this is bbc world news. i'm christian fraser. our top stories: all schools in the uk are to close on friday until further notice as the british government moves to slow the spread of the coronavirus. speaking at downing street this evening, borisjohnson said exams in may and june would not take place. some schools will be allowed to stay open for children of key workers — including nhs staff. after schools shut their gates from friday afternoon, they will remain closed for most pupils, for the vast majority of pupils, until further notice. british supermarkets implement a range of new measures to ensure shelves remain stocked and customers only buy what they need. the grand national has gone,

glastonbury has gone, no football, no eurovision. but worry not, we will bring you a sprinkle of europop, from the artist many fancied as this year's favourite. hello and a warm welcome to bbc world news. within the last hour, the british prime minister has confirmed that schools in the uk will close at the end of the week. the first minister of scotland, nicola sturgeon, has suggested that pupils may not return to classrooms until september. the uk was behind other european nations. borisjohnson said the decision was not taken lightly. schools, he said, will remain open to vulnerable children and the children of key workers, which include nhs staff, emergency workers and delivery drivers. we also need to keep

the nhs going and to treat the rising number of cases, so we need health workers who are also parents to continue to go to work, and we need other critical workers with children to keep doing theirjobs, from police officers who are keeping us safe to the supermarket delivery drivers, social care workers, who look after the elderly and who are so vital. we therefore need schools to make provision for the children of these key workers who would otherwise be forced to stay home and they will also need to look after the most vulnerable children. the closure of schools poses a huge challenge to parents who are trying to earn a living — many of them now working from home. the government also stressed that children shouldn't be left with grandparents, who are the most vulnerable to the virus. our education editor bra nwen jeffreys reports. you need to take home your books and anything else you need in order to be able to work successfully at home...

a last glimpse of normal school life, already too few teachers to keep going. a whole year group were at home today. now the rest are set to follow. earlier, the head told me the government needed to get real. we have some children who may be at risk of things like domestic abuse. they might not be safe in their own homes, they might not be fed because they come from very disadvantaged family backgrounds. we want to know that that must be our priority, above things like learning and gcses, which are important. this is their gcse year, an anxious few months at the best of times. some people work better in a class environment. and if they are at home, they might get more distracted. we could get ill, we could miss lessons and that could hold

back our work and also, for our families, it's a lot of stress, and it can be difficult to cope with. so that's it — schools closed for the foreseeable future. they will still have a stripped—back role, providing somewhere safe for the children of key workers, like those working in the nhs, and looking out for vulnerable children. and there will be vouchers for children on free school meals. so, as classrooms empty, what do parents think? fortunately, i work from home and so does my husband, so it won't affect us, but it will have a significant impact on lots of other parents. knowing it will go round school and come home to every grandparent, other persons in your life, everybody could get it, so the sooner they shut it down, the better. schools will help in different ways, as doors shut on routine lessons. branwenjeffreys, bbc news, sussex. let's check in with our correspondent chris mason, who himself is in isolation at the moment. good to see you, chris. the

government was under increasing pressure. we just heard some of the comments there in the report but there were huge concerns about those children to to do their exams, more vulnerable children, on school meals, and also the children of pa rents meals, and also the children of parents in emergency services. yeah, a vast swirl of questions at the moment forfamilies a vast swirl of questions at the moment for families all over the uk. and in its own way, already wrote as well as terms of the applications of all of this. what i'm struck by, christian, journalistically, is what iam use christian, journalistically, is what i am use to and you are as a reporter of many years is, so often, the lecture of being a reporter is you are an observer, that you stand at least from a distance from what you're reporting on. the of this for all of us, isn't it, is we participants! i am trying, in my living room, to be useful while

being self isolated as we have been for the last 36 hours because of all the little ones having symptoms. we are asking in this household, as are others around the uk, will those key workers being able to send the children's to a school if not the school they use to go to so they can go to work? who else might feature on the list? a into early years, to nursery provisional, for those people who are deemed to be key workers? crucially, how long will it go on? we saw nicola sturgeon, the first minister of scotland, this afternoon saying she could not rule out the idea that schools there may not return until september. and as you say, therefore, the whole swirl of questions for children at key points in their kind of educational journey, run gcse exams, a level exams at 18 and those moving to primary schools. a huge number of

questions swirling. the government doing the best they can to incident but also grappling for answers as well. of course, and so many questions for other sectors as well. we have had emergency legislation put forward tonight to ban exclusions, evictions, for the next three months. and that's crucial for people who are renting properties. really important. there was quite a lot of criticism for the government when he four hours ago when the chancellor, the finance minister, rishi sunak, was any comments. there was the idea about a mortgage payment holiday for mortgage owners, but no mention of renters, for attendance, and its an expanding sector in the british housing market. a lot of criticism from labour and others about that. the

