And the discovery of oil in congo has environmentalists concerned about what drilling will do to the rain forest. And in sports olympic organizers insist the cancellation of julys tokyo games isnt being considered the torch relay through also set to start this month despite the coronavirus so. We begin this news hour with the latest on the diplomatic tensions due to turkeys intervention in the syrian conflict and the European UnionForeign Policy chief joseph brellier is an honor to meet with turkeys foreign minister. They are there and to president richard type bell says he told turkish officials the situation at the border with greece was unacceptable turkey and greece a trading accusations about the growing crisis there thousands of refugees and migrants at. Trying to cross into Greece Athens has dismissed reports its Border Security shot dead a migrant on the battlefront Turkeys Defense Ministry has confirmed 2 of its soldiers were killed in syrias if the province Turkish Forces retaliated by striking Syrian Regime military targets the ongoing violence is also causing tensions between russia and turkey russian president Vladimir Putin will host his turkish counterpart in moscow on thursday to discuss the developments in syria passionate about it joins me now live from the turkish city of homs 1st of hashim just bring us up to speed with the latest there on the ground in Northern Syria came the Syrian Government backed by russia is launching got offensive in different parts of it live province is no trying to take over villages in saddle and civil as this is a major opposition stronghold in southern italy but of the same time it is trying to control the city of sirte and the villages around it and one of the reasons why the government Syrian Government is about the need to rick fully recovered because it sits on 2 strategic highways the m 5. 00 and 4. 00 which links damascus to aleppo and to the northeastern part of the country of the same time the. Took it back to rebel groups are now trying to stage a counter offensive and take control of so dark about death it seems that all the parties are trying to make as much again as possible in the coming hours before the crucial summit between president of the of a daughter and his russian counterpart Vladimir Putin diffusing tension setting up demarkation line and buffer zone meanwhile hashim just a browser as we said is an anchor meeting would never have a shoulder and president erdogan do we know what has come out of those discussions. Well Joseph Ferber expressed concern about the situation on the border with greece and hes expressing that this is an acceptable situation and asking the turkish government to take action when it comes to the flow of migrants into those areas but this is not what the turkish the his government was waiting to hear more strong words of support for for turkey because since that went to the 7th of february when the turkish soldiers were killed turkey said this is a decisive moment and with turning a blind eye to the people who would like to cross into europe because the accused europe for failing to implementing the pledges made in the past following a deal between the e. U. And turkey turkey says that the e. U. Should share the burden of the refuges should pay more money and should also try to help when it comes to the military operation which is taking place in italy a province from a turkish perspective this is not necessarily about gains in the area its more about stopping president Bashar Al Assad and his russian are lifeform pushing the civilians into into turkey and turkey now has almost 4000000. 00 Syrian Refugees the biggest concern if the offensive to take over it live continues by the Syrian Government the 4000000 people who live there would have nowhere to go except to cross into turkey and took it will find itself with almost 8000000 Syrian Refugees and they say this is something which is unacceptable and i think this is something which will take more than just talks which is of bread and the turkish and the turkish political elite turkey has been calling for for for all the e. U. Leaders to come home board and see how some of forward when it comes to the on the issue of the situation in libya and the refugee and they have been saying we have been taking care of the refugees on the other hand weve been betrayed by the e. U. I guess all sides including the e. U. Will be waiting to see what comes out of that meeting with president putins and i think that that has bought about live there from the time. Thats a good name isnt it dan a on the border between turkey and greece she says the neighboring countries are embroiled in an escalating war of. The war of words we have going on between turkey and greece turkey is saying that today the greek police shot and killed one man and injured 6 others turkey says that members of the parliaments Human Rights Commission witnessed these events the greek government is flatly denying that anyone was killed at the border it is saying that turkey is disseminating fake news its saying that migrants are throwing Turkish Military grade tear gas at greek police i can tell you what weve seen here at the border throughout the day we heard what sounds like sound bombs we saw a black smoke fire we spoke to farmers in the area who say they heard gunshots i can tell you we saw multiple ambulances leaving the scene and then this news emerged that there had been a possible casualty and injuries according to the greek government there are about 12500 migrants amassed at their North Eastern border with turkey but here at the checkpoint in a journey there