This is bbc news. Welcome if you are watching here in the uk or around the globe. Im james reynolds. Our top stories the gunman in the thai mass shooting has been shot dead by Security Forces. The serviceman killed 20 people and injured dozens more in a shooting rampage. In other news the coronavirus is now more deadly than sars, as the death toll in china exceeds 800. Too close to call exit polls in irelands general election point to a three way tie between the Prime Ministers fine gael and two opposition parties. Ahead of the oscars and its long running diversity debate, film director spike lee tells us why hollywood still has such a long way to go
within the past hour, police in thailand have said that a soldier who went on a rampage in a Shopping Mall in the city of nakhon ratchasima, killing at least 20 people, has been shot dead by Security Forces. He wounded more than a0 other people, ten of them believed to be critically injured. He had taken cover in the terminal 21 Shopping Mall in the centre of the city, where he evaded police and Security Forces for hours. Earlier i spoke to charlie crowson, an english teacher living in nakhon ratchasima. Charlie had friends who were caught up in the shooting at the terminal 21 Shopping Centre and outside in the streets earlier on saturday. One friend, yes, unfortunately had one Family Member in there, a young boy, and we also had a colleague of mine who was in there on his first date and managed to get out about 10 30pm and the first people who managed to get out got out about 10 15pm and 10 30pm. But sadly a student of my girlfriend was seen in one of the early bloody photos, who had been shot off a motorcycle outside her old school, between the army base and terminal 21 Shopping Centre. 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. Very graphic. Charlie, were very grateful to you for speaking to us on what is obviously a very difficult time. How did you find out that the attacks were happening . I was having a foot massage, and i got a message off a friend whose girlfriend
was nearby terminal 21. And he messaged saying theres been a shooting, and the initial shooting was outside in the car park, that there had been shots fired. Its right in the centre of town. Its like the focal point of korat, and its in between quite a lot of schools. Its the main junction that passes through the second biggest city in thailand, so its really yeah, massive. And i might i mentioned it to the lady messaging my feet, and she did not seem that fazed. No one seemed to be that shocked until the death count started going up. 12 people are dead, and then it really started spreading that he was on the run, he had evaded police, and was driving around shooting people. Fortu nately, he didnt make it out. As the rumours spread,
charlie, what did people do . Did they go inside, were they checking their phones and so on . I use my phone a lot, and ive never used my phone as much as i did last night. It was glued to my face, and it was the same with everyone in korat. Looking for twitter updates, probably the most reliable, but a lot of fake news coming through of him marauding districts. There were videos of a lot of thai people running around outside a petrol station within a kilometre radius of the mall, because people had heard that hed escaped and was out on foot. So there was just widespread panic. And again, it was quite shocking. But i think that most people didnt even hear about it until it had gone 10 00pm, still people out
in the streets. There were festivals going on and all sorts, so it was a busy night. You have lived there for a number of years, it is normally a very peaceful area . A fantastically peaceful area. You can leave your keys in your motorbike outside the shop. You can leave your front door unlocked. But this is obviously the workings of a very twisted, broken man, who has had problems with the army and, sadly, was trained. We can speak to our South East Asia correspondent jonathan head, who joins us from bangkok. What us from bangkok. Did the Authorities Say . Well, what did the Authorities Say . Well, they are simply announcing how they have finished the operation. At the moment they are keeping the death toll as it was for most of the night at 20, although many people believe there were others killed in the last hours of this very protracted siege. I think there will be enormous relief for the government, because they sent in a special police swat squad who actually went in about ten hours before
they actually got him. They got most of the people out of the Shopping Mall in those first hours when they went in, and yet this man proved to be a very, very difficult opponent. There were lots of outbursts of gunfire through the night. 0ne when he apparently tried to get out the back of the Shopping Mall, there were reports that some of the police team were hit. He was a Sergeant Major who was attached to a unit that specialises in munitions and weapons, and the way in which he was able to carry on, it looks like he knew how to use them. And jonathan, i wonder is there anything more you can tell us about the shooter, and any possible motives he may have had . Not really. The authorities have released no details at all except his name, but he is a 32 year old