news today is there will be a ban on any evictions during the swirl of this process to try and give some people reassurance that the time when they are there wages may have vanished or they feared they will vanish, they won't lose their homes as a result of the coronavirus as well. how are you managing over there at chateau mason? that is the key question! we're very fortunate. i can some work from home — not much, but some — but work from home — not much, but some —buti work from home — not much, but some — butiam work from home — not much, but some — but i am going a bit stir crazy. i don't mean to be remotely coded because of mind lately family but when you're confined within the walls of your house, even taking the bins out earlier felt like a bit of a luxury! i walked about ten yards outside my front door, getting fresh airand outside my front door, getting fresh air and chatting with a neighbour down the street. it felt a delight because of that sense of being

cooped up. and i guess is something we are all going to have to get use to in the coming weeks, the coming months. quite seriously. their anxieties. we will chat about that later in the programme. chris, only to see you. i sense we are going to see a lot of people's front rooms in the next weeks or so. the world health organization has pointed out the amazing solidarity countries are working together to fight coronavirus and how remarkable it is that a vaccine trial has already started just 60 days after the genetic sequence of the virus was shared by china. and the head of the who told the world to prepare for what he called the enemy against humanity. don't assume your community won't be affected. prepare as if it will be. don't assume you won't be infected. prepare as if you will be. but there is hope. there are many things that all countries can do. physical distancing measures, like cancelling sporting events,

concerts and other large gatherings, can help to slow transmission of the virus. today, a former director at the who tweeted a list of his recommendations for the uk. that was written by dr anthony costello, the who's former director of maternal and child health. now, he's professor of global health at ucl — and joins us from yorkshire. it's very good to have you with us. the prime minister said tonight he would not hesitate to move further and faster than he has done already. do you think it's enough to close

schools tonight or would you have liked to have had it gone further?|j would have liked them to have gone further. we are behind the curve. we are not acting with the speed that we need to get on top of this. we saw deaths go up by one third today. we are facing a su— nami of cases in london. —— a su— of cases. we don't know the official figure. my we don't know the official figure. my wife and daughter have symptoms and they are in quarantine. i know lots of other people in london like that and i spoke to intensive care doctor at three o'clock this morning, who told me that on sunday, they had three people ventilated. last night, they had 20 ventilated. i have no reasonably it is anything different. we have not prepared for testing as recommended by the who advice. we have a very large number of people who need testing and our health workers not being

protected adequately. i don't know the situation with protective gear and many health workers are not being offered tests. that means in london, we will lose half of our staff under quarantine rules as this progresses, because they should be at home for 1h days. at the queenie -- i think —— i think we need hotels requisitioned. we need daily tests of staff. we need to get on top of this. i believe the only solution, if we are not to face in italy like situation in a week, not in three weeks, to lockdown london and to do it properly. talking about lockdown, i want to show our viewers some of the picture day from paris, the french police on the streets. check and people's paperwork, sending people back home. this is not good to be easy to enforce in london, is it? and you think, do you, it is going to need the army in the police

on the streets and in the next 24—48 hours? italy today reported nearly 500 deaths. do we want that in ten days' time? in london, we are going to end up like wuhan. we are going to end up like wuhan. we are going to have to take this thing seriously. we did not follow the advice. we had seven weeks to get our testing up. we're 4000 today. i am losing confidence in our health and scientific advice. i believe we need an advisory board much more geared to manage, to implementation, to organising regional implementation, and when you dig in our testing a much quicker than to 25,000 in the next month. otherwise we are going to be in a terrible situation and we need to protect our health workers because they are the front line. if you have another 5000 ventilators but no health workers,

you're no off. one other line i spotted today. medical schools are starting to award early graduation to final your students so they can be sent to hospitals. is it appropriate? is it all hands to the deck and are they the right sort of people that we need? do we just need everybody? it may need to come to that. that's why the very clear plan, idid that. that's why the very clear plan, i did not hearany that. that's why the very clear plan, i did not hear any of the hospital data today to hear what is happening, but we will need all hands on deck. and he figures that change the government's mind, remember, they said last week... they were going to do things over the right time. we are now in crisis. we need to really act now to get control of this situation. dr anthony costello, very grateful for this time this evening. thank you very much. the new powers soon to be afforded to the british government —

