Welcome to bbc news. Im mike embley. Our top stories chinese authorities impose further travel restrictions in hubei province, where a previously unknown respiratory virus has killed 25 people. Day two of the Us Senate Hearing the case against President Trump in the impeachment trial, as he mocks the idea of trading witnesses. World leaders join Holocaust Survivors to mark 75 years after the liberation of the nazi death camp at auschwitz. Humanity is closer to annihilation than ever before scientists alter the Doomsday Clock due to concerns over Climate Change and global tensions. Hello to you. The chinese authorities are taking drastic action to try to stop the spread of the new coronavirus. Theyve imposed a travel shutdown on several cities, including wuhan, where the virus was first discovered. 25 people have been killed by the virus in china, thats up from 18 in the past few hours. But the World Health Organization has said it is not yet a Global Health emergency. John sudworth reports from beijing. This is the moment a city of 11 Million People was effectively shut off. Pa ramilita ry police guarding the station, as all departing trains are cancelled. In the hospitals, medical staff in full bodysuits are treating hundreds of infected patients. While images on social media appear
to show a system struggling to cope. Empty shelves in the shops and scuffles over food. We spoke to one british man now stuck inside wuhan. Its a very surreal feeling. You know, knowing especially that if you go outside, there is potential to catch such a deadly virus. And when you look outside the window, whats the atmosphere like . Does it feel like a city under a blanket of fear . Oh, yeah, 100 , 100 . Behind me, you saw the street at nighttime where i normally live, its a very vibrant street, lots of restaurants, and its open until 2am and chinese families come and theyre celebrating, but if i show you out there now, its dead. On chinas main evening news, the lead item . A new year banquet for senior officials. President xijingping makes no
mention of the crisis. But the facemasks on display at this beijing station are proof the public is well aware of the risks. Yeah, a little worried, because, you know, i. Youre wearing your mask . Yeah, my mask. Bottles as well. Are you worried about the virus . No, because i believe in my country and my government. You believe in your government . Yes. This is an epidemiologists nightmare how do you control the spread of a dangerous virus during the Biggest Movement of people on the planet . Tens of millions travelling every day for at least a fortnight, and the real question is whether the closure of the city of wuhan comes far too late to make a difference. Alongside the Public Health announcements, there are signs of censorship
and control, and questions are being asked whether more might have been done sooner. John sudworth, bbc news, beijing. So what do we know about how the coronavirus is spreading . At least one death in china has come from outside the centre of the outbreak, wuhan, where the movements of its 11 million residents are severely restricted. Theres a similar lockdown on another 8. 5 Million People in the cities of huanggang and ezhou 70km kilometres away. Wuhans High Speed Rail links have been shut off from most of chinas most important cities, leaving train stations empty and residents in limbo. Jao yin fung from the bbc Chinese Service gave us this update on whats been happening in wuhan itself. On chinese social media, we are seeing videos coming out. Weve seen the streets in wuhan being very
empty, you dont see any public buses now because Public Transportation has been shut down but two places are very crowded. One is hospitals. Wheezy overcrowded hospitals with people lining up to get test results for members, and media reports that test kits and protection gear are in shortage at the moment. The other places grocery market, people in wuhan are lining up market, people in wuhan are lining up to get groceries because theyre worried the supplies for the city are not going to last for a long time given the current shutdown. And chinese medicines are asking very tough questions online, mostly boiling down to one, could we have dealt with this better . Jao yin fung from the bbc Chinese Service. The us senate has been hearing a second day of arguments in the impeachment trial of President Trump. Democrats are making the case that mr trump abused his power by using American Military aid to pressure ukraine into helping him discredit his political rival, joe biden. Jerry nadler, one of the democrats prosecutors, said mr trumps attempt to cheat his way to victory in the president ial election later this year was an abuse of power that threatens the entire system of us democracy. The chief point of contention in the hearings currently is over whether witnesses and more documentation should be admitted. Democrats are in favour, but republicans, who hold a majority in the senate, are against. Heres the top democrat in the Senate Making the case. The same republicans are saying that they heard nothing new, but these republicans voted nine times on tuesday against amendments to ensure new witnesses and new documents to come before the senate. Let me repeat the same republicans saying they heard nothing new just voted nine times on tuesday to hear nothing new. Live to washington and our correspondent, chris buckler. Chris, what is the very latest here . Yeah, inside the senate, the democrats are putting out their case against this first charge against President Trump, that he abused his power and his position as president. You