this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk, on pbs in america or around the globe. i'm mike embley. our top stories: a trillion—dollar shot against coronavirus — congress and the white house discuss a huge stimulus to try to save the economy falling victim to the outbreak. with this invisible enemy, we don't want airlines going out of business. we don't want people losing theirjobs or not having money to live when they were doing very welljust four weeks ago. the british government calls an economic emergency and also throws a lifeline of billions of pounds to bolster businesses. life under lockdown — the french are now banned from leaving their homes, even to visit family and friends. joe biden has extended his lead over bernie sanders decisively in the democrats presidential race, winning

in the key states of florida and illinois. hello to you. the trump administration is trying to agree with congress a massive economic stimulus to help the us economy withstand the coronavirus pandemic. the aid package, reported to be worth about $1 trillion, would include sending cheques to individual americans, and $50 billion for airlines hard hit by travel restrictions and a dropoff in demand. the news seems to have lifted spirits on wall street, the dow jones closing up more than 5%. this from the bbc‘s rich preston. there are more coronavirus cases being announced in the us every day, and more states encouraging businesses to close and people to stay at home. the government wants to reassure families and industry. american has cash now

and the president wants us to have cash now in the next two weeks. as well as personal cheques, businesses and individuals will be able to delay paying tax for 90 days. we're now working with the senate to pass this legislation very quickly and these will be payments to small businesses. we've talked about loan guarantees to critical industries such as airlines and hotels, and we've also talked about a stimulus package to the american worker. you can think of this as something like this in this interruption payments for the american workers. a state of emergency has been imposed in at least a0 states. the governor of ohio suspended plans to hold its election primaries after washington warned americans to avoid groups of more than ten people.

officials have urged families to live—stream funerals rather than invite people to attend in person. america is steadily intensifying its response to the virus, a virus that president trump previously described as a low risk to americans and in late february predicted it would soon be close to zero cases in the us. there are now more than 6,000 confirmed cases in america and there have been over 100 deaths. and here in the uk, finance minister rishi sunak unveiled his support plan to try to keep businesses afloat. he said the country is in an economic emergency and now is the time to be bold. the number of confirmed uk cases has risen to nearly 2,000, with 71 deaths. political editor laura kuenssberg is in westminster. everything seems different now. you can be on your own in the busiest parts of our biggest city. but quiet doesn't mask the worry. millions are concerned about their health, and loved ones too.

but instead of shutdown, behind closed doors, the centre of government is in overdrive. they‘ re grappling with the biggestjob in generations — to save lives first, but to protect how we make a living, too. we must act like any wartime government, and do whatever it takes to support our economy. you can't blame the new chancellor for looking serious. just 33 days into hisjob, here he is announcing a bailout of historic proportions. this national effort will be underpinned by government interventions in the economy on a scale unimaginable only a few weeks ago. this is not a time for ideology and orthodoxy. today, i am making available an initial £330 billion of guarantees, equivalent to 15% of our gdp. that means any business who needs access to cash to pay their rent, their salaries, suppliers, or purchase stock will be able to access a government—backed

loan or credit on attractive terms. can you guarantee to firms who need to pay wages now, and families who worry about paying the rent now, that they will not lose out while you work through the details of what comes next? be in no doubt, the state is asking people to do something, to make very considerable changes to their lives. and it is only right, therefore, that the state should stand behind people as they make those changes. business big and small might not have the luxury of time. the office of this brighton travel company is already practically empty. i don't think borisjohnson realises that people are losing theirjobs right now. we've had to put staff on unpaid sabbatical, with no certainty of what's going to happen over the next few months. reporter: are you doing enough to stop the virus? ministers have been scrambling to find a response big

and fast enough. it might sound astonishing, but even more than £300 billion might be just the start. by the government's own admission, this is now an economic emergency. so they've just promised to take vast steps to try to stop that turning into individual hardship for millions in the coming months, taking on long—term costs for the country to try to stop a heavy and painful cost being paid by families in the coming months. the need for help for the country's health and the country's wealth is acute. reassurance is not a currency in itself. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. tough new restrictions have come into force in france. no—one can now leave home without a government form, that they must print out, to justify their reason for being outside. for the next two weeks, people are only allowed out to go to work, to buy essential food or medical supplies, for a family emergency, or to exercise or walk a dog. but they must be on their own,

and face a fine if these conditions aren't met. paris correspondent lucy williamson reports. before the quarantine, the fever. as france inched towards lockdown, supermarkets became ba rometers of the nation's fear. the government had complained that people were ignoring the threat of coronavirus. but attitudes here are changing. translation: i'm scared. i've got three kids, i'm here to buy the basics. i'm afraid for myself and for my children. last night, president macron announced a general confinement of france's population, from midday today. translation: for at least the next 15 days, our movements will be seriously reduced.

