this. good afternoon. storm ciara is battering the length and breadth of the uk causing widespread travel disruption. winds of up to 90 mph are predicted to hit some areas and there are more than 200 flood warnings in place, meaning immediate action is required, with one severe warning, meaning a danger to life, in place near pately bridge in north yorkshire. the whole of the uk is under either a yellow or amber weather warning for wind, meaning more disruption to travel and power lines is likely. with more, here's our

correspondent helena wilkinson. this is blackpool, one of the coastal areas bearing the brunt of storm ciara. severe gales and heavy rain are sweeping across the country, causing difficult and sometimes dangerous conditions. this is as close as i am going to get, behind the building, so it is up to everybody, really, they know they are limitations. it is crazy, isn't it? i feel like the abominable snow women in all of theirs. it is amazing. it is coming over the promenade. you do not get too close. heed the warnings. aberystwyth in wales has been battered by the storm. wales has been hit by the strongest went so far. it is a similar picture in dover and ferry services have been suspended as large waves make it impossible to travel. in west yorkshire, sirens

dating back to world war ii were of flooding, with the reverse swelling, like this one in cumbria. strong whence have uprooted trees. this is a near miss in essex. the storm has caused severe disruption on the railway network with speed restrictions across much of the country. airlines have also cancelled dozens of domestic and international flights. cancelled dozens of domestic and international flightsli cancelled dozens of domestic and internationalflights. i have never seen an amber warning this large which shows how widespread the impacts are going to be due to storm ciara as we go through today but it is not just ciara as we go through today but it is notjust the wind, it is also heavy rain. in excess of 100 millimetres already. that amount of rain has made flooding inevitable and fire crews have been called out to rescue stranded motorists, but it's not all bad news. these windsurfers seem to be making the most of the severe weather which is forecast to last for the rest of the

day. in a moment we'll hear from simonjones in dover, but first let's speak to tomos morgan in a very wet aberystwyth. have you seen the worst of it yet? it has been horrendous here today. the whence have been ravaging the sea defences over the whole coast of aberystwyth town centre. just north of here we have had gusts of over 90 mph, 93 mph and one village. 1000 mph, 93 mph and one village.1000 homes without power in mid wales and one village in north wales has been hit by severe flooding, three to four feet of hit by severe flooding, three to fourfeet of rain, and a number of welsh rugby fans are stranded in the irish capital after watching the six nations game yesterday as ferries and flights have been delayed and some cancelled due to the storm that has been ravaging the uk. as you mentioned that amber warning for wind remains in place across the

rest of the day with heavy rain expected to cover the rest of the uk. here in dover there is only one word to describe the weather and thatis word to describe the weather and that is grim. at times the gusts are so that is grim. at times the gusts are so strong you that is grim. at times the gusts are so strong you are that is grim. at times the gusts are so strong you are almost blown off your feet and in the past few minutes we have had lashing rain to throw into the mix as well and with waves like this it is hardly surprising at around ten en they took the decision to effectively close the port of dover to ferries because it was so dangerous. problems on the roads with trees coming down and also on the railway network. here in kent we have had trees down stopping trains, one train hita trees down stopping trains, one train hit a drainpipe and we had a trampoline blown onto the railway line near sevenoaks trampoline blown onto the railway line near sevenoa ks causing trampoline blown onto the railway line near sevenoaks causing a temporary halt to services. the warning is best where there is going to continue for the rest of the day and the advice is to stay on if you

can. thank you. a further patient has tested positive for coronavirus in england, bringing the total number of cases in the uk to four. it comes as a flight carrying british nationals home from china has returned to the uk. the passengers have been taken to a conference centre in milton keynes where they will be placed in quarantine for 1h days. jon donnison reports. the latest british victim is now being treated at the royal free hospital in north london. they a p pa re ntly hospital in north london. they a ppa re ntly ta ke hospital in north london. they apparently take the virus up in france from another british person already confirmed as infected. this morning the last uk evacuation flight morning the last uk evacuation flight out of the chinese city of wuhan, the epicentre of the virus, touched down at raf brize norton carrying around 200 british and foreign nationals. we have not got everybody out. unfortunately two people felt the temperature checks early this morning and they have had

