this is bbc news. i'm shaun ley. the headlines at three: 17 people are reported to have been shot dead and several others wounded in a mass shooting in north east thailand — the situation is ongoing and the suspect — a soldier, is still at large. five british people including a child have tested positive for the coronavirus at a ski resort in france. six senior conservatives write to tory mps to raise concerns about the government's decision to allow huawei to help build the uk's 56 network. why would you want to build into your system an organisation that remains a threat? i don't know of anywhere else in the world that would do that. officials working on boris johnson's pledge to recruit an extra 20,000 police officers say that they'll actually need to take on more than 50,000

as many are set to leave. the met office issues severe weather warnings for the weekend as storm ciara approaches from the atlantic. preparations are underway for the england scotland in the six nations this afternoon. wales are currently playing ireland. good afternoon. reports from thailand say an armed soldier has killed 17 people, north—east of the capital bangkok. more than a dozen others have been injured. the gunman is said to be holed up in a shopping mall in the city of korat. the thai defence ministry said the attacker shot his boss and a relative and stole weapons

from a military camp. he opened fire at a buddhist temple and later at the shopping centre, where police continue to hunt him. the thai ministry of defence says the attacker is a low ranking officer named jakraphanth thomma. these pictures were taken from his facebook page, on which he posted updates on the rampage as it happened. it has since been taken down. the bbc‘s thanyarat doksone is following the ongoing incident and gave some further information about the soldier's background. he is still in the army. according to the defence ministry spokesman, he said that this man, this gunman isa he said that this man, this gunman is a low ranking, veryjunior officer who is based in the city of korat and about six hours ago, he

started killing his commander and also a relative who lives in the same house before he went on a military base and stole some guns and ammunition before he continued his rampage at a buddhist temple and ata his rampage at a buddhist temple and at a very busy shopping mall. this isa at a very busy shopping mall. this is a saturday evening, at a very popular shopping mall in the city and there were a lot of people there and there were a lot of people there and there were a lot of people there and the attack sent everybody panicking. what have they said about their efforts to detain this man? the authorities have been sent in, both the police and military have been sent into the mall to try and control the situation. as far as we know, the gunman has not been caught and according to the defence

ministry spokesman, he has been hiding in the basement of the shopping mall. in terms of the number of people injured and the fatalities, apart from the relative and somebody he knew, do we think most of the others were random attacks? it looks like it was a random attack because as he posted on his facebook page, he said that, reportedly he said that three people we re reportedly he said that three people were for his personal revenge and he claimed that was for self protection. so it looks like these people he met on the street and started shooting at were just random people. as far as we know he is still in the shopping mall, they are trying to make direct contact with him and presumably hoping they can persuade him to give himself up. that's right, yes. at this point his facebook page has been taken down so i'm not sure how they can make

contact with him at this point, but the authorities have said their top priority is the safety of people in the area. they have sealed off the shopping mall although there are people locked inside who have been sending tweets and updates about their locations. the latest from bangkok. we now have an increase in the number of people thought to have been shot by the gunman. it is now 20 and we will continue to monitor that situation, bring you more on it as soon as we get it. five british people — including a child — have been diagnosed with the new coronavirus while on holiday in the french alps. they were all staying in the same chalet in a ski resort in the savoir region. elsewhere, a british family are in hospital in majorca as a precaution, after they reportedly came in to contact with a coronavirus patient. more than 700 people have died from the virus in china since the outbreak started. andy moore reports. a picturesque ski resort in the french alps the unlikely

setting for this new cluster of coronavirus cases. french officials said a british man came to a chalet in contamines montjoie after visiting singapore. he then infected at least five other people, including a child. a total of 11 people are in hospital, but they're not said to be in a serious condition. translation: there are five new cases in a group, all catching it from one infected person. in a separate case in mallorca, a british family of four, including two girls, is in hospital as a precaution after one of them came in contact with a coronavirus case in france. translation: this morning, we took samples. we have to prepare and protect them under secure biological conditions in the lab, to be sent to the centre in madrid. on a cruise liner quarantined off the coast of japan, 64 people have now tested positive for coronavirus. they have been taken off the ship to hospital.

