hello — this is the briefing. i'm susannah streeter. our top stories: share prices in asia plunge again as fear over the coronavirus pandemic grips global financial markets. as the french president announces new measures to try to curb the spread, we take a look at one of the regions affected. the president has announced that all schools will close from next week. the travel industry warns up to 25% of global travel could be affected and up to 50 million jobs are at risk. as cases continue to grow in the us, all major sport is suspended and broadway performances are cancelled for a month.

a warm welcome to the programme — briefing you on all you need to know in global news, business and sport. and you can be part of the conversation. tell us what you think — just use the hashtag #bbcthebriefing. limiting handshakes to stop the spread of coronavirus, how easy is it to change that habit? financial markets are reeling again because of the coronavirus pandemic. at one point, the nikkei index injapan was down by 10%. there have also been sharp falls in hong kong, south korea, australia and new zealand. on thursday, wall street and europe saw some of their biggest ever single—day losses. mariko oi is in singapore — she's monitoring what's happening across asia.

the rout continues with no end in sight. indeed. it has been yet another brutal day here in asia. as you mentioned, markets across the region are well and truly in the red although it is interesting to point out that mainland chinese markets like shanghai, they are not down by as much because the situation there seems to have stabilised. but elsewhere, the nikkei, as you mentioned, was down by io%. we are now in the final hour of trading and they are still down by almost 5%. shares in other countries are also sharply lower and they are taking their cue from wall street. where the dowjones industrial average had its worst day since that market crash in 1987. we will be keeping across all the very latest developments on the markets but let's brief you now

on some of the other elements. it's been confirmed that sophie gregoire—trudeau, the wife of the canadian prime minister, justin trudeau, has tested positive. mr trudeau is in good health and has no symptoms, according to his office, but he will remain in isolation for 1h days. the death toll from the coronavirus in italy has hit the 1000 mark. it's europe's deadliest outbreak. the government has imposed a blanket closure of restaurants, bars and almost all shops except food stores and pharmacies. schools in the irish republic have closed — and a ban has begun on large public gatherings. the prime minister, leo varadkar, said people would have to make "big changes" and "enormous sacrifices". emmanuel macron has announced new measures to try to curb the spread of the coronavirus in france. almost 3000 cases have been confirmed in the country and 61 people have died. with local elections

due to take place this sunday — our correspondent, lucy williamson, has been to one of the most affected regions. elections are usually risky for leaders, not for voters. the danger this time is a health crisis, just as much as a political one. polling stations have marked out every step of the process to keep voters and any virus they may cover, far enough apart. the local officials say they are often working in the dark. translation: 9096 of the information i have is coming from the television. i have very limited information locally. in france we have an expression, they took three mere hot potato and told me to get on with it. this is an unprecedented situation but we are learning as we go. in one of the worst hit regions, schools are closed and social gatherings band and people have been asked to stay home unless it is vital they leave the house. 0n

it is vital they leave the house. on thursday night, president macron announced that all nurseries, schools and universities in france would be closed until further notice. but despite some expectations, he said the elections would go ahead. translation: he said the elections would go ahead. translationzlj he said the elections would go ahead. translation: i have consulted our scientist about the first round of our local elections taking place in a few days. they think nothing is standing in the way of the french people, even the most vulnerable, going to the polls. one of the mps from his party is currently in quarantine with coronavirus. he says it is not the government's response that is causing the rising cases. translation: we are at the crossroads of europe. we are internationally open so, yes, there are many cases in france and unfortunately some deaths. but i don't think france is unique in this. and the authorities have reacted well. president macron has warned that this is just the beginning. a recent poll

suggested almost 30% of french voters would avoid polling stations for fear of infection. the government says its measures are adequate. not eve ryo ne measures are adequate. not everyone here feels the same. the travel industry's warning up to 50 million jobs are at risk because of the pandemic. figures from the world travel and tourism council show up to 25% of global travel could be affected. with me is mark davies who's ceo of strategy consultancy, camberton. let's talk about this morning to start off with. millions of tourism jobs could go as a result of this and, certainly, the share markets are reacting. there. i'm supposed share prices have not fallen further. united airlines was down by 17% yesterday, ba down only 11% in line with the markets. and you would think that because of the exposure that they have, they would have been among the biggest fall is yesterday and they were not. there are

