by the security forces. counting begins in the irish general election, as an exit poll has the three main political parties level pegging. and in half an hour, we'll have an in—depth look at the week's headlines in dateline. 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. in parts of scotland, there is an amber warning for rain, with up to 10cm forecast, meaning homes are likely to be flooded. more than 175 flood warnings are in place across the country, with the risk of communities being cut off by impassable roads. 0ur correspondent helena wilkinson can give us a round—up of the impact the storm is having so far. if you have been outside, you will have felt severe gales and heavy rain in places. we have heard in the last half an hour or so, i think the coast is bearing the brunt of this storm, in particular dover, we have heard that there are now no ferries leaving dover at all. they have been suspended. they are saying that the port is still open at this stage, so you can go along and park your car or lorry but you will not be able to get onto a ferry at the moment. so, we're seeing the coastal areas, very large waves. people obviously being told not to go anywhere near those areas. we can see blackpool now, and if you were walking along the seafront, you would be absolutely wet through, from the rain and the huge waves. yes, dangerous conditions, so the advice obviously is not to go anywhere near those kind of areas. i think again, they are bearing the brunt of it. a huge amount of disruption elsewhere. if you are trying to get on a plane today, british airways, for example, has cancelled dozens of flights, mainly shorthaul, but long haul flights, we have seen some pictures of some aeroplanes trying to land at heathrow, very wobbly and difficult conditions for those planes trying to land. lots of reports of trees coming down in certain areas, the highways agency also saying that they are getting a huge number of reports of debris on carriageways. so, if you are driving, take care, and there are speed restrictions in place. on the trains, a very limited service. we've also got a lot of train operators saying to people, don't travel, if you do turn up to travel on the train, then you will be disrupted. that is a trampoline which has been blown over the embankment down onto a railway track. as you say, it is the debris that we are facing which can cause the damage and risk to life? yes, that trampoline which we just saw is disrupting south—eastern train services. they will have to retrieve that. a huge amount of disruption and driving conditions and i think what we are hearing is that it is a bit worse in terms of rainfall in scotland, there is a lot more rain than had been initially predicted. helena, thank you very much. in a moment will talk to wales correspondent tomos morgan is in aberystwyth. first to luxmy gopal in dover.. the situation here has worsened considerably, so much so that all ferry services are currently suspended. the port of dover has announced that it is closed to all shipping traffic. it is no surprise because the sea is really rough, the waves a re really because the sea is really rough, the waves are really high, lashing against that barrier. and that ferry, i don't know if you can see the piano ferry, that has not moved all morning. it is notjust here that ferry services are affected, across the country, there have been cancellations and disruptions to irish ferry crossings, to services in scotland, and a ferry tried to berth in hull but it was too dangerous because of the window so it had to go back out to seeing passengers are being told to contact their operator and warned that there could be serious disruption to their services because of those high winds. it is not hard to see why. thank you very much for that, for the moment, in dover. we can now speak to tomos morgan my if he can hear us? yes, i can hear you, it is incredibly windy here in abe rystwyth. incredibly windy here in aberystwyth. wales had gusts of over 80mph here yesterday and it looks like we will be in for the same thing again today, as the storm hits the country here along the west coast, mostly, here in wales. there is reports of localised flooding across the north of wales but as you can see here in aberystwyth, behind me, the sea is rushing the sea defences across the coastline here in the harbour. we have already heard about a number of public transport which has been cancelled across the country. in wales, a numberof trains across the country. in wales, a number of trains have been cancelled. there will not be any replacement bus services in place but i think the big issue as you can see from the irish sea here is going to be the ferries. a number of welsh by to be the ferries. a number of welsh rugby supporters were in dublin yesterday, they may be stranded as the ferries coming back to wales are affected, bringing back the supporters. so, flood warnings in place, amber warning from the met 0ffice, place, amber warning from the met office, for wind, will be in place for the rest of today, and a yellow rain warding here as well all day across wales. well done, tomos morgan might be just about made across wales. well done, tomos morgan might bejust about made it out, it has got so much worse since we spoke to you ago. get out of the way! to shut very much! don't go out in it, they say! 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. in the last few minutes a fourth case of coronavirus has been confirmed in the uk. the chief medical officer for england has said that the patient was a known contact ofa that the patient was a known contact of a previously confirmed uk case, and the virus was passed on in france. the patient‘s being treated at the royal free hospital in north london. we'll have more on that breaking news shortly. and a british man in majorca has also tested positive for coronavirus. he is one of four members of a british family taken into observation on friday after coming into contact with someone in france who was later diagnosed with the virus. the man's wife and two daughters have tested negative for coronavirus. 