peru are looking to the shaman's for strength. they take on new zealand in lima for the final spot at the world cup in russia. a world cup shock of a different kind. france will host the rugby world cup in 2023 despite south africa being recommended. and grigor dimitrov is the latest player through to the last four at the season—ending atp world tour finals in london. welcome to the programme wherever you are watching us. so, the final spot for next year's football world cup in russia will be decided in the next few hours in lima, and it will go to either peru or new zealand. the teams were goalless at the end of the first leg in new zealand last week. kick in the second leg is in 30 minutes‘ time. and our reporter, mani djazmi, sent this report from lima earlier. this is kennedy park in lima. this

is where they will put up the giant screens to watch the match. one fan told me he has only ever seen peru in action on sticker albums. it took 24 in action on sticker albums. it took 2a hours to get here from wellington. but the new zealanders are used to travelling hours to face opposition. but they are not used to waking up at 3am with fireworks outside their hotel, which happened last night. they are probably not use to local shaman putting a curse on them. that happened on tuesday while peru were being blessed. they are thirsty for any kind of success here in peru. one man anthony hudson, took the new zealand job, as he saw it as his best chance.

destiny awaits for someone. earlier on wednesday, australia became the 31st team to qualify for next year's finals in russia. mile jedinak scored a hat—trick as the socceroos beat honduras 3—1 in the second leg of their play—off in sydney to qualify for their fourth successive world cup. austin halewood reports. we are used to seeing fireworks on the sydney harbour bridge on new year's eve, but when the socceroos qualify for a world cup, it is time for a party. almost 80,000 fans inside stadium australia. they were ove i’co m e inside stadium australia. they were overcome with reliefare going to russia. the atmosphere before before kick—off was tense. the first half reflected that to be no chances for either team. then the match came alive. a free kick for australia. step up, captain, milejedinak.1—0,

and perhaps luck on their side. australia were happy to have tim cahill comeback. he missed the first leg through injury. but he led them from the front, almost doubling the lead. tim cahill made the headlines before the match. milejedinak made them afterwards. a penalty. co mforta bly them afterwards. a penalty. comfortably converted. 10 minutes later, another defensive slip. another penalty for australia. and milejedinak milejedinak was again on hand, sealing his hat—trick and sending his side to the world cup.|j did not even know i had one goal indeed. but, do you know what, a game can bring so many things. —— in me. iam game can bring so many things. —— in me. i am very grateful. it has been a four—year journey. when me. i am very grateful. it has been a four—yearjourney. when the boss asked me to stay on and continue playing, every year there was a motivation. anne dickins burning

inside me. for socceroos fans, they will hope that burns brighter next year at their fourth successive world cup. in europe, in the women's champions league, the title holders lyon are through to the quarter finals after thrashing kazygurt 9—0 on wednesday. a tough match—up for the team from kazachstan. 16—0, they lost on aggregate. here's the full results from wednesday. barcelona who have never won the trophy also progress. chelsea made the last eight for the first time with a four nil aggregate win against swedish side rosengard. two time champions wolfsburg are also through. now to the shock result that saw france get the rights to hold the rugby world cup in 2023. an upset because last month, the board of world rugby recommended south africa following an extensive evaluation report. the council of world rugby however voted by 2a votes to 15 in favour of france. in a secret ballot in london this wednesday. the shock announcement

by world rugby chairman bill beaumont was greeted by stunned silence, before a muffled cheer from the french. ireland was eliminated in the first round before south africa was beaten in the second round. the union said it was "bitterly disappointed" at the decision and "would like to apologise to the people and government of south africa for raising their hopes." translation: yes, we were surprised, because the competition was very serious. the three candidates were very close. but we were always definite about it. the other candidates were also strong. are we surprised, yes and no, but we are very happy to win. tennis now. and grigor dimitrov is the latest player through to the last four at the season—ending atp

world tour finals in london. the number six seed from bulgaria thrashed belgium's david goffin, to make it two wins out of two in the round robin phase of the competition. dimitrov won 6—0, 6—2 to seal his place in the semi—finals. he'll face the winner of thursday's match between alexander zverev and jack sock. there he goes, sealing the win. goffin will now have to beat austria's dominic thiem to reach the semi—finals. meanwhile, thiem kept alive his hopes of a place in the last four with victory over spain's pablo carreno—busta. but he needed three sets to see off the man who was drafted in as a late replacement for rafael nadal. thiem won the deciding set 6—4. cricket now. and we're just a few hours away from the first test between india and sri lanka. the first match in their three—test series is in kolkata, and that'll be followed by three one—day internationals, and three t20 matches. the two sides met as recent as august when india whitewashed the sri lankans