under the coronavirus bill — are unprecedented in their scope and breadth. airports could be shut, police and and immigration officials would be given special powers, patients possibly discharged early to make space for the seriously ill. so what to make of these sweeping changes to our way of life? dr alan greene is a senior lecturer in law at birmingham university, where he specialises in constitutional law and human rights. let's just quickly talk about the bill itself because we don't know fully what is in it. what are the concerns for mps, they are not good to have time for scrutinise because we are going to need these powers within just we are going to need these powers withinjust a we are going to need these powers within just a few days. yes. i think that's a real serious concern with this bill. the uk constitution, as we know, places so much evidence on parliamentary control and scrutiny of the executive to protect our human rights and to strike a proper balance between security and liberty. and by truncating this bill, kind of rushing it through

parliament, really, the parliament is not going to get inadequate attempt to scrutinise it. so i don't know what is in this bill aside from the guidelines that have been published yesterday. the devil really is going to be in the detail, and art materials are going to be in these accentuation to —— parliamentarians. we know this bill is good to be on the statute books for at least two years once it is enacted and emergency powers are supposed to be temporary. and i don't think into your period —— a two year period is a significant enough limitation... you are not convinced by the so—called sunset clauses that would be revisited every two or three months? the problem with sunset clauses with emergency powers is that they have not proved very effective. if we look in the context of counterterrorism powers, emergency

powers have this tendency to become permanent, and the current proposal suggests that it is going to be two yea rs before we suggests that it is going to be two years before we get review of these powers. if there was more frequent review, that would possibly be substantial improvements, and i think it is to avoid the frequent reviews which is the reason why new legislation is being proposed rather than using existing legislation. for example, the civil contingencies act, which already gives the government some central powers to make severe encroachments and take the necessary steps. those powers could only exist for a maximum of 30 days before being renewed and there needs to be frequent or lemon tree —— parliamentary oversight. these powers, yes, iam not —— parliamentary oversight. these powers, yes, i am not downplaying that. it is a crisis, it is an emergency, but we need sufficient,

robust, democratic controls on these powers. they're going to have sweeping impacts on all of our lives. there go —— there going to insure certain beatings cannot take place. there also to be giving of central power to police and immigration officers to police and immigration officers to detain individuals and potentially quite vulnerable individuals, like asylum—seekers and refugees. and finally is welcome and they're going to include the power to suspend elections, local and mayoral elections. to have those on the statute books for two years with no oversight and to excite them and pass them to parliament in such a short period of time, i think it's quite problematic. dr alan greene, thank you very much for your thoughts this evening. there are tough new measures restricting the movement of people through europe. belgium has become the latest country on the continent to go into lockdown. people can go out only for work, essential shopping and exercise, including dog—walking.

in eastern france, the army has started evacuating critically—ill coronavirus patients to a military hospital. free movement in the eu's schengen area has all but ended, and queues of long—haul trucks have built up at the borders. and those border queues could end up having a knock—on effect for major british supermarkets. many stores are now restricting the number of products people can buy to overcome the problem of panic buying and hoarding. emma simpson reports. they're open, butjust for elderly and vulnerable customers. at this iceland branch in glasgow today, a two—hour window to shop before the masses. and it's gone down well. it's brilliant, honest to god. i don't know how long it'll last. i've got quite a few neighbours who are quite elderly and they might need help as well, so that's why i've got two. you're allowed to take two. sainsbury‘s is saving the first hour

at all its 600 supermarkets tomorrow for those most in need — not easy when demand's still growing. this was the scene at 6:30am this morning in southwest london, shoppers queuing for the doors of this supermarket to open. we are asking everyone to do the right thing as they show up tomorrow morning. we are seeing more food coming into our supermarkets every day, more than any other time of the year, and we are continuing to be able to enable that supply. if everybody bought what they needed for themselves and for their family, there will be enough food. our supermarkets are now on a crisis footing, putting in place unprecedented measures to keep the food on the shelves. everyone, to some extent, is limiting the amount of products customers can buy. for our biggest grocers, it's now three items on all products. at sainsbury‘s, for the most popular essentials, it's down to two.

supermarkets are also streamlining their operations. for instance, sainsbury‘s, asda and tesco are closing specialist counters to free up staff. ocado, the online grocer, is shutting down its entire website until saturday for changes to free up more delivery slots. right now, it can no longer meet demand. at morrison's, they're getting ready to produce basic food parcels which can be ordered by phone. they will be dispatched direct from their distribution centres starting next week — another example of how our supermarkets are working to keep everyone fed. emma simpson, bbc news. hopefully that will reassure some people. i just want to bring hopefully that will reassure some people. ijust want to bring a line of breaking news. the us state department is just announced it is suspending normal visa services in most countries worldwide in response to the challenge it is facing at the moment related, of course, to the

outbreak of covid—19. we had news earlier today which we will talk about shortly, the border between canada and the united state has been closed as well. normal visa services in most countries are being suspended by the government deals with the crisis. it is grim, no getting away from that. but let's see if we can find reason to be optimistic. shall we? where is the good news on coronavirus? i am going to take you to paris, where janine de giovanni is in day two of self—isolation. she is an author, foreign correspondent, current senior fellow at yale university's jackson institute for global affairs. janine, good evening to you. i was reading your tweets this morning. a long tweet of optimism, various reasons why we should stay positive. tell me about it. ok, so i do want to be clear about witches i think this is a crisis. i think it is a major crisis. i think people like to be actually responsible, careful and also very intensive

