this is bbc news. the headlines... the chancellor defends his decision to increase national insurance contributions for the self—employed. the move‘s been criticised by some tory backbenchers, but philip hammond says the government is facing new challenges. what i did yesterday was address a basic continuing unfairness in the current system. the benefits available to the self—employed have significantly improved. this is not the time to do it — when consumer spending is just dipping, and at the front line of the effects of that will be the sole traders and self—employed. theresa may is in brussels for what's expected to be her final eu summit before triggering brexit, as donald tusk is re—elected as president of the european council. a new war memorial is unveiled by the queen by the thames to honour those who have served in iraq and afghanistan. the monument is dedicated to civilians as well as servicemen and women. ina

in a moment it will be time for sportsday. first, a look at what else is coming up this evening on bbc news. we will be looking at the political row caused by an announcement of a national insurance hike for the self—employed in yesterday's budget. we will be reflecting on the life and work of sir howard hodgkin, who has died at the age of 8a. and our political correspondent and the financial times will bejoining us correspondent and the financial times will be joining us for the papers. that's all i heard on bbc news. now it's time for sportsday. —— that is all ahead. hello, and welcome to sportsday. i'm hugh woozencroft. the main stories this evening: "arsene‘s listening". wenger says he will consider the thoughts of the arsenal fans before making a final decision on his future. how a run in with eddiejones's dog has supposedly put owen farrell at risk of missing the six nations clash with scotland on saturday. opener alex hales returns from injury to hit a century

for england as they aim for a whitewash in the one—day series with west indies. we'll have the latest from barbados. good evening. all of that and more in store, but we begin with the ongoing dilemma at arsenal. boss arsene wenger says he will take the opinion of the club's fans into account when deciding his future. the frenchman's contract expires in the summer, and recent poor results have led to some disquiet amongst fans. david ornstein has the latest on the situation. well, for arsenal this season is starting to resemble so many that have gone before. and once again, there's enormous speculation over the future of arsene wenger. that intensified with tuesday's champions league elimination,

losing 10—2 on aggregate to bayern munich, with a group of fans staging a pre—match protest march calling for wenger to bring his 21—year reign to an end when his contract expires this summer. meanwhile, there are suggestions that top scorer alexis sanchez could be one of several leading players on their way out of the club. but this morning, wenger played down reports of unrest in the camp. it is exaggerated. i think we have a good, united group, a determined group. when you go through disappointing results, you always have some disagreement. but overall, i think the best way to respond is a lwa ys i think the best way to respond is always the game and to show how united and determined we are. and overall i believe that on that front

we are...i overall i believe that on that front we are... i don't worry. and even, you know, in ourjob, you have to be competitive. and competitiveness doesn't mean love always. it is about performing. and sometimes the fa ct about performing. and sometimes the fact that in the past it is not the tea m fact that in the past it is not the team that loves each other the most that are the best on the football pitch, not always. today we also heard from the arsenal chairman sir chips keswick. still no word from the club's owner, stan kroenke, but finally a board member has commented on the current situation, in a statement that read: as for wenger, he denied reports he's informed his players of his plans —

but admitted the atmosphere among the supporters would be a factor in his decision. i work very hard for 20 years to make our fans happy. when you lose a game, i understand they aren't. and i don't want to judge that. i'm not capable to, i live in my daily work with my complete commitment after that. i said many times, you have to accept different opinions. if things are bad for arsenal, they could get a lot worse if they lose their next match — an fa cup quarterfinal against non—league lincoln city at the emirates stadium on saturday. but win that and they'll be through to a semifinal at wembley, raising the prospect of another troubled season ending on a high, regardless of what happens with wenger. manchester united are playing russian side fc rostov in the last 16 of the europa league right now.

there has been a goal. we will bring you the pictures in a moment. first, rugby union dues. —— news. england's 0wen farrell couldn't get through today's training session ahead of the calcutta cup match against scotland in the six nations on saturday. the centre had medics looking at his left knee as he departed the training field at pennyhill park. number eight billy vunipola will make his first appearance in the tournament from the bench. and although head coach eddiejones admits farrell could be a doubt for the game, he made light of the incident. he's got a bad leg, so he couldn't finish training. how did it happen in training today? i think he ran into my dog, mate. my dog was running around, and he ran into it. he'll be all right. are you confident of that? he'll be all right, yeah. you just said he was a doubt? yet, but i think he'll be all right. is that 0k? we've got plenty of back—ups. the number 12 is we've got plenty of back—ups. the

numberi2 is an we've got plenty of back—ups. the number 12 is an exceptional player. there's no risk for us. as for scotland, edinburgh flanker hamish watson will start in place of the injured john hardie. it's the only change to the starting 15, and means their backline stays the same for the trip to twickenham — a venue where scotland haven't won since 1983. 0ur players know that we're going to have to be on our best performance on that day, during that 80 minutes we will have to string together a number of excellent plays with attack and defence and think clearly to get them to start adapting to our play. they are a very good team. 0pener alex hales returned from injury to lead the way for england with a high—quality century in the final one—day international against the west indies. england are aiming for a 3—0 series whitewash. i'll bring the very latest in just a moment. but first, patrick gearey has the story of england's batting performance in barbados. people come to barbados and emac shores to relax, with series one