several 100 and there have been reports for the last several days of a lot of tension and frustration as hundreds of migrants push to try to make their way into Greece Greece of course has stepped up its deterrence it has massive amounts of personnel which weve seen even here. Italys preparing to take dramatic steps to fight the corona virus after the death of 79 people and infection of 2500 others easily has the highest number of cases in europe the government is now closing all schools and universities until mid march to help curb the spread of coronavirus in iran the number of coronavirus deaths has risen to 92 making it the worst affected country so far aside from china almost 3000 people bear fallen ill including irans 1st Vice President the virus has spread to almost all of the countrys provinces and earlier the 1st flights carrying residents who have been stranded in chinas hu bay province landed in hong kong is the at the center of the corona Virus Outbreak and several cities in the area have been and locked down since late january those returning will be placed in quarantine for 14 days lets get more now from georgia hall who is in london where water is a new bus ravi who is standing by in tehran 1st though let us go to zain. Tell us how are things shaping up there in iran of people panicking how are all far as hes responding to what bass saying among the population. Well the latest figures were announced by the Health Ministry during their Daily Briefing earlier today the total number of deaths are 9. 00 to 15. 00 more in the last 24 hours the total number of cases 2922586 confirmed cases in the last 24 hours of the public Health Ministry really on a daily basis informing people as best they can about the numbers trying to Win Back Public trust that was lost early on during this outbreak about whether or not they were coming up with all of the accurate figures but present Hasan Rouhani during his cabinet mean to meeting earlier today struck a very different tone from last week when he said that things would begin to normalize in a few days now he was taking it more seriously trying to calm the public and trying to show that the government is taking this very seriously he warned people against affording medical supplies like masks and gloves and weve heard that later this week the courts will hear the 1st 10 cases of people arrested for public order earlier this week the government announced a prison sentence of 5 to 20 years even the Death Penalty if you are found guilty of hoarding supplies that would help medical facilities to cope with this virus the president also said that they were working with neighbors to try to keep commercial having his readings and transport networks for business open so as to make sure that people dont suffer more economically than they need to but of course small and medium businesses are suffering the most they make approximately 40 percent of the countrys g. D. P. But unfortunately we heard earlier today that because exxon had just closed its ports on the caspian sea to any vessels and passengers coming from iran the r. G. C. Is trying to do what it can the revolutionary guard it has set up field hospitals and clinics and its also set up a hotline that people can call explain their symptoms discuss ways to prevent the disease to try and keep the hospitals and clinics around the country that are at capacity from being over chronicler overburdened unnecessarily with patients trying to seek treatment friday prayers. Canceled a 2nd week in a row something unprecedented even at the most violent of times when war and conflict was that claimed in iran so really leaders taking this seriously despite the fact that just a day earlier the Supreme Leader called this current a Virus Outbreak a non emergency it would be over soon but practical steps are being taken to try to limit the publics right to think that they must have a theyre bringing us up to date with situation and. We can go now to john the hollow who is live for us and london for the situation in europe jonah as weve been saying is really is the center of the virus in the europe its now up being its the efforts to contain the virus whats the latest. Well theres no doubt that italy is dealing with a very severe medical emergency in terms of this outbreak that makes makes it the epicenter of the spread of 1000 in europe and its apparently getting worse with big jumps in the number of fatalities from sunday to monday monday into tuesday we havent had updated numbers for wednesday but that appears to be the direction of travel and efforts up to now dont seem to have been successful in containing the virus in its northern hotspots in italy theyve been sending the Italian Government reinforcements of medical supplies and personnel to affected towns there are already fairly restrictive measures in place theres talk of widening or deepening socalled a quarantine red zones in those areas and theres a call out of the European Union to allow italy to exceed its budget ceiling and effectively be able to throw more money at the problem but as i say the virus spreading elsewhere in the country all but one of its other regions have reported infections in italy therefore taking a much broader approach and indeed a more dramatic approach with measures thought to have been approved by a government Cabinet Meeting headed by the promise to reset the county we havent had a an official announcement yet but thought to have been agreed to include the closure of all schools and universities countrywide from thursday until the middle of march at least that will have an enormous impact weve seen