this is bbc news, i'm ben bland. the headlines at seven: 32 british and irish tourists arrive at a quarantine centre on the wirral, after being evacuated from a coronavirus—hit cruise ship. fears about the spread of the virus as the number of new cases in south korea more than doubles in one day. a 29—year—old man appears in court in connection with a stabbing inside london's central mosque during afternoon prayers. the met office warns the uk to brace itself for more bad weather, with warnings of snow in scotland, and strong winds and yet more rain on the way. the cast of friends is to reunite for a one—off special programme, more than 15 years since the show ended. and in sportsday in half an hour we'll have all the latest from the day's six nations action, including wales‘

hard—fought defeat to france. good evening and welcome to bbc news. 30 british and two irish holiday—makers, who've been on a cruise ship which became one of the hot spots in the coronavirus outbreak, have arrived at a hospital in the wirral where they will spend the next 1a days in quarantine. the passengers, who spent two weeks in isolation on the diamond princess injapan, arrived at arrowe park hospital in four coaches after having earlier flown back to the uk. our correspondent, fiona trott has the story of theirjourney from japan back to the uk. finally, back in britain. they have waited a long time for this, and their patience has been tested.

after more than two weeks of quarantine on board the diamond princess, this 12 hour repatriation flight was delayed. and then they started a four hour coach journey to the north west of england. this will be their new home for the next two weeks, a nursing accommodation block at arrowe park hospital. they will have clinical supplies and a few home comforts. the staff here have already looked after travellers from china and know what to expect. the group of people is slightly different, obviously they have come from a cruise ship rather than from their own homes over in china. but we are working exactly the same as we did before with the health care professionals, public health england to make sure that they are safe and well managed and comfortable whilst they're with us. the passengers left the diamond princess on friday night. it was carrying 78 britons, some had already been evacuated to hong kong.

it is understood that the others include crew members who are thought to be staying on board. at least four are still injapan, they contracted the virus on the ship. two of them are david and sally abel who also have pneumonia. at first they were relieved at the hospital care they received but today their family are anxious and angry. my dad is saying i cannot do any more of this, son, you need to get me out of here, it is like prison in here. we have one toilet to share and no washing facilities. we have a small window in our hotel room overlooking a brick wall which is six inches away and no natural daylight coming into the room. it's awful. no treatment. these travellers are preparing themselves for yet another two weeks of quarantine. they may be back on uk soil but are still far from home. in the past hour, those passengers have arrived on the wirral. corinne wheatley is there.

32 passengers from the diamond princess cruise ship have arrived here at arrowe park hospital on the wirral with heavy police escort and with ambulance escort as well and they are here for another two weeks to spending quarantine. they have already spent 16 days in quarantine on board the cruise ship. what a long and difficultjourney it has been back to the uk for them and it is home for many of them. 30 of them we know are british, two of them are irish. in terms of what happens now, well they will be moved straight into the nursing accommodation at arrowe park hospital which will be their home now for the next two weeks. arrowe park hospital have got some experience of dealing with passengers who have been caught up in the coronavirus outbreak and managing the quarantine because this is where the british people who returned from china last month came to. the hospital say they will be using that as a blueprint for how to look after these people and it

will be another two weeks before they will be allowed to return home to their families. so the end not quite in sight for them but we do understand that at the moment there are no further repatriation flights at the uk plant. let's speak now to cheryl german, she set up the "compassionate wirral" facebook group to offer support to those who've been arriving at arrowe park from both wuhan and the diamond princess cruise ship. it is good happy with us, what made you set up the group?” it is good happy with us, what made you set up the group? i was on another social media local group and when we realised that people were coming overfrom when we realised that people were coming over from wuhan, when we realised that people were coming overfrom wuhan, i was reading a lot of unkind comments and unfounded comments so ijust put in that group, look, imagine if this was you, you couldn't cuddle your babies, hug your spouse, walk your dog, whatever you would do in the next two weeks of your normal life, these people are taken out of their normal lives and can't do that. i really felt for them and i put that down on that site and i ended up getting quite a bit of positive