Sergeant Major, and you know, his social media, which people watched, because he was actually streaming himself in the early hours of the attack, when he first approached the Shopping Mall, posting selfie pictures of himself with his assault rifle. This was a man who was very methodical as he moved through the Shopping Mall. There were references on his social media to not caring whether he lived or died. Some references possibly to a financial or money dispute with someone. Financial or money dispute with someone. Nothing more than that. It started when he shot his commanding Commanding Officer and his Commanding Officers mother in law at home inside an army base, and then set off on a complete rampage. It isa set off on a complete rampage. It is a complete mystery at this stage as to what would motivate him to fire pretty indiscriminately. I mean, once he arrived at the mall, he was firing automatic weapons bursts, multiple shots, across the road and heading drivers in their cars as they passed by. It was that random. Is it too early to give an assessment of the Police Response . Early to give an assessment of the Police Response . |j early to give an assessment of the Police Response . I think it is. I mean, these are always difficult operations, and you can imagine these are. It is a vast Shopping Centre, a very good place to hide out. A p pa re ntly good place to hide out. Apparently he also disabled the security cameras. It did take much longer than most people thought, when we were down to what people believe was just him, and possiblya what people believe was just him, and possibly a few other people trapped inside the Shopping Mall. There may be an assessment, though i do not expect this government, which isnt very free with information and is led by military leaders, to be that forthright about everything that went behind this. This after a ll that went behind this. This after all looks like it may have started as an internal dispute within two members of the army. That may not be true, but the beginning of it was when he killed this officer. So i dont think were going to get a very accurate assessment. It is something that thailand has not seen before. So it is not something that even the elite police squad have had to deal with before. You have
covered thailand, you have lived in thailand for many yea rs. Lived in thailand for many years. How shocking a moment is this for the country . I think it is very shocking, because it is unexpected. I mean, you know, theres a lot of gun crime in this country, we have had Political Violence in recent yea rs. Had Political Violence in recent years. There is terrible carnage on the roads, it has one of the worst road death tolls in the world. People here can be very phlegmatic about death, and yet at the same time, ithink death, and yet at the same time, i think this incident itself, so much killing by one man, is extraordinary. Thank you so much forjoining us. The number of people who have died from the new coronavirus has now passed 800, overtaking the total death toll from the sars outbreak in 2003. At the same time, cases in the worst affected region of china appear to have stabilised slightly in the past four days. Mike ryan from the World Health Organization said the virus remained concentrated in hubei province. Were in a sort of a four day stable period where the disease or the number of reported cases hasnt advanced. And thats good news, and may reflect the impact of the control measures that have been put in place. We hope that the same stabilisation that appears to be occurring in wuhan also occurs outside. But again, its very, very, very early to make any predictions about numbers in this outbreak. This is still a very intense disease outbreak in wuhan and hubei, and there are still great risks in practically all of the other provinces. China has introduced strict new rules to try to control the outbreak. In beijing there is a ban on group dining, while other cities are limiting how many Family Members can leave home each day. Our correspondent Stephen Mcdonell has the latest from beijing. Wuhan, the city at the heart of chinas coronavirus emergency, is struggling to cope with the size of this crisis. There are not enough beds. There is not enough equipment. Hospitals have been swamped
by the sick, who need to be placed in isolation. Faced with an explosion of infections, two massive quarantine centres were constructed, each in less than two weeks. Days ago, the 1,000 bed mountain fire god facility was opened. Now, patients are also being brought to the new mountain thunder god hospital, adding another 1,300 beds. Translation what were measuring is the net pressure difference in the room. It can make sure the wind outside is blowing into the ward, to prevent the infection source from going out. Across the world, there is considerable concern this outbreak has a long way to go before being stabilised. Chinese cities are introducing ever more harsh measures to try and control the spread of the disease. In hong kong, residents returning from Mainland China are to spend two weeks in quarantine. Foreigners must remain inside hotels or special government