airlines that have already gone bust including one in the uk, because its bookings dropped so much. and we would expect to see other airlines having such problems around the world because why would you travel at the moment unless you felt you had to? absolutely. corporations are telling staff do not travel, they are stopping business travel, major conferences around the world have been cancelled or suspended and rescheduled for later in the year. the problem is nobody knows how long this will go on for so it could be that they are factoring that business in later in the year when it may not materialise at all. absolutely. and later in the year means you still do not have the money and now. you may have the money and now. you may have been travelling later in the year anyway so you would ta ke two the year anyway so you would take two trips are now you will ta ke take two trips are now you will take one. this is money that cannot suddenly be recouped. yes, the conference that you decided to postpone for six months can go ahead. that is different from someone who would have been travelling to

new york on business tomorrow and then we'll travel again on business in october. that travel would have happened anyway. so what's not happening at the moment is lost, and economic loss to the organisation. and when they have been crises in the past, world crises, people have opted for domestic tourism instead. and boosted their own home interest rate. with all these restrictions taken place, that is not going to be the solution, is it? no, it is not. unsurprisingly, one of the share prices has been eventbrite because people are just not going to do things. they are staying home, it is the sensible thing to do and as a result their share prices dropped by about 60%. a result their share prices dropped by about 6096. you say, people at home say that you would think that netflix shares or share prices would have gone up or share prices would have gone up as or share prices would have gone upasa or share prices would have gone up as a result but that is not the case. nothing has gone up

at the moment. you would think that netflix would, the gambling industry took a hit on fears that the sporting programme is going to be decimated. that surprised me because they normally find something to offer their customers to do, whether it is online poker or virtual games. for the gambling sector to be as hard as it was yesterday, i found that surprising. thank you very much. new york's mayor bill de blasio has declared a state of emergency while criticising president trump's decision to ban all flights to and from mainland europe. all major sport has now been suspended across the us and broadway performances are off for a month. here's our north america correspondent, david willis. how many people are infected here? there is a shortage of testing kits, so the us does not know. prompting the countries of infectious

diseases doctor said that they have a problem. this system is not really geared to what we need right now. what you are asking for. that is failing. it isafailing. asking for. that is failing. it is a failing. let's admit it. sensing opportunity in what some see as the trump administration's bungled response to this crisis, the man most likely to oppose president trump in november is weighing in. our ability to drive a global response is dramatically been cut by the damage that trump has done to our credibility and our relationships around the world. broadway in new york, the great white way is to fall dark for one month as concerns grow here over large concentrations of people in public places. the city has declared a state of emergency and in one suburb, the national guard has been brought in to provide food for needy families. schools are

shutting down in some places, major sporting events are being cancelled. even mickey mouse's closing shop. disneyland, the happiest place on earth, no foilfor a pernicious happiest place on earth, no foil for a pernicious virus thatis foil for a pernicious virus that is killing more lives every day. and if ilan's prime minister was looking to play at the close ties between his country and the us ahead of saint patrick's day, he was soon to learn that most parades here have been cancelled. meanwhile, the president continues to pin the virus on forces beyond his orders. it is a world problem and we do need separation in some cases, we have some areas that are heavily infected and some areas that are not but they do need separation for a period of time in some cases. congress is said to be close to agreeing on a package of financial measures designed to help those affected by the virus but there is growing concern here that the full cost could be considerable.

stay with us on bbc news, still to come: life in quarantine — what can the experience of chinese citizens in the past weeks can tell us about the reality of being locked up? 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. you're watching the briefing. our headlines: stock markets are again recording huge losses in response to the coronavirus pandemic. at one point, the nikkei index injapan was down by 10%. all major sport has now been suspended across the us and broadway performances are off for a month. countries around the world are scrambling to stop the spread of the coronavirus or covid—19, following the declaration of it being a global pandemic. just eight course —— eight new

cases were reported in china. the authorities put the entire city of wu to lockdown some weeks ago and they said the worst is over but what can experience of chinese citizens tells about the reality of mass quarantine? the bbc has obtained unique footage from wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak. this is what life is like in a city under lockdown. two filmmakers from wood hand recorded their lives to show the world the impact of the quarantine. they shared their footage exclusively with the bbc. the first is tai kaihai, he had his wife li ting, nurse, live in the city centre. they described what it was like when they first got it. with his infected wife staying at home,

tai has to be careful, but it's hard. after a few days, li's condition gets worse. almost two weeks later, li is finally admitted into hospital and that's when things start to change.