response back so i thought, you know, i will set up my own facebook group and it just know, i will set up my own facebook group and itjust beamed with kindness and compassion and that is all that site is therefore. for the people who are in quarantine and kindness and compassion. what form does that kindness and compassion take? the people of the wirral are just amazing people and have been so generous in sending things up to the hospital. we have worked with the wirral borough council who have been amazing along with the nhs staff. we've been able to have drop—off points so that people, if they want something in there, theyjust ask and they will provide. from knitting needles and yarn to spicy noodles that the last lot were really grateful for. wine and that the last lot were really gratefulfor. wine and beer, we have just generally reached out to those people to help their time go a little quicker and to let them know they are supported and cared for as

well. i understand that the people in quarantine are being told about the existence of your group and it is being mentioned in a welcome pack for them. have you had any particular special requests from them? not yet and i can imagine they are so tired after their long journey sojoining a are so tired after their long journey so joining a facebook group probably isn't high on their priorities but i'm hoping they will have a look and join in with the group. it is very interactive, we are showing pictures of the beautiful wirral, where we live. everybody is putting comments on and welcome and support, anything we can do for anybody so it really is a lovely group and there are no negative comments. if ever there are they are removed. but there really hasn't been any, it has been welcomed so much. it has been really good. just on a practical note, how do you get the items to them because obviously if their own quarantine, there is a limited amount of contact people can have? absolutely, so we ta ke people can have? absolutely, so we take it to a drop—off point that the borough council arranged and then

once a day they will take in all the bits and pieces up to the hospital, give it into the charity department where they have a team of people sorting through it, prioritising what is going where. some people have birthdays in there so they had pacific guests that they were given, but that just general pacific guests that they were given, but thatjust general playing cards, books, skipping ropes for exercise, they were taken up. —— specific gifts. they were taken up to the hospital staff to give and they were taken well. thank you so much. meanwhile, the world health organization has warned that africa would struggle to contain the spread of the coronavirus if there was an outbreak on the continent. that concern comes as clusters of the virus continue to grow outside china. in south korea, the number of infections has more than doubled in the last 2a hours. 229 new cases of coronavirus were confirmed on saturday, bringing the number of confirmed infections in the country to 433.

the prime minister of south korea has described the situation as i. most of the cases are in cheongdo and nearby daegu, in the south—east of the country. our correspondent laura bicker has more from the capital, seoul. the area of concern is around the city of daegu. it is south korea's fourth largest city, a city of two and a half million people and the two areas of concern within there involve a hospital and a church. within the hospital, where there are 300 elderly and vulnerable patients, a third of them now have coronavirus. two people there have died. nine staff have the coronavirus. outside of that, there is a church, the shincheonji church. it is a fringe religious movement but it has a half a million members throughout south korea. 9000 of whom are in this area. they have all been told to stay at home. they've all been told to go into quarantine and they are being interviewed to see if they have any symptoms.

1000 of them say that they have coronavirus symptoms. it doesn't necessarily mean that they have the virus. they need to test positive for the rise but it is concerning for health authorities. now, it appears that the members of this church were all at the hospital for a funeral a few weeks before so that seems to be the connection but right now, the race is on to find out how many people they have been in contact with within the last few weeks as they battle to try to prevent the spread of this virus. and we'll find out how this story, and many others, are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:30 and 11:30 this evening in the papers. our guests joining me tonight are the broadcaster and psychotherapist, lucy beresford and the sun's chief sports reporter, martin lipton. a man has appeared in court charged with carrying out a knife attack at a mosque in central london on thursday. daniel horton is accused of stabbing raafat maglad, who's in his 70s. 0ur correspondentjenny kumah

gave us this update from westminster magistrates' court. daniel horton appeared in court at around noon. he sat for most of the hearing with his head down. he spoke to confirm his name, age and described his nationality as british. he is charged with grievous bodily harm and possession of a bladed article. he is accused of attacking a 70—year—old mosque official on thursday afternoon, raafat maglad was taken to hospital and treated for a wound to his neck. he was back at prayers the following day. the prosecutor says that raafat maglad and the defendant would have known of each other, the defendant had attended the mosque for a number of years. the court heard that daniel horton has no fixed address, he has been remanded in custody and he will appear at southwark crown court on march the 20th. i should just say that the police have said that they do not believe that this incident

is terror —related. there are new hopes of a peace deal in afghanistan, with the start of a seven day period of what's being called "reduced violence" between us—led forces and taliban fighters. it could lead to the withdrawal of foreign troops, after nearly two decades of war. from kabul, our correspondent secunder kermani reports. celebrations late last night as the "reduction in violence" came into effect. for the next seven days, the taliban, afghan government and us forces have promised not to carry out major attacks. helping pave the way, it's hoped, for an eventual peace deal. afghanistan is a country that has been torn apart by conflict. tens of thousands have been killed. for more than a year, though, the united states has been trying to negotiate an exit to its longest ever war. the taliban wants to make a deal. we'll see if they want to make a deal, it's got to be a real deal.

