this is bbc news. i'm shaun ley. the headlines at 11pm: the bbc has learned the high—speed rail link, hs2 will be given the go—ahead by the government, linking london to birmingham, manchester and leeds, with drastically cutjourney times. today we have our confirmation that we will build the railway that will close the north—south divide and bring our country together again. but opponents are angry at the cost, the damage to the environment, and the disruption to residents near the route. the front of your very eyes, you can see sort of treasured landscape disappearing. taxpayers' money would be far better spent on local, regional transport projects. four more cases of coronavirus are confirmed in the uk,one of them at a gp practice in brighton,

which has now been closed. a man is convicted of planning terror strikes on key london sites just over a year after being cleared of a sword attack outside buckingham palace. clearing up yet again — people across northern england are frustrated and angry as flood defences fail once more, this time due to storm ciara. and the oscar goes to... parasite! and the south korean film parasite makes history at the oscars by being the first foreign language film to win best picture. and at 11:30pm, we'll be taking an in—depth look at the papers with our reviewers nicola bartlett, political correspondent for the daily mirror, and asa bennett, brexit commissioning editor at the telegraph.

good evening. welcome to bbc news. bbc news can tonight confirm that the government will give the go—ahead to the whole of the controversial high—speed rail line hs2 rail link, which will link london to birmingham, manchester and leeds. an announcement is expected by the prime minister, borisjohnson, tomorrow. borisjohnson has faced bitter opposition, including from his own backbenches over the route, and the cost of this huge infrastructure project. the price, according to a leaked government review, could be £106 billion, that's three times its original budget. the news has been welcomed by some in the business community, but has infuriated people living near the proposed route. our transport correspondent tom burridge is in birmingham for us tonight. this has been a real dilemma for the prime minister. on the one hand, potentially £100 billion price tag, on the other, that promise to voters in the north of england and here in

the midlands that he would level things up. and that is why the green light on hs2 will come with a raft of other measures on transport spending. they've done a huge amount of work clearing this site behind me and that is one of the reasons why the government felt it had to keep going. this is what high speed two looks like today in solihull. tonight, confirmation that after months of wrangling and a budget which has ballooned, the project will proceed. the foundations for a new bridge over the m112 are going in here. they'll divert roads to make way for this railway. and this is the vision for that site — an interchange station with a shuttle service connecting to birmingham airport. it won't be ready for more than a decade, but the promise of better transport links in this area has already attracted investment. take this business park nearby.

we've bought this building and... that one over there? yes, and this building. the company laura works for snapped them up and refurbished them. our business has invested almost £20 million on two buildings... and hs2 was part of that decision. hs2 was definitely a factor in looking to buy these buildings. it's a big infrastructure project, and it's located — the station is located close to the buildings, so people will be able to get to them easily on public transport. a green light from government effectively means that construction work to build that first leg of the railway, linking london to birmingham, will begin relatively soon. birmingham to crewe will now also be considered as the first phase of the project. the government wants another review into the last stretch, linking crewe to manchester, and birmingham to leeds. the aim will be to cut costs and improve links to the existing rail network and other future projects.

but it will go ahead. it's not the news that rural communities along the route, like here in north warwickshire, wanted to hear. just along the road here, miles of hedgerows have been destroyed, trees have been chopped down, and many of the roads as well, and so in front of your very eyes you can see sort of, you know, treasured landscape disappearing. taxpayers' money would be far better spent on local, regional transport projects. in the north, i mean, they're crying out for it in the north. but tomorrow's announcement will include a series of other commitments to improve transport links, particularly in the midlands and the north of england, where poor, overcrowded services have been too often the norm. hsz hs2 decided the dust the conservative party. they have

announced £500 million extra spending on buses in wales and there will also be more money for improving cycling in towns and cities. not long ago were the conservatives the party of its territories, they are now selling themselves as the party of big transport spenders. that was tom burridge in birmingham. our political correspondent chris mason is at westminster. it isa it is a political gamble for the prime minister? it would have been biggerfor the prime minister to junk hs2 than it is to press ahead with it. he can present it as a pragmatic scepticism that he has had since he became prime minister. a proper examination of these costs but frankly have accelerated faster than the trains that will one day run on the hs2 tracks but ultimately, he is pressing ahead with it. it's worthwhile putting this in the context of forrest johnson's political instincts. he is a longtime lover of big infrastructure projects, one of which have an extended beyond