run facilities. Those who dont comply are being threatened with prison time. Stephen mcdonell, bbc news, beijing. Earlier i spoke to dr amesh adalja, a senior scholar at Thejohns Hopkins University center for health security. I asked him whether there was any significance in the number of deaths from this coronovirus surpassing that of the sars epidemic. I wouldnt read anything into it, because we know that theyre only testing severe cases, cases that appear in hospital, and theyre not testing mild cases. And we know theres more out there, because this disease has a spectrum of illness, and many people just have cold like symptoms that arent being tested. So this is a more widespread infection than the numbers would lead you to believe. What kind of measures would you recommend china to take . China should end their quarantine immediately. The quarantine 50 or 60 million has made things worse, and it
has made wuhan into a zombie like town, with a lot of social media misinformation being spread and a lot of public panic. We have shortages and hospitals inundated with people who are worried. A lot has been caused by this quarantine, which really isnt going to cause any real benefit to control this virus, because it was spreading for weeks before the quarantine was even announced, so this has just been a draconian measure that has really has had a paradoxical effect, and made things worse, and panicked the population even more. It appears two things are spreading, the virus and also misinformation. Are those two things equally damaging . No, the misinformation is worse. Because the virus, as were learning, has a lot of cases that are mild. And the who recently said 82 of cases are mild. So the case fatality rate is going to drop as we get an understanding of how widespread this infection is. But the damage being done by countries including my own, the us, with travel bans is going to magnify what the virus does. Whats going on in wuhan with the forced quarantine
and going door to door and taking people who are sick out of their houses, all of that is very, very will have negative consequences, and panic the population much more than it will need to over this virus. Should we talk about eradicating the virus, or simply managing the virus . Managing the virus. This is a respiratory virus thats been spreading since at least november. We know respiratory viruses that can efficiently transmit between humans cant be contained. This wont be eradicated. This could be a coronavirus we deal with every winter season. It could be the beginnings of a mild pandemic. We can manage this but we need to get our hospitals and Healthcare Systems ready around the world, with increased diagnostic testing and Vaccine Development and antiviral trials. Many actions need to be taken, and we dont need to squander efforts
on quarantines and travel bans. Lets get some of the days other news turkey has sent hundreds of military vehicles across its border to strengthen its presence in the north west syrian province of idlib. It follows clashes earlier this week between turkish and russian backed Syrian Government forces. The long serving president of the french ice skating federation, didier gailhaguet, has resigned over allegations of historic sexual abuse in the sport. Mr gailhaguet said he was leaving with his head held high. He had previously resisted calls to resign after the former french pair skating champion Sarah Abitbol alleged in her autobiography that her coach gilles beyer had repeatedly raped her from the age of 15. There is no suggestion that mr gailhaguet himself committed sexual abuse. The amount of rainforest cleared in brazils Amazon Region doubled last month compared with january last year. Environmentalists blame the polices of president jair bolsanaro, who this week said he wanted more rainforest to be cut down for mining, farming and power projects. The amazon is the Worlds Largest rainforest, and a crucial means of absorbing the gases that contribute to global warming. Kenyans have been lining up to view the body of the countrys longest serving president , daniel arap moi, as it lies in state in the capital, nairobi. Mr moi, who led the country
from 1978 to 2002, died on tuesday at the age of 95. The current president , uhuru kenyatta, paid his last respects, describing mr moi as an iconic leader. Stay with us on bbc world news. Still to come we sit down with legendary film director spike lee and talk all things oscars. Theres mr mandela. Mr nelson mandela, a free man, taking his first steps into a new south africa. Irans spiritual leader Ayatollah Khomeini has said hes passed a death sentence on salman rushdie, the british author of a book which many muslims say is blasphemous. The people of haiti have flocked to church to give thanks for the ousting of their former president , ba by doc duvalier. Because of his considerable value as a stallion, shergar was kept in a special, secure box in the stud farms central block. Shergar was driven away in a horse box the thieves had brought with them. There stepped down from the plane a figure in mourning. Elizabeth ii, queen of this realm and of all her other realms and territories. Head of the commonwealth, defender of the faith. This is bbc world news, the latest headlines the gunman in the thai mass shooting has been shot dead by Security Forces. The serviceman killed 20 people, and injured dozens more in a shooting rampage. The number of deaths caused by the new coronavirus outbreak has exceeded eight hundred surpassing the number killed by sars 17 years ago. Polls have closed in the irish general election. The Prime Minister leo varadkar has been trying to win
