this is bbc news. i'm shaun ley. the headlines at six: 20 people are reported to have been shot dead and several others wounded in a mass shooting in northeast thailand. this is main suspect — a junior army officer, who killed his commanding officer before stealing weapons from a military camp. he is still at large. five british people, including a child, have tested positive for the coronavirus at a ski resort in france. six senior conservative mps 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 anyone else in the world that would do that.

0fficials working on borisjohnson‘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. adam hastings draws scotland level against england in the six nations. earlier, ireland beat wales. a soldier in thailand has gone on the rampage shooting dead at least 20 people. reports are that 31 people have been injured with ten being treated in hospital.

the gunman is believed to now be holed up in a shopping mall in the city of korat. it is after iam local time there. the sergeant—major began his attack by killing his commanding officer at an army barracks before stealing guns, ammunition and a military vehicle. 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 this man — a low ranking officer named jakraphanth thomma. these pictures were taken from his facebook page, on which he posted updates the rampage as it happened. it has since been taken down. jonathan head sent this report from bangkok. panic in a provincial shopping mall this as people realise there's 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 shot several other soldiers before reaching the mall. at one point, of his shots appeared to ignite a gas cylinder. the gunman has been identified as 32—year—old sergeant majorjakraphanth thomma. he took selfies of himself outside the mall and live—streamed parts of his attack on facebook before it was taken down, but his motives are not yet known. gun crimes are not uncommon in thailand, but a shooting on this scale is horribly new. jonathan said the death toll is almost certain to increase.

the extent of death and injury is shocking. the health minister has said 20 people have been killed. we think around 50 have been injured. some of those are very serious conditions. at this stage it looks like the police and army units that had surrounded the mall, some of those have now gone inside. there's been quite a lot more shooting in the last hour or two and we've seen lots of people who were trapped, shoppers trapped inside. it's a very, very large shopping mall so they would have been lots of people inside. a lot of places this gunman can hide and a lot of those people we re can hide and a lot of those people were pouring out as the security forces went in. the police are saying we have now actually taken control of most of the shopping mall. they say all of the floors above ground level would suggest that they believe he is in the basement and that's where they will concentrate now. we don't know whether he's got any hostages or any other people he's keeping down their oi’ other people he's keeping down their or how they are going to end this. clearly they want to end it as

quickly as possible. it started earlier in the afternoon when he killed a senior officer, possibly his commanding officer. that might have been some kind of personal dispute, we don't know, and the colonel's mother—in—law before moving on to take weapons and ammunition from an army base and ending up in this shopping mall but from what people have seen on his social media pages, he was live streaming these attacks at one point and posting selfies before facebook took them down. it's not clear what his motives are, there's no sense any ideological motive and i think until he is either caught or quite possibly killed and there is a full investigation, we won't know what caused this dreadful incident. they are dealing with a trained soldier, quite possibly someone who is trained in the sort of techniques that might help him in this situation, he is obviously a very dangerous man if he has killed at least 20 people. that's the amount of bodies they have found but they can know for certain how many people

have been attacked —— can't know. presumably they are throwing all the resources they can at this. the city itself, is a quite a populated part of thailand? it is, is the third—largest city in the country, it's the main hub in the northeast of thailand so a very busy place, a transport hub, and this particular shopping mall is right in the city centre and a very large, new shopping mall, very modern, so it would probably be one of the main places that people gather on a saturday evening. there would have been a lot of people there when they went in. that will be on the minds of the security forces. we believe they send units up from bangkok may have specialisation in tackling this sort of situation but it's actually something that's quite unfamiliar in thailand, none of us can remember alone shooting like this happening before so it's not something they would be used to handling. we don't know which units have gone in at this stage or how they are trying to do it but as you say, as a sergeant

major in the army, it's possible he is well trained. he has certainly been very ruthless in the use of his gunfire up until now. he doesn't appear to be particularly discriminating against two he shoots. no indication on his posts as to motive. it started with the killing of an officer but do we know anything more about him as an individual or are we literally, nobody was aware of him until this incident started? nothing more has come out except the most basic information that we are being given by police and what we have seen on his social media pages so i don't think of this —— at this stage it is pure guesswork. there was a sentence that referred to people getting rich and taking money so it's possible there was a financial problem or dispute that set off, but quite how that led to him deciding to take over a shopping mall and to open

