investor in twitter and apple, friend of prince charles, and now among those accused of corruption and abuse of power. the well funded saudi military is now totally in the hands of the crown prince, after the man in charge of the national guard was replaced, removing a possible rival. and he has powerfulfriends. only 32—years—old, he has already forged a close bond with the trump administration, he has declared war on religious extremism and rampant corruption. the shake—up at the top in saudi arabia is unprecedented. it has given this man, crown prince mohammad bin salman, enormous control of the richest arab nation. this matters to the rest of the world. why? because a stable saudi arabia is seen as an anchor of stability in a volatile middle east, but purging so many senior figures so publicly is a risky move. the crown prince may be popular with young saudis, but his enemies are multiplying. the house of saudi's really sensitive to this notion that it's corrupt, that it's feeding off public funds, so he will be popular

with those measures, but at the same time there is an entrenched elite that has grown fat off the system, and it's going to fight back, it's going to push back, so he has this balance between popularity on the street and raising tensions within the elites in society. much will now depend on the continued loyalty of the tribes and their leaders. modern saudi arabia only became united in 1932. there will be now fears that the glue which held it together risks becoming dangerously unstuck. frank gardner, bbc news. a century ago this week, bolshevikforces, encouraged by vladimir lenin, stormed the winter palace in st petersburg. the provisional government collapsed, and a new government of russia, led by the soviets, was proclaimed. but a hundred years on, the anniversary of the russian revolution is being marked without fanfare. our special correspondent allan little reports from russia, on how successive leaders have tried to shape the country's revolutionary past, to influence the present.

even before the first snows of winter, it is bitterly cold in the vast forests of the russian interior. in this great emptiness is labour camp 36 in the region of perm, now preserved as a museum to political repression. here, for decades, the soviet union held political dissidents and worked many of them to death. it is one little island in the vast network known as the gulag. tens of millions of soviet citizens were enslaved in it. the soviet union's rapid industrialisation after the 1917 revolution was due, in part, to forced labour. after the soviet union collapsed, russia's president boris yeltsin buried the bones of the murdered czar nicholas ii. "i bow my head", he said. "we are all guilty and can no longer lie." two decades on, there

is no such clarity. the alley of the rulers is a new state sponsored park, in central moscow, josef stalin, who sent millions of the gulag, takes his place in a line, unbroken over 11 centuries, of all powerful leaders. this is autocracy in bronze. is stalin being rehabilitated in russia? we should try to look at our history. more balanced? yes, more balanced. there were crimes. and there were achievements, and there were repression, and there were great victories. that is the truth. in those difficult times, one person can be, on one hand, a hero. on the other hand, ten years later, a criminal. because life is complicated. russians have a way of resisting state attempts to manipulate their history.

this is the cathedral of christ the saviour in moscow. the soviets, in their atheism, demolished it. the party would be the new priesthood. they built a public swimming pool here. it's said that russian christians baptised their children in the water, secretly keeping an older russia and its history alive. in the 1990s, post—communist russia rebuilt christ the saviour, an exact replica of its old imperial self. this, too, was an in the writing and rewriting of the national past. this, too, was an act in the writing and rewriting of the national past. now we can see the concept which is now emerging, that we always had a great empire. so it was peter i, it was catherine ii, it was nicholas ii, it was great stalin. and now? and now, our president, who is trying, you know, really to restore the empire, which creates an illusion

of this former greatness and the future greatness as well. in russia, history is a political battlefield, for the past has brought great national anguish, as well as national pride. allan little, bbc news, moscow. newsnight is coming up on bbc two. tonight we speak to the premiere of a tax haven on the paradise papers and alec baldwin on donald trump. join me now on bbc two. that's it. hello and welcome to sportsday. i am hugh woozencroft. our main stories. time's up for slaven bilic as he's sacked as manager of west ham united. could david moyes be taking his place? a disgrace. organisers of an atp event to be held in milan next week have

apologised after the players‘ draw was criticised for being sexist. and we look ahead to tonight's melbourne cup where there is a chance of british history down under. hello, good evening. we start with the latest manager of the latest managerial bilic departs with the club having won two of their premier league matches and sitting inside the relegation zone. bbc sport understands david moyes is in line to ta ke understands david moyes is in line to take over. it's thought that will be on an interim basis until the end of the season. we understand talks

between his representatives and the clu b between his representatives and the club have already taken place. it's a sad end to what had been an encouraging start for bilic. however things petered out for him in the end. premier league football is full of surprises, the sacking of slaven bilic is perhaps not one. another dark day for bilic and west ham. saturday's dismal defeat to liverpool proved ultimately to be the final straw, his departure seemingly a case of when, not if. the pressure mounts and in this moment it's big. of course the club is above everyone, every individual. we will see what the club's going to do now. what the club choose to do was bring to an end the reign that had started with such high hopes. a former west ham player, bilic was a