rhetoric, others of which haven't beenjunked after rhetoric, others of which haven't been junked after money has a ready been junked after money has a ready been spent on them. so he has talked today about a plan he is quite keen on, linking scotland and northern ireland with a bridge. he has talked before about linking england and france with a bridge. there was the garden bridge project in which money was spent and well, there are no lives and bricks to account for it. he also talked about for ages about the idea of a new airport for the south—east of england. boris island, it was dubbed, in the thames estuary. these things come with a huge attraction, don't they? they have potential transformative capacity on the economy and infrastructure, but also a political legacy built from steel and bricks that lasts much longer than any particular prime minister. but it would be associated with the person who said yes and pushed ahead. it's interesting seeing some of the papers tomorrow morning, improving

bus links for example, presumably, politically the great thing about thatis politically the great thing about that is he will be waiting for hs2 far after he ceases to be prime minister. these improvements could be delivered not just minister. these improvements could be delivered notjust in time for a general election but even in time for local elections in the spring. exactly. i think from mrjohnson‘s perspective there is no coincidence that these two announcements have been packaged up and presented together. you might think, well, if the government has got what it sees is good news about buses and b i cycles, is good news about buses and bicycles, then why not announce that ona bicycles, then why not announce that on a day when we're not talking about a big, snazzy intercity railway? the idea of packaging them together, plenty of sceptics of hs2 and many of the supporters, frankly, some of these new conservative mps in the north and midlands, winning seeds from labour, sometimes of the first time ever, i much more focused on day—to—day, less sexy but in the view of many constituents more important improvements, in terms of

how they get to work every morning at home every evening. as opposed to the trip to london you may take once every however long. and for plenty of people, how the other. hence this announcement, £5 billion going into bus and cycling facilities in and outside london. maybe making buses more frequent and often, making the faster route simpler. 250 miles of cycling routes to. lots of big plans, no detail, that is promised in the compounds of spending review a little later in the air. but to address your point, there is clearly an attempt to package these together given there still remains a lot of scepticism among the conservative benches about hs2. scepticism among the conservative benches about h52. chris, as you say, thank you and on your bike now. have a good journey home. laughter a gp practice in brighton was closed temporarily today, after a member of staff tested

positive for coronavirus. four new cases of the illness in the uk were confirmed this morning, bringing the total to eight. the government has moved to ensure that anyone in england who's in quarantine for the virus can't just leave, by declaring it a "serious and imminent threat to public health." here's our medical correspondent fergus walsh. this is not wuhan, but brighton, where an entire medical centre and pharmacy are being deep—cleaned after two local gps tested positive for the new coronavirus, along with two other people in brighton. it seems they were all infected in a ski chalet in france by a british businessman who had himself got infected in singapore. without realising he was contagious, he passed on the virus to around a dozen britons, all without going anywhere near china. the detection of this small number of cases could be the spark that becomes a biggerfire. but for now it's only a spark —

our objective remains containment. the longer this outbreak goes on, the more scientists are learning about the new coronavirus. latest estimates suggest it kills around one in 100 people who are infected. that compares with one in ten people who died from sars in 2003. yet even though the new coronavirus is much less deadly, the death toll has already exceeded that of sars — now more than 900, compared to 774 for sars. the reason is that this virus is so mild for huge numbers of people that, unlike sars, most of those affected never need hospital treatment, and this allows it to spread more effectively in the community. so how bad could it get if the virus starts spreading widely in the uk? well, it's very hard to know. but seasonal flu in england alone kills between 10,000 and 30,000 people each year, most, but not all, over the age of 65.