li is now recovering and will soon be discharged. li wenhua is another filmmaker. he soon be discharged. li wenhua is anotherfilmmaker. he has soon be discharged. li wenhua is another filmmaker. he has a special permit to work as a driver. he is putting himself at risk for those in need.

he also has to pay a personal price for quarantine. the peak may have passed in china but the rest of the world is just starting to confront the idea of lockdowns. soon, stories like these will no longer be unique to were hand. vincent ni, bbc news. as new zealand approaches the first anniversary of the country's deadliest mass shooting, prayers are being held in christchurch. 51 people were killed when a gunman opened fire at the al noor and linwood mosques, during friday prayers. our correspondent shaimaa khalil has the latest from christchurch. our correspondent shaimaa khaliljoins me now from christchurch.

it is. it's been a day of reflection, a day of community and country coming together but of course, this will also be a day where very difficult and painful memories are going to be conjured up. both worshippers from the linwood al—noor mosque came together and they were joined by members of the community and others who travelled to show solidarity and respect for the lives lost and respect for the lives lost and reflect on what happened. as you say, the anniversary itself is on sunday but it was the friday prayers that were targeted by the gunmen in the worst attack in new zealand ‘s modern history. 51 people died, dozens more were injured. we spoke to people today who lost loved ones who said it was really important to come to friday prayers on that day, to

remember them but also reach out to other members of the community. we also heard from the prime ministerjacinda ardern herself who said new zealand and its people have changed fundamentally because you cannot go through this and not change. essentially she said a lot more needs to be done to address racism and bullying and also the fact that right—wing extremism is still a real threat here. there is an extreme sense of solidarity you can feel among people but that sense of peacefulness and immunity to terror has been lost in christchurch. certainly. when you talk about the measures needed, she says still a lot of work needs to be done. what kind of changes have we seen so far in new zealand, to try to affect that change? the biggest change with scene is that ban on the selling of semiautomatic weapons, military grade semiautomatic weapons, military g ra d e style semiautomatic weapons, military grade style assault weapons. that has happened almost days

after the attack. parliament passed that and we heard from the prime minister that more than 60,000 weapons of that grade have been taken off circulation. there is still a second phase of that which still has to go to parliament and again, more gun reform. she also emphasised focusing on on line, the spread of right—wing extremist ideas, and how a lot of work needs to be done on that as well. thank you very much for talking to us and giving us an update on how that anniversary is going to be marked. ajudge in the us has ordered the former intelligence analyst, chelsea manning, should be immediately released from prison. she's been detained since last may, after refusing to appear at an inquiry into the wikileaks website. according to her lawyers she's currently recovering in hospital after trying to take her own life. freya cole reports. friend orfoe, friend or foe, chelsea friend orfoe, chelsea manning isa friend orfoe, chelsea manning is a divisive household name in

america. these pictures show her in may last year before she was sent to prison for a second time for rejecting a court subpoena. ms manning refuses to testify before a grand jury about wikilea ks, saying testify before a grand jury about wikileaks, saying the investigation is riddled in secrecy and abuse. ultimately, this is an attempt to place me back into confinement. i think that the questions are the same questions i was asked before the court—martial seven, eight yea rs the court—martial seven, eight years ago. there is nothing new. they are not asking anything new. the former us army analyst was convicted in 2013 are providing more than 700,000 classified government files to wikileaks. she leaked this now infamous video to the website founder, julian assange, exposing the us military killing civilians in a wright. president barack obama pardoned her case but since

then, us prosecutors haven't dropped the investigation. by refusing to co—operate, the legal team say she now faces fines of more than 500 thousand us dollars. in a statement they say she will not betray her principles, even at risk of grave harm to herself. after attempting to take her own life, ms manning is now recovering in hospital. she was scheduled to appear in court on friday but thejudge scheduled to appear in court on friday but the judge ruled that it was no longer necessary for her to testify. the judge also said she should be released from prison, saying her detention no longer serves any purpose. freya cole, bbc news. now it's time to get all the latest from the bbc sports centre. hello and this is your friday sport briefing where we start with the news that manchester united have one foot in the europa league quarter—finals after a 5—0