to go back into wuhan. a convoy of buses transported those british citizens who need it back to our hotel and conference centre in milton keynes. 0ut hotel and conference centre in milton keynes. out of china but still not in the clear. we understand there are about 150 passengers on these coaches who have now been evacuated from wuhan. all of them are for the moment in good health. this will be their home for the next two weeks, where they will be kept in isolation. the coronavirus has now killed more than 800 people, surpassing the number of people who died from sars in 2003. more than 37,000 people are known to be affected across the globe, a figure that continues to rise sharply. the question remains as to whether we are in a live phase and the rate of infection may pick up or whether we are seeing more what is the natural history of the disease and it is too early to tell, but it

is why these clusters are very u nfortu nate is why these clusters are very unfortunate so we feel particularly sorry forfamilies unfortunate so we feel particularly sorry for families who get caught up in this. it is a very frightening time. those in quarantine in the uk face an anxious wait but globally there is no sense the coronavirus crisis is anywhere near to an end. 100 people in quarantine in milton keynes. that is on top of 100 people still in isolation on the world and news this morning from the author that a british man has tested positive for coronavirus. his wife and two daughters have been given the all clear. john, thank you very much. votes are being counted in ireland following the country's general election yesterday. an exit poll last night suggested the fine gael party — led by the prime minister leo varadkar — is neck and neck with two opposition parties, fianna fail and sinn fein. hollywood stars will be on the red carpet

tonight for the oscars. the world war one epic 1917 and south korea's parasite are the frontrunners to be named best picture. but much of the build—up has been dominated by criticism over the lack of diversity. sophie long looks at what we can expect. you have a brother in the 2nd battalion? yes, sir. 1917, sir sam mendes' unblinking vision of war, is a frontrunner for best picture. mendes has been nominated for best director. his competition comes from quentin tarantino for his love letter to los angeles in the ‘60s, once upon a time in hollywood. parasite a dark and violent look at south korean class. and todd phillips for his controversial dark thrillerjoker, which leads the pack with 11 nominations, including best actor this is meg, amy, beth and jo.

the line—up for best director is all male, something that has not gone unnoticed. to see my beloved greta gerwig make money at the box office with a film entitled little women is enormously fantastic news and may mean more than any accolade could mean in terms of women in this industry. but cynthia erivo is the only person of colour to have been nominated in any of the four main acting categories for her performance in harriet. there will always be some controversy surrounding 0scar nominations but on sunday night there will be a massive celebration of film and fashion as this part of hollywood boulevard is transformed into one of the biggest catwalks in the whole of the world. sophie long, bbc news, hollywood. you can see more on all of today's stories on the bbc news channel. the next news on bbc one is at quarter to six, bye for now.

hello. you're watching the bbc news channel. the uk is facing a day of disruption as storm ciara sweeps in, bringing damaging winds and widespread heavy rain. flights, ferries and train services are all disrupted, while dozens of outdoor events have been abandoned. the met office has issued an amber warning for wind across england and wales until nine o'clock tonight, with gusts up to 80mph expected to batter coasts and hills. scotland has had the worst of the torrential rain, with more than ten centimetres of rainfall already recorded over higher ground. more than 260 flood warnings are in place across the country, with the risk of communities being cut off by impassable roads.

the severe weather is causing disruption to travel, with dozens of flights cancelled at heathrow and gatwick. ten train companies are urging passengers not to travel at all, with many others operating a reduced service. network rail has imposed a 50mph speed limit on all routes nationwide, meaning delays are likely even where services are running. the port of dover is closed to all shipping and many irish sea crossings are also cancelled. in kent, the dartford crossing is closed. while the humber bridge in yorkshire has closed to high—sided vehicles and could close to all traffic. 25,000 runners due to take part in the london winter 10k run were told it would not go ahead. manchester city's premier league game at home to west ham

was postponed due to "extreme and escalating weather conditions", while all six of today's women's super league matches are also postponed. and london's eight royal parks have been closed, including hyde park and regent's park. in kendal in cumbria, the river kent has become a raging torrent, bursting its banks in a number of places. the environment agency are urging people to avoid low lying footpaths near the river. in teddington...