one of them is british. alan steele from walsall was celebrating his honeymoon. he's said to be doing well, according to his friends, who are still on board the cruise liner. he was taken off the ship yesterday, late afternoon. he's in a hospital near tokyo. wendy is missing him a great deal, obviously, but they're in regular touch, and alan has been in touch with me a couple of times today. tomorrow, the last of 150 british citizens are expected to arrive back in the uk on the final repatriation flights from wuhan. they will be taken to a training and conference venue on the outskirts of milton keynes. andy moore, bbc news. our correspondent hugh schofield gave me this update from paris. at the press conference in annecy, the departmental capital of the alps, they have given us some detail. it's now quite apparent that the source of this infection is the british man who we know has

already been identified, he self identified. he's from brighton and he is now in hospital in london. he had been at a conference in singapore which we know, the hotel has been the source of several cases in asia as well. he had come back to europe ten days or so ago and stayed first in a chalet in the alps and then gone on to brighton where he developed the symptoms. he had gone to the authorities, quite rightly, and they obviously asked, "where have you been?" and the information has emerged that he went to the alps, so the british authorities passed that information to the french authorities who went to the chalet and last night confirmed that of the 11 people who are living in this chalet, five have been contaminated with the virus. at this press conference they had more detail. they said the chalet consists of two apartments. in one of the apartments

is a family of british people who are resident in france, who have set up in france, and that is a family — a mum, dad and three young children. the mother wasn't in france at the time but it's the father and a nine—year—old boy in this family who have the virus. in the other apartment were seven tourists, holiday—makers, not clear if they're friends of the family or not. of that group, three have the virus. all 11, the family and seven tourists, are under observation in hospital, being kept in isolation, but there is no real cause of worry about them. in fact, there doesn't seem to be any symptoms at all displayed by any of them, even those with the actual virus, but of course they tested positive to the virus and the others were in close contact with them, so they are being kept in strict isolation from others. meanwhile, the investigations continue in the town to find other possible cases. the boy, and this is important, attended the local school.

the nine—year—old boy, who has the virus, attends the local school and he was there on friday. so there is a certain amount of attention being paid obviously on his classmates. there were some reports that the schools, two local schools, will not open on monday as normal because of concerns about that. exactly. that's what they said. the school in contamines and then another school at a nearby town, both small. we are talking about mountain communities. not huge populations. both these schools will be shut. the boy, because he's british, or english, and has taken up residence there with his family, his french is not great, so he is having remedial french lessons to get his french up to speed at this other school, so both schools are concerned. we have further confirmation of an update on one of the other countries

affected, singapore. it has now confirmed it has seven more cases of the virus, taking the tally to a0. thailand, sorry, singapore has the facilities to test and the more people tested, the more likely that cases will emerge. logic that cases have appeared in that part of asia. let's move on. i spoke to chris smith, who's a consultant virologist at cambridge university and a presenter on the naked scientist podcast a little earlier. he explained how the virus had evolved. i noticed way back at the beginning of january that it appeared that lightning may be striking twice with wuhan because of its very close correspondence with what had happened with sars back in 2002-2003. so we took this very seriously. the story is beginning to clarify a little bit in terms of the origin. we have now seen information pointing towards it possibly

being a a trade in pangolins in the markets, as an intermediate host, so we think this virus has come from bats, that bats traded viruses with the pangolins in the market and the pangolinss may have then carried the virus into humans. we have also this week seen the story that obviously britain has has its third case in mainland britain and that that person caught the virus outside china, and that spoke quite a lot to us because what that is saying is that previously where our case definition, what we are using to decide whether to tell someone for this, depended on have they been in china. now we have had to widen the case definition to nine territories, including singapore where this one person visited, and that tells us the virus is notjust outside china but it is spreading person to person outside china and now we are seeing this evidence of onward spread from the ski resort in france. this is sort of what we anticipated but now we are beginning to look and test, it is beginning to confirm what we suspected was probably going to be the trajectory of this thing.

as it stands we have official figures from china saying the death toll on the mainland is 722. it looks like given the pace of fatalities that very soon it would exceed the number of people who died because of sars. in a sense it is just one random figure followed by another random figure, but in terms of building up capacity to deal with this and treat this as perhaps a longer term problem that might be with us for a few months, our people already looking to that? we looked to sars to try to understand and predict the trajectory of this thing and as you say, it has already surpassed that, but the data we have is from china and china was notoriously closed about what they did and didn't share in terms of what really happened with sars, so we don't really know what the inside china story was there. we know that a thousand people got sars, there was about a 10% mortality rate. -- 8000 —— 8000 people got sars.

this time there are documented more than 30,000 people with this virus at the moment, the death rate is north of 700 people, so the mortality rate sitting at around a couple of percent, sars was closer to ten, but what we are seeing with this virus is unlike sars which was relatively hard to transmit, this virus appears relatively easy to transmit. while it is not necessarily as lethal as sars, in other words the mortality rate is lower, because it is capable of spreading more vigorously, the overall number of people who could succumb could be higher. this is speculation at the moment. we will have a clearer picture in the next week or so because countries like this one will wheel out test at local level, so we will be able to test more rapidly and more people in laboratory networks across the country. this will give us a clearer picture, what the invisible hitherto burden of disease is. what we have seen at the