—— very attentive of the most affordable people in our committee full—time at the same time, i am worried about the media and how it can stirupfear worried about the media and how it can stir up fear mongering. i have a different social for most people because i was a different social for most people because i was a war different social for most people because i was a war reporter for most of my career. i've gone through 18 worse, so i know what fear looks like, and! 18 worse, so i know what fear looks like, and i also know what gets people to the most desperate times is hope. so i was forwarded a chain from buenos aires of all the scientific team elements going on around the world right now, that things that are actually showing that there is an end in sight at some point. it is going to be long, it is going to be hard, we are under lockdown in france now. it's only day two and it is very tough, but, for instance, the story of the 103—year—old woman in china who has recovered, the apple stores in china

that have reopened, the fact that there is less patience so that the hospitals in wuhan are closing down —— less patients. and scientists around the world are working together. in this for me is the greatest thing. we have the greatest minds on the planet, nine to sue coming together, forgetting about politics for the moment, the chinese and japanese, the indians are experiencing with different drugs. people in a sense are putting aside their political boundaries and instead looking at how we can accomplish something together. and asa accomplish something together. and as a conflict analyst, which is what iam,i as a conflict analyst, which is what iam, iam as a conflict analyst, which is what i am, i am always looking at how conflicts affect society, how we can move beyond it, and in a sense this isa move beyond it, and in a sense this is a reckoning for all of us. yet. so how are you spraying so that philosophyjust in your

neighbourhood? philosophyjust in your neighbourhood ? there philosophyjust in your neighbourhood? there is anxiety, about family, about illness, about their livelihoods, and that is justified. i will tell you what doing in france. i have a very close group of friends and we have started a whatsapp logistics group. is purely logistics. it is, for instance, how do we get out if we need to go to a doctor? is there any place that can buy masks or gloves? does anyone know where i can get a box of paracetamol? and for some of us living alone, remember there are many people that are not with their families, iam many people that are not with their families, i am separated for my son at the moment, many people i know are part from their families. at the moment, many people i know are part from theirfamilies. we need this kind of support. indeed we do. i'm good have to cut you short there because we're just out of time,janine, but there because we're just out of time, janine, but there are some lessons there for people, arcs there? janine di giovanni, thank you

very much. don't forget, you can stay up—to—date with all the latest develop and sunday coronavirus outbreak on our website. hello. quite a cold night ahead for some of us and that will be particularly you had some sunshine today. in northern ireland and in scotland. where skies are clear, quite a sharp frost is on the way in the coldest rural spots. a frost from northern england and north wales but elsewhere in england and wales, where you had the cloud today and you had some rain, temperatures or go to be holding up because the cloud and some rain is hanging around anywhere within this zone. particularly for parts of southwest england, wales, across the midlands to east anglia. this is really are holding up. —— ready temperatures are holding up. at least where you had the frost come easter tomorrow with the spots of sunshine. many

places, it will stay dry. some high cloud pushing across north wales in northern england after the early sunshine. this weather system with the rain sticks around, south wales, through the midlands. winds are a bit later but it's an easterly wind coming across southern areas and thatis coming across southern areas and that is a feat of colder air. where temperatures today hit 15, 16 celsius or so, it will feel much cooler tomorrow. as we go to thursday evening, still some cloud and outbreaks of rain. to the north again, quite sharp frost going to friday morning. could be —7 in the highlands of scotland but, again, a lot of dry, sunny weather to follow. breeze across eastern england. easterly wind, east, northeasterly, start to freshen on friday. temperatures around 7—10dc but it will feel colder in the wind. and that's all because things are settling down, turning drier. we've gotan settling down, turning drier. we've got an easterly wind. we've got

high—pressure close by. that becomes dominant, then, into the weekend. the flow there around a high—pressure is coming in from the east, so that's a chilly direction. the isobars are getting closer together, indicating a stronger wind. already, it's a feed for chilly air, and when you factor in the wind, it will feel colder still because of that across the west of the uk on saturday. a selection of leases and haze for the weekend forecast. we are pretty much all in the same boat. a lot of dry weather to come. increasing sunshine. that breeze does ease event on sunday. frosty nights.