a third term for his party in government. An exit poll commissioned by rte and the irish times indicates that mr varadkars Fine Gael Party secured 22. 4 of first preference votes, closely followed by sinn fein on 22. 3 and fianna fail on 22. 2 . Well, the exit polls suggest things are looking very tight indeed. It predicts that Leo VaradkarsFine Gael Party are tied with their opponents fianna fail, and it is impossible to say at the moment who will form the next government. Now, counting takes place the following day, and it is highly likely after that that Coalition Negotiations will begin between the parties, and that will be where things really get down to the nitty gritty. Coalitions are the norm here in ireland. Now, the current taoiseach, leo varadkar, he has had a very High International profile over the past three years as irelands youngest ever Prime Minister. He has had huge influence in the brexit negotiations. If it is his opponents, fianna fail, who form the next government, then it will be their leader, micheal martin, who becomes the next irish Prime Minister. Now, the other big story of the night is there looks to be some major breakthroughs for sinn fein, major gains for them. A big, successful night for them, if that exit poll is to be proved correct. Now, this is the first time that a general election in ireland has been held on a saturday. Leo varadkar said he wanted it on a saturday to prevent there being school closures, and to give more people the chance to get out and vote. People have had to brave the weather of storm ciara to go and cast their ballots. But now all eyes will be on those negotiations, after the results are counted tomorrow. Four rare mountain gorillas, including a pregnant female, have died in uganda after being hit by lightning. A local Conservation Group says the three adult females and a male infant were found in ugandas Mgahinga National park. The area was hit by a huge storm on monday. One of those caught in the storm in the south west of the country was journalist jack losh hes been telling us more about what happened. The storm was intense. I had been trekking to see the famous iconic mountain gorillas of uganda the previous day. We returned and a huge electrical storm struck the place where we were staying and the thunder was dramatic, the downpour of rain was like nothing i had seen before and, tragically, it seems that this gorilla family were caught up in it as well. The Bigger Picture here is that if we return to the 1980s there were only 250 of these iconic big apes left in the world, centred around Central Africa and uganda, rwanda and the democratic republic of the congo. Through a really phenomenal conservation effort over the last few decades that has brought together local communities, National Government and International Conservation organisations, this number of 250 gorillas has now been raised to
around 2,000 today. So even though this is a Success Story for gorillas, their population is still fragile and we are warned not to stay lax. So the death of four gorillas in a single night is deeply concerning. This was is a Single Family who had recently moved over from rwanda into uganda, into a National Park which only had one permanent gorilla family there. What is concerning is that out of these four fatalities, three of them were females. Obviously childbearing gorillas, and one was already pregnant with a gorilla. The fourth gorilla was a young infant male. The good news is, is the conservationists
are saying, while the four gorillas were lost, the rest of the family seems perfectly intact and healthy and are continuing to feed on this tropical highland vegetation as normal. So even though its a blow for conservation efforts, actually it does seem that its not going to greatly impact us in the long term. Its the biggest night in hollywood on sunday where the stars will be gearing up for the oscars. The list of nominees has once again come under criticism from some for being too white and, for some categories, too male. The film director spike lee will present one of the awards he sat down with our arts editor Will Gompertz to talk about hollywood, diversity and female directors. The oscars. What you make of the line up this year . Not like last year. And i said this last year, to not expect six African Americans to win oscars next year. It is feast to famine. And it will be a struggle