fire on innocent band standers —— bystanders, that will come out in the investigation. it's obviously dark and there are limited opportunities to know what is going on. are the updates coming from the defence ministry frequently? the health ministry give an update on casualties but are we waiting to hear more from the defence ministry about what's going on at the shopping centre? i think they will give us information when they have it but they have urged people not to broadcast live pictures from the shopping centre itself. they say that it's so not to alert him but i think there is a sense of a news blackout, they want to control the situation and keep it in the hands of authorities and what they choose to tell us about how this goes, we don't know how many people are there with him and how difficult it's going to be for them to go and finally tackle him so there articles of information coming through, the police, the defence ministry, health ministry, different arms of the thai government are giving us basic facts

but, frankly, this came completely out of the blue. nothing much on social media to explain it. we are very much in the dark as to why it happened and at the moment we are still a dark —— the dark about how it's going to play out. if we get more from the unfolding drama in thailand, we will bring it to you here. 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 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 are 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 a 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 24 and 48 hours for the results but there will be announced as soon as possible. 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. 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 in just two weeks. there have now be a total

of 722 deaths in china 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. the third uk patient andy moore mentioned in his piece caught the coronavirus at a business conference in singapore. the event was held over three days in january at the grand hyatt hotel and organised by the british firm servomex. a number of the cases are now linked to people who were at that conference. they have subsequently travelled out of singapore but the company has given us this statement.

there are questions over when the world health organization will be able to get its own team into china. earlier i spoke to imogen foulkes, our correspondent in geneva, where the who is head—quartered. she told me the leader of that team will leave for china next week. the who would like someone from the united states centre for disease control would.

that is being discussed and will be awkward about that. —— and maybe china. but the who really wants to get that team in there, into wuhan and see on the ground exactly what's going on. do they have a sense of how widespread these contacts are likely to be? i was talking to someone at the who in africa and they said at that stage in africa, only two countries even had testing facilities. given the numbers of people travelling, they said it's very hard to know, until you get test equipment and kits out around the world, exactly where the cases can be identified. that's absolutely right and i think this is one of the reasons a couple of days ago the who launched this appeal for developing countries whose health systems may be weaker and don't have the infrastructure to deal with something like this

and the who is procuring itself things like face masks, testing kits, respiratory equipment to support those countries because there probably are lots of people infected with the coronavirus who just don't know it. on one side, you could say that's a good sign because maybe it's a virus that the vast majority of people don't feel very ill. at the same time, we have seen, in china, over 700 deaths and that is a worry, and over 3a,000 cases. the chinese authorities have said in the last hour, on the positive side, the rate of confirmed cases appears to have eased off. nobody can know until we get a longer period for certain what that means. they seem to believe they are containing it effectively. what is the who's view across the world, at least in terms of places we know

where there are cases? 0bviously europe, western europe, singpaore and the philippines. i think the who is also heartened a little bit by that apparent sign of stabilisation but the who director—general said an hour ago that you have to be really cautious about this because viruses can slow down and then really accelerate again. we don't know yet with this one. but i think more they see, the more they know and what we do see is that the cases outside china are very, very low. there are 288, i think, so far and i think one of the things that the who is really focusing on and medical experts around the world, are these so—called clusters. that business meeting in singapore and who was at it, who was infected, and who they infected after that. that is going to shed some really, really important light

on the nature of this virus, how easily it is transmitted and, also, as it spreads, how severe or mild its health impact actually is. the headlines on bbc news: 20 people are confirmed to have been shot dead and 31 others wounded in a mass shooting in northeast thailand. 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. let's return to our top story, the ongoing shooting in thailand. this is the scene outside the terminal 2i

shopping mall in the city of nakhon ratchasima, also known as korat. this is in the northeast of thailand, it's a large city according to our correspondent, the third largest in the country, and it's in this shopping mall that the gunman is believed to have hauled himself up. this is about nine hours after the attack began. security forces have blocked the streets and there is a news blackout for local media of any activity inside the shopping mall. they have done their best to get civilians out but it's an enormous shopping centre and they have been trying to clear it stage by stage. the last update we had from thailand suggested they have now cleared all the upper floors and they have, as our correspondent was saying, the ground floor and possibly basement and they have focused well beyond the basement of the building. it's now the middle of