nearly 200 britons have been repatriated from wuhan since the end ofjanuary and are in quarantine in milton keynes and merseyside. at the weekend, one person threatened to leave from arrowe park hospital, so emergency regulations have been brought in, allowing forcible detention. but most seem happy with the conditions. there are all sorts of games available, we've obviously got tvs, we've got access to the internet, netflix, so all of these different things that are actually available to us do help to make this feel not like we're stuck in quarantine. in wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, the growth in new cases has started to slow. but it's too early to know whether this epidemic can be contained. president xijinping, shown having his temperature taken in beijing, promised total

warfare to beat the virus. this is one of the biggest challenges china has faced in decades, and the impact, both medical and economic, are being felt around the world. fergus walsh, bbc news. a man has been convicted of planning a terror attack in london, just over a year after he was cleared of attacking police with a sword outside buckingham palace. musa chowdhury, who's from luton, was arrested a few days before a gay pride parade in london last summer. he'll be sentenced at a later date. here's june kelly. a summer evening, and a security alert, right outside buckingham palace. musa chowdhury has pulled up and is armed with a sword. he injures two officers, shouting "allahu akbar" — "god is greatest". at his original trial, chowdhury claimed this was a suicide attempt. he said he wanted the police to kill him.

he was found not guilty of planning a terror attack. chowdhury lived here in luton with his family. within days of being cleared by a jury over what had happened at buckingham palace, he was on the internet and social media, showing an extremist mindset. he quickly became the target of an undercover operation, involving the police and the security service, m15. listening devices were planted in his home and in his car. over a six—month operation, officers were wired and secretly recording chowdhury. they had gone into the takeaway where he worked, posing as customers, and befriended him. he divulged to them how he'd lied to the jury at his first trial and was trying to carry out a terror attack at buckingham palace, and he outlined his plans to do it again. he talked of a van attack at the gay pride parade in london. his other potential targets were tourist attractions in the capital, including

madame tussauds. musa chowdhury is an exceptionally dangerous individual. the evidence in this trial demonstrated his clear intention to murder as many people as he could and potentially to die in that attempt. he had made a list of his priorities for his life after death in paradise. at number seven was meeting allah. number two was meeting all wives, and naming and choosing the main two. so anything you want to ask, i can answer it honestly. he was arrested a few days before the pride parade, because it was feared he would attack it. because there's no attack planning at all. right, 0k. i've already been in prison. i do not want to go back there. at his home, police found a knife under his mattress. there were also two training swords. they'd been bought from the bank account of his younger sister, sneha chowdhury. he was recorded telling her he needs to practise decapitation techniques. she has now been found guilty

of failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism. musa chowdury, the extremist who bragged about beating the system, has now been brought tojustice. so too has his sister, who did nothing to stop his murderous plan. june kelly, bbc news, at woolwich crown court. the headlines on bbc news: the bbc has learned the high—speed rail link, hs2, will be given the go—ahead by the government, linking london to birmingham, manchester and leeds, with drastically cutjourney times. a gp practice in brighton has been closed temporarily, after a member of staff there tested positive for coronavirus. eight people in the uk have now been infected. an islamist extremist who had been cleared of plotting a sword attack on police officers is now convicted of planning to target london tourist hotspots. a 58—year—old man has died in hampshire after a tree fell

on his carduring, storm ciara yesterday. weather warnings remain in place around the country, with strong winds and flooding causing further travel delays. in the worst—affected places, a clear—up operation has been going on all day. our correspondent danny savage is in york this evening. yet again, the towns and villages of calderdale in west yorkshire are clearing up after a flood. it's the third time in less than a decade that mytholmroyd has been swamped, and people are angry. the whole thing, all that, right back as far as you can see, was a lake yesterday. roger barr has now seen his house destroyed twice. no—one has ever knocked my door in seven years, to come and see what's happening. i've had to buy another house, same size but higher up. and i don't know what's going to happen with this. so you just feel abandoned by the authorities? abandoned, yeah! new flood defences are being built here, but they were no good yesterday.