under its own steam, looking like a boat rather than a trailer. there is a lot of those sorts of pictures coming into us from all over the country. very grateful to viewers who are sending them into us. there has just been an update which has come into me about the hull bridge. the hull bridge is currently closed to all traffic and pedestrians, due to all traffic and pedestrians, due to storm conditions, it says, you are advised to avoid the area. our local radio station will have more on that. worth checking online as well. alex burkill is a meteorologist at the met office in exeter. he told me more about the storm. it's covering the whole of the uk, we do have a yellow warning which covers everywhere across the whole of the uk and a very large amber warning as well, and that's where we are most likely to see the really significant impact from the very strong winds. i've never seen an amber warning this large, which just goes to show how widespread the impacts are going to be due to storm ciara, as we go through today.

but it's notjust the winds, it's also heavy rain. we've seen in excess of 100 millimetres already over some parts of northern england and north wales. that's leading to some flooding, so, we've got very strong winds and also this heavy rain as well. how unusual is a storm like this? so, it's not that unusual for us to get deep areas of low pressure coming in from the atlantic, which is what we've got at the moment. so far this winter season, we haven't had a huge amount hitting the uk. so, this is a little bit different to what we've had so far. but what's unusual perhaps is how widespread the impacts are going to be, and also it's worth noting how strong the jet stream has been, and it that that's been causing the energy, or giving the momentum, to this low pressure. we've had a jet stream of around 250mph—260mph over in the atlantic, and that's why it's so unsettled and unstable across uk at the moment. and how long is it going to be with us? so, storm ciara is going to last through much of today, really. we are going to see very strong winds.

it's worth noting that as some bands of rain sweep across the country, it's notjust coastal parts that are likely to see gusts of around 70mph to 80mph. but even inland areas, which don't usually see those strengths of wind. so, anywhere could get very strong winds. but after today, it will clear away. however there's further windy weather coming in. we are going to see some wintry showers across parts of scotland in particular, but also some other northern areas, and perhaps feeding a little bit further south as we go into the new working week. so, that brings different hazards. we are likely to see some hail, some lightning, some thunder, but also the risk of some sleet and snow building up over the higher ground, particularly towards the north. you can keep up to date with the changing weather developments in your area today — just head to your local bbc radio station, and of course, the bbc news website. a british man who was in quarantine majorca, suspected of having coronavirus,

has now been confirmed as having the disease. 0ur correspondent in madrid, guy hedgecoe, gave us this update on the case in majorca. well, earlier this morning, a plane carrying british nationals home from the coronavirus—hit city of wuhan landed at raf the tests were sent off to madrid and this morning we heard that he has tested positive for, the vinous but his wife and two daughters have tested negative. a thai soldier who carried out a mass shooting has been killed by security forces. 26 people are known to have been killed in the attack and 57 others wounded.

officials say that the gunman shot a colonel at an army barracks and stole weapons before opening fire in a buddhist temple and a shopping centre in the city. aaron safir has the latest. a 15—hour stand—off finally over. thai security forces emerged from the terminal 21 shopping centre in nakhon ratchasima. a lone gunman shot dead, but not before he took many lives. for a long time, it was not clear how this stand—off would end. hundreds of people enjoying a weekend shopping managed to escape the rampaging gunman. but an earlier attempt to flush him out failed, with one member of the security forces killed. inside, people ran and hid wherever they could, as news of the attack spread. translation: i saw the security guard officials and a motorcycle taxi driver running for shelter.

i didn't know what was going on, and then i heard people shouting, "they're shooting, there's a shooting." police have identified the gunman as 32—year—old jakraphanth thomma, a junior army officer. he was caught on cctv at the shopping mall, moving with an eerie calm. but his rampage began elsewhere, at an army base, where he killed two people, including his commanding officer. he also stocked up on weapons and ammunition. and in the early hours of the attack he posted messages on facebook saying, "death is inevitable for everyone," and at one point asking, "should i give up?" the posts were quickly taken down, but not before they could be seen by people in the area, who are struggling to make sense of what they witnessed. there were bodies in the street, there were cars with bullet holes in them. and very graphic images on social media that were luckily taken down, but very graphic.