this is bbc world news. i'm christian fraser. our top stories... all schools in the uk are to close on friday until further notice as the british government moves to slow the spread of the coronavirus. speaking at downing street this evening, borisjohnson said exams in may and june would not take place. some schools will be allowed to stay open for children of key workers, including nhs staff. after schools shut their gates from friday afternoon, they will remain closed for most pupils. the vast majority of pupils until further notice. the who calls on all countries to implement comprehensive strategies to slow down the epidemic. isolating, testing and treating every suspected case and tracing

every contact must be the backbone of the response in every country. democratic presidential candidate joe biden has 3 more big wins in primaries, leaving bernie sanders reassessing his campaign. the day the music died — galstonbury is cancelled and eurovision is gone. but worry not, we will hear from the artist many fancied as this year's favourite. hello and welcome to bbc world news. schools in the uk are to shut from friday as the part of the government's latest measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic. and so, the task of schooling children moves largely to the home. it's a big change for many. well, let's cross to a familiar face. joe moreno, our regular

legal analyst, also a fantastic father to 7. he's at home with kids in virginia helping them with their home school assignments. and as i talk to you joe i am going to put up the photo you posted yesterday of the kids sitting round the table, and might i say a picture of good behaviour and order. how do you do it? christian, it's a few minutes at a time and it's every day at a time. this is a learning experience for myself and my wife as parents as well as four of these guys who are learning remotely. it's a challenge and it's given us a new appreciation for our teachers in our school and all they are going through to move from a traditional classroom setting toa from a traditional classroom setting to a remote learning setting, and it's incredible that our school is doing for us these days. have you got a lesson plan? have they sent

you a plan of what to do was it requires a heavy reliance on technology. basically no textbooks and minimal paper. it requires them to be very agile. they're doing things with technology that i wouldn't do until i was an adult. it's pretty amazing, but it's really been thankfully building on the technology that they already use. basically just using it technology that they already use. basicallyjust using it now remotely outside the classroom. who have we got standing by you? we have my old est got standing by you? we have my oldest four. we have joseph, got standing by you? we have my oldest four. we havejoseph, mary catherine, tn and they are our school age children. i'm trying to show them not just the school age children. i'm trying to show them notjust the importance of using this time, it is not vacation time ora using this time, it is not vacation time or a snow day. it's so vital that their education continues. even more importantly for them is to understand what's actually going on out there. there are so many people

that will be affected. i'm so blessed. i'm a lawyer, i can keep servicing my clients through my firm from home. so many people in local businesses will be affected by this, soi businesses will be affected by this, so i want these guys to understand that we're so blessed. restaurant workers, hotel workers, the tourist industry, the hotel industry, they are going to be so impacted by this. i want them to understand exactly what's happening. you're a lawyer but i am to put it to the jewellery. come on, what's he like as a teacher? what do you guys think? am i a good teacher? yes. yeah. would you rather be back at school. i'd rather stay at home. so he is good! does he give you a break. yes. how often do you get a break? every hour

or so. often do you get a break? every hour or so. any tips for those would be teachers out there? what does your dad do that other people should do? he helps us out kinda. but we don't understand something he'll go over it with us. if we don't know how to do something he also helps. joe, no one is watching so just tell me quickly. what if you don't know the a nswe rs quickly. what if you don't know the a nswers to quickly. what if you don't know the answers to what you're teaching? we do our absolute best. thank goodness for technology and my wonderful wife tera who spends a lot of time at home with these guys normally so this is just home with these guys normally so this isjust some home with these guys normally so this is just some extra time for us. it's a learning process and again, so much respect for our teachers who are doing an incrediblejob here. equipping us so we can keep educating these guys at home. just a final one, are you self isolating as a family? final one, are you self isolating as afamily? i final one, are you self isolating as a family? i know there's not an in force lockdown at the moment. have you taken the decision to retreat to the house? yes, we're respecting what our governments are asking us

which is that we restrict travel to only what's essential. we go outside in the backyard, we go in the neighbourhood for exercise, we go to the grocery store as but other than that, we have really self—imposed any kind of nonessential travel is off. we are staying here and mostly inside and really trying to respect the fact that even though none of us believe that we've been infected, we can carry it. so we're very aware of what it —— how it can affect others life. we're very grateful for our -- yourfamily for life. we're very grateful for our -- your family for being with us. here's someone who used to help me when i was a kid. johnny ball presented programmes like think of a number and think again. hejoins me from his buckinghamshire home. johnny, so lovely to see you. we've just been talking tojoe there over in the states about how tricky it