0ur correspondent guy hedgecoe is in madrid. and slowly, the number of cases is increasing, and in different places? yes, that's right. this is the second case to be confirmed in spain. there was a case a few days ago of a german holidaymaker on the ca nary islands. this, ago of a german holidaymaker on the canary islands. this, as you mentioned, is on the balearic islands, in majorca. this british man had felt some symptoms of what he thought might be the coronavirus a few days ago so he checked himself into this hospital in the capital of majorca, parma. he and members of his family were tested yesterday and the tests were sent off to madrid and this morning, we heard that he has tested positive for coronavirus, but the three other members of his family, his wife and two daughters, tested negative. how much concern is there in spain about the coronavirus? 0bviously, there in spain about the coronavirus? obviously, as people travel internationally, the concern is that it will spread to many, many countries? yes, i think there is a certain amount of concern, partly because as you say there is a lot of travel, a lot of people come on holiday to spain, it is one of the biggest holiday destinations in the world. and there is a big chinese community here as well, so, people travelling to and from china. having said that, the local authorities in the balearic islands, for example, this weekend, have been saying that people should keep calm, that there is no reason to panic, but they have begun the protocol that is required in this sort of case, where they start looking at people that the infected man has been in contact with over the last few days, who else he might have infected. but at the moment i would say there is a cautious calm in spain. the two cases we have had so far have not been on the mainland, they have been on the canary islands and the balearic islands. guy hedgecoe in madrid, thank you very much. well, earlier this morning, a plane carrying british nationals home from the coronavirus—hit city of wuhan has landed at raf brize norton in 0xfordshire. there were more than 200 people on board the flight, including government staff, military medics and foreign nationals. the foreign office said it was the second and final flight to be chartered by the government out of the chinese city. the evacuated passengers have now arrived at a milton keynes hotel to be quarantined. 0ur correspondent jon donnison is there. john, tell us what facilities have been made available. well, these passengers, and we are told by nhs staff here that there are about 150 who are going to be staying at this training and conference centre just outside milton keynes, they arrived ona outside milton keynes, they arrived on a convoy of coaches, not too many on a convoy of coaches, not too many on each bus, it looked like they we re on each bus, it looked like they were trying to keep them not too crowded, many of the passengers we could see were wearing masks, and they are going to be kept in isolation for two weeks here. we are told by nhs staff that there is no one else going to be staying here, although some of the staff at the conference centre have decided to keep on working, but there are going to be two different teams, one team who has contact with those patients, and another team who doesn't. as to what they are going to do, well, they are going to be provided with things like netflix and kindles, books and magazines. clothes, many of them were told to travel pretty light come up with only cabin bags. and they are going to be stuck here for two weeks. a fourth case has been confirmed in the uk, tell us more about that? yeah, that news has just come through from the chief medical officer, and what we know is that this person contracted it from somebody in france, apparently, they then followed the nhs advice, which was not to go to a&e, but to self mac isolate and get in touch with the nhs. that person has now been transferred to the royal free hospital in north london, where the chief medical officer chris whitty was saying that robust measures were being put in place to stop further infection of people. the number of people who have died from the new coronavirus has exceeded the number killed in the sars outbreak nearly 20 years ago. the latest figures show that more than eight hundred patients have died in mainland china and hong kong. i spoke to our correspondent robin brant about the chinese authorities‘ efforts to stop the outbreak from spreading further. well, they are nationwide. here in shanghai, a city over 1000 kilometres away from the epicentre of wuhan, there is almost a kind of enforced self—isolation for people. some are expected to return to work tomorrow. that's mostly on the industrial, factory side. this is a city dominated by financial services and the service sector. there is going to be a lot of working from home over the coming weeks. somewhat ominously, on state—run tv here last night, there was a message conveyed from the most senior politicians in charge of dealing with the epidemic, at the very top of the communist party here in china, and they talked about rounding everybody up who needs to be rounded up, no delays will be tolerated. tomorrow and the coming days are going to be key in terms of the numbers. where are they going, in terms of the number of people died and the confirmed cases? we have to rely on the chinese government here for those official numbers. but also, in terms of people