live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme. washington have done it — the nationals have taken chicago to a decider in their baseball division playoff. the kneeling protest that's exposed deep divisions in the usa. now the head of the nfl calls for an end to the controvesy. and world number one rafa nadal makes a winning start in shanghai. hi there, wherever you are around the world. welcome to sport today. in the last half an hour, the washington nationals have have tied their baseball series with the cubs, winning 5—0 at wrigley field. so the series is 2—2 and it goes to a decider on thursday night back in the american capital. trea turner put the nationals ahead 1—nothing off a cubs error. but then the magic happended at the top of the eighth. with bases loaded and two out already.

michael turner hit a grand slam homer to take washington to five without answer. so the winner of this series will face the la dodgers in the best of seven national league championship series, starting this saturday. the decider between new york yankees and cleveland indians is under way. game five is in ohio. the yankees have gone ahead early on. it's 2—2 in their american league division series. the winner will face the houston astros in the american league championship series which will start on friday. the nfl commisioner, roger goodell, has called for an end to players kneeling in protest. goodell‘s plea comes after president trump urged nfl

teams to sack any player who took a knee. goodell wrote to all 32 nfl teams on tuesday stating "everyone should stand for the national anthem". our sports news correspondent richard conway has been in the united states covering the protests. the nfl owners have stood with their players an week three of nfl, they made it clear their displeasure with president trump's comments when he called for players to be fired if they disrespected the anthem by kneeling. but since then we have seen a shift in stance, lots of fans angry with players who kneel. they have made their opinions clear on this. there is a meeting next week, roger goodell saying perhaps they will implement a rule change whereby players will have to stand, and that has had a sharp reaction from players who say that this is our first amendment right, freedom of expression, freedom of speech. this should be what we are allowed to do.

we are lighter kneel and do what we want. so it is a very thorny issue. i have spoken to the owner of the new england patriots, one of the most successful teams in the sport's history, one of the most powerful man in the sport. this is what he had to say about how he sees navigating a path through for nfl. it is very important to respect our flag and our anthem. but i also respect the right of people in this country to make statements and protests peacefully in a way that is appropriate to them. i think there we re appropriate to them. i think there were some comments made about what oui’ were some comments made about what our young men were doing that were a little inflammatory and inappropriate. i thought i had to speak out, and i spoke to the team, andi speak out, and i spoke to the team, and i told them that they were free to do what they thought was correct, and the way you build team and you build success is to let people be

themselves. so the difficulty from robert kraft is clearly getting that path whereby players can protest, but perhaps not during the national anthem. there has been a significant impact on nfl ratings, lots of fans feel that anger towards their team members. i spoke to one fan in kansas city last week who said he would do any player who knelt, even if they had gone on to score a touchdown. very entrenched positions, and this is the position the nfl find themselves in, and there will be a reaction no matter what happens in the coming days as the nfl tries to find that we threw between those who protest on the right of those who think that perhaps they should be patriotic and respect the american anthem. richard conway there. nick kyrigos has been stripped of his first round prize money and fined an additional $10,000 following his shanghai first set retirement. meanwhile, world number one rafa nadal and roger federer both wrapped up routine victories to reach the third round. austin halewood reports. day three of the shanghai masters,

and out came the big guns. fresh from winning the china open in beijing last week, rafa nadal picked up beijing last week, rafa nadal picked up from where he left off. his touch as good as ever. the spaniard bullied american jared donaldson from the back of the court, quickly taking the first set. and the second wasn't far behind. nadal through after losing just three games. roger federer was next on court in his first match since the us open, and against argentina's diego schwartzman, it was like he'd never been away. the 19 time grand slam champion took the first set on a tie—break and booked his place in the third round with an ace. belgium's david goffin wonjust

three days ago, but unlike that he couldn't keep that going. gilles simon took the first set on a tie—break and dominated in the second, errors costing him, the world of ten going home. dimitrov had a battle on his hands as ryan harrison battled his way to the first set, but then the bulgarian hit back. his reactions enough to hand him the second. the third went all the way to a tie—break, but it was dimitrov who came through, edging his way into the next round. former us football captain alexis lalas says coach bruce arena has to resign after the usa failed to reach the world cup for the first time since 1986. a draw against trinidad and tobago would've been enough, but they lost 2—1. it is the worst day in us soccer history. the world cup, keep in mind in the united states soccer is not

the number one sport, and we as a soccer playing nation as an emerging soccer playing nation as an emerging soccer playing nation as an emerging soccer playing nation, we cannot afford to waste these platforms that come along every four years for the men's team. we have done with the women's team but we have to make sure we have the with the men's team because it changes perspective on games as credibility and relevance, not just games as credibility and relevance, notjust domestic liebert around the world, and to waste that, it is hugely damaging to the progress of the sport. soccer is not going away, the sport. soccer is not going away, the sky is not falling, but this is a definite body blow. england cricketer ben stokes has apologised to the tv celebrity katie price and her disabled son harvey, after a video emerged of him apparently impersonating the pair. stokes said he "should never have done this and i am so sorry". he claimed, "it was absolutely not my intention to offend harvey, katie or anybody else." he has offered to meet them in person to apologise. it's the first time stokes has spoken publicly since he was arrested on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm on a night out.