can be to engage children. what's your secret? oh, i always talk straight to the camera when i was doing television. i talk straight to them now. very much individually. i've never been a teacher. i've only been a communicator, and that's what ido been a communicator, and that's what i do quite well. it's what i'm used to doing. there has to be some lightness and jokes and fun in it and that's what happens with all my math. one of my children love numbers and one of them doesn't. that's ok because she's really good at other thing, but you're brilliant at other thing, but you're brilliant at making # and used to tell stories. used to tell us about the greeks and how they did it. that's right. the greeks didn't give their numbers names. one was a, two was b, three was he. but they did geometry. they could explain the earliest

greek mathematician, he knew the distance of the horizon depending on where your eyes were above the sea level. if they were two metres high, you can see five km. you had to be two times two or four times as high to see ten km. he knew that and knew the world was round. we still tell kids they were scared of sailing off the flat world which is not the case. can you attest to numbers in the 90s now multiply them. 93, 97. right. nine, zero is them. 93, 97. right. nine, zero is the first in and 21 is the second and. 9021 is the answer. that's brilliant. you'll get lots of images

and things like that, but you go down to images, switch on that and you'll see how it's done and you'll see how beautiful it is and how easy it is a. before i let you go the reason i wanted you on the telly todayis reason i wanted you on the telly today is this is how we used to do it. the bbc is going back in time. they're going to be daily educational programmes for different key stages or key groups. are you coming out of retirement? no, no i got a one—man job. coming out of retirement? no, no i got a one—manjob. the coming out of retirement? no, no i got a one—man job. the theatres are closing. i thought about 18 shows to come and hopefully back in autumn. without work so well from kids to eat to 888. stay near a phone. i'm gonna act as your agent. it was lovely to see you. please do, i

haven't had one for 25 years! lovely to see you. president trump said today he would be seeking speedy approval for self—swabbing tests to free up medical personnel. he has also invoked the defense production act which gives him the emergency authority to order the private sector to supply essential equipment. in terms of the us economy, the treasure secretary has warned congress that the unemployment rate could reach 20 percent. the last time the number was that high, the country was in the midst of the great depression, when unemployment reached 24.9%. let's join samira hussein who isjoining us from new york. it's in that context that we had another lousy day on the markets today. absolutely. we've been seeing a lot of ups and downs and today was actually no different. i think this morning when market started trading, a big part of what we sell that

death was precisely what you just mentioned. the fact that you heard that secretary nugent had said to congress that we could see up to 20%. that just sent stocks cratering and then later in the day, we saw stocks cratering again. it actually had to implement one of those automatic stops. when the snp 500 reach is lower than 70%, they have to stop treating 15 minutes. now we have had this done four times in the la st two have had this done four times in the last two weeks, so yes, another week of volatile markets. i've seen lots of volatile markets. i've seen lots of graphs today which tell us they've lost all the gains that they've lost all the gains that they've made since trump became president. that's a problem for this president. that's a problem for this president because against all the advice he was given, he penned his fortu nes to advice he was given, he penned his fortunes to what the dow was doing. he absolutely pinned, serve to economic red reputation. over the

la st economic red reputation. over the last year or two, we've been seeing the dowjones reached record highs and break those hides. this is a situation and we each —— in which no one could have anticipated it. for president in an election year, that has tied his political fortune for how well markets are doing. it's certainly not looking very good for him. nice to see you. thank you very much for that. so where is my partner in crime today? normally at this hour, i am on air with katty kay, but we are scaling things down here at the bbc as producers, directors, floor managers, self isolate. we are rotating staff like many others, and so for a while, beyond 100 days will be off air. but i pleased to say katty is with us at home, isolating with family. my my word, your studio looks good! are you looking after our show?|j my word, your studio looks good! are

you looking after our show? i can't say that but i'm trying. i'm worried when i'm not there. let's talk politics. shall he talk primaries first? ordinarily, if it wasn't for this virus, we would be all over the primaries and joe biden had a brilliant night again last night. yeah, there'sa brilliant night again last night. yeah, there's a lot going on when we get into us politics in a big development at this stage. i think you can say that we've pretty much had our democratic nominee and that come november, it's going to be joe biden up against donald trump. he had a great night in florida, he won everything will county. he hasn't gotten the magic number of delegates that way back in history and the bronze age, you and i used to speak about a lot in the iowa primaries on super tuesday. he's not quite there yet but it's pretty hard to see how bernie sanders from vermont can ove rta ke bernie sanders from vermont can overtake him now. we are getting reports in the last few minutes in