so a decision now has to be made whetherjust to check everything out so a decision now has to be made whetherjust to chuck everything out or to try and clean up and salvage. you can see how the water came up to this level... the same family has run this hardware store for 30 years, but this weekend was the final straw. we were on camera in 2015, and we said that, if it ever happened again, we were going to call it a day. and we're going to call it a day. it's notjust a little bit of a mess you've got to clean up. it's the walls want drying, everything's... i'm just so mad, it's...annoying. nikki morris's house merged with the neighbouring river and canal. she filmed this from her front door. today she's resigned to another lengthy clear—up. i hate it being here now, at this very moment in time, i don't want to be here at all. i've got my house up for sale, i have done for a few months, but that's not going

to happen now, is it? further south in hampshire, a 58—year—old man was killed when a tree fell on his car on the a33. many train services were cancelled. this was glasgow central station, where the west coast main line only reopened late this afternoon. numerous other train operators reported problems caused by the weather. whoa! in the borders, this 200—year—old guesthouse in hawick collapsed into the river. and this lorry went over on the severn bridge, closing the link to and from wales to all traffic. back in hebden bridge, the full extent of the damage could be seen from the air. the problem here is that people have lost all faith in the authorities to defend this valley from floods. danny savage, bbc news, west yorkshire. there've been legal challenges at the high court, in a last—minute bid to stop the deportation of 50 people

from the uk to jamaica. the government says they're dangerous criminals, but campaigners, including more than 170 mps, say some of them came to the uk as children, and have no memory of their country of birth. our reporter adina campbell has been at the high court this evening. she gave us the latest developments. it is still not clear if this flight will be going ahead tomorrow. they have been reports it has been cancelled but we have received a statement from the home office saying active legal proceedings are still in place. earlier this evening we saw a sealed document here at the high court showing that some of the legal applications had been refused to stop however, this evening there have been reported by one human rights group saying that some of the deportees will not leave the uk tomorrow because of problems accessing a working mobile phone and are therefore not being able to obtain legal advice. this flight tomorrow is scheduled to leave at

6:30am carrying dozens of people from the uk back to jamaica. it has caused widespread practice including one practice outside downing street earlier this evening. but the home office has been very clear, they say this latest group of deportees are serious criminals, convicted of crimes such as rape, manslaughter and class a drug dealing. sinn fein says early results from ireland's general election are a "revolution in the ballot box", after it topped the poll, ahead of the two parties which have dominated the country's politics for decades. the left wing republican party won the most first preference votes in ireland's proportional voting system, but it's still unclear how a government will take shape, as emma vardy reports. something new has swept through ireland. voters flocking to sinn fein in greater numbers than anyone predicted. a party followed by the shadows of its past, now appealing to younger voters looking at their future.

in mary lou mcdonald's dublin constituency, the leader of sinn fein, the cost of living is sky—high. it's impossible. like, i'm just over 30. out of my friend group, one person has a house. for daniel, who converted a garage to afford a place to live, the sinn fein breakthrough is a welcome change. in a city with a housing crisis, the party promised rent freezes and more homes. most people pay an exorbitant amount of rent. they've no prospect of living in the city or within an hour of the city, and i think that has been the real failure of politics in the last 20 years in ireland. do you think the image of sinn fein is changing? yeah, like, they don't shy away from the fact they were involved in the conflict in northern ireland. that now is in the distant past for most young people, you know? it's not something that's in most people's memories if they're under 30. as no—one has a majority, some form of coalition will have to be agreed.

if anybody imagines this issue can be wished away or we can carry on regardless, they are very, very foolish and, in fact, i would go suffice to say it is irresponsible now not to plan for constitutional transition. but ireland has many voters who could never have envisaged this outcome. absolutely disgusted they're getting in. it's their philosophy, their whole philosophy — the republicanism and the violence that went behind it. last night, triumphant sinn fein supporters caused controversy at a count centre, celebrating their electoral success with an old rebel song synonymous with the ira. sing: # tell them how the ira made you run like hell away...# nearly all the seats now declared, the current irish prime minister, leo varadkar‘s party projected to have been pushed into third place. it's highly likely ireland will have a new leader in future, but who it will be is unclear.