but we'll see. that has meant talking to the taliban. the two sides have drawn up a deal that would see a timetable established for the withdrawal of american troops in exchange for the taliban breaking links with groups like al-qaeda. if this week passes peacefully, they will sign an agreement next weekend. it depends how honest the taliban are. if they do what they say, we will have peace. if they don't, they are just playing with us. but even if the us—taliban agreement is signed, that won't be the end of this conflict. instead, it will signal the start of a new set of discussions, this time between the taliban and other afghan political leaders, about a broader ceasefire and about how the country should be run in the future. for many afghans, the immediate priority is peace. more than 3000 civilians lost their lives here last year. now there's a chance, at least, of an end to the violence. secunder kermani, bbc news, kabul.

the former rebel leader of south sudan, riek machar, has been sworn in as first vice—president, sealing a peace deal aimed at ending six years of civil war. president salva kiir, seen here in the hat, and embracing mr machar, witnessed the ceremony in the capitaljuba. it is hoped the new unity government will end the conflict that has killed 400,000 people and displaced millions. more rain has caused flooding in sodden areas of england still trying to recover from two storms in two weeks. around 120 flood warnings are in place in england, scotland and wales. last night the yorkshire dales bore the brunt of the rain, firefighters rescued people from 10 homes in settle, and helped drivers stuck in their cars. 0ne village was cut off, as peter mcnerney reports. the aftermath of more relentless rain, and now the yorkshire dales in the grip of the atrocious weather. posts on social media showing how one village,

horton in ribblesdale, was temporarily cut off to cars as the downpours wreaked their havoc. at 2:30 this morning, just in the dip here, was waist—deep in water. the craven pothole club in the village had their work cut out to fight against the rising waters at their local hq. i have been coming up here 35 years. the water levels last night were the highest that i have ever seen. we do, however, seem to have escaped the worst of it. water did come into our cottage up to a depth of about ten inches. then, as fast as it had arrived, it had gone again. as fields in the area resemble lakes, customers were back at the village pub this lunchtime. the landlord has lived here all his life. it rises very fast. in about half an hour, it can come up in about two foot in half an hour. but on the other hand, it can go down. when it stops raining, it goes down a foot an hour. we shut shop at ten

o'clock last night. i can't go out and say "stop coming no more" to the water, can i? so, just pot luck, you just shut up and go home, and you have to deal with it the next day. so, another weekend, the yorkshire weather has been another deluge. and the forecast? another spell of heavy rain. the headlines on bbc news: thirty two british and irish tourists arrive at a quarantine centre in the wirral — after being evacuated from a coronavirus—hit cruise ship. fears about the spread of the virus as the number of new cases in south korea more than doubles in one day. a 29—year—old man appears in court in connection with a stabbing inside london's central mosque during afternoon prayers. the democratic presidential hopeful, bernie sanders, has warned russia not to meddle in us elections. mr sanders confirmed a report in the washington post, that us intelligence officials had

told him moscow was trying to help his campaign. president trump has dismissed similar claims about his campaign as a hoax. chris buckler sent this report from washington. us intelligence officials have long believed that russia tried to interfere in america's 2016 election by spreading disinformation online. and, four years on, they've briefed members of congress that moscow is meddling again. this time, notjust to help donald trump, but also the democratic candidate who is his political polar opposite, bernie sanders. an apparent attempt to sow more division in a country already split by mr trump's presidency. but although this information came from his own intelligence agencies, america's commander—in—chief has dismissed the claims as a hoax being spread by his political opponents. it's disinformation. that's the only thing they're good at. they are not good at anything else. they get nothing done — do—nothing democrats.