tip of the iceberg is stuff we could test for, stuff we could document. i suspect this is all over the world and there are a large number of cases hidden below the water line because we are not looking. if you turned up with these symptoms to a hospital at the moment, and you didn't fit the case definition, i haven't been to a certain geography or had contact with someone who has, you wouldn't necessarily be tested for this at the moment. so if you did have it, you wouldn't be documented as a case. you mention out running out testing facilities. i was talking to the who in africa and they were saying it was surprising that there hadn't been any reported cases yet given the number of chinese travellers backwards and forwards from the continent. at that point they had only two countries to test for it. by only two countries to test for it. by the end of this week there were hoping to have 30 countries hoping to test for it and presumably that pattern is to in other parts of the

developing world. if you look at the map you might conclude that africa is one of the safest places to be at the moment because they have no cases. actually, these are resource poor settings and many of the population don't live within reach ofa population don't live within reach of a hospital where you could test. in the very early era of hiv, the reason it spread so far and for so long without being detected was no one new to look for it, no one could look for it and if you go back to old samples from the 1950s and before, you could find hiv was there. it is the same with this. we have spread but until we can go looking for it we will not know it is there and it is critical to focus on the third world because we can direct these clever barriers and ways of testing and mitigation strategies here in this country, but it will continuously cede into this country from places like africa if we don't help them to control their

disease as well. it is important we have a global solution to what is a mounting global problem. an update about the case of coronavirus in brighton. following m essa 9 es coronavirus in brighton. following messages have been sent to parents and carers who have pupils in portslade academy. we will continue to pass on the advice giving schools in the city as soon as we receive updates. as i am sure many of you are aware, media outlets reported on thursday the first confirmed case of the coronavirus in brighton. we are working in collaboration with and guided by the local authority and public health england to ensure we are acting consistently with the right medical advice. today we have been contacted by the parent of a student who was contacted by public health england as part of their

investigation concerning the confirmed case which is been reported in the newspapers yesterday. we have been informed that they have been advised by public health england to self isolate their child at home for ia days. if at any point the child is found to be symptomatic, we will be notified. the local authority has confirmed that public health england and the office of the chief medical officer are clear in their advice that schools do not need to close. public health england is leading on control measures and will be contacting people who may be effected using their established systems for similar situations. we will continue to keep parents updated with any advice passed on to us and the statement has attached to it more direct advice from the local authority and public health england, aimed at parents and those operating schools and working on the of pa rents. schools and working on the of parents. that is the latest situation as it affects brighton. more on that as soon as we get it.

the headlines on bbc news: 20 people are reported to have been shot dead and several others wounded in a mass shooting in north east thailand — the situation is ongoing and the suspect — a soldier, is still at large. 5 british people including a child have tested positive for the coronavirus at a ski resort in france six senior conservatives write to tory mps to raise concerns about the government's decision to allow huawei to help build the uk's 56 network. in sport ireland have the urge against wales, daily 12—7. and still to come in the six nations, scotland versus england in murrayfield in rugby's oldest rivalry. and everton extend their unbeaten run to five games scoring against crystal palace and goodison park.

more in the next hour. a group of senior conservatives is urging fellow tory mps to challenge borisjohnson's decision to give the chinese technology firm a role in building the uk's 56 mobile networks. in a letter, severalformer cabinet ministers say there are alternative options which would not compromise national security. the government insists the decision was taken following a "rigorous" review — and huawei's involvement in 56 would be limited. sir iain duncan smith explained why he's concerned about the decision. the government has made a decision, and i have to say i have sympathy for the prime minister, because this is a bit of a hospital pass. it was given to him after civil servants who had driven this process hard, because huawei are already in the earlier systems, and bear in mind that the civil service were very heavily criticised by the security select committee back in 2013,

who said they should have looked very much more carefully at that security. we are at a point where we need to make a decision, and it's a long—term decision, notjust on 56 but on 66, which is the big breakthrough, as to whether or not you have an organisation from a country that is an aggressor in terms of cyber—warfare, and a company that is clearly, totally and utterly in the hands of the chinese government, who demand absolute obedience on these matters. so the answer is, are they manageable? and nobody that i have spoken to in the security apparatus, outside or inside technology companies, they all say it's simply not manageable to have an organisation like that inside your important network, and therefore we now need to drive that to zero, zero involvement, as soon as we can, one or two years, and therefore open up to many more other providers. the foreign secretary says

he is seeking an "ambitious" trade deal with japan as britain begins free trade talks with major economies. dominic raab met with his japanese counterpart on his first overseas trip following britain's departure from the eu last month. mr raab said he wanted a trade agreement at least as good as the eu's. i have discussed how we can deliver new bilateral arrangements at least as high a standard, if not higher, and at least as ambitious as the eu—japan economic partnership agreement, which would send a very powerful signal of our shared commitment to free and rules—based trade. minister motegi and i also discussed the uk's interest in membership of the comprehensive and progressive agreement for trans—pacific partnership and we very much welcome the advice and support from japan in that regard. voters in ireland are voting in a general election today. the country has been governed by coalitions for the past

