laura bicker, bbc news, seoul.y to keep public places covid—free. they have autonomous drones that can help sterlise public places by cleaning. here's how it works , using an u—v light they sterilise surfaces and help reduce the transmission of coronavirus. that is it. back with another look at the papers. hello there. the warm and sunny days at the start of the week feel like a distant memory now as it's turning cooler and more unsettled to end the week. friday into the weekend will be cool and shall worry, longer spells of rain in the north also going to turn unusually windy for this time of year as well. the theory of the pressure was continues to deepenjust to theory of the pressure was continues to deepen just to the northeast of scotland. continue to push in during the course of friday to bring you some persistent rain across the north will stop furthest of winds picking up in a blustery day for all. with sunny spells but also blustery showers and some of these will be heavy and country at times too. the wind

our seoul correspondent laura bicker has more details each gasp for breath...ure. do you have any cough? no cough. headache? wan yu from wuhan, china, was south korea's first coronavirus patient. her scans revealed she had been ill for days before showing symptoms. doctors realised then that carriers could infect others without knowing they were sick. at the peak of the outbreak, hundreds of contract tracers were mobilised, lessons south korea learned from previous epidemics. she is allowed to ask personal questions and record private details because of special laws brought in to combat infectious diseases. tracers then hit the streets to seek out cctv footage. they will look at phone and bank records to get the most accurate information. the details are sent out as emergency messages across the country. this was my team and i in daegu in february. alarm sounds. that's the kind of thing we've been getting. are we getting another one coming? tracking down covid—19 carriers once took days. after gaining access to even more data, it now takes less than an hour. ho

laura bicker, bbc news, seoul.t on vaccines, at a time when innoculation programmes around the world, have been severely disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. in south east asia, it's estimated more than 34 million babies have missed routine vaccinations, while both nepal and cambodia are facing significant measles outbreaks. across africa, it's estimated almost 23 million babies haven't been immunised, with ethiopia, for example, currently fighting measles, cholera and yellow fever outbreaks. recent research suggests disruption to these kinds of services, could result in as many as 6000 children dying every day. our global health correspondent, tulip mazumdar reports new mums trying to do the best for their young babies in the midst of a pandemic. this clinic in niger's capital, niamey, is usually packed, but restrictions on movement, a shortage of healthcare workers and the fear of catching covid—19 have kept many families away. i was so scared to come here because of the virus. health workers have told me it is

here is our correspondent in, laura bicker. the minister here had confirmed that 2:49 local time, an explosion was heard and seen at the liaison office at the border town. the niol council has been convened. military commanders along the border have been sent to their post now, this is in essence a bit o theate this was an empty building. thovnoalso a threatrtt t t few days. the latest came from kim jong-un's sister, kim il jeong. on saturday, she said the building would be collapsed. here we are a few days later, and it seems that is the case. state media in north korea hav t also confirmt the building has been destroyed. ♪ ros: i am ros atkins with "outside source." a cheap and widely available drug has been shown to cut the ri from dying of covid-19 to severely ale patients. the u.k. governnt has announced a major change in how it provides aid money around the world. for years, it has been distribud by the department of international development, and that might sounden like gover bureaucracy playing out, but this cuts to the

now on bbc news, laura bicker tells the inside story of south korea's virus hunters.hey manage to keep the death toll so low, and what can the rest of the world learn from south korea? 0njanuary 19th, incheon airport in south korea was in a state of alert. there had been reports of a deadly new disease spreading from wuhan in china. this man had been trained to spot the symptoms. the woman had just flown in from wuhan and she had a temperature. south korea was one of the first countries to be infected by coronavirus. at one point, it had the worst outbreak outside china, but the country never went into lockdown. people have been allowed to travel freely, go to work in their offices, visit bars, even vote in an election, yet infection rates were brought under control. were they just lucky, or does south korea have lessons it can teach us all? this film provides the answers. it was shot over the first 100 days of the korean response to covid—19, right from the very first day. the chinese woman detected with a temperature at the airport was immediately ta ken to incheon

the bbc‘s laura bicker is in seoul. laura, how significant is all this, would you say?ss made between north and south korea in 2018 and, in fact, within the last few minutes we have heard from the south korean military, to have said that this rolls back 20 years of inter— korean agreements. what north korea is threatening to do is move into these border regions, re—establish, rebuild the guideposts, and start military exercises once again. now, all the communication hotlines between the two countries have been cut off, they have been severed. i think one of the fears here is a misunderstanding about what is a military exercise and what other kind of mishap might happen, which has happened in the past. there a reason why these communication networks we re these communication networks were set up in the first place. was the reason this inter— korean liaison office was set up korean liaison office was set up and coming yesterday, it was blown to bits by north korea. seoul is hitting back with a number of strong statements and have said that it is any military action by the

laura bicker, bbc news. this guy was still pretty right today.rs are still pretty raw. we have more reflections on qantas, 6000 jobs to go. hello. wednesday was officially the hottest day of 2020 so far — 32.6 celsius at london heathrow airport. ithink, though, today may top that further. we're likely to see 33, again, i think somewhere towards the west of london or on into parts of the midlands. make no mistake, it will be hot and humid day across the board. we're pulling our air in across western europe, originally from northern africa, and you can see the amber makes it all the way to the north of the uk for thursday. so, areas that have lagged behind a little with the temperatures, scotland and northern ireland, will move into the warmer air through the day. notice some thunderstorms there towards the north—west — we'll see more of those a little later — but generally, not much happens on that chart through thursday. that's because basically it's a day of blue skies and sunshine, and up go those temperatures. 30 degrees possible in central sc

