this is the briefing. i'm samantha simmonds. our top story: a former student is arrested after teachers and pupils are gunned down at a high school in florida. some kids froze, some kids were on their phones, a lot of them were on their phones just trying to snap chat everything, because they thought it was a joke, and it wasn't. south africa's governing anc welcomes president zuma's resignation. he says he wants to prevent violence being committed in his name. ‘choose france!‘ president macron woos global investors by pushing through key labour reforms and cutting corporation tax. and as us president donald trump cracks down on immigration, the spouses of thousands of asian immigrants working there could soon lose theirjobs. in the business briefing we'll be hearing from some of them and hear how the see their future in the united states. a warm welcome to the programme,

briefing you on all you need to know in global news, business and sport. and you can be part of the conversation. should women have the right to show off their bare arms? women in the public eye have always been subject to unwanted criticism about what they wear and how they wear it. but now, the former canadian prime minister has caused controversy by saying that female television newscasters who show bare arms "undermine credibility and gravitas". tell us what you think, just use the hashtag #bbcthebriefing. at least 17 people have died after a man opened fire in a high school in florida. police have arrested a nineteen year—old suspect, who was a former student at the school, which is 50 miles north of miami.

shortly before the end of the school day, the gunman opened fire from outside the premises and then took to the campus before fleeing. bill hayton reports. running for their lives. students flee classrooms in panic. inside the 3—storey building, hundreds of others lay hiding from a gunman on the loose. as they streamed out of school, some were still clutching their valentine's day balloons. kids were freaking out. some kids froze, some kids were on their phones. a lot were on their phones, just trying to snapchat everything because they thought it was a joke and it wasn't. there was kids freaking out — students freaking out, teachers — it sucked. you hear about this all the time, but you never expect it to happen right here. everybody knows around here is a safe place and you don't expect this to happen here. but when it happens, you're just taken aback. dozens of police cars sped to the scene.

paramilitary units moved in to confront the shooter. they carried out a wounded student, improvising emergency transport, and a street corner became an emergency room. the more badly injured were stretchered away, and then, a suspect, handcuffed by police on the roadside. he was taken into custody i believe about an hour after he left stoneman douglas, after he committed this horrific, homicidal, detestable act. he's been identified as a former student, nikolas cruz, apparently expelled for disciplinary reasons. his social media profile showing an obsession with violence. but the school authorities said they had no warning of any danger and they've pledged to repair the damage done. we're dealing with it and we're going to deal with it

as a community, we'll pull through it and my prayers and heartfelt sorrow goes out to the families in this entire community. as relatives wept and grieved, some reflected on a wider social problem. this is the 18th school shooting in the united states this year. that's on average one every three days. the state governor said his staff we re the state governor said his staff were doing all they could to prevent future tragedies. i know our law enforcement is continuing to do everything that they can to get everything that they can to get every child in our state safe, we will continue to figure out how we learn from this, to hopefully make sure this doesn't happen again. as police searched the school, they and the rest of the country will be seeking cancers to some very difficult questions. —— answers. bill hayton, bbc news. nada tawfik is in parkland, florida for us. welcome to use. reaction coming in

from this horrific attack, what response has been from the president? the president said that he had been briefed by the governor rick scott, of florida. he offered the support of the federal government and in a tweety said that his heart went out to the victims and their families and that no teacher, no student or anyone else should ever have to die at a us school. so the president clearly there, giving his and it is, but also very clearly staying out of the wider debate that was briefly touched upon in that news report. the wider debate about gun control and mental health continues to type in this country with every shooting. this is a really, very american academic and it is something that has frustrated lawmakers on both sides who want to see tougher gun

control laws in this country versus those who are on the side of the national rifle association and those who hold conservative views about the right to bear arms, who don't think that guns are the problem. what details are emerging about how events unfolded there? authorities have given a bit of a clearer picture, this was a former student who was expelled and who had been expeued who was expelled and who had been expelled for disciplinarian reasons. he had a very disturbing presence on social media, where he talked about guns and wanting to harm others. one student here discussed how people in the school had actuallyjoked that he would be the one to shoot up the school. joking because of comments he had made. authorities said in a briefing a short while ago that they have been able to identify 12 of the i7 have been able to identify 12 of the 17 who have now died from this tragic event and they are going to

release those names when they are able to notify the parents. they did say that the suspect, nikolas cruz, is being cooperative with them and answering questions and he was arrested after the incident without any incident. what about those being treated? how many have injuries in hospital? we don't have an exact figure. we do know that several are in critical condition and they are being treated at two local area hospitals. we know all with gun wounds. of course, 3000 students went to these high schools. this was an incident where again, authorities say he sought to maximise the loss of life, pulling a fire alarm so that students would pour out of the school and be in a chaotic situation before he opened fire on them. so we