30 years and there are likely to be fresh coalition negotiations between parties after the result is declared. counting takes place tomorrow. several hospital staff have been suspended and a police investigation is under way after the alleged assault of a patient with alzheimer's by nhs staff in kent. staff at the william harvey hospital in ashford allegedly held down an elderly man's arms, legs and face while they inserted a catheter. the incident came to light after a member of staff handed a video to the independent newspaper. police have spoken to the 16—year—old schoolboy who was sent hundreds of social media messages by scotland's former finance secretary derek mackay. the snp policitian resigned on thursday. police scotland said it hadn't received any complaint of criminality but it was "assessing

available information". president trump has dismissed two senior officials who testified against him at his impeachment trial. the us envoy to the eu, gordon sondland, said he'd been recalled just hours after colonel alexander vindman was escorted from the white house. peter bowes reports. two days after president trump's acquittal, two prominant witnesses during the impeachment inquiry have lost theirjobs. they both gave evidence that cast doubt on the president's claimed that he'd done nothing wrong. gordon sondland told the enquiry he believed that mr trump was politically motivated when he withheld aid from the ukraine. he said there were strings attached to a possible visit to the white house by the ukrainian president. was there a quid pro quo? as i testified previously, with regard to the requested white house call and the white house meeting, the answer is yes.

i say to the ambassador — i want nothing, i want nothing, i want no quid pro quo, tell president zelensky to do the right thing. so here's my answer — i want nothing. but ambassador sondland's testimony had raised doubts whether trump was telling the truth. now he's out of a job. it follows the sacking of lieutenant colonel alexander vindman, who was listening in on the president'sjuly phone call with his ukrainian counterpart. he told investigators he was concerned about what he heard, and that the conversation had been improper. his lawyer said colonel vindman was asked to leave for telling the truth, and that the most powerful person in the world had decided to exact revenge. a day after being acquitted by the senate, president trump vented his fury at those who'd pursued the impeachment charges against him. his press secretary said he had been treated horribly and that maybe

people should pay for that. it looks like the recriminations have started. peter bowes, bbc news. the australian state of new south wales is braced for more severe wet weather this weekend as downpours ease the bushfire crisis in the region. australia's bureau of meteorology warned of "dangerous conditions" on saturday and sunday. there has already been flooding in sydney and other areas along the coast. olivia crellin has more. first came the fires, then the floods. so far this year, australia has faced weather conditions of biblical proportions. after months of destructive wildfires razed millions of hectares of land and killed 33 people and billions of animals, australia has experienced severe hailstorms and flash floods. despite the country receiving the heaviest rainfall in almost 20 years, many of the fires in the east of the country are still burning. we actually have 723

firefighters still in the field of operations. they are dealing with 38 fires, i9 uncontained, but the rainfall is obviously providing some welcome relief to many of the bushfires that have been raging. a welcome relief, but a challenge on its own right. there have been 13 rescues, flood rescues, which u nfortu nately has doubled since yesterday. i would appeal to the community to be very conscious of the fact that drains, rivers and any number of pieces of infrastructure will be challenged over the course of this flood activity. still, for much of new south wales, which had been in drought for over three years, providing the conditions that fuelled the intensity of the recent fires, the rain is a salve. with 20 of about 60 fires in the state already put out by the downpour in the past day, australians hope that after the rain comes the sun. olivia crellin, bbc news.

weather warnings have been issued across the uk this weekend with the approach of storm ciara. transport networks are expected to be disrupted and there could also be power cuts. wind speeds are forecast to reach 80 miles—an—hour. now it's time for a look at the weather with susan powell. where ever you are and whatever your plans, in the next 2a—hour is there isa plans, in the next 2a—hour is there is a good chance storm ciara will have something to say about it. severe gales anticipated across the breadth of the uk. disruption especially to transport. the winds possibly even causing life—threatening effects, branches down and coastal flooding to the south and west. doesn't look like much currently. we have another

front coming into the north—west to finish off the day to day. that will stall across parts of northern britain are producing pretty high rainfall totals and the rents have already started to strengthen as we look at the evening to come. the rain doesn't move from southern scotla nd rain doesn't move from southern scotland and cumbria. up to a0 millimetres for some spots here and gales to the north and west. rain to all areas by sunday morning, perhaps all areas by sunday morning, perhaps a little snow to the north of scotland. the far north getting the best of any drier and brighter weather. but here is the area of low pressure that is storm ciara. notice those tightly packed isobars stretch right the way across the uk. strong winds anywhere, dissipating 60—80 mph gusts of wind. and for scotland later, those winds could peak at 85 mph. it will be windy throughout the