laura bicker has been taking a closer look at how they have achieved it.picture. —— gasp for. wan yu, from wuhan, china, south korea's first rotavirus patient. her scans revealed she had been ill for days before showing symptoms. —— coronavirus. doctors realised then that carriers could infect others without knowing they were sick. at the peak of the outbreak, hundreds of co nta ct the peak of the outbreak, hundreds of contact traces were mobilised. lessons korea had learned from previous epidemics. she is allowed to ask personal questions, and record private details because of special laws brought into combat infectious diseases. traces then hit the streets to seek out cctv footage. they will look at phone and bank records to get the most accurate information. the details are sent out as emergency messages across the country. tracking down covid—19 carriers once took days, after gaining access to even more data, it now takes less than an hour. how are you feeling? pretty tired, actually. we came from south carolina. technology is used at the border, too.

laura bicker has been taking a closer look at how they have achieved it.e. wan yu, from wuhan, china, south korea's first coronavirus patient. her scans revealed she had been ill for days before showing symptoms. doctors realised then that carriers could infect others without knowing they were sick. at the peak of the outbreak, hundreds of contact tracers were mobilised. lessons korea had learned from previous epidemics. she's allowed to ask personal questions and record private details because of special laws brought in to combat infectious diseases. tracers then hit the streets to seek out cctv footage. they'll look at phone and bank records to get the most accurate information. the details are sent out as emergency messages across the country. tracking down covid—19 carriers once took days. after gaining access to even more data, it now takes less than an hour. how are you feeling? pretty tired, actually. we came from south carolina. technology is used at the border, too. and you have no symptoms? luckily not! parkjoo—yun is taught how to download a qua

fewer than 300 people have died. 0ur seoul correspondent laura bicker has more details each gasp for have any cough? no cough. headache? wan yu from wuhan, china, was south korea's first coronavirus patient. her scans revealed she had been ill for days before showing symptoms. doctors realised then that carriers could infect others without knowing they were sick. at the peak of the outbreak, hundreds of contract tracers were mobilised, lessons south korea learned from previous epidemics. she is allowed to ask personal questions and record private details because of special laws brought in to combat infectious diseases. tracers then hit the streets to seek out cctv footage. they will look at phone and bank records to get the most accurate information. the details are sent out as emergency messages across the country. this was my team and i in daegu in february. alarm sounds. that's the kind of thing. are we getting another one coming? tracking down covid—19 carriers once took days. after gaining access to even more data, it now takes less than an hour. how are you feeling? pretty tire

laura bicker, bbc news.eks ago. he said that police will be banned from using choke holds in future, unless their lives are under threat. what is needed now is not more stoping of fear and division, we need to bring law enforcement and communities closer together, not drive them apart. under the executive order that i am signing to date we will prioritise federal gra nts date we will prioritise federal grants from the department of justice to police departments that seek independent credentialling, certifying that they meet high standards and in fact in certain cases the highest standard. on the use of force and de—escalation training. for example many believe that proper training might have prevented the tragic deaths of antoine rose. as part of this new credentialling process choke holds will be banned except if an officer's life is at risk. there's a new warning that the coronavirus pandemic has severely affected some young people's mental health. research from the university of oxford says primary school

laura bicker reporting.e uk government to continue its free school meals voucher system into the summer holidays in england. the manchester united footballer marcus rushford, who received free school meals himself, is spearheading a campaign for it to be extended. 0ur assistant political editor, norman smith, is at westminster. the opposition labour party is pushing for a vote on this issue, how do you think it will play out? i don't imagine the vote will succeed, it has gone beyond a commons vote and it is a full—blown pr horror story for the government. not only are they up against marcus rashford, the manchester united striker, but the manner in which he presented his case yesterday struck me as very impressive, genuine, serious minded, reasonable. the government's predicament has been compounded by the fact that the work and pensions secretary this morning fired back what has been described as labour —— by labour is a snarky tweet, after marcus rashford cited that families might not be able to have a hot

flown over the border in balloons by north korean defectors in the south. 0ur seoul correspondent laura bicker about the latest news, sometimes with dramas from south korea. they sometimes put little parcels together with rice but they also include anti—north korean regime leaflets, some of which are particularly unkind to himjong un. they are launched in these huge helium balloons and a float over the dmz and into north korea. for years, it has been a bone of contention. in 2018, when kenjong un and president men matt moon met and there was a period of detente, the two made an agreement. now the last campaign was held on may the 31st and it seems to have angered north korea, leading to this cut in ties, this severing in communication. it is notjust one hotline, it is three, all the main communication routes. now we're back to a situation where north and south korea talk to one another. you asked what is really going on. that is the critical question. because this may be about a bigger pyongyang plan. they may be prodding, needling seoul in the hope of escalating tensions, to de—escalate and g

the bbc‘s laura bicker is in seoul. is move into these border regions, re—establish and rebuild the guard posts and start military exercises once again. now, all the communication hotlines between the two countries have been cut off. they have been severed. i think one of the fears here is a misunderstanding about what is a military exercise and what other kind of mishap might happen, which has happened in the past. it's the reason why these communication networks were set up in the first place. it was the reason that this inter—korean liaison office was set up and yesterday, it was blown to bits by north korea. seoul is hitting back with a number of strong statements and have said that if there is any military action by the north, it is the north that will pay the price. the headlines on bbc news. the world health organisation welcomes the news that a widely—available steroid can be lifesaving for patients critically ill with coronavirus. the footballer, marcus rashford, says he wants to do more to help those in need,