it means that outside gatherings or meeting friends and family won't be permitted. going for a walk, meeting friends in the park or in the street, won't be possible. all infractions to these rules will be punished. it's just gone midday here, the new rules have come into force and there are still a few people out on the champs—elysees. 48 hours ago, the government was telling people to come out to vote. now it's saying, stay in your homes unless it's essential, or face a fine. within minutes of the deadline, extra police were out questioning people still on the streets. 100,000 officers have been deployed to enforce the new rules. today's deadline sparked a last—minute rush to leave the capital. polls suggest a sudden jump in anxiety here. normality, no longer a barrier to this crisis, is disappearing. and france instead is learning to manage its fear. lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. the european union has banned non—eu citizens from entering for 30 days,

as major european countries try and stop the spread of the virus. here's the latest from our correspondents in spain, germany and italy, starting with mark lowen in rome. today, italy's prime minister said this country had overcome fascism and world wars but never more than now was there such a need for italians to be united. he said that 10,000 medical students would have their final year exams scrapped so they could move more quickly into the healthcare system and support doctors and nurses. cases here are still soaring, but the rate of increase is the smallest now since the outbreak began so, possibly, the containment measures are beginning to work and, if so, that puts the pressure on other countries to copy the italian approach more closely. from today, this is the updated form you have to fill in for all movement around the country to certify

that we are not in quarantine because of the virus or that we have tested that we are negative. that in addition, of course, to the blanket closure of all venues across the country. italy has taken the most extreme approach in europe but nowjust look at how, one by one, so many other countries are following suit. spain, about a week ago, was pretty much where the uk is today, so just a couple of thousand cases, and in seven days that has soared sevenfold. so, what we saw out on the streets today, similar. police out there ordering people to return home, stopping their cars, checking them. this is the biggest train station in madrid behind me and it is virtually deserted. spain here is equally a sign that if you don't take measures quickly, you get

a huge rise in cases. restrictions here were only brought in the day. we now have 2,000 more cases in the last day, 500 people in intensive care. spain's prime minister promises a massive economic stimulus to try and keep things going and nobody here complaining that any of this is excessive. today, germany raised its official risk level from medium to high as the number of newly confirmed cases continues to accelerate. the health authorities up and down the country are bracing themselves. here in berlin today, they announced they're to turn a big exhibition centre into an extra hospital with 1,000 beds. the authorities have pretty much shut down every aspect of normal german daily life now affecting leisure, religion, business, people are being told they should stay at home and they should not go on holiday either within the country or abroad. the government is hoping it can avoid following

spain, france, italy into imposing a complete lockdown. they hope the current measures will be enough. but people here are looking at what is happening in those countries and looking at the daily rise in cases here and they are starting to fear that for germany it really isjust a question of time. let's get some of the news on the coronavirus from around the world. australia's prime minister has announced an indefinite ban on all overseas travel. scott morrison said the biggest risk and incidence of cases has come from australians returning from overseas. the government has now also banned gatherings of 100 people or more, but schools still remain open. brazil has announced the partial closure of its land border with venezuela, banning venezuelans and other foreigners from crossing. at least 30 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in venezuela. in brazil, there are about 300 confirmed cases and one person has died. the tunisian government is imposing a curfew from 6pm—6am every day starting wednesday. the army will be deployed to carry out the control measures in the north african country, where there have been 2a confirmed cases, and no fatalities.

stay with us on bbc news, still to come: predicting the peak of the pandemic — how scientists save lives by simulating the spread of the virus. today, we have closed the book on apartheid and that chapter. more than 3,000 subway passengers were affected. nausea, bleeding, headaches and a dimming of vision — all of this caused by an apparently organised attack. the trophy itself was on the pedestal in the middle of the cabinet here. now, this was an international trophy, and we understand now that the search for it has become an international search. above all, this was a triumph for the christian democrats

of the west, offering reunification as quickly as possible, and that's what the voters wanted. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: the us and the uk bring in massive stimulus packages to bolster their economies in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. joe biden's bid to take on donald trump gets a boost as results come in from democratic party primaries in three us states. let's have more on that. joe biden has won the latest democratic party primaries in florida and illinois, strengthening his lead over bernie sanders in the race to take on donald trump. he's also on course

to win in arizona. a fourth state, 0hio, didn't go to the polls because of the virus epidemic. speaking from his home in delaware, mr biden talked of the challenges the coronavirus posed to today's vote. americans in three states went to the polls today. i want to thank all the public officials and the poll workers who worked closely with the public health authorities to ensure safe opportunities for voting, to clean and disinfect voting booths, and to make sure the voters could cast their ballots while maintaining the distance from one another that was safe. you know, it's important for us to get through this crisis, protecting both the public health and our democracy. 0ur north america correspondent, david willis, told me thatjoe biden's success has put his rival, bernie sanders, in a difficult position. bernie sanders was criticised for lingering in the race