thailand has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in the world, but a mass shooting like this is something shocking and new for the country. with the shooting now over, questions will be asked about what motivated the attacker and how to prevent something like this happening again. aaron safir, bbc news. the former speaker of the house of commonsjohn bercow has told the bbc he believes there is a "concerted campaign" to stop him from entering the house of lords. it is tradition for former speakers to be offered a place in the upper chamber, but mr bercow has come under fire from critics and faces allegations of bullying, which he denies. the former speaker has been talking to the bbc‘s paddy o'connell. do you think there is a conspiracy to stop bercow going to the other place? oh, yes, there's no doubt about that, that's absolutely blindingly obvious, it's a point in fact that is so obvious that only an extraordinarily clever and sophisticated person could fail to grasp it. so, it's over, for the lords, for you? i didn't say that. you ask me weather there was a concerted campaign,

weather there was a conspiracy, weather there was an organised effort, and i said it is blindingly obvious that that is so. as to what the outcome will be, well, we shall have to see. there is no entitlement to go to the upper house, every speaker for the last couple of hundred years has been invited to do so, but there is no entitlement. we shall have to see what happens. what i'm focused on is getting my messages across in the book about the experiences that i had and the lessons that i've learned and the fun that i enjoyed, and i'm looking forward to earning a living, having some fun and doing some good. voters in switzerland will decide whether it should be made illegal to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or identity today. racial and religious predjudice is already illegal, but the country has no laws to protect the lgbt community. there's opposition from some, who say the proposal could lead to censorship, but early projections show that nearly two thirds of voters have voted to back the new law.

australia's largest city, sydney, is bracing for its biggest rainfall levels in more than two decades. the downpours have caused flooding and power cuts, but have provided relief for bushfire—hit regions and farmers affected by a long drought. from sydney, phil mercer reports. this is a land of extremes. some towns in eastern australia have gone from drought to flood in a day, as heavy rain has fallen in new south wales and parts of queensland. some drought hit farmers have had their best rainfall in a decade. some drought—hit farmers have had their best rainfall in a decade. sydney is anticipating its heaviest downpours since the late 19905. roads have been turned into rivers. the authorities have warned of life—threatening flash flooding. the deluge is helping a marathon firefighting effort. a huge bushfire south of sydney that burned for more than 70 days and destroyed 300 homes has finally

been put out. what a wonderful welcome the rainfall has been in the last couple of days, and the good news is come and the good news is, there is a forecast for the rain to continue and particularly spread across south—eastern new south wales, where our fires continue to burn and present challenges for firefighters and all those being impacted by the fire. those being impacted by the fires. in western australia, the cleanup continues after a tropical cyclone across the state's north—western coastline, bringing destructive winds and torrential wing. winds and torrential rainfall. the storm is weakening, but weather forecasters say it is still producing a lot of rain. one of the big concerns for our region at the moment is that information that it is talking another 25 millimetres to 50 millimetres this afternoon in the region, and more rain tomorrow. so, if that rain is to occur, we are certainly looking at a big impact on our region and our council and local disaster management group is doing everything in our powers to be prepared for that impact.

in the south east, more rain is forecast. the hope is that many of the fires that have terrorised australia will finally be extinguished. phil mercer, bbc news, sydney. sport and for a full round—up from the bbc sport centre, here's holly. england are chasing a target of 257 to win the third and final one day international in south africa. adil rasheed starred with the ball, taking three wickets, while saqib mahmood marked his international debut by removing reeza hendricks. jonny bairstow got england off to a flying start with 43 off 23 balls. but he and jason roy went out in quick succession — england now 86 for three. england must win the game to level the series at 1—1. england's women are out of the t20 tri—nation series in australia, after losing by 16 runs to the home side. england bowled well, restricting australia to 132—7 from their 20 overs.

but they couldn't produce a good performance with the bat, finishing on 116—7. it's not the best preparation for the t20 world cup for england, who only have three more games before their first match on 23rd march. manchester city's premier league match against west ham has been called off because of storm ciara, which is affecting numerous sporting fixtures today, although sheffield united against bournemouth is set to go ahead. all six women's super league games have been postponed, including the merseyside derby at goodison park and the women's six nations match between scotland and england is also off, as well as race meetings and both super league fixtures. there's a full list of games affected on the website. and the situation is changing all the time so do check before you travel. there is one football match under way — bsc glasgow of the lowland league are fighting back against hibernian in the fifth round of the scottish cup. they went 2—0 down