popular appointment. that optimism borne out when in his first season in charge he steered his side to 7th in the league, into europe and also the quarter—finals of the fa cup. they've won it! can you believe it? we st they've won it! can you believe it? west ham have won this tie. and now west ham have won this tie. and now west ham have won this tie. and now west ham and bilic will begin a new era, a move to the former olympic stadium was supposed to elevate the clu b to stadium was supposed to elevate the club to even greater heights. so far, it hasn't. it will take time. there could be frustrations on the way. west ham have moved, they ain't going back. an 11th place finish last season was certainly respectable. dumped out of the cup 5-0 respectable. dumped out of the cup 5—0 in their new home, a little less so. 5—0 in their new home, a little less so. but this season things have been all together worse. it's a woeful evening for west ham. what might it mean for slaven bilic? just two league wins has left them in the relegation zone. disquiet from the fa ns relegation zone. disquiet from the fans and empty seats have become all

too common. loyalty to slaven bilic has finally run out. what of their rivals? the tottenham hotspur pair of harry kane and harry winks have withdrawn from the england squad ahead of friendlies against germany and brazil. winks, who went off at half—time in spurs game with crystal palace at the weekend has been replaced by jake livermore. kane was kicked in the leg in the same match and his absence may mean a first start for 20—year—old tammy abraham. there was a game in the first round of the fa cup this evening. league one fleetwood town came from behind to knock out non—league chorley. the hosts took the lead when carve scored on the hour—mark. fleetwood we re scored on the hour—mark. fleetwood were reduced to ten men shortly after. but the league side showed their class in the end. cole

equalising before this goal from sowerby won it. fleetwood will face hereford united in the second round. the draw took place before the game. organisers of a tennis tournament in milan have apologised after accusations of sexism. female models were asked to remove an item of clothing to determine which group each player would be in. the atp and sponsors red bull have said the draw for the under—21 tour finals was unacceptable. our tennis correspondent russell fuller has more. the female model would reveal which group they were in by often having to re m ove group they were in by often having to remove an item of clothing to show whether they ended up in group aor show whether they ended up in group a orgroup b. show whether they ended up in group a or group b. there were one or two particularly cringeworthy examples. a young canadian playerfound out which group he was in when the female model he had chopsen lifted up female model he had chopsen lifted upa lace female model he had chopsen lifted up a lace dress and revealed the letter a on her right thigh. and

another actually had to take the glove of his female model off with his teeth to find out his fate. there has been a strong reaction on social media from many high profile women in the game. judy murray was one of those to tweet earlier. she described it as awful. a former coach of andy murray and former wimbledon champion amelie mauresmo branded it a disgrace. and another post with hashtag back to zero. now it's one of the world's most prestigious horse races in the world with a prize fund of more than 5.5 million. the melbourne cup has never been won by a british horse but there are four in tomorrow's race, including the first ever scottish mount to take part. williejohnston reports. it's a full house at this yard near dumfries. 70 horses in training here

but one box currently empty. it belongs to naco, the six yearly undoubted star of the stables. currently down under in search of one of sport's greatest prizes. on the near side, flying into the start on the far side. a tremendous finish! after several near miss in big races naco came good in august winning at york, the richest handicap race in europe. what he has achieved for us this summer by winning the ebor was something special. it's a fantastic day and he does deserve to be one of the trafrts in the yard now. that victory —— one of the favourites. that victory gave his trainer and owners the confidence to aim big and there's nothing much bigger than the melbourne cup, dubbed the race that stops a nation. there is an irish horse that won the ebor last year taking the same path and almost pulled it off and we have a very

similar profile to that horse. i thought to myself, why not make the entry and here we are. the journey to australia was long. 10,000 flying miles and periods of quarantine at either end. two members of stable staff were with him every step of the way and ian has joined them for the way and ian has joined them for the final preparations. these training gallops are a world removed from melbourne but this is where the ha rd from melbourne but this is where the hard work is put in. potentially a career defining race for both horse and trainer. there is no point going all the way to the other side of the world thinking this has no chance. so, we will go over there with a positive attitude and hopeful, more than being confident. we do think he has a nice chance. we will see if they can bring home the silverware. before we go, on the day andrea pirlo announced his retirement from football, we'll leave you with some

of the former ac milan and juventus midfielder‘s finest moments from a glittering career that saw him earn 116 caps for italy and win the 2006 world cup. goodbye. pirlo shoots. oh, it's a curler! you just can't teach this. this is genius. it's pirlo. the coolest player on the pitch has stayed that way. that is quite incredible. it's pirlo, over the wall and into the net! quite, quite brilliant. pirlo, still

pi rlo, still fearless.