returning to work, tomorrow, for some — and when i say some, i mean, tens of millions, is meant to be the end of the extended chinese lunar new year festival — and it will be very interesting, as a gauge of companies' faith in their ability to return to work, but also provincial government, to see the number of people that do actually begin to return to work tomorrow. just quickly on those numbers, flying into brize norton, a tweet from dominic raab, the foreign secretary, in the last half an hour or so, confirming there are 105 british nationals on that plane, 105, and 95 foreigners. the world health organisation yesterday was saying that they were doing their best to try to get hold of protective equipment for healthcare workers who are dealing with this outbreak — how is china managing that? well, it's struggling, to be very honest. we had that admission coming from the very top, the national healthcare commission, here, warning medical professionals, frankly, anyone involved in the effort today, to use reasonably things like protective kit, because there is a severe shortage. the other side of that is, though, there is anecdotal evidence of people talking on social media about struggling to get disinfectant, struggling to get masks, and their comments, their criticisms, are being censored. there is no doubt here, particularly in wuhan and the surrounding province of hubei, there is a real struggle in terms of getting some of the most basic kind of kit to the people who need it. hence that warning from the national health commission to tell people not to hoard this kind of kit, and use it reasonably. we are seeing as well, some companies here talking about refashioning some of their production lines to help make masks, help make what is known as ppe, personal protective equipment, that's the suits we're seeing. so, there is some anecdotal evidence of that, but look, they're struggling here, there isn't enough. hong kong authorities have allowed passengers and crew members to disembark a cruise ship after they tested negative for coronavirus. the world's dream was quarantined in hong kong after crew members showed signs of the virus. at least 69 british passport holders were believed to be onboard the ship. the headlines on bbc news: storm ciara hits the uk with gale—force winds and torrential rain — it's causing huge disruption across the country. another patient tests positive for coronavirus in england, and a briton in majorca has also contacted the illness. a soldier who killed 26 people in a mass shooting in northern thailand has been shot dead by the security forces. sport, and for a full round—up from the bbc sport centre, here's holly. good morning. saqib mahmood has marked his england debut with a wicket, as they bid to level the one—day series against south africa. they won the toss and put the home side into bat in johannesburg and there's been a strong bowling display so far — mahmood removing reeza hendricks. adil rasheed has taken two wickets — south africa are 219—7 in the 46th over. england's women are out of the t20 tri—nation series in australia, after losing to the home side. australia will play india in the final. it's not the best preparation for the t20 world cup. england only have three more games before their first cup match on 23rd march. they reached the final last time out, when they were beaten by australia. england head coach eddiejones was deeply unhappy about the behaviour of some scotland fans, during his side's six nations win at murrayfield yesterday. one of his coaching staff was hit by a plastic bottle and jones said he was expecting a feisty encounter but he was unimpressed by the booing aimed at captain 0wen farrell as he lined up his kicks. it's an old —fashioned calcutta cup game, isn't it? swirling wind, the heavy rains, aggressive crowd, erm, without much manners. so, you know, you've got to be at your best to win. without much — were you getting a bit of stick out there? did you sense it? i thought that you were supposed to show kickers respect. oh, you mean the booing that was coming when the kickers were taking — when farrell was kicking? i thought you were supposed to show kickers respect. today's women's six nations clash between scotland and england has been postponed because of storm ciara. and that's not the only sporting fixture to be affected today. we have heard that manchester city against west ham in the premier league has been postponed. the bbc sport website has a list of them. the merseyside derby at goodison park, one of five matches in the women's super league, postponed. the situation is changing all the time, so do check before you travel. all the time, so do check there was more success for great britain in hockey‘s pro league, with the men claiming theirfirst win of the campaign, beating new zealand 3—0. the women meanwhile drew 2—2 in their second tie in auckland, before winning the shootout 5—4 to claim the bonus point and move to fifth in the standings. great britain's ice hockey team are back in action later, as they bid to reach the winter olympics for the first time since 1948. they thrashed estonia 7—i 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. two former australian captains, ricky ponting and adam gilchrist, led the sides, and the appeal has so far raised around £400 million. among those playing were west indies legend brian lara and indian batting superstar sachin tendulkar, the highest test run scorer of all—time, who was delighted to see so much support. i had ihada 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. i'll have more in the next hour. a thai soldier who carried out a mass shooting spree 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 of nakhon ratchaseema. aaron safir has the latest. a 15—hour stand—off finally over. thai security forces emerged from the terminal 2! shopping centre in nakhon ratchasima. a lone gunman shot dead, but not before he took more than 20 lives. 