senator sanders is the current front runner in the democratic party battle to challenge mr trump. and he's far from sceptical about the allegations of interference, even claiming that russia might be responsible for some online attacks that have been attributed to his campaign. mr putin is a thug. he is an autocrat. he may be a friend of donald trump's, he is not a friend of mine. let me tell mr putin, the american people — whether you are republicans, democrats, independents — are sick and tired of seeing russia and other countries interfering in our elections. supporters of bernie sanders are at the opposite end of the political spectrum to president trump's. and the american authorities clearly fear that russia can take advantage of that kind of fight for the presidency in an attempt to disrupt democracy once again in the united states. let's talk to daniel lippman, the washington and white house

reporter for politico who joins us on the line from washington. just explain, why would russia want to help both bernie sanders and donald trump? if indeed these reports are accurate? we are not in his head so we don't know for sure but what intelligence agencies think might be happening is that they view sanders as the weakest democratic general election candidate so they can help in the primary to back his other democratic rivals and he could be against trump, then trump would have a better chance of winning in november. another idea is that sanders went to the soviet union shortly after his wedding dozens of yea rs shortly after his wedding dozens of years ago so he might have an affinity for russia but with his

comments, it doesn't sound like he likes russia any more. and why would russia be so keen to see donald trump wina russia be so keen to see donald trump win a second term? well, with all the chaos that trump has created in the last few years in washington and around the country and the world even, that plays to russia's advantage and into its hand because he he can try and take advantage of the us disruption that trump has unleashed to gain favour for his country and that is true for china and iran as well. if the us isjust fighting amongst each other then it is much harder to focus on longer—term threats like russia and china. if indeed there are attempts at interference from russia in that the election this time round, what form do you think those are likely to take? one form they might be

taking already is social media accounts, twitter, instagram, facebook, that appear to be sanders followers but may be russian bots and people who are not actually american and true sanders supporters who are attacking other democratic rivals in the race and trying to help bernie sanders when his campaign here. there is a lot of portrayal from these but some of them might be russian bots and that is one form that it appears to be taking. of course, there are other forms. this is not new, in 2016 they supported sanders a little bit as well. they said that sanders and trump were their friends. how easy would it be to counter those attempts? it means the us intelligence has to work with those

in silicon valley to try and stop the thread of these and they are already doing that but it is such an overwhelming number. facebook and twitter are shutting down millions of a ccou nts twitter are shutting down millions of accounts every year so it is hard to get on the ball but i thinkjust wrapping up those efforts and trying to harden the other campaigns in terms of cyber security, that is also very important. you don't want also very important. you don't want a repeat of that dnc hack. we are now just hours a repeat of that dnc hack. we are nowjust hours away from the next caucuses in nevada, how do you think that will effect that round of voting, if at all? i don't think this issue is going to make people vote for sanders or his democratic rivals in any significant way because most people have already made up their minds in nevada and also this is something that, other issues are much more important like

the economy, income and equality. so i think most people won't vote based on this assessment. thank you. new research has found unsafe building materials in tower blocks across greater manchester is costing residents hundreds of thousands of pounds and posing a continued risk. almost three years after the fire at grenfell tower, it's understood almost 80 complexes don't meet current safety standards. alex bell reports. this is aluminium cladding and then this is polystyrene which is combustible. this is flammable? flammable material? yes. rebecca lives in this block of flats in central manchester but since the grenfell tragedy injune 2017, she has been living under the shadow of her building's poor fire safety. there is an assumption that regulations have been there when it was built and there has been sufficient fire safety record throughout so you buy in good faith.

when she found out about the unsafe design, she tried to move out, only to be told that her property was worthless. i can't sell unless i sell to a cash buyer at a ridiculously low price. i can't remortgage. the results of a new survey carried out by the greater manchester high—rise task force, which was set up in the wake of the grenfell tragedy, has found that residents just like rebecca are paying a heavy financial toll just for living in unsafe homes and it is having a serious effect on their mental health. it is just a huge strain. the anxiety, every night you go to sleep and you don't know if your building is safe or not. it has a huge impact on hundreds of thousands of us. next week, rebecca and other residents willjoin the city's mayor along with salford city mayor, paul dennett, to lobby outside westminster. they want the government to stump up funds to make these buildings safe and allow residents to move on. just get the cladding down, get it off these buildings