win over linz. despite playing in front of an empty stadium in austria due to the coronavirus pandemic, united led 1—0 at half time thanks to odiaon ighalo's fourth goal in his last five games. after the interval ole gunnar solksjaer‘s team pressed home the advantage and will take a sizeable lead back to old trafford next thursday. the boys were fantastic. they deserve a lot of credit and praise for the way they went about thejob. praise for the way they went about the job. there was loads of quality now finishing. fantastic goals. in some football we should be proud of. now to horse racing where 50—1 shot lisnagar oscar won the featured stayers' hurdle at cheltenham on thursday. hot favourite paisley park, who has been such a dominant force, including in this race last year, never threatened as jockey adam wedge claimed his first festival winner. this weekend's australian formula one grand

prix has been called off after a member of the mclaren team tested positive for the coronavirus. the decision to scrap the opening race of this year's calendar in melbourne came less than a day after that announcement but its left a sour taste in the sport. it's left a lot of people very upset and throughout the night, we got bands who were already queueing at the gate at a time when there is a global pandemic, what do you not want? you don't want to mass group of people all huddled together. so that's unfortunate. the teams have gone into the truck this morning so once again, in an area where you know you have positive coronavirus tests, you sent people into that area without being we can assume deeply cleansed because that never happened. germany's max schachmann continues to lead the paris—nice heading into friday's stage six later. italy's niccolo bonifazio took the 5th stage in a sprint finish which is the longest of any stage at 227 km, the 26 year old holding off ivan garcia cortina and peter sagan.the race is being held without a crowd to comply with the french ban

on gatherings of more than 1,000 people in response to the coronavirus outbreak. and after it was discovered that rudy gobert the utahjazz player at the centre of the nba deciding to suspend matches had wiped his hands over reporters microphones at a press conference on monday, the french international has apologised and said that he'll do whatever he can to educate others and prevent the spread of the virus. you can get all the latest sports news at our website — that's bbc.com/sport. but from me tulsen tollett briefing. thanks for that. tell me what you think about our talking point today — we've been asked to limit the spread of coronavirus by stopping shaking hands but how ha rd stopping shaking hands but how hard is it to stop that habit?

#bbcthebriefing. hello there. our weather continues in a rather unsettled mood. we had big showers yesterday with big towering cumulonimbus clouds spotted over the skyline around the wolverhampton area and a few more showers coming our way over the next few hours as well, thanks to an area of low pressure working across scotland and out into the north sea and that's not the last of the lows, no, we've got another one coming in late on friday and another one working just in time for the weekend. it stays pretty unsettled. if you are out and about the next few hours, you may well encounter showers, particularly some across northern areas. showers are falling as snow across hills. it's also quite cold and there are icy stretches as we start friday morning. otherwise the breeze keeping the frost at bay for many of us. on into friday, cold northerly winds will drag

showers down the north sea. they can be quite frequent late in the day, we will see rain moving to wales in south—west england as the next low pressure approaches however in between these areas, light winds, sunny spells but the winds moving across wales, will kind of bash through the north sea and it will shovel a line of moisture to create these showers which will line up more or less from merseyside in the midlands to the greater london area and along that zone, quite cloudy for a time. quite a range — highs between 5 and 11 degrees. rain coming too overnight and more rain working in in time for the weekend with a slow—moving weather front pushing eastwards across the country. this weekend best sums up the forecast and it's going to be quite windy as well. saturday's forecast, cloud and few spots of rain across england and wales, a damp start to the day in scotland. rain here eases off at night and because the weather system

will swamp it and bring more wet weather across northern ireland into western scotland by the end of the day and turning damp across the hills of northern england and wales and across the hills of northern england and wales, rain could be quite heavy and slow—moving for saturday night, still around on sunday. perhaps 50mm or s, bringing localised flooding. the rain moves into east anglia and south—east england. some further showers being driven in on a brisk north—westerly wind. that's your weather.

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this is the business briefing. i'm susannah streeter. after black thursday — friday the 13th. investors brace for more chaos after the worst day on the markets since 1987. plus — travel bans, cancellations and staff lay offs. how the pandemic is bringing the tourism industry to its knees. and let's just show you those markets. the global collapse continues in asia — after us shares slumped 10% on thursday. japan's nikkei currently down around 6%.