against hillary clinton. there were some who said that his prolonged presence detracted from that of senator clinton's run for office. and so i think there will be calls in the morning, perhaps, for bernie sanders to perhaps drop out of this race. but there is no doubt about it, he has been a big influence on the democratic ticket. and he won't be going away, as far as american politics are concerned, anytime soon. and david, just how is the pandemic impacting on all of this? it has had a considerable impact, mike. we saw it at the polls today. a lot of the polling stations had to be moved at the last minute, because the locations weren't deemed conducive given the current scare. a lot of the poll workers didn't turn up, and that caused some problems as well. and there were problems, for example, just practical things about how to arrange polling booths so that people could be the recommended six feet apart as they were lining up to vote, all of these sorts of things.

but now, another four states have pushed their primaries back to july, to june in the case of most of them, and that is all making the run—up to this democratic convention all the more uncertain, if you like. the democratic national committee insisting that its nominating convention — meeting will go ahead as scheduled injuly. but we simply don't know, do we, what's going to happen from one week to the next. a research team from mit have found that old equipment still leaking gases harmful to the earth's protective ozone layer may be delaying its repair by around six years. the scientists say the cfc gases found in items such as old fridges and insulation foam, made before the worldwide phase—out 20 years ago, pose a greater threat than expected. the team from the massachusetts institute of technology say the cfcs are also adding billions of tonnes of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. the dramatic escalation

in restrictions introduced here in the uk were partly prompted by research from a team at imperial college london, who said this was the worst respiratory virus since the spanish flu pandemic in 1918. they warned that britain was on course for a catastrophic epidemic, and the number of deaths in the uk could reach 250,000 unless there was a new approach to the pandemic. here's our science editor, david shukman. from the start of the outbreak in wuhan, there has been a huge research effort behind the scenes, scientists using every detail to develop a computer simulation of the disease, what's called a model. and it is what the british government's initial response was based on. but then came northern italy, where more people need

intensive care than anyone expected, so the forecasts have had to be adjusted. what the scientists realised was that as many as 250,000 people could die of the virus in the uk, unless policies here changed. they now hope that will fall to 20,000 with the new measures announced yesterday. there's new data emerging from italy, and now from our intensive care units here in london, to suggest that the level of treatment that's required for a small fraction of these cases is more intense than we thought. we keep hearing about the modelling of the outbreak, but what does that actually mean? well, it is basically maths, calculations about different factors that influence the disease. this model was for wuhan, to work out the rate of infection. it is how scientists quickly found out that, on average, every person who gets the virus can pass it on to at least two others. so, over a month, one case can lead to more than 200. china has responded by closing off entire cities. other countries have done the same. but until now, the uk has kept the most drastic measures in reserve, so critics have questioned the modelling of the outbreak in britain. but the scientists doing the work say it is better than nothing.

models are not crystal balls. they're better than just guessing, which is, you know, what you would otherwise have to do. but they're reliant on the data we feed into them, and there is lots we don't know about this virus. there's also lots we don't know about what the effectiveness of these interventions really will be. so how effective are these computer models of the outbreak? well, they have to rely on a lot of assumptions about things that aren't known, such as, if people have the virus but don't show symptoms, how easily can they pass it on? and then, a really critical question — if someone has been infected with the virus and then gets better, with a full recovery, is it then possible for them to get it again? chinese television, reporting on research into a possible vaccine. that won't come soon, but it is part of a frantic

search around the world to understand the virus and to minimise its impact. david shukman, bbc news. with so much going on so fast there is a group of people who have not had much attention in all of this. homeless people are particularly vulnerable. all of this. homeless people are particularly vulnerablelj spoke are particularly vulnerable.” spoke tojessica lynn, a researcher at the georgetown centre for global health science and security. she was also a caseworker in a homeless shelter for also a caseworker in a homeless shelterfor some years. there is a variety of factors. 0ne there is a variety of factors. one is that a lot of the people experiencing homelessness of chronic health conditions, and we know that people who have chronic health conditions and also the elderly, of which there is a decent amount of, have a higher risk of worse outcomes with covid—19. the other is that there is a lack of access to hygienic resources , of access to hygienic resources, whether that is sinks or bathrooms or showers, and that increases the risk, as