day for scotland and northern ireland. rain first thing, squally showers with the hail and thunder following but notice how the isobars squeezed through the evening. it is that period, a—6 p.m. where we could get the exceptionally strong winds. elsewhere a windy story as well. a band of rain clears through during the morning but plenty of showers follow on behind. localised flooding, coastal flooding follow on behind. localised flooding, coastalflooding due to high tides and the strength of the wind and the damaging wind big thing to factor in for your day. it could mean disruption to transport, it could mean power cuts and potentially could even mean a risk to life. the outlook for monday and tuesday remains very windy as well, perhaps something a little quieter by midweek. hello this is bbc news with shaun ley.

the headlines: 20 people are reported to have been shot dead and several others wounded in a mass shooting in north east thailand the situation is ongoing and the suspect, a soldier, is still at large. five british people including a child have tested positive for the coronavirus at a ski resort in france. six senior conservatives write to tory mps to raise concerns about the government's decision to allow huawei to help build the uk's 5g network. why would you want to build into your system an organisation that remains a threat? i don't know anywhere else in the world that would do that. the met office issues severe weather warnings for the weekend as storm ciara approaches from the atlantic. preparations are under way for the england—scotland in the six nations this afternoon. wales are currently playing ireland.

democratic candidates hoping to take on president trump in november's election have moved on to new hampshire before tuesday's primary vote. all eyes are on pete buttigieg and senator bernie sanders, who came out ahead in iowa. jane o'brien reports from new hampshire. ladies and gentlemen, tonight's democratic candidates for president of the united states. the same faces, the same arguments, but a new dynamic on display in the last debate before the new hampshire primary. pete buttigieg no longer an upstart and a real contender following his messy win in iowa. once again, he defended his age and inexperience, this time with greater confidence. ijust bring a different perspective. look, i freely admit that if you're looking for the person with the most years of washington establishment experience under their belt, you've got your candidate

and of course it's not me. the perspective i'm bringing is that of somebody whose life has been shaped by the decisions that are made in those big white buildings in washington dc. clashes with his opponents were inevitable. boy did pete buttigieg have a target on his back tonight. biden went after him, bernie went after him, amy klobuchar went after him. bernie feels threatened, biden and klobuchar feel like they're losing votes to him. is he ready for this? is he ready for the scrutiny? is he ready for the challenge? and that is something new hampshire voters always pay attention to. did former vice presidentjoe biden do enough to elevate his campaign? his bad performances and his good performances haven't helped him or hurt him in a debate, butjoe biden's in a tough, tough spot and we may be looking at the end of his campaign. from the start, mr biden conceded he might lose new hampshire but gave a defiant defence of his record. we have to be held accountable for the things we did. i'm the guy that set up drug courts, i set them up, i wrote it into law and it never got funded.

and also on opioids, i'm the guy who has already begun to make a down payment. in the cure's act i've put in $1 billion to fight opioid addiction. voters say they want to connect with the candidates and there was more energy and some passionate performances, but the central question remains. it is not about who has the best health care plan, all the health care plans are better, a million times better. the question is who can go toe to toe with mr trump. who can take down mr trump because he is the real threat to the country and let me say, you have to have experience to take him down. this is not a question of he's a nice guy who's going to listen. we need people with experience, that is why i am worried about mayor pete. you need to be able to go toe to toe with this guy and take him down on the debate stage or we're going to lose and that's actually the issue in front of democratic voters. i have heard this debate so many darn times and i love all these people and they're all right. if we win, we can get

the right thing, bernie. whether voters saw anybody on stage capable of beating donald trump will be determined in the ballot box next tuesday, but this is a volatile race with no clear favourite and this time, the new hampshire primary may not narrow the field. a third of people serving on the boards of the uk's biggest public companies are now women — up from just 12% a decade ago. that means one voluntary target to boost the number by the end of 2020 has been hit early. but campaigners and business groups say there's a long way to go before enough senior leadership roles are held by women. here's our business correspondent katy austin. my name is francesca ecsery. i sit on the boards of several companies, including air france, f&c investment trust. even with francesca's background

as a successful business leader, getting her first boardroom position was tough. it's an area where often men still hugely outnumber women. change is painful. there's a huge value attributed to "chemistry" on the board, and, of course, "chemistry", you have mainly with people like you. she says boards who don't have enough women are putting themselves at a disadvantage. basically, it doesn't reflect your customer base, it doesn't reflect the society at large, it doesn't reflect your staff. the government has backed voluntary targets to increase the representation of women on the boards of the biggest listed companies in the country to 33%, or one in three, by the end of this year. it's february and that target has now been achieved for the top 100 companies, but not yet for the next 250, and it's far from job done. i think 33% is a very good start, but, as we can see, and we know there are still many issues in the workplace to address, and we have a lot farther to go before we see really good gender