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. australia's biggest city, sydney, is bracing for more rain than it has seen in two decades. huge downpours have caused flooding and power cuts, but have provided relief for bushfire—hit regions and farmers affected by a long drought. a huge bush fire south of sydney that burned for more than two months and destroyed 300 homes has finally been put out. 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 opinion polls suggest most voters will back the new law. the labour party has formally reported members of sir keir starmer‘s leadership campaign team to the information commissioner. the allegations were made against two members of sir keir‘s team, one of whom is his compliance official, accusing them of hacking into the party's membership database. sir keir and his team have strenuously denied the claims. votes are being counted in ireland's general election, with an exit poll indicating a tie between the three main parties. it suggests that the centre—right fine gael party, led by the prime minister, leo varadkar, won about 22 percent of first preference votes, with the centrist fianna fail and left—leaning sinn fein, only fractionally behind. we can speak to our ireland correpsondent sara girvin. she's in dublin. what might a coalition look like? well, that is so difficult to say at this stage, with the exit poll last night putting three parties basically and neck. that is in the first preference votes, but whichever way the numbers stack up, we are looking at another coalition government, which is a normal thing to happen here in the republic of ireland. fianna fail and to happen here in the republic of ireland. fianna failand fine to happen here in the republic of ireland. fianna fail and fine gael have already said they will not go into government with sinn fein, citing the party's past links to paramilitary violence during northern ireland's struggles. champagne have played up their role in the peace process, and they have said that to exclude them from government would be undemocratic. —— sinn fein. we might see smaller parties approaching to try to form a government, without anyone having a clear majority, this is likely to be a complicated and long process. quite a bit of support, what has led to sinn fein's success? will, i suppose this has been an election that has really been for on social issues, namely, housing, hospitals and homelessness and particularly housing. it is a massive issue here in the republic of ireland because simply there are not enough affordable homes in major towns and cities, and that is something which particularly affects young people here. sinn fein have really seized on that issue, they have promised 100,000 new homes in a pretty tight time frame, something which has been very well received. but fianna fail and fine gael have asked how on earth they are going to pay for this. the economy in the republic of ireland is now the fastest—growing in the eu but people say that is just not being felt further down the chain. so, they think that sinn fein can offer a change, and that is a word we keep hearing again and again during this election, people want change. it is worth noting that in 2016 after the election then it took more than two months for a government to be formed. so, later on, whichever way the numbers stack up on, whichever way the numbers stack up here and into tomorrow morning, there are likely to be very intense and complicated political negotiations, which may last days, weeks or even months. thank you very much, sara girvin in dublin. time for a look at the weather forecast now. storm ciara is causing significant damage and disruption for the rest of today. the met 0ffice have issued a pretty rare amber weather warning right across the bulk of england and wales for those severe gales for scotland and northern ireland, also having a wind warning for very strong winds. gusts, 60 to 80mph, even stronger around the coasts, up to 85mph across parts of scotland later this afternoon, the risk is really picking up. lots of heavy rain, we have had flooding quite widely. the heaviest rain will be coming south across england and wales during the afternoon with strengthening winds up afternoon with strengthening winds up to 80mph through the english channel. it is mild and windy with heavy rain around. storm ciara bringing a combination of damaging winds, torrential rain, a lot of disruption to travel. large waves around the coast. the winds will ease this evening and tonight but not ina ease this evening and tonight but not in a hurry, it remains very windy indeed with further heavy showers, wintry over the higher ground in the north, and it will be a cold and icy start to tomorrow morning. hello, this is bbc news with maxine croxall. the headlines: storm ciara hits the uk, with gale—force winds and torrential rain. it's causing huge disruption across the country. travel is already being badly affected — airlines have cancelled dozens of flights, and more than 20 rail companies say their services will be disrupted. yesterday saw gusts of up to 75 mph across wales. there is predicted to be gusts even quicker today, up to 90 mph. another patient tests positive for coronavirus in england, and a briton in majorca has also contacted the illness meanwhile, 200 evacuees from wuhan have been brought back to britain and taken to milton keynes for quarantine a soldier who killed 26 people in a mass shooting in northern thailand has been shot dead by the security forces. counting begins in the irish general election, as an exit poll

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