do the congregants settings they live in. because they either live on the streets, close together, or at best they are ina close together, or at best they are in a shelter with bunk beds, maybe one or 1.5 metres apart. they are unable to follow the basic public health precautions. that puts them at risk and also puts everyone else around them at risk. and i guess there is a selfish reason for the rest of the population to ca re for the rest of the population to care about this, because if it spreads unchecked among homeless people, it will spread even further? yes. i think people often forget about the homeless population is quite mobile, maybe not from state to state or country to country, but they are moving around throughout their day, they are going to coffee shops, and to libraries, to find places to eat and sit stop and so they will be interacting with the rest of the population. they are not in their own silo. on their way into work here every night we passed a lot of homeless people sleeping on the steps of the church right next door to bbc headquarters. some

of them have tents, some of them don't, some have sleeping bags, some don't. 0nly them don't, some have sleeping bags, some don't. only if you have cardboard underneath them. this idea of social distancing and taking extra care of yourself, these are just fine words in this context, aren't they mrmike is words in this context, aren't they mr mike is there more that can be done but should be done, and do you think it will be done? i think there are things which can be done. i know some of the cities in the us are now starting to distribute hygienic supplies. they are having outreach teams going out with a sanitiser, but we are also starting to run low on that. we have a few that are putting in safe stations and trash disposals for these homeless camps. global governments need to be doing more, though. it is something to say, let's give them the products they need to wash their hands, but it is something else to actually give them the ability to social distance. what that means in the case here is finding hotels or maybe camper trailers on modular tents to be able to separate all these individuals from each other. but if they

get the virus, but also beforehand, as a preventative measure. “— beforehand, as a preventative measure. —— both if they get. amid all the very grim developments during this pandemic, there are some glimmers of positive news and hope. around the globe, many people are doing their best to stay cheerful. let's take a look: singing. # lots of soap, rubber, rubber, rubber, you can try it too... # now were done, so let's have fun!

singing. plays ‘my heart will go on' by celine dion. we did our best, and you did your best. there is

more on all the news, if you can standard, on the bbc news website any time. hello. wednesday's weather brings us a bit of a mixed picture across the uk. a day of mixed fortune, certainly. we've got colder air moving in from the north, still mild in the south. and across england and wales, the cloudy, mild theme continues through the day, with some outbreaks of rain. for scotland and for northern ireland, it's a different story. a colder, frosty start to the morning, with a mix of sunshine and a few showers around. and the dividing line between the two weather types is this weather front, which is slowly sinking its way south across parts of wales and northern england as well through wednesday morning. to the north of that, we've got a chilly north—westerly flow, so after a frosty start for scotland and northern ireland we see a few showers working in. they'll be falling as sleet and snow over the highest ground in scotland.

further south, we have a band of rain pushing across northern england, towards the midlands into wales. much of southern england should stay dry for a good part of the day, but fairly cloudy and grey. light winds in the south, but it could be quite breezy across the north—west of the uk, with those blustery showers continuing to pack in across the north—west of scotland. fewer showers for northern ireland, but temperatures around about nine or ten degrees at best in the north. we could see 11—13 further south. moving through wednesday night now, and on into thursday, and we've still got this weather front that will linger over the next few days, not moving anywhere too quickly. it's keeping that mild air across parts of southern england as we head into thursday. but elsewhere, the blue colours on the map, the colder feel to the weather, as the wind comes from a north—westerly direction. for much of the uk, crisp to start with frost here and there, but lots of sunshine. some wintry showers again working in towards the north—west. further south, a band of cloud and outbreaks of rain across the south—west of england and a few showers getting into the south—east as well. so temperatures for most of us somewhere between about 7—10 degrees, so a cooler feel to the weather. still mild towards the channel isles on thursday.

looking towards the end of the working week now, thursday into friday, we've got high pressure building in towards the north. still we're keeping this fairly stubborn but rather weak weather front in the south. some uncertainty about its positioning, but we're likely to see some rain for the channel isles and the south—west of england. for the rest of the uk mostly dry, variable amounts of cloud. quite cool where we've got this breeze coming in off the north sea for places like east anglia, eastern scotland and parts of east england. many of us, single figures through the day on friday but mostly dry with some sunshine. further ahead, into the weekend and beyond, we're looking at a bit of a mix. a few showers in the north and the west, particularly on saturday. drier conditions more widely from sunday onwards. bye— bye.

this is bbc news, the headlines:

the trump administration is trying to agree with congress a massive stimulus package to help the economy withstand the coronavirus pandemic. it's reported to be worth about $1 trillion and could include sending cheques to individual americans, and $50 billion for airlines hard hit by travel bans. here in the uk, the government said they were on a war—time footing and announced unprecented measures with more than £300 billion to help businesses struggling with a drop in trade. there was also help for homeowners who may struggle to make mortgage payments. former us vice presidentjoe biden has won the primary votes in florida and illinois in his bid to be the democratic party's nominee to take on donald trump in november's election. he's also projected to beat his main rival, vermont senator bernie sanders, in arizona.

it's about