balance in the leadership of business. francesca welcomes the latest boardroom target being hit, but she worries getting enough women at the top table remains a long way off. katy austin, bbc news. in a moment we'll bejoined by viewers on bbc one with the latest on today's top stories. first, ann cairns, who's the global co chair of the gender equality campaign group, the 30% club and the executive vice chairman of mastercard, told my colleague geeta guru murphy that not enough progress had been made definitely, and at a broad level progress has been very good and, if we continue like this, may be by 2030 we will reach but really we need to build that pipeline of women coming through to be board members. inside the companies, we only have a handful of ceos, and we are not seeing women come through, along the big business lines that would qualify

them to run companies. what are the key sticking points? are they facing tougher resistance or do they find it difficult because of family responsibilities? i don't think the women find it difficult. a lot of research shows that first step on the management ladder is where they falter and i wouldn't say it is then faltering, i would say it is the men get promoted faster, so we have to address that. why that's still happening? i think we have been focused very much on the boards in the last few years, and people have been looking at the top and not going down low enough into the company to say, why aren't these women coming through? especially in the technology era, i think there was a lot more focus about how many women are doing science subjects at school and university, and who is coming through into the artificial intelligence age to actually run the companies of the future. within schools and universities,

it tends to be that men do those stem subjects. there are only about 17% women graduating, so if that is the pool you are pulling from, and i looked at the stats for the ftse100 companies and there are only 17% of those roles, head of technology and operations, which are done by women. how do you change that, if there is a bias in schools or among girls themselves? you have to start very early, about eight years old, and tell girls it is great to go into text. i am an engineer myself with a pure maths degree, i loved it, but so many more girls can do this. what at the senior levels? you talk to people who are senior in business, and they are behind this, they want change.

are they paying lip service but not making it happen? i don't think they are paying lip service, i think there are companies who are starting to create their female pipeline. you mentioned things about the women themselves faltering. you have to have paternity and maternity leave, return to work programmes, mentorship, sponsorship, and advocates pulling these women through. and it's even harder if you are from a bme background and a female? absolutely, and we really have to focus on that.

good afternoon. five british people — including a child — have been diagnosed with coronavirus in the french alps. they were all staying in the same chalet in a ski resort in the savwoie region, and caught the virus from a british man who'd recently returned from singapore. elsewhere, a british family are in hospital in majorca as a precaution, after they reportedly came in to contact with a coronavirus patient. more than 700 people have died from the virus in china since the outbreak started. andy moore reports.

a picturesque ski resort in the french alps the unlikely setting for this new cluster of coronavirus cases. french officials said a british man came to a chalet in contamines montjoie after visiting singapore. he then infected at least five other people, including a child. a total of 11 people are in hospital, but they're not said to be in a serious condition. some local schools will have to close. translation: we have been trying to trace where the people in the chalet have been since thursday and who they have been in close contact with. the british man who was the original source of the infection is being treated in hospital in london. he fell ill after returning to brighton. a child at the school is in city is in self—imposed quarantine. in a separate case in mallorca,

a british family of four, including two girls, is in hospital as a precaution after one of them came in contact with a coronavirus case in france. samples have been sent to madrid for testing. translation: we will have to wait between za and as hours for the results but there will be announced as soon as possible. on a cruise liner quarantined off the coast of japan, 6a people have now tested positive for coronavirus. they have been taken off the ship to hospital. one of them is british. alan steele from walsall was celebrating his honeymoon. he's said to be doing well, according to his friends, who are still on board the cruise liner. he was taken off the ship yesterday, late afternoon. he's in a hospital near tokyo. wendy is missing him a great deal, obviously, but they're in regular touch, and alan has been in touch with me a couple of times today. meanwhile the chinese city at the centre of the outbreak has opened a

second new hospital to deal with the health emergency. it was built from scratch in wuhan injust health emergency. it was built from scratch in wuhan in just two weeks. there have now be a total of 722 deaths in china and two in other countries. more than 3a,000 people in china have been infected. tomorrow, the last of 150 british citizens are expected to arrive back in the uk on the final repatriation flight from wuhan. they will be taken to a training and conference venue on the outskirts of milton keynes. andy moore, bbc news. in thailand, police say a soldier has shot and killed a number of people in a shopping centre in the eastern city of nakhon ratchasima. it's not yet clear how many have died, although there are reports at least 20 people have been killed. the gunman is still thought to be on the loose. from thailand, jonathan head reports. panic ina panic in a provincial shopping mall. as people realise there is a gunman