the england and wales cricket board has said stokes will not travel to australia with the rest of the ashes squad "at this stage". former england spinner monty panesar thinks that the england management will keep a firm eye on all the players during the ashes. i think they'll probably have some cu rfews in place, i think they'll probably have some curfews in place, and they've got to obviously demonstrate good behaviour. and i'm sure the management, i know andrew strauss well from his playing days, he was very much into you got to be amongst, follow the rules, the team values, as we call it. we used to have the ten commandments, i used to follow all of that. so i'm sure they will probably just have follow all of that. so i'm sure they will probablyjust have a slightly stricter regime on all of that and make sure that all of the players are ready to perform. seven of the top ten in the race to dubai rankings are set to take part in the italian 0pen.

it tees off on thursday at monza. the masters champion sergio garcia is competing in italy for the first time in his professional career, and will be hoping to close the gap on race to dubai leader, tommy fleetwood who knows he has to keep performing well to stay out in front. i'm ina i'm in a very strong position, but i've just i'm in a very strong position, but i'vejust got to i'm in a very strong position, but i've just got to keep concentrating each week that's the thing. such big events, it's not as if, you know, i can sort of hope that nobody plays well and i end up winning it, you've got to go out and play well. plus massive event and big world ranking points, so you are always looking to improve your world ranking, always looking to improve as a golfer anyway, so the resort is a lot to play for, and hopefully i can keep going and keep playing well. that's all we've got time for right now. always more on our bbc app and the bbc website — 2a hours a day. that's bbc.com/sport. just a reminder of the top story,

washington won their game against the cubs. that's all for now. i'm nick marshall—mccormack. thanks for watching, see you soon. hello, good morning. the weather is much, much quieter now. it's actually turning quite chilly out there under the clearer skies. but for a while on wednesday, we had some quite severe weather. in cumbria, heavy cloud, low cloud as well producing a lot of rain, feeding into the rivers as the water drains down from the higher ground, and it was in the highest ground that we have some of the heaviest rain. honisterfor example, over 200 millimetres of rain falling in about 2k hours. it was quite localised, but heavy for a while on what was a thicker band of cloud, a more active weather front,

but as that's worked its way south eastwards, so the cloud thinned and narrowed, the weatherfront weakened and it is out of the way. we're into a bit of a flat ridge if you like for today, but this deepening low pressure is waiting in the wings to arrive by the end of the week. but a quieter day on thursday, a little bit chilly out there in the morning, one or two early mist patches in the south, but a lot of dry weather and some sunshine, too. as you head further north, though, the winds are that bit stronger, in scotland and northern ireland in particular, and there will be a little bit more cloud here from the word go, and a few showers, mainly around the highlands and islands, the heavier showers for the northern isles. the winds are going to be quite gusty in scotland, picking up in northern ireland, too, and we keep a bit more cloud here from time to time. a bit of rain in the far north—west, perhaps. some patchy cloud developing in england and wales, but more sunshine than we had yesterday. slightly fresher air, but temperatures will be similar to what we had on wednesday, and it will be a decent day for most of us. but those weather systems arrive at the north—west overnight,

thickening the cloud, bringing outbreaks of rain and the winds will be picking as well. the wettest weather always going to be over the hills, western scotland could get more rain pushing back into cumbria, perhaps north wales. further south and east get some sunshine, and those temperatures are going to be close to 20 degrees, quite warm air across much of the uk. and as we head into the weekend, we are going to draw up some warmer air, from iberia, from biscay, into some central and southern parts of the uk, quite a difference in temperature as you can see. either side of that weather front which, having moved southwards is going to start to move northwards again on saturday. initially not much rain on that at all, more a band of cloud, some drizzly rain over the hills. it may well turn wet in the north—west later on in the day, but warming up to the south, and those temperatures getting up to 19 or 20 degrees. some heavier rain continues, though, in the north—west of the uk. northern ireland and over the hills of west of scotland, so not quite as warm here, but further south get some sunshine, particularly in the south—east, and we could be 22, 23.

welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: at least 21 people have died in the huge wildfires in california, and the authorities fear they're about to get worse. the harvey weinstein scandal intensifies. hollywood a—listers are the latest to accuse the movie mogul of sexual harassment. as president trump threatens to decertify the iran nuclear deal, one of its original negotiators defends the agreement. india's border with china isn't as secure as you might think.