tempting for england's cricketers to dojust tempting for england's cricketers to do just that and lose direction a little. with roy's early wicket, glory is more elusive. you can't allow the likes of root to risk eight. hales was searching for it on his return from injury. with them is booming and hypnotic, you can tell when he has foundered. his century sealed inevitably with a six. behind his stride there were stumbles. but luck brought in with a brief to be bolder —— bottle up brought in. root continued, no need to push boundaries, the runs would come. he passed 100, the west indies might have had him for one. the windies found ways of getting wickets, stopping england's score from getting truly out of hand. but by the time they were bowled out, the tourists had hit the biggest one—day international total seen at this ground. well, england made an immediate impact with the ball in hand — steve finn and two wickets from chris woakes had

west indies at 13—3. they are now 32—3 after 11 of their 50 overs. but england once again the firm favourites for victory. i mentioned manchester united. they are playing the russian side fc rostov in the last 16 of the europa league right now. jose mourinho had complained about the state of the pitch, but it hasn't stopped them taking the lead. zlatan ibrahimovic with the assist, with mkhitaryan getting the only goal of the game so far. there is not long until half—time now in russia. united still leading by 1—0. chris and gabby adcock are through to the quarterfinals at the all england badminton championships in birmingham. the husband and wife pair beat china's chen x zhu and yue doo 21—17 and 21—12 in the second round earlier today. they will face indonesian 0lympic champions tontowi ahmad and liliyana natsir in the next round on friday. the last british winners of the competition were nathan robertson and gail emms back in 2005.

there were some more rallies in that match. i think the arena is playing quite slow, but we quite like how it is playing out there. i think we really stuck to the plan well today. asi really stuck to the plan well today. as i was saying, it's a new partnership, we had never played them before. we did a lot of video analysis, especially on her. we had played him before and we knew what he was going to bring. we are really happy with how we performed. british freestyle snowboarder katie 0rmerod has posted on social media that she has suffered a broken back while training. 0rmerod, seen here in a previous training session, became gb‘s first ever big air world cup winner earlier this year, and describes the injury as "nothing too serious" and says she'll be back in six weeks. but she will now miss the world championships in spain. british ski and snowboard have described the problem as a small, stable fracture in one of her vertebrae. today marks one year to go until the pyeongchang winter paralympics, and hoping to make a return

for the games in south korea are british nordic skiers. it's been 19 years since gb last had athletes compete in the sport at a paralympics. now, two soldiers who were injured during active service in afghanistan are hoping to end that run. nick hope has been to meet scott meenagh and steve arnold. it isa it is a very, very hard sport. everything is for one and flat—out. if you don't do the training, you get found out quite quick. you are maxed out. your monza on fire. in their words, it is a sport that separates the men for from the boys. 0vercoming adversity is nothing new, they were both injured whilst on patrol in afghanistan in 2011.|j they were both injured whilst on patrol in afghanistan in 2011. i was on foot patrol, i stepped on an ied. a home—made bomb, planted in the

ground. i was in the royal engineers, just happened to stand on an ied while we were carrying out such operations outburst of europe asa such operations outburst of europe as a result of the blast, i lost both my legs above the knee. i was awake through my injury, i managed to treat myself at the beginning, i was away, the doctor put me asleep. and then i woke up in camp bastion, andl and then i woke up in camp bastion, and i woke up on the flight home. i can picture every stage of it. and i woke up on the flight home. i can picture every stage of itm was a pretty tough time. you go from being this super abel, super strong and capable soldier, who is in the flick of a switch on his back in a bed for four months having to be fed, having to have people do the most basic of tasks for you. it is really, really tough mentally to deal with that. once you get injured, you put on a bit of weight, you are full of tablets and feel rubbish, you feel that your life is over. things start to change. there isa over. things start to change. there is a lot of support that. as part of my recoveryjourney,

is a lot of support that. as part of my recovery journey, i is a lot of support that. as part of my recoveryjourney, i was interested in a lot of sporting opportunities, through a sporting initiative run by help for heroes. sport became the catalyst for rediscovering what you could do instead of worrying about howl couldn't get up and down stairs i couldn't get up and down stairs i could feel myself doing skiing. my goal is the winter olympics. i'm not coming overjust to have a laugh. goal is the winter olympics. i'm not coming overjust to have a laughm isa coming overjust to have a laughm is a chance to redefine yourself. you are known as being a performance athlete. it is a hard sport but rewarding. i would love to be part of that. that's all from sportsday. manchester united are still leading by1—0. manchester united are still leading by 1—0. another wicket for england, liam plunkett has struck for them. you can follow that on bbc radio five live. there'll be more sport here on bbc news throughout the evening. see you soon.

you are watching bbc news. a reminder of our headlines this evening... the chancellor defends his decision to increase national insurance contributions for the self—employed. the move's been criticised by some tory backbenchers, but philip hammond says the government is facing new challenges. theresa may is in brussels for what's expected to be her final eu summit before triggering brexit, as donald tusk is re—elected as president of the european council. a new war memorial is unveiled by the queen by the thames to honour those who have served in iraq and afghanistan. the monument is dedicated to civilians as well as servicemen and women. an update on the market numbers... here is how london and frankfurt ended the day, and how the dow and nasdaq are getting on. the ftse 100 nasdaq are getting on. the ftse100 was down, with the supermarket giant morrisons weighing highly on the london market after worrying about imported food prices if the sterling

stays at lower levels. the founder ofa stays at lower levels. the founder of a charity which supports people who were forcibly sent abroad as children —— without their parents —— has been giving evidence at the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse. margaret humphreys said the deportation of thousands of children was the "most catastrophic children was the "most catastrophic child abuse legacy within living memory." tom symonds reports. margaret humphreys has worked most of her life for the british child migrants. her offices are covered with the pictures of those she's helped. today, 30 years after founding the child migrants trust,