inside and they have to run. from outside, the sound of multiple gunshots. at this stage he had already killed a senior army officer and shop several other soldiers before reaching the mall. at 1.1 of his shots appeared to ignite a gas cylinder. the government has been identified as 32 sergeant major jakrapha nth thomma. identified as 32 sergeant major jakraphanth thomma. he took selfies of himself outside the mall and live streamed parts of his attack on facebook before it was taken down. his motives are not yet known. army and police units have sealed off the shopping mall hoping to bring this shocking incident in one of the country's largest cities to a quick end. gun crimes are not uncommon in thailand. but a shooting on the scale by one man is something horribly new. jonathan head, bbc news, bangkok.

police have spoken to the 16—year—old schoolboy who was sent hundreds of social media messages by scotland's formerfinance secretary derek mackai. the snp policitian resigned on thursday. police scotland said it hadn't received any complaint of criminality but it was "assessing available information". donald trump has dismissed two senior officials who testified against him at his impeachment trial. the us envoy to the eu, gordon sondland, said he "was advised today that the president intended to recall him with immediate effect." just hours earlier, lt col alexander vindman, a top expert on ukraine, was escorted from the white house. the department for work and pensions says it's "working urgently" to make improvements after a report raised concerns about the number of suicides linked to problems with benefit claims. the national audit office says 69 cases have been investigated in the past six years, but warns that the true number is likely to be much higher. helena wilkinson is here with me.

on what basis and what can you tell us about the report? this report looked at how the department investigates suicides by benefit claimants. we can now reveal the government looked at 69 cases over the past six years but i think crucially but this report also warns is that the number of cases where claimants had taken their own lives may be much higher, it has criticised the department for the way it investigates benefit —related deaths, it says there are unclear structures within the department, so staff don't know when to investigate and that may in turn have stopped being debts from being reported. it said until recently it has failed to actively seek information from coroners and families. we had a statement from a government spokesperson saying the department was urgently working to drive forward improvements and learn the lessons from what it called these

tragic cases. obviously this is very concerning for any family to have been affected. no doubt, thank you. a group of senior conservatives have written to tory mps raising concerns about the government's decision to give the chinese firm huawei a role in the uk's 5g network. the government says the decision was taken following a "rigorous" review — and huawei's involvement in 5g would be limited. our political correspondent jessica parker is in westminster for us — what are their concerns? we already knew that conservative mps, a number of them were unhappy at the situation, that this 0 signatories include four former cabinet ministers marked a wrapping up cabinet ministers marked a wrapping upa cabinet ministers marked a wrapping up a reference to try get good government to change his mind. wire has always rejected claims that is too close to the chinese government but in this letter the mps called for so—called high—risk offenders to be rolled out tilt out of the network. ministers say there has been a market failure to produce alternatives and that huawei will have a limited role in non—core

parts of the network. if there is a headache at home then there is a headache at home then there is a headache abroad as well. the us administrative continues to make its unhappy is clear. the vice president mike pence yesterday talking about the country's prevents a point of the country's prevents a point of the situation, so if 5g seems like a better than if aerial issue it brings home some very real issues for the government. boris johnson's desire to boost the country's infrastructure and debate about protecting the country public and people's privacy and of course that hoped for postbag is a trade deal with america. thank you. voters in ireland are voting in a general election today. the country has been governed by coalitions for the past thirty years and there are likely to be fresh coalition negotiations between parties after the result is declared. counting takes place tomorrow. women now hold a third of board positions in the uk's hundred biggest public companies. the figure is up from just 12% a decade ago. but a government—backed review still highlights a lack of women in senior and executive roles. katy austin reports.

my name is francesca ecsery. i sit on the boards of several companies, including air france, and f&c investment trust. even with francesca's background as a successful business leader, getting her first boardroom position was tough. it's an area where often men still hugely outnumber women. change is painful. there is a huge value attributed to chemistry on the board, and of course, chemistry you have mainly with people like you. she says boards that don't have enough women are putting themselves at a disadvantage. basically it doesn't reflect your customer base, it doesn't reflect society at large, it doesn't reflect your staff. the government has backed voluntary targets to increase the representation of women on the boards of the biggest listed companies in the country to 33%, or one in three, by the end of this year.

it's february and that target has now been achieved for the top 100 companies, but not yet for the next 250, and it's far from job done. i think 33% is a very good start but as we can see and we know, there are still many issues in the workplace to address and we have a lot further to go before we see, really, a good gender balance in the leadership of british business. francesca welcomes the latest boardroom target being hit, but she worries getting enough women at the top table remains a long way off. katy austin, bbc news. in the rugby six nations, ireland have made a strong start against wales, thanks to jordan larmour who scored the opening try. ireland lead currently 19—7. and england will take on scotland later this afternon in the calcutta cup. in football, in the first of two premier league matches today, a stunning goalfrom richarlison helped everton beat crystal palace 3—1, sending them up to seventh in the table. meanwhile brighton will take

on watford later at home. we're back with the late news at quarter past ten. now on bbc one it's time for the news where you are. goodbye.