similar measures in japan empty classrooms their parents having to take time off work interruptions to the education curriculum and so on equally dramatic perhaps in a sports mad country like italy sports fixtures including football matches are to be held in front of empty stadiums no spectators there people are also being asked to refrain from kissing and hugging each other in greeting and and more present measures like resisting sharing cups and bottles and things like this other may other means of spreading the virus thats italy trying to do what it can but this virus does appear now. To be quite rampant throughout the rest of europe spain and germany undertaking similar measures on the sporting front france has also closed a large number of schools around its affected towns affecting some 35000 pupils and just today on wednesday the United Kingdom has announced 34 brand new cases thanks for the update there thats john hull live from london. As countries grapple with infections it seems to be slowing in china thats where the illness originated the World Health Organization says the number of new coronavirus cases is 15 times higher outside of china then within katrina you tells us more from beijing. Patients critically ill with the corona virus are being helped by the artificial lung machines in chinas southern province. 6000 nationwide are in serious condition but the government says numbers of new cases are falling the World Health Organization says other countries must learn from china the experience that china has and needs to be shared and this is the this is an excellent example of that that direct interaction is what is what we want is what we want to see more and more happen more than 100 people from hong kong have arrived home on the 1st government chartered flight from the city of will haunt the epicenter of the outbreak flights are planned for this week in south korea more than 5600 cases have been confirmed people in the hardest hit city of daegu say theres a shortage of mosques and theyre having to queue for hours to buy something i. Also quell the people especially here in daegu are at great risk ive been waiting in line since 5 30 in the morning and i havent ever received a queue ticket the south korean government has announced a one point 8000000000. 00 stimulus package to protect the economy in india a sudden jump in cases of wednesday fueled fears that an outbreak could grip the worlds 2nd largest nation almost 30 cases were confirmed after a group of italian tourists tested positive for the virus in the state of russia start but. The children find it difficult to leave their houses if someone has to go somewhere like travel on the bus or go to a public place if you scared. Cases have topped 1000 in japan but organizers say preparation for the summer games judas talking tokyo in july. Going ahead the Chinese Government says the steady drop in new cases is proof that severe wrote down the search and right reports that some patients are testing positive for the crown a virus after being discharged from hospital all raising concerns chinese Authorities Say these patients are rightly to be infectious at advance those who have recovered to undergo a further period of printing before entering the community. Katrina new aljazeera and. The International Monetary fund says the coronavirus poses a serious threat to the World Economy the crisis is affecting global air travel German Airline lufthansa is grounded 150. 00 aircraft europes largest carrier is blaming what it calls extraordinary circumstances other airlines are also grounding planes and canceling flights European Airline executives have warned the worst is yet to come for the industry but more ahead on the news all including. Im florence lee in Rakhine State myanmars new was to Battle Ground where civilians are increasingly being caught in the middle of fighting between the Myanmar Military and the our economy and ethnic armed. A new battle over abortion rights in the United States new faces in the Supreme Court could sway the law. And in sports it is the leagues top football those face the prospect of playing in empty stadiums for the foreseeable future. Breaking news we can tell you that billionaire Michael Bloomberg has suspended to democratic his Democratic Primary Campaign thats after a resurgent joe biden rode a wave of the mentum to win texas and 8 other states on super tuesday it is the most important event to get the democrats to the white house we can go straight now to kristen salumi whos in Fort Lauderdale in florida Michael Bloomberg has found out perhaps unsurprisingly given his performance on super tuesday. Yes but last night he was all in and tried to make it sound like he was still in the race but he has just in the last few minutes sent out a press release saying that hes getting out of the race for the exact same reason that he got into the race to defeat donald trump and after looking at the data in this race he does not see a clear path with the delegate math to make it to as the nominee to the at the convention this is a man who has built his career around analyzing data hes known for collecting polls and rigorously looking at all the potential outcomes and so on and came to the conclusion that it just was not going to happen for him and more importantly he did not want to take votes away from joe biden the moderate candidate in this race who had such a great day on super tuesday and now seems to be surging ahead he said in his statement that hes always hes known joe for a long time joe biden he believes in his decency and his honesty and he wants to work with him n