in all three formats. the indian captain virat kohli knows they'll be expected to repeat that feat on home soil over the next six weeks. we don't like to defend. we simply wa nt to we don't like to defend. we simply want to do well as a team. whatever combination we need to play, we will do that accordingly. keep in mind, winning is the most important thing. for that, everyone is on the same page. wejust for that, everyone is on the same page. we just want to play good cricket as a team. the results take ca re of cricket as a team. the results take care of themselves anywhere in the world. there has been a lot of hard work in

the practice and on the field and off of the field. they are really good as a team in every format. they are really balanced. that is the way that i think they are really good at the moment. the top golfer for the year on the european tour will be decided over the weekend as the race to dubai reaches it's climax. england's tommy fleetwood and justin rose are the leading contenders, although masters champion sergio garcia could pip both of them to the title if he wins the season—ending dubai world championship, which gets under way on thursday. the earth course in dubai will host the final event, as it has every year since 2009 when the order of merit was replaced by the race to dubai. fleetwood has been leading the rankings for several months, although rose closed the gap by winning his last two events. it has just been great to actually

wina it has just been great to actually win a race to dubai. this is my fifth time here and i have never ever been in a position like this. it is really cool and special to be here. it is brilliant. yeah, it would mean a lot. it would be the end to what has been an unbelievable year on end to what has been an unbelievable yearon and off end to what has been an unbelievable year on and off of the course. yeah, it is going to be great. we will keep you updated on that event here on bbc world news over the weekend. we will also keep you updated on the final qualifier for the place we will also keep you updated on the final qualifierfor the place in russia next year. new zealand and peru kicking off in about 20

minutes' time. stay with us for the updates on that. hi there. for many of us it is going to be another pretty cloudy start to the day on thursday, but there will be some significant weather changes, because this cold front is going to be sliding its way southwards as we go on through the day and behind that we're going to see the skies turning much brighter with much more in the way of sunshine. before we get there, though, for the early rises, we've got a few fog patches knocking around, across south—east england, this morning. a lot of cloud too. there's the band of rain affecting northern ireland and scotland first thing. this band of rain, remember, will clear southward and then it's going to brighten up with sunshine. so let's see how things progress through the morning. that band of rain will be moving away from northern ireland, but heading in across wales, where it will turn wet

through thursday morning. there will be some brighter spells, perhaps across south—west england, maybe across the midlands as well. but for east anglia and south—east england, probably quite a grey start to the day, either with low cloud or with fog first thing in the morning. the rain across northern england could be quite heavy for a time during the morning. behind that, the skies brighten up significantly but it's not completely dry in scotland. here there will be a number of showers, particularly across north—western areas of the country, blustery winds setting in here as well. through the rest of thursday, our band of rain pushes southwards. now there could be a few breaks in the clouds ahead of that band of rain. and in any case, as the rain band works towards south—east england, probably arriving in the london area around four o'clock in the afternoon, you can see there's barely any rain left on it. to the north, as the sunshine comes out, down go the temperatures. 6—9 degree celsius in those sunnier moment in the north of the uk. during thursday evening, the band of rain finally clears away from south—east england. with clear skies, it's going to be a cold night. towns and cities temperatures getting down to three degrees or so, in london.

out into the countryside, the lowest temperatures could get down to —5, in the very coldest spots. i think there will be a fairly widespread frost in the country, perhaps not so in scotland because here there's going to be fairly brisk winds. and those winds will be with us on into friday as well. bringing plenty of blustery showers across northern and western areas. but for most of us, friday is a decent end to the week, really, with plenty of sunshine around. temperatures a little below par for the time of the year. we're looking at highs between 7—10 celsius. the weekend weather prospects not looking too bad. most of us will see some sunshine but, again, there will be some showers knocking around, particularly across northern and western areas and quite a chilly wind to boot on saturday and maybe some rain arriving late in the day on sunday in the west. saturday then a reasonable start to the weekend, temperatures 6—10 degrees celsius. sunny spells and just a few showers pushing southward during the day. broadcasting to the is in north america and around the globe. —— welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is duncan golestani. our top stories:

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