don't have the full extent of those who were injured besides those 17 that have been confirmed to have died in this incident and we also don't have a breakdown of how many of those are students or teachers. we know that one of the football coaches to this school was also injured in this attack. thank you for the update. south africa's president, jacob zuma, has resigned with immediate effect. mr zuma, who denies numerous allegations of corruption, had come under intense pressure from his party, the anc. it was threatening to unseat him via a parliamentary confidence vote. the anc has greeted his decision to quit, saying it will bring certainty to the country. this was mr zuma's address to the nation. the anc should never be divided in my name. i have, therefore, come to the decision to resign

as president of the republic with immediate effect. even though i disagree with the decision of the leadership of my organisation, i have always been a disciplined member of the anc. as i leave, i will continue to serve the people of south africa as well as the anc, the organisation i have served all of my life. let's go live tojohannesburg. served all of my life. let's go live to johannesburg. the much anticipated resignation has finally happened. what happened next? that's right. that is finally out of the way and now the real business of parliament begins. we are expecting a seeking later today where an

acting president will be elected. the anc wants to put forward the name of the current beauty president, they want him to be officially sworn in later today as president of the country if he is unopposed. what reaction has there beenin unopposed. what reaction has there been in the country to this resignation speech? it wasn't all that placatory, was it? there has been mixed reaction, especially because the president in that speech spent quite a bit of detail seemingly unsure about why he need to be pushed out, but he did go into detail thinking south africans, saying that he had served the country to the best of his ability. he also took a few sites against the anc, saying that he felt that in some ways the anc had changed, that he remained a loyal member of the

party and would do as they say. he insisted that he was not laying out —— bowing out because of the motion of no governance, but rather he was trying to avoid bloodshed and further division within the party. a big sense of celebrations are people who have been wanting to see the back of the president for years. thank you. a lot more reaction to that resignation by jacob zuma last night throughout the programme here on the briefing. let's brief you on some of the other stories making the news. zimbabwe's main opposition leader, morgan tsvangirai, has died. he was 65 and had been suffering from cancer. mr tsvangirai and the party he founded, the movement for democratic change, repeatedly challenged robert mugabe during the ex—president‘s long grip on power. a new study suggests a possible link between highly processed foods and cancer. the team of researchers based in france and brazil found that products like pasties and ready—meals put middle—aged

women in particular danger, from breast cancer. one in every six children are now living in a global conflict zone, according to save the children. the charity says children are at more risk from armed conflict now, than at any other time in the last 20 years. syria, afghanistan and somalia were ranked as the most dangerous places for them. a new privacy app launched by internet giant facebook has caused an uproar online. facebook is directing users to download a vpn called onavofor protection. but they are not very clear about the fact that they own onavo, and also about the fact that the app tracks what you do online and sends that information to facebook. so even if you're not on facebook at the moment, they will still track your browsing. with me is liam booth—smith, chief executive of localis, an independent think tank. welcome to use. very good morning. tell us a little bit more about this and other concerns are. this isjust

another step in the ongoing saga about the responsibilities big tech companies have in using our data. a vpn is a virtual private network, allowing you to surf the web, browse sites and have nobody track you. the problem here is that while the vpn that facebook are asking people to download, facebook can track you. the main criticism online is that this information isn't very clearly labelled by facebook when you download the app, it is hidden away in those terms of agreement which we all click through. isn't that the issue? never we download an app or do and update —— download an update. we do agree. is on the onus on us as users that we are comfortable? we

share the responsibility here. companies like facebook and others rely on the ease of access, simple to use, part of the fabric of everyday life and it shouldn't be odorous and difficult. they are relying on us not reading this stuff and we are relying on them to tell us and we are relying on them to tell us things that are important that we should know. thank you very much, we will see a little bit later when we go through the papers. let's turn to other news. emmanuel macron has been urging global investors to ‘choose france‘ — by wooing them at versailles, pushing through key labour reforms and cutting corporation tax. and less than a year after he came to power, the confidence and the commitments of foreign investors are growing. so after years of being labelled a rigid, bureaucratic and expensive place to do business, has france finally turned the corner? and what does that mean for its bid to attract financial firms away from london after brexit? our paris correspondent lucy williamson has this report. maybe you‘re thinking that france

and business don‘t really go together. so what if we take two tackle a few misconceptions? francis telling the world is open for business. since emmanuel macron came to power, it has loosened rules cut corporate and taxes. welcome to france or every week, 21 foreign companies decide to make investments. and they don'tjust come to a higher french people who spend their time on holidays drinking cocktails. protection for workers has been core policy here for decades, but president macron has tried to shape france‘s image as a country of public strikes, high taxes and bureaucracy. the problem for the last i would say 30 years is that we have insisted maybe too much on solidarity, and if you want to be able to fund solidarity and help the poorest people of the nation, you need to have competitiveness, you need to have competitiveness, you