and the struggle continues. Why does it continue to be a struggle . Because power does not give up power easily. It goes to the studios. The gatekeepers and we have seen more diversity amongst the gatekeepers then have a great effect amongst the oscars. A greater effect. Is it happening at the moment . The gatekeepers . No, no. This is a business. Hollywood is a business. Art does not always come ahead of business. And what is that hollywood business like at the moment . Post metoo . Is it changing or the same old same old . Same old thing. Perhaps dressed up differently. Many women are making good movies. A lot more than there was. Theyre still not up to parity. But even this year there have been notable movies made by women but no recognition. What is going on . Get in line. I am not saying that to make light of it. It is obvious that there is work that still needs to be done. Spike lee there, speaking to our arts editor Will Gompertz. Well have full coverage of the oscars on sunday, here on bbc news. Its also worth checking out our website, there lots of background and anlaysis. Thats all at bbc. Com news or you can download the bbc news app. Dancers and artists on floating structures have delighted revellers attending the venice carnival. During the two week event,
the city fills with thousands of tourists from across italy and the world. Masked balls are held in ancient venetian palaces and gondola parades are organised in the piazzas and canals. Carnival first began in the 11th century as a period of excess before the rigours of lent, the a0 days of fasting that traditionally precede easter. Under of our top story stop a tie soldier who carried out a shooting spree has been shot dead by Security Forces. He had been holed up overnight in the terminal 21 mall after he killing 20 people on saturday. Officials say 42 people were wounded. Hundreds of people hiding from the gunman had earlier been freed during a raid carried out by Security Forces in which one of their personnel was killed and two people were injured. Officials say thejunior colonel
people were injured. Officials say the junior colonel shot an officer at his Army Barracks before stealing weapons and going on a rampage. Hello. Storm ciara will batter the uk today. Its powerful, its dangerous and it will bring exceptionally windy weather. Its unusual because it will affect such a widespread area. Very few places will escape the severe gales that are forecast, and hence the met office have got amber warnings in place notjust for the wind but also for some rain. Lets start with those winds, because they will affect most parts of the uk. The amber warnings for england and wales, we expect damage and disruption, potentially a danger to life as well but it will be equally windy for scotland and for northern ireland. A stormy day across the board. As i say, its a double edged sword because there is some wet weather. The rain has been coming down through the night and the amber warning is potentially for some
rivers that will fill up very quickly across southern scotland. But many places will have a lot of rain, 40 50mm, which could lead to flash flooding as well. Either way away from northern scotland it will be a mild start and a mild day but inconsequential because it will be very windy. These are the wind speeds were talking about. For scotland and northern ireland, it is very windy as well. 80mph inland for england and wales is an unusual occurrence, once or twice a decade, hence the concern this is a powerful storm. The detail across the northern half of the country, the main rain clears and then there is a lot of showers coming in, hail and sleet and snow across the hills, hail and thunder, and the escalation in the wind, potentially reaching above 80 miles an hour for the central belts. Argyle and bute. That needs watching. Dont concern yourself because the amber warning may be extended. A stormy day and a stormy day for england and wales
with bands of rain and squally wind moving through, and the winds escalate with some very powerful gusts of wind that could bring down power lines and trees, rip off roof tiles and generally cause some very dangerous conditions as well. If that werent enough, its also going to coincide with the spring tides, which means we already have large waves with the winds but coinciding there could be coastal flooding as well as inland flooding because of the sheer intensity of the rain as it comes along. Now, that storm does blow away but you can see we keep a strong wind which crosses on monday and it is a north westerly so it will feel colder with increasing amounts of snow over the hills but we will notice a difference in the weather. As i say, it will remain windy but not as stormy as the day ahead. The warnings are all on the website, including the details. Take care. This is bbc news. The headlines the gunman in the thai mass shooting has been shot dead by Security Forces. The serviceman had killed 20 people and injured dozens more in a gun rampage in the city of nakhon ratchasima. He killed his Commanding Officer before stealing weapons from a military camp. The number of people who have died from the new coronavirus has now passed 800, overtaking the total death toll from the sars outbreak in 2003. Cases in the worst affected region of china appear to have stabilised slightly. The three main Political Parties have tied in first preference votes, according to an exit poll for the republic of irelands general election. None are expected to reach the 80 seat threshold needed for a majority, making a Coalition Government likely