need to drive around the city, a perilous journey of six to eight hours. it used to take five minutes. ghalya nasa, blinded in one eye by a sniper, belongs to a women's group lobbying to end the siege.

there's still a pulse in this city. the pride taizes still feel in a place once prized for its culture. but it's a life lived on the edge. taiz, a symbol of yemen's conflict. it's torn a whole country apart. liz doucet, bbc news, taiz. australia's high court has started hearing the final appeal of cardinal george pell against his conviction for abusing two choirboys in 1996 while he was archbishop of melbourne. he is serving a six year jail term. melbourne. he is serving a six yearjail term. his lawyers are hoping to convince the high court the jury hoping to convince the high court thejury made hoping to convince the high court the jury made a mistake. our correspondent is in canberra. this is george pell‘s last chance to overturn his conviction for child sexual abuse offences. he failed to challenge the verdict back in august in victoria's court of appeal, and now seven judges

here in australia's high court will decide his fate. put simply, if the conviction is upheld, it means he will stay in prison and serve the rest of his sentence. but if the judges decide that they will overturn the conviction, it means that he is going to walk free. that, essentially, he is going to be acquitted. thejudges could also send the case back to victoria's court of appeal for review. george pell is currently serving a 6—year prison sentence after a jury unanimously found him guilty of sexually abusing two choirboys on saint patrick's cathedral when he was archbishop of melbourne back in 1996. the case shook australia, but it also rattled the catholic church, mainly because of how prominent george pell is. not only was he the vatican's treasurer, he was one of the pope's closest advisers, though he has since been demoted from the pontiff's inner circle. for survivors of sexual abuse, the conviction was celebrated because one of the catholic churches most senior officials

was held to account. but it did spark a big backlash from the supporters of george pell, notjust conservative groups but also high—profile personalities, for example, former prime ministers john howard and tony abbott, have both publicly supported him. pell‘s defence team will argue the judges were wrong to uphold his conviction, that the jury's verdict was unreasonable, relying heavily on the testimony of one victim and ignoring evidence of what could or could not have happened in the cathedral 15 years ago. the prosecution rejects this argument. they say the victim is truthful and that the jury made the right decision and it should be respected. the vatican has been fairly quiet on the case, saying simply that cardinal pell had the right to all avenues of appeal in a case that has shocked and divided australia and has deeply embarrassed the catholic church. two extremely rare white

giraffes have been killed by poachers in north—eastern kenya. rangers found the bodies of the female and her calf in a village in garisa county. a third white jarrah for still alive. conservationists believe it is now the only one in the world. —— giraffe. russia's president has endorsed a plan which could see him in the topjob for life a plan which could see him in the top job for life if it gets final approval. the proposal, introduced apartment by an mp he was a close ally, is part of sweeping changes to the kremlin, and that keeping mr putin in power. in two years time, vladimir putin should be walking out of parliament. instead he is backing a constitutional amendment which should see him stay well past his 202014. in principle, this option would be possible, but on one condition. if the constitutional court gives unofficial ruling that such an amendment would not contradict the principles and main of the constitution. six

weeks ago the president announced sweeping changes to parliament. he said, for the good of russia. the proposal still needs a tick of approval from court and the public, given his influence, it is set to cement his longevity in the topjob. mr putin, who is now 67, has been in powerfor 20 yea rs. 67, has been in powerfor 20 years. here he is about to cast his vote in the presidential election back into thousand. vote one. in 2008, he took a hiatus as president and served as prime ministerfor hiatus as president and served as prime minister for five yea rs by as prime minister for five years by doing this he avoided violating the current 2—term rule. the proposed changes, which are likely to pass, would mean he could serve for another 16 years at least. making him russia's longest serving and old est russia's longest serving and oldest leader. but not everyone in russia agrees. some lawmakers say it is illegal and a small crowd of protesters also expressed concerns.

translation: the person who brought russia into chaos and disaster will remain in power for the rest of his life, given that he is in good health, it may be for a very long time. putin, until 2036, is just unthinkable. but as an thinkable as it may be for some, for the man in charge, it is the only way forward. a little bit of cheer, some good news and a lucky escape. two men and their labrador walked away unharmed when their small plane crashed into a tree in florida. the plane was heading to a small airport when it had engine problems, which brought it down near some houses, though it missed the houses, though it missed the houses, as you can see. the father and son were heading to florida for spring break. police have praised the pilot for avoiding the houses before crashing. more on all the national and international news any time for you on the bbc news website. you can reach me and most of the team on twitter. thanks for

watching. hello there. on tuesday we had a temperature of 16.5 degrees at kew gardens and in cambridgeshire, making it the warmest day of the year so far. for some southern parts of the uk, the air originated all the way from the azores, hence that bit of warmth. further north, the air is cooler and it's the cooler air that will win out over the next few days. these shower clusters are heading into the north—west of the uk. this band of cloud, all that's left of the earlier rain taking some patchy rain and drizzle southwards into the english channel but keeping temperatures up across southern england and wales. colder air further north, though, and lots of showers packing into scotland and northern ireland. and here we'll have showers or longer spells of rain on wednesday. some heavy bursts of rain and snow of the hills of

scotland. some of those hours will be blown into northern england and wales. towards the south—east of the uk, they get away with a dry day. it will be quite blustery out there, mind you, especially in those heavy showers and across the north—west of scotland, gusts of 50, maybe even 60 miles an hour. here, the air is a little bit cooler, but there's still warmth to be found across eastern parts of england, temperatures not far of what we saw on tuesday, 14—15 degrees. but it will get colder, i think, later on in the week. and we've got this weather front taking some wetter weather into england and wales on wednesday night. and it's behind that the area gets quite a bit colder and we see the snow level lowering on wednesday night in scotland and northern england. some icy conditions here as there could be in northern ireland as well. but the snow levels will rise, i think, on thursday. but we'lljust keep wetter weather piling into scotland and northern ireland, the winds strengthening as well and will blow some rain into the north—west of england. a few passing showers across southern parts of england and wales, they may get away with a dry day in the midlands.

temperatures back to near where they should be for this time of year as they cooler air arrives. that area of low pressure keeps wetter weather going across the northern half of the uk during thursday evening, that pushes away and we get a ridge of high pressure in time for friday morning. so, it's a chilly start, yes, the winds will have eased and most places will start dry and sunny. it won't be too long, though, before the cloud bubbles up and spreads throughout the day. and those temperatures are still quite healthy for this time of year, 8—12 degrees. that rain will push its way eastwards on friday night, we'll see more rain arriving in the north—west of the uk on saturday. that then sweeps its down way into england and wales and cooler air follows into the north—west on sunday with some sunshine and some blustery showers.

our top stories: italy still in lockdown, public gatherings forbidden, tourist spots virtually deserted. it virtually deserted. is effectively —— it has effectively it is effectively —— it has effectively self isolated, closing down schools and restricting sporting events. in the us, a one—mile containment zone is in place around new york suburb new rochelle, around a large cluster of cases. the national guard has been deployed to clean up public spaces and deliver food. joe to clean up public spaces and deliverfood. joe biden has extended his lead in the us to become the democratic party's his lead in the us to become the democratic pa rty‘s candidate. his lead in the us to become the democratic party's candidate. he is on course to be senator sanders in missouri and mississippi, as well as the biggest prize of the night, michigan. it's