need to have strong private companies, you need to be able to create jobs. mr president, it is great to see you. last month, mr macron invited 140 business leaders to versailles for a speed networking session. foreign companies invested $50 billion in france last year, a rise of almost 80%. much of that was committed before mr macron‘s election, but the american chamber of commerce here also found that three quarters of their investors more than ever before thought the business environment would improve. google recently announced it was expanding its french workforce and opening a new research centre for artificial intelligence. there is a little bit of a french paradox, the french paradox is that 80% of the french users use the internet every day, but only 16% of the company, this is really the paradox we are talking about. the lost opportunity. france‘s

traditional economic model has left pocket potential to be tapped by a few tall investments. what one economist called low hanging fruit. and then there is brexit. france is keen to attract financial phones from the city of london after brexit and bring them here to its main business district. it is offering more international schools, tax cuts and the law of a parisi and lifestyle. but france is still seen to be an expensive place to do business and there is stiff competition from dublin and frankfurt. but business leaders say it resident macron‘s approach has sparked new confidence here will stop after all, as france‘s business agency puts it, entrepreneur is a french word to begin with. stay with us on the briefing. also on the programme — the attacking the viking taking the

winter olympics by storm. nine years and 15,000 deaths after going into afghanistan, the last soviet troops were finally going home, their withdrawal completed in good order, but the army defeated in the task it had been sent to perform. malcolm has been murdered, and that has a terrible effect on the morality of the people. i‘m terrified of the repercussions on the streets. one wonders who is next. as the airlift got underway, there was no let—up in the eruption itself. lava streams from a vent low in the crater slow down into the sea east of the island, away from the town for the time being, but it could start flowing again at any time. the russians heralded their new—generation space station with a spectacular night launch. they‘ve called it mir,

the russian for peace. welcome back. you‘re watching the briefing. our headlines — at least 17 people have been killed and at least 20 people were injured after a shooter opened fire in a florida high school. the gunman is now in custody and has been identified as a former student. south africa‘s embattled president, jacob zuma, says he will resign effective immediately. it follows days of defying orders from the country‘s ruling anc party to leave office. let‘s stay with that now. mr zuma had served his party, the anc, for over 60 years. the stage is now set for mps to vote in cyril ramaphosa as his successor. ralph mathekga is a political analyst and author of the book when zuma goes. he‘s in johannesburg for us. thank you forjoining us. you have

written the book when zuma goes. what happens next? the main thing is the transition. i do not see presidentjacob the transition. i do not see president jacob zuma as the transition. i do not see presidentjacob zuma as a person. he isa presidentjacob zuma as a person. he is a representation of the system and the system will take awhile to disentangle. i‘m talking a system of a system where government at times when road, defying common sense on many issues. the anc to be able to go back to the normal party, maybe the normal party that we have seen under mbeki, it would take a great deal. it has actually demonstrated that it deal. it has actually demonstrated thatitis deal. it has actually demonstrated that it is going to be very difficult. mr ramaphosa is inheriting a party that is very much divided and people will be looking up divided and people will be looking up to him to bring some essence of unity within the anc and begin to deal with some of the national issues. those national issues include very high unemployment rates, an economy

that has slumped over the presidency jacob zuma. what does he have to do first, you think? i think the first thing that south africa has been experiencing is the crisis of confidence. by installing someone crisis of confidence. by installing someone such as ramaphosa who is going to hopefully, not going to give you corruption scandals week m, give you corruption scandals week in, week out. that in itself, just installing someone who does not have those scandals, it will boost confidence. it says to the market that people can look into south africa, there is common sense. most importantly, mr ramaphosa will have two lead the anc. it is very much divided. the anc need to try and forge a post ofjacob zuma dispensation. it‘s going to take a great deal of work to arrive at that. how does he do that? he still has a lot of support within the anc. ramaphosa has a hugejob

lot of support within the anc. ramaphosa has a huge job to unite the party behind zuma. he has to do this before elections next year. the challenge is that cheap presidentjacob the challenge is that cheap president jacob suber left the the challenge is that cheap presidentjacob suber left the anc was a distinct political project, andi was a distinct political project, and i see the radical transformation. there are some that have become suspicious of the private sector and its intention regarding issues. some of the issues, those positions were left behind by president jacob issues, those positions were left behind by presidentjacob zuma, but they have gained a life of their own. we have seen the anc respond to the wreck of the —— resignation, emphasise the need‘s we must leave it there. thank you for your analysis of what comes. here‘s our briefing on some of the key events happening later. in austria, senior doctors will launch a petition against the government‘s decision to cancel the upcoming smoking ban. the country had been due to outlaw smoking in restaurants and bars in may. astronauts on the international space station are set to go on a 6.5—hour spacewalk later.