get the impression while this is all happening in a pretty staid environment inside the senate chamber, behind the scenes theres plenty of conversations going on with republicans than democrats talking about their strategy and whether or not witnesses will come forward. Thats something theyre not just talking about, forward. Thats something theyre notjust talking about, its also President Trump as well because democrats basically want to introduce as much new information as they can. They would like to have people subpoenaed and brought to the chamber to give evidence, not least the likes of former National Security adviser to President Trump, john bolton, who left under a bit of a cloud and apparently made a number of comments about President Trumps behaviour as regards to this push to get the ukraine to launch investigations into his political rivals. In return there are reports
the republicans won the likes of hunter biden to give evidence, the son ofjoe biden, someone who had his nose dealings in the ukraine and frankly was making a huge amount of money there and President Trump has made unfounded allegations time and time again that there may have been corruption involved in all of that. He has denied that but he has picked up he has denied that but he has picked up on this idea of a witness trade of some description. He tweeted today, democrats dont want a witness trade because shifty schiff, adam schiff, the impeachment manager, the so called informer and many other democrat disasters would be a big problem for them. It is the president striking back and hes been doing what he can outside the chamber to disparage these whole proceedings, even describing them as boring. Chris, very sink sink leap at. Thank you very much indeed for that. Very succinctly put. Israels Prime Minister has vowed that there will not be another holocaust. Benjamin netanyahu was speaking
injerusalem, as World Leaders and Holocaust Survivors marked 75 years since the liberation of auschwitz. Israeli Officials Say the event is the Biggest International gathering in the countrys history. Our middle east correspondent, orla guerin, reports. Frail but determined, Holocaust Survivors coming to honour those who perished, lighting a memorial flame for the 6 million jews annihilated by the nazis. Among those gathered on jeruselams mount of rememberance, heads of state, Prime Ministers and princes. Pledging to combat an enduring threat, the dark shadow of anti semitism. And here is its incomprehensible expression. Auschwitz, the gates of hell. The nazis killed more than a Million People in this one camp before it was liberated by the red army. For many, auschwitz is the ultimate symbol of evil. It is certainly that. Israels Prime Minister used this platform to call for Global Action against iran, saying it wanted to develop a Nuclear Weapon to destroy the jewish state. They threaten the peace and security of everyone in the middle east and everyone beyond. I call on all governments to join the vital effort of confronting iran. The music was a haunting echo from the past. It was composed by viktor ullmann. He was sent to auschwitz and died in the gas chambers. Prince charles, whose grandmother saved a jewish family, a call for mutual understanding. The lessons of the holocaust are searingly relevant to this day on this day, in this place, and in memory of the millions who perished in the shoah, let us recommit ourselves to tolerance and respect. As this anniversary is marked here at yad vashem, jewish officials want to send an urgent warning. They say violent act of anti semitism are on the rise and thejewish life is once again under threat in europe. They insist the worlds duty to remember is more crucial now than ever. Still bearing witness
at almost 90 years old, holocaust survivor naftali. He recited the mourners prayer, the kaddish. The vow here today, never again. Orla guerin, bbc news, jerusalem. Lets get some of the days other news. At least 13 people are now known to have been killed in storms that haveravaged parts of spain. Four people are still missing after storm gloria triggered floods and swept away roads. Prime minister Pedro Sanchez flew over some of the worst hit areas and later told reporters that Climate Change had played a part in the severe storm. Actress Annabella Sciorra has told a jury that Harvey Winesteen sexually assaulted her in the 1990s. She was giving evidence in the former hollywood producers rape trial in new york. Mr winesteen has pleaded not guilty to charges of assaulting two women. Ms sciorras allegations fall outside the statute of limitations, but prosecutors hope her account will prove that the movie mogul was a sexual predator. Africas Richest Woman says shes ready to fight what she calls misleading and untrue graft allegations. Isabel dos santos is the daughter of angolas former president. Prosecutors accuse her of using her fathers influence to steal millions of dollars from state companies during his rule. Ms dos santos says shes ready to fight through the International Courts to clear her name. The Us Government has ignored the advice of its own scientists and re written environmental regulations to slash the number of wetlands and waterways covered by pollution controls. Critics say the measure is the biggest rollback in clean water protections for almost 50 years. Stay with us on bbc news. Still to come a portrait of a potter as a young man. The new Grayson Perry retrospective. Donald trump is now the 45th president of the united states. He was sworn in before several