because then people will have peace of mind that it is safe. i don't want my residents here in greater manchester to continue another nearly three years of this absolutely shocking turmoil that has transformed their lives, turned their worlds upside down. this is really not good enough. some of england's top rugby union clubs are backing a new scheme being rolled out to help young boys to spot the signs of mental health problems. just yesterday, former international danny cipriani, spoke about his own struggles with depression, in a video he posted following the death of his former girlfriend, caroline flack. this report is from frankie mccamley. a man who is used to hard tackles, but yesterday, danny cipriani tackled a very hard subject — the death of his former girlfriend caroline flack. i was so vulnerable with her in my moment, when we first met, and i told her everything about me, because i felt safe with her.

so i told her all the things that i was embarrassed and shameful about. she made me feel 0k. and, ultimately, it was embarrassment and shame that killed her. so i'm telling everyone now what my most embarrassing and shameful moments are, because i know she knew i had the strength to do this. his emotional video was praised by the men's health charity movember, who are encouraging young rugby players all over the country to talk. i have seen a couple of players look quite down, and i go over to them and try and pick them back up. you make a mistake, you think, i've messed it all up, and everyone's going to get angry with me. sometimes our match is posted online, and sometimes there can be mean comments coming towards you. the initiative has the support of top rugby clubs and stars including harlequins danny care, who is encouraging young players

to open up in what is often seen as a macho sport. here on the rugby pitch, it is physical, it is tough, it can be brutal at times. every mistake these young lads make in a match can be right in front of hundreds of people. not always good for the mental health. so that's why, here at this rugby club, they are taking time to talk. off the pitch, away from scrutiny, where there is a place to reflect. for me, i think the mental side of the game is just as important as the physical side of the game. the movember charity is teaming up with rugby clubs across england to deliver mental health workshops to more than 8,000 boys aged between 12 and 18. and, as young boys, what do we think about that? what do we think about, like, a man like tyson fury talking about mental health? if a person like tyson fury can get through it, it makes you think that pretty much anyone can get through it. in a setting they feel comfortable

in, the programme aims to help boys spot signs of depression and anxiety in team—mates, and where to go if anybody needs help. how do you deal with the game mentally, if you feel quite bad, or the press is treating you badly after it? one week you play really well, your team wins, you maybe score a try, everyone thinks you're the best player in the world. a week after, you throw and intercept in twickenham in front of 80,000 people, like i did. it's onlyjust a game. there's more important things in life. i've got great family, great friends around me, that can take my mind off rugby, and itjust gave me more motivation and determination to come back stronger, fitter, faster. the sports psychologists who developed the programme believe it can help prevent male suicide. if itjust affects one of them, if one of them maybe thinks maybe i'm struggling a little bit, i'll speak to one of my mates, i'll pull him aside and tell him i'm struggling, or go to a coach or a teacher or a parent.

suicide remains one of the biggest killers of men under 50 in the uk. we need to change those statistics, and we need to do something about that at an early stage. so this programme is all about prevention and early intervention, and supporting boys as they go through into adult life, to be more resilient and have coping mechanisms. the programme has been welcomed by players on this pitch, but there is much more to do for those who don't have a team around them. and, for men in particular, mental health remains an uncomfortable subject to talk about. fans of the tv series "friends" are celebrating, after news of the reunion they've been waiting more than 15 years for, is finally happening. all six of the cast posted this picture last night, with the caption "it's happening", confirming their return

for a one—off unscripted special. it looks set to cause if few more problems over the next few days. we still have over 100 flood warnings in force. actually, the numbers have been rising in parts of northern england and scotland. we have had to some more rain on the way. the rain will quickly spread an overnight across northern ireland, england and wales but it will be at its heaviest across the swathes of wales, parts of northern england, maybe the north midlands, it is enough to cause some further flooding midlands, it is enough to cause some furtherflooding issues. all the while, it stays windy and scotland with further snow showers. tomorrow, it is an improving weather picture as this area of rain slowly clears away through the morning. the afternoon looks brighter and drier with some sunshine but showers continue to feed and across scotland. windy, but not as windy as it has been over instant days. the cold est it has been over instant days. the coldest air across these northern areas and then as we head into

monday, further problems