the american media that senator sanders is considering what to do with his campaign. that's usually a euphemism that sounds like he wants to spend more time with his family and pull out of the race fairly soon. a lot of this is coronavirus. it's really put the focus on experience. somebody think they can trust, somebody they think can actually handle a crisis like this, and joe biden actually handle a crisis like this, andjoe biden in actually handle a crisis like this, and joe biden in the last couple of weeks appears to have risen to that challenge. we we talked a lot about how trump has handled this crisis. but you've been tweeting a bit today that you think he's getting on top of it and he's putting science first and trying to get testing. he tried to get —— do you think the bite in camp are worried about that, that he's strengthening his position —— biden camped. about four or five days ago i was hearing from democrats, they we re i was hearing from democrats, they were feeling very good about the

race in terms of politics. they put the tragedy of the virus aside just in terms of pure politics. democrats we re in terms of pure politics. democrats were feeling that it was looking better for them come november. they liked joe biden, they did feel what the president had managed at least the president had managed at least the beginning of the crisis and there has been more action from the white house and the last couple of days. we've seen the bailout moves, the attempts to rescue the american economy. we've seen the president standing there with his teeth edible team —— chief medical team. standing there with his teeth edible team —— chief medicalteam. so standing there with his teeth edible team —— chief medical team. so there is some democrats have said this is a long time. we are a long way away from the election. look how fast things are moving. things can change again. the stimulus money could have an impact. there could be some kind of miraculous turnaround and the trajectory of this virus. so they're very reluctant to say that there is confidence as they would like to be

politically. in terms of preparedness, they've brought a ship in today, one of the big medical ships. it's a fairly sober thing, isn't it? it tells you even with the critical beds that they have a new york, they will need a ship. there's a lot of sober news coming out of new york in particular. one of the ships they want to bring in is actually in the process of being refurbished down at the navy yard in virginia. it will be ready for action for a while so they can't move it to new york quite yet. you combine that with the border closing in canada between canada and america, the mass of the to client on the stock market. the numbers everyone is on the stock market. the numbers everyone is aware on the stock market. the numbers everyone is aware of coming out about doctor saying they are worried that the latest news from italy and france, that young people can be affected. there's a lot that's very sobering. americans didn't go through world war ii and the way

that britt did. they didn't have the blitz. they didn't have so much impact in theirdaily blitz. they didn't have so much impact in their daily lives now we have millions of americans who aren't going out. who are afraid to go out, who can't go out. americans have never really been through this before. looking at your front room, ifigo before. looking at your front room, if i go down with this, i think you will have to take over. there's more order. christian! where is everybody, where is the children?” might have to take you on a tour. i have five people living at home now, half of them doing education. i have not gotjoe pause my situation. i think i can take you on a... she's meant to be doing school work. poppy! laughter i need to get on the phone withjoe

right away because i do not have that at my house! laughter are you going stir crazy? i haven't self isolated yet, i think i would go nuts. it's really hard. i have a new book that i'm writing. i'm trying to work on that but the truth is you spend your whole time on twitter looking at the latest news. thank god for charlie my dog because he still loves me. i have an excuse to go out and go for a run. i do go out of the house to walk charlie, but this is day one. by the lesser at home and i've had to borrow base for my husband. i miss you. i hope we get back together soon. see you later. stay with us on bbc world news. this song was tipped to win eurovision's song contest. we will

hear from the icelandic singer who sings it next. we're in these tricky times, the internet is bringing more and more people together in the form of online choirs like the ‘sofa singers'. last night was the first rehearsal for the 500 virtual choristers. our arts correspondent, david sillito logged on to listen in. ok, everyone, great to see you all joining us, hello there... meet the sofa singers. an online musical solution to corona isolation. across the uk, europe, america to africa, a new global chorus. and this is just a fraction of them, there is page after page, 500 sofa singers all at home, all in isolation, and all singing together. # so, darling, darling...

i beamed from ear to ear, it was a thing of beauty, eye—opening. as someone who cannot sing, i love it, even though it fills me with fear. and the inspiration for this new collective choir? the balcony singers of italy. we saw in italy there was a spontaneous singing in the street and music making and someone messaged me and said, james, you run singing but your choirs have stopped, is there anything you can do online? 72 hours later, i was there online with 500 people. here we go! # fee where you are... # the way you are... # we were all waving our hands and clapping and singing along, just the joy of that, itjust made me super happy.