after marc mcnulty struck twice but they've got a goal back through ross smith. they have about 25 minutes to play. celtic are away to league one clyde later, with the draw for the quarterfinals straight after that. scotland fly—half finn russell says it's not possible for him to be in the squad at the moment, due to his differences with head coach gregor townsend. russell has missed both of scotland's six nations matches this month after a breach of discipline on a night out, when he wanted to carry on drinking after the players had reached their agreed two—beer limit. speaking to the sunday times, he says he doesn't have a relationship with townsend, and the pair have clashed a lot. he insists he's only challenged the coaches' methods because he wants the best for the side. great britain's ice hockey team are back in action later, as they bid to reach the winter olympics for the first time since 19118. they thrashed estonia 7—1 to go top of their group

in pre—qualifying for beijing 2022, so victory against hungary this evening would earn them a place in the final qualifiers in august. back to cricket now, and some of the game's biggest names came together in melbourne today, for the bushfire bash, in aid of the victims‘ relief fund. the appeal has so far raised around £400 million. two legends of the game, india's sachin tendulkar and west indies‘ brian lara, were among the players, with the sides led by former australia captains adam gilchrist and ricky ponting, who took time to play with some youngsters. tendulkar, the highest test run scorer of all time, was delighted to see so much support. i had a throwdown session yesterday at the mcg, and while chatting, i told her that one thing i can guarantee, i said to elise perry, i can see the ball. i'm not sure whether i will be able to hit it or not! i have not had many sessions, but it is just nice that we will all

be here to raise money. the amount is not at all disappointing. it's amazing, i know in australia, any sort of occurrences like what happened, people do come together in solidarity, and in the country areas in australia, people are fighting to put their lives back together. the ones who are fortunate here can come out and support. that's all the sport for now. before we have a look at the weather on this stormy day, let's have a quick look at one of the more common casualties of the storm — trampolines. the back garden favourites have fallen victim to the winds today, many around the country have lost or gained a trampoline as wind gusts of up to 70 miles an hour have turned them in to giant sails. turned them into giant sails.

this last one stopping train services between sevenoa ks and orpington. network rail say it has now been moved and services have resumed. now it's time for a look at the weather with susan powell. where in the country has really seen the worst of it, susan? for once, quite interestingly, just about everywhere getting a real battering from the weather. normally it seems to be the northern half of the southern half of the country that separates things out, but this storm isa separates things out, but this storm is a big area of low pressure and it is a big area of low pressure and it isa is a big area of low pressure and it is a very deep area of low pressure. at the moment, the amber warning only sits across england and wales for the strong winds, but actually we are seeing equivalent and potentially worse conditions to come actually later on across scotland. so it is basically wherever you are today, the chances are, storm ciara

is going to have something today about your plans. the speed of these winds even pushed a ba flight from new york to get to london and our faster than normal, it is that powerful? if you look at the graphics, i have not got a graphic u nfortu nately now graphics, i have not got a graphic unfortunately now for the jet stream coming across as from the atlantic, it is like a high—speed motorway thatis it is like a high—speed motorway that is driving the systems across, and that is partly why when we start to look at our forecast for the week ahead that actually, even though storm ciara clears off, the strong winds don't, so, no good news really in terms of the winds in the next couple of days. we saw the picture of the trampoline, here is one of another battering from the waves. just too complicated things, last night before the cloud came in, it was a full moon, that means high tide and it means the waves get crashed onto the shore and can inundate the coasts. but also locally heavy rain is leading to pictures like this one in northumberland. numerous flood warnings in force across the uk, but

particularly one area of concern as we have a severe warning here. severe gales, take your pick, basically. the uk underneath this area of low pressure, we are all in for it in one form or another. the strongest winds still to come for some areas this afternoon, perhaps the peak will be across scotland this evening, it could get up to 85mph. my graphics appear to be going backwards, and that is really not helpful for you. but it doesn't really matter which way they go to day, the picture is pretty bleak. we have got a line of squally showers and for england and wales, that means the stronger winds to come to the south later on. for central scotland, and on we go through the evening, and storm ciara is off into scandinavia but the winds are still strong. the showers are turning white across scotland, northern england and northern ireland. colder air is flooding into the uk on what is still a