they‘re putting some equipment into storage. think of it as going outside to put something in your garage. and it‘ll be a big night in berlin. the city‘s film festival kicks off later. the berlinale is the largest publicly attended film festival in the world. around 400 films will be shown. let‘s take a quick look at what‘s been happening on day 6 of the winter olympics in south korea, and thursday saw the blue riband event in alpine skiing — the men‘s downhill. and it‘s norway who are celebrating after the ‘attacking viking‘, aksel lund svindal, took the top prize. svindal, who‘s coming to the end of his career, clocked a time ofjust over 1 minute 40 seconds to claim his country‘s first ever olympic downhill gold. a world record performance from germany‘s aljona savchenko and bruno massot helped them take gold in the pairs figure skating. it also extended their country‘s lead at the top of the medals table. to follow the action and keep up to date, go to the bbc sport website. with some of the highlights from

day 5, here‘s austin halewood. a feeling no—one has experienced before. sean wight of america will winning a third snowboard gold. but this one didn‘t come without a fight. the american cruised into the lead with his first run. big air and big tricks catapulting him into gold—medal position. and that was where he was expected to stay until a rhino‘s final run which definitely was not in the script. unprecedented back—to—back 14 40s. japanese star into top spot. but the greatest adversity cannot —— can often bring out the greatest of competitors. never before this pressure at the olympics, he would need the run of his life to take gold and he founded. combinations of such audacity that both the crowd and his rivals were left breathless. i‘m sure you can tell by my reaction

at the bottom of the pipe that this meant the world to me and my family, tea m meant the world to me and my family, team and, you know, you are doing it for usa and again. not only to be an olympian again, but to be a gold—medallist again is just unreal. we we re gold—medallist again is just unreal. we were just all down there watching him win and i definitely caught the bug. it was really inspiring. for me, it wasjust, like, 0k, bug. it was really inspiring. for me, it wasjust, like, ok, the bar is set. now we have to see if we can match him. he set everything he set out to at the games. with dealing with introducing skateboarding in 2020, a spot he has already won gold medals m, spot he has already won gold medals in, perhapsa spot he has already won gold medals in, perhaps a summer games could be his next destination. stay with us on bbc news. i will be back with a business briefing injust a on bbc news. i will be back with a business briefing in just a few moments. see you then. thanks forjoining me.

welcome to our latest look at how the weather will pan out. we will have a sneaky little look at what is to come for the weekend. wednesday was certainly a wild affair for a time across north and western parts of scotla nd time across north and western parts of scotland but things really improved dramatically. the difference, that weather front draped across the british isles. eventually, scotland as well as those lovely pictures are coming out. much of a cloud pulling away into the north sea to leave a pretty chilly start, sought me for the northern half of the british isles as the start of the new day on thursday. the northern half of britain really quite close to this big area of low pressure close by to ice and further south. a writ of high pressure trying to play its pa rt high pressure trying to play its part ina high pressure trying to play its part in a real difference anywhere in the circulation of the low, showers and fairly cool air to the south. fewer showers thanks to the

bridge of high—pressure reasoning throughout. the juxtaposition of those to pressure systems generating quite a bit of wind coming essentially from the west across all parts of the british isles. through the day, the south really in a fitting from that region and there will be few showers, i wouldn‘t say it would be dry everywhere, there will be some decent breaks in the cloud. this is where we may well find a peppering of showers through the northern and western isles to the northern and western isles to the western side of scotland and northern ireland as well. let‘s take a look at that average profile and what a difference. the cooler air is getting into the northern half. its taken of further into friday. things don‘t look to change dramatically. low still there was by to iceland so we expect to see the coolest of the air across the northern half of the british isles, but more high—pressure coming to the south. many parts of england and wales will be dry for the greater part of the day. not too much breeze in the

south and some decent spells of sunshine again, we could look at highs in double figures. further north, not just as highs in double figures. further north, notjust as cold as it was for the first part of the week. the weekend, not bad on saturday, quite a dark cloud around. just bear that little feature in mind because come sunday, if you get to see some rain, it will probably need that. this is business briefing. a new era? how will the south african economy respond to presidentjacob zuma‘s resignation? and what are the economic polices of his successor? and as us president donald trump cracks down on immigration, the spouses of thousands of asian immigrants working there could soon lose theirjobs. and on the markets...