hello. this is bbc news with shaun ley. hollywood is gearing up for its biggest night of the year tomorrow — the academy awards. but if you need an antidote to all that back—slapping, the nominations for the razzies have just been announced. they're the "anti—oscars" for the worst movies — and the film cats and rambo last blood are the films leading the way for this dubious honour. earlier my colleague geeta gurumurthy spoke to samdro monetti —

editor in chief of hollywood international filmmaker magazine. cats was a load of old hairballs. the problem is that it was never going to work from the first second we saw the trailer. now, judi dench has won so many awards in her career, but the razzie is certainly one she doesn't want to win. she is nominated for worst supporting actress, where her competition includes cats co—star rebel wilson. so, could judi dench, queen of the oscars, be taking home a golden raspberry award ? i think so. what a low point. i love it. how are these decided? are they necessarily by film experts? do people even have to watch the movie to vote for these? well, we are not exactly film experts. to get membership of the academy, which votes for the oscars, you need to have a significant body of acclaimed work over a number of years.

to join the golden raspberry academy, you need to send a cheque for $a0, no questions asked, and you get a voting form. so that is the great decision making process. do some of the winners actually enjoy the attention on the grounds of any attention is good? no. they avoid it like the plague, although halle berry was a good sport, she actually turned up when she won, i think in 200a, worst actress for catwoman. and sandra bullock, when she won worst actress for all about steve, remember that one? no. she turned up. but i don't thinkjudi dench will be making her way to the ceremony to pick up the award for cats somehow. cats was a total disaster. it cost $95 million to make, it didn't come close to making

that back and in a week where we celebrate the best of films there is little argument that cats is the worst and i'm sure the golden raspberries will crown it, or dump it, as the very worst of a bad bunch. what do the lucky winners get? oh, they get a trophy, which is a plastic raspberry on a wooden plinth and it's said to have a value of £a.50. sandro linetty, proof that all publicity is good publicity, at least in hollywood. time for a look at the weather with susan powell. hello. wherever you are and whatever your plans in the next 2a hours, there is a good chance storm ciara is going to have something to say about it. severe gales anticipated across the breadth of the uk. disruption expected to transport. the winds possibly even causing risk to life, branches down. and some significant coastal flooding possible to the south and

west of the uk. it doesn't look like much on the satellite picture currently. another front comes in the north—west, tending to stall across parts of northern britain, producing some pretty high rainfall totals. the wind is already started to strengthen as we look at the evening to come. to strengthen as we look notice how the rain doesn't really move from southern scotland and cumbria, up to a0 millimetres possible for some spots here, and gales overnight to the north and west of the uk. rain into almost all areas by the time we get into sunday morning, perhaps a little snow for the north of scotland, but perhaps the far north, though, getting the best of any dry or brighter weather first thing on sunday. but here's the area of low pressure that is storm ciara. notice how the isobar strength across the length and breadth of the uk. you're not safe from the strong winds anywhere. we are anticipating 60—80 mph gust of wind just about anywhere, and for a central swathe of scotland later in the day, those wins could peak at up to 85 mph.

it will be windy throughout the day, there will be a spell of heavy rain first thing, squally showers with the hail and thunderfollowing on behind, and notice how the isobars squeeze through the evening. it is that period, a—6 pm where we could get exceptionally strong winds in what would be an already very windy day. elsewhere, of course, a windy story as well, a band of rain clears through the morning but then plenty of showers for behind. localised flooding, coastal flooding due to high tides and the strength of the wind, and the damaging wind, the big thing to factor in for your day. it could mean disruption to transport, and power cuts and potentially as i said could even mean a risk to life. the outlook for monday and tuesday remains very windy as well, perhaps something a little quieter by midweek.

this is bbc news. i'm shaun ley. the headlines at four: 20 people are reported to have been shot dead and several others wounded in a mass shooting in north east thailand. the situation is ongoing and the suspect, a soldier, is still at large. five british people including a child have tested positive for the coronavirus at a ski resort in france. six senior conservatives write to tory mps to raise concerns about the government's decision to allow huawei to help build the uk's 5g network. why would you want to build into your system an organisation that remains a threat? i don't know of anywhere else in the world that would do that. officials working on boris johnson's pledge to recruit an extra 20,000 police officers say that they'll actually need to take on more than 50,000

as many are set to leave.