after ireland's political storm, it may take weeks to settle on a way ahead. emma vardy, bbc news, dublin. history was made at the oscars last night where, for the first time in the awards' 92—year history, a foreign language film won best picture. the south korean black comedy, parasite, picked up a host of other awards too,, including best director. a host of other awards too, including best director. our arts editor will gompertz reports. and the oscar goes to... it was a good night for... ..parasite. the south korean film about social inequality became the first film not in the english language to win the prestigious best picture oscar. we never imagined this to ever happen. we are so happy. i feel like a very opportune moment in history is happening right now. its director and creator, bong joon—ho, became the first south korean to win best original screenplay and the first south korean

to win best director. "the most personal is the most creative." that quote was from the great martin scorsese. applause. that got a standing ovation. he then announced his plans for the rest of the evening. i am ready to drink tonight... laughter. ..until next morning! thank you. parasite was the story of a night that was otherwise largely predictable. tonight we celebrate all the amazing talent in this room. janelle monae opened the show with a couple of numbers and a comment on diversity. and i'm so proud to stand here as a black, queer artist telling a story. comedian chris rock followed her lead. cynthia did such a greatjob in harriet hiding black people that the academy got her to hide all the black nominees. and so, with the elephants in the room banished — for this year at least — the real business of dishing out golden statues got under way. renee zellweger won best actress

for playing a vulnerable judy garland in judy. and joaquin phoenix picked up the best actor oscar for his intense performance in joker. i have been a scoundrel in my life. i've been selfish, i've been cruel at times, hard to work with, and i'm grateful that so many of you in this room have given me a second chance. brad pitt won his first acting oscar for once upon a time in hollywood. to stand here now, once upon a time in hollywood — ain't that the truth. laura dern won best supporting actress for marriage story. there were british successes. eltonjohn and bernie taupin won the original song category. jacqueline durran picked up the costume design award for little women, and cinematographer roger deakins took home an oscar for his work on 1917. but the night belonged to parasite and its popular self—effacing director, bong joon—ho. will gompertz, bbc news, hollywood. we can speak now to vivian baker,

who won the academy award for best makeup and hairstyling at last night's awards for her work on the film, bombshell. the obvious question was to ask your reaction? my goodness. iwas com pletely reaction? my goodness. iwas completely shocked. you walk into these things and you don't know if you are going to win. all the other nominees are my friends and collea g u es nominees are my friends and colleagues and i have worked with them. you just cannot think in terms of... them. you just cannot think in terms of. . . the them. you just cannot think in terms of... the challenge of this film, bombshell, your turning actors into real people, rupert murdoch, the creation of megyn kelly, the fox anchor. how big a challenge was that? you talked about lots of lashes was the big secret of the

film? for doing all of the make up, there were lots of lashes on megyn kelly. my colleague who designed the prosthetics changed her structure. she was transformed into that lookalike. he really opened up prosthetics in a new way. we know him in this country because of the success in churchill with gary oldman. took me through a little bit the relationship between prosthetics and make—up? in a sense, you are enhancing what he has done but, at the same time, you're making a light touch because it is going on top of something else. yes, prosthetics and

traditional make up are not necessarily friends. they are com pletely necessarily friends. they are completely different things. we had to put up so much of the beauty make up to put up so much of the beauty make up that it kind of loses the beauty of what prosthetics would be, and it can also reveal whether those pieces are late and make the transformation not as believable. i have worked in prosthetics for many, many years so i know where the hurdles really lie and the ability to work here change the word because his expertise is the word because his expertise is the ability to stop and me knowing how to put the make—up on top. i thought it was a good collaboration to do that. it has taken years of

not making it successful but this was a really good combination because the work was so good. we have seeing pictures of you picking up have seeing pictures of you picking up your oscar have seeing pictures of you picking up youroscarand it have seeing pictures of you picking up your oscar and it is not difficult to see the delight on your face. as someone who has worked in the industry a long time, and in the fashion industry before that, how do you feel about a film like this, which is challenging quite a lot of what has been accepted though unacceptable, in the treatment of women in television? as a make-up artist, i like all kinds of things andi artist, i like all kinds of things and i like that women can make themselves beautiful. i am happy that these issues are being brought up. iam that these issues are being brought y that these issues are being brought d that these issues are being brought up. iam happy and like that these issues are being brought up. i am happy and like how this film was put together so we could have a discussion and not a screaming argument. it is important for women to feel they can be beautiful and enhanced himself but what really makes you beautiful is

not that and i