hundred thousand people on the steps of capitol hill in washington. Its going to be only America FirstAmerica First. Demonstrators waiting for mike gatting and his rebel cricket team were attacked with tear gas and set upon by police dogs. Anti apartheid campaigners say they will carry on the protests throughout the tour. They called him the butcher of lyon. Klaus altmann is being held on a fraud charge in bolivia. The west germans want to extradite him for crimes committed in wartime france. There, he was the gestapo chief klaus barbie. Millions came to bathe as close as possible to this spot, a tide of humanity thats believed by officials to have broken all records. This is bbc news. The latest headlines severe travel restrictions have been imposed in more cities across the chinese province of hubei, which is at the centre of an outbreak of a new virus that has killed 25 people. Lets stay with our main story now joining us now is dr thomas frieden. He is the rresident of resolve to save lives, which aims to prevent epidemics, and the former director for the uss centers for disease control. I know you are also the former director. Thank you very much for your time. You must be very busy. Help us, first of all. How concerned are you about this . How does it compare particularly, this coronavirus, with the coronavirus responsible for sars . This is the early days. This is a normal coronavirus. The general was just released several weeks ago, and theres still a lot we dont know. The two main things need to understand our how infectious is it and how deadly is it, and for those two things, we are going to need a lot more of the epidemiology, a lot more to tell us what the patterns are. Healthcare workers have become impact did. How did that occur . Patients have died. How many have become infected . Patients have died. How many have become infected . We patients have died. How many have become infected . We know the number of cases that have been reported, but how many have been tested . How many contacts are positive for each case . Theres so much we know. At this point there only a few things we can say for certain. Of them is that it we can say for certain. Of them is thatitis we can say for certain. Of them is that it is a newly recognised virus. We have never known this virus before. Second is that it is causing severe illness and death. The third is that it is spreading from person to person. So those are not good things, but we dont yet know
how severe it is, and for that reason, precautionary measures are quite important. Protection of healthcare workers quite important, and learning more as quickly as possible and sharing that information openly also critically important. Just reading your latest piece, you make it clear that on what the World Health Organization has already indicated, there are strong suggestions this virus could potentially spread widely and for a long time. Do you feel the measures that need to be taken are being taken . At this point, there are several things that need to happen. Widespread testing of people at risk in wuhan and other areas of china, which may have been exposed, careful protection of healthcare workers, because both sars and mers, another coronavirus, spread widely in healthcare facilities, and finding out more about why this is spreading, what the risk factors are, so that we can reduce that risk. You make a point, i know it is a quote, that we are outnumbered microbes by millions to one, it is their numbers against however smart we can be. There are quite simple, though, Infection Control strategies that i think a lot of us dont
necessarily think of. One of the things thats not done nearly enough is to wash your hands. Hand washing is to wash your hands. Hand washing is very effective at reducing a wide variety of viral and some bacterial infections, so washing your hands every time before you eat regularly throughout the day, any time after you have gone to the bathroom, is very important and really cuts down everything from School Absenteeism to the risk of serious illness. In addition, cough hygiene, so covering your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze, with a tissue or with your sleeve, preferably not with your sleeve, preferably not with your hand, is a good way to reduce the spread of infection. In many parts of asia, people who are not feeling well wear facemasks, and some very rigourous feeling well wear facemasks, and some very rigourous studies that have been done in the us suggest that that is moderately effective at reducing the risk to other people. Thank you so much indeed for your time and your insight. Thank you, and one of the things this reminds
us is is is critically important to strengthen systems all over the world, to find new infections when they first emerge, so that we can understand it and stop it. Thank you again, i hope you are being heard. Climate change, global tensions the world does seem to be in a more perilous state than before. And scientists behind the so called Doomsday Clock say thats no false impression. The time has moved tojust 100 seconds to midnight, after experts altered the clock due to the state of world affairs. The clock now stands at its closest to doomsday since it began ticking in 1947. President and ceo of the bulletin of atomic scientists Rachel Bronson joins me now from washington. Thank you very much for your time. Why are you doing this . How concerned are you . We are very concerned. We are moving the clock towards midnight. Its the closest its ever been. We are very concerned about the issues of nuclear risk and Climate Change, both trending in the wrong direction in terms of safety and security