so, we might not be able to be together but we can still sing together. david sillito, bbc news. this is bbc world news, the latest headlines there are no headlines. just about everything that is fun is being cancelled right now. the music festival at glastonbury has gone today, and also eurovision, with commiserations to all fans of europop. rotterdam, in the netherlands was the destination, a major disappointment of course to all those artists that who would have been taking part. even more so for the artist that many thought would win it. the favourite this year was the singer dadi freyer from iceland with this song, think about things. # baby, i can't wait to know #

what do you think about things? # believe me, i will always be there # so you can tell me anything and i'll listen. dance music that is proper euro pop. danny, it's good for you tojoin that is proper euro pop. danny, it's good for you to join us. that is proper euro pop. danny, it's good for you tojoin us. i'm really sorry because it's such a good tune andi sorry because it's such a good tune and i think you would have been in the running. really in the running. i'm 0k. the running. really in the running. i'm ok. how long ajourney has the running. really in the running. i'm ok. how long a journey has this been for you to get to represent your country in the netherlands? what would it have meant to you?” mean, i've been working on the song and the whole thing for a year now so it's been a lot of work, so it's very disappointing that there will be able to play it. i've already

gotten so much out of the experience a nyway gotten so much out of the experience anyway so i can't be too sad about it. tell us about the song. where does it come from? what's it about? it's about my daughter. she was five months old when i wrote the lyrics. i'm excited to know what she thinks about things. the song is written purely for eurovision.” about things. the song is written purely for eurovision. i don't know if you can see this where you are, but i've awarded you 12 points from a london jewellery. but i've awarded you 12 points from a londonjewellery. before —— a londonjury. will you a londonjewellery. before —— a london jury. will you stand a londonjewellery. before —— a londonjury. will you stand up and show me some of the moves in that dance? what do we need to do?” would have worn different pants if i knew. oh, careful. white good hip

wiggle. i want you to play us out, can you do that? to have something to play on? sure. oh he's got his guitar, fantastic! all 0 you in, is it tuned quick although let's find out. five, four, three, two, off you go. playing guitar very, very good! i like that a lot. did you come up with the music? yeah, i wrote it all myself. of course. let's have up some more of

the music. # believe me. i'm guessing on a snazzy stage in rotterdam you couldn't have done this. you have to go all over the stage. did you have a whole routine ready to go? yeah of course. the song... just because we could, we already have. we were just gonna do that regardless of the stage. so you've got this publicity, is that all you need? is it on to bigger and better things? that's the plan. i'm been a continue to make music and release it. and play more shows so i hope this is the start of something. well well done. we're

grateful you came the programme. we think you're a winner anyway. good night for me. hello. quite a cold night ahead for some of us and that will be particularly where you had some sunshine today, in northern ireland and in scotland. because, where skies are clear, quite a sharp frost is on the way in the coldest rural spots. a frost, too, northern england and north wales but elsewhere in england and wales, where you had the cloud today and you had some rain, temperatures are going to be holding up because the cloud and some rain is hanging around. anywhere within this zone could well see some rain at times. particularly for parts of southwest england, wales, across the midlands to east anglia. this is where temperatures are holding up. at least where you had the frost, tomorrow with sunshine. many places, it will stay dry.

many places here will stay dry. some high cloud pushing across north wales in northern england after the early sunshine. this weather system with the rain sticks around, south wales, through the midlands. winds are a bit lighter but it's an easterly wind coming across southern areas and that is a feed of colder air. where temperatures today hit 15, 16 celsius or so, it will feel much cooler tomorrow. as we go to thursday evening, still some cloud and outbreaks of rain. to the north again, quite a sharp frost going to friday morning. could be —7 in the highlands of scotland but, again, a lot of dry, sunny weather to follow. breeze across eastern england. easterly wind, east, northeasterly, starts to freshen on friday. temperatures around 7—10 degrees celsius, but it will feel colder in the wind. and that's all because things are settling down, turning drier. we've got an easterly wind. we've got high—pressure close by. that becomes dominant, then, into the weekend. the flow there around, high—pressure

is coming in from the east, so that's a chilly direction. the isobars are getting closer together, indicating a stronger wind. already, it's feeding in chilly air, and when you factor in the wind, it will feel colder still because of that across the west of the uk on saturday. a selection of leases and haze for the weekend forecast. we are pretty much all in the same boat. a lot of dry weather to come. increasing sunshine. that breeze does ease, then, on sunday. frosty nights.

this is bbc news. i'm carrie gracie. the headlines at 8pm. schools across the uk will close from friday as the death toll from coronavirus reaches 104. special provisions will be made for children of key workers and the most vulnerable. after schools shut their gates from friday afternoon, and they will remain closed for most peoples, the vast majority of pupils, until further notice. it poses a challenge for parents who are still trying to earn a living — the government says children shouldn't be left with grandparents who are the most vulnerable. i think it is good for the children but i think it is fun to be hard for the parents who have