the building. it's now the middle of the night, around 2:15am, possibly 1:15am, and at this time of night you would expect it to be empty but it would have been normally very busy on a saturday night, bars open until quite late, all of the escalators and things will have been switched off. presumably they want to keep it as well lit as they can to prevent this man from being able to prevent this man from being able to hide. we have an identity for this gunman because he was posting on social media on facebook. he was posting as it happened before the page was taken down. his name is jakrapha nth thomma. page was taken down. his name is jakraphanth thomma. he is said to be a sergeant major or low ranking officer. he reportedly shot dead his senior officer and then stole a vehicle, some ammunition and some weapons and headed first for a buddhist temple where there was some shooting and then onto the shopping centre. the soldier opened fire in

several places and according to the lieutenant colonel who speaks for the defence ministry, there are 20 corpses known to have been recovered. 31 people are injured inside the mall. ten of them are believed to be in hospital. some of the injuries are said to be very serious indeed. they don't know how long it's going to take to clear this. they are trying to take control of the building but they are still searching for the suspect. we'll bring you more on bbc news as it comes to us. 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. 0ur correspondent helena wilkinson gave us this update earlier. we can now reveal that the government looked at 69 cases

over the past six years, but i think crucially what this report also warns is that the number of cases where claimants have taken their own lives may be much higher. it's criticised the department for their way it investigates benefit—related deaths. it says that there are unclear structures within the department, so staff don't know when to investigate, and that may in turn have stopped other deaths from being reported. it also says until recently it's failed to actively seek information from coroners and families. well, we had a statement from a government spokesperson saying the department was urgently working to drive forward improvements, and learn the lessons of what it called these tragic cases. 0bviously, though, this is very concerning for any families who've been affected. 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 5g 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 5g 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. this was given to him after civil servants had driven this process very 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 5g but on 6g, 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. 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".

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. 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. 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. 0livia 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, 19 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 in its own right. there have been 13 rescues, flood rescues, which unfortunately 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. here, weather warnings have been issued across the uk, as storm ciara moves in from the atlantic. british airways have introduced rebooking options for customers on flights from london to europe tomorrow to reduce disruption. rail passengers are being urged to travel by train only if absolutely necessary. wind speeds are forecast to reach 80 miles—an—hour. and if you want to find out more about how storm ciara is affecting your area, tune into your local bbc radio station or head to the bbc news website. collea g u es colleagues will be monitoring the situation overnight. there is always a weather forecaster in the building.

now it's time for a look at the weather with susan powell. hello, whatever your plans, in the next 2a hours the chances are that the storm is going to have something to say about it. severe gales across the uk, disruption especially to transport. the winds possibly even causing life—threatening effects, branches down and some significant flooding possible to the south and west of the uk. it doesn't look like much from the satellite picture currently. we have another front coming in to the northwest to finish the day today. that will tend to stall across parts of northern britain, producing some high rainfall totals and the winds are already starting to strengthen as we look at the evening to come. the rain doesn't really move from southern scotland and cumbria, up to 40 southern scotland and cumbria, up to a0 millimetres possible for some spots and gales overnight to the north and west of the uk. i think rain into almost all areas by sunday morning, perhaps a little snow for the north of scotland, perhaps the

far north getting the best of any dry or brighter first thing on sunday but here is the area of low pressure that is the storm. notice how those tightly patch isobars and stretch all the way across the length and breadth of the uk. safe from the strong winds of the uk and anticipating gusts of 60 to 80 miles anticipating gusts of 60 to 80 miles an hour anywhere across england and wales and fog a central swathe of scotla nd wales and fog a central swathe of scotland later on in the day. the winds could peak at 85 miles an hour. it will be windy throughout the day for scotland and northern ireland. there will be a spell of heavy rain first thing, squally showers with hail and thunder behind but notice how the isobars squeeze through the evening. it is the period of apm till 6pm where we could get exceptionally strong winds in what will be an already windy day. elsewhere windy story. a band of rain cleared through during the morning but plenty of showers following behind. localised flooding, coastal flooding following behind. localised flooding, coastalflooding due high tides and this strength of the wind,

damaging wind the