semi finals after a 4—3 win on penalties over leicester city. former wimbledon champion marion bartoli is making a tennis coming, more than four years after retiring. and we talk to the men's surfing world champion john john florence after he makes it back to back championships. hello and welcome to the programme, where we start with the news manchester city have moved through to the semi—finals of the english league cup after a tense penalty shootout win over leicester city. the match finished level at the end of normal time afterjamie vardy‘s penalty in the7th minute of stoppage time cancelled out bernardo silva's opener. pep guardiola whose side have gone 16 matches undefeated in the league made nine changes to the team that beat tottenham on saturday but it was goalkeeper claudio bravo who saved riyahd mahrez‘s effort after vardy had put his attempt wide that proved to be the hero as his side progressed 4—3 in the shootout. arsenal are also through to the last four after danny welbeck‘s bundled

in effort prior to half time proved enough against west ham. arsenal manager arsene wenger made 11 changes from the weekend win over newcastle. napoli are through to the quarter—finals of the coppa italia following a 1—0 win against fellow serie a side udinese. italian international midfielder lorenzo insigne with the winner 18 minutes from the end. in the german cup mainz saw off fellow bundesliga side stuttgart to progress to the last eight, as did schalke, in another all top flight affair, where they were too good for cologne, while paderborn and wolfsburg also progress, the lattter after two goals in extra time over nuremberg. the world 100 metre champion justin gatlin says he's "shocked and surprised" at doping allegations made against his coach and an athletics agent. anti—doping officials are investigating after british newspaper the daily telegraph said the agent robert wagner offered to "supply performance—enhancing drugs" to undercover reporters. all three men deny the allegations. our sports correspondent natalie pirks reports.

four months ago he stunned the world beating usain bolt to become the 100 metre world champion. butjustin gatlin is ending a brilliant year under a cloud of suspicion. it stems from the video of undercover reporters from the telegraph newspaper at gatlin‘s florida training came. the paper claims that gatlin‘s coach and an athletics agent offered to supply and administer peds, performance enhancing drugs, for an actor training for a film. the video a p pa re ntly training for a film. the video apparently shows wagner insinuating that gatlin is taking banned substances. both wagner and gatlin deny the claims. the 35—year—old's

legal representatives added the sprinter had more than five years official drugs tests to show he had never tested positive for any banned substance. gatlin himself released this statement earlier... the fayette coach is dennis mitchell, seen here in the green t—shirt. he said athletes are able to get away with doping because the drugs they use cannot be detected by tests. —— the fired coach. he has a chequered past involving banned substances, and denies he ever suggested any of his current athletes used any drug. but for those fighting for fair sport it is another blow to integrity. we once bought to be credible. we need to do a lot more to try to improve the immediacy of the sanctioning system

in order that we are actually making sure that what people see they can believe in. the us anti- doping agency said it is only fair to lead due process occui’ agency said it is only fair to lead due process occur before jumping to any conclusions, but after serving two drugs bans in the past gatlin is rarely afforded the benefit of the doubt. well, speaking to the bbc, the president of wada, sir craig reedie, called on the daily telegraph to hand over their evidence to investigators. and disputed the claims made by gatlin‘s coach, dennis mitchell, that the drugs they use cannot be detected by tests. i hope that, first of all, that the journalist from the telegraph will make their information available to the investigators, probably initially from the athletes‘ integrity unit. 0ur initially from the athletes‘ integrity unit. our own investigation we have been in touch with them and with the united states people, and we will monitor and offer assistance if we can. i think

it will concentrate on the allegations that everybody is using it. it is an easy allegation to make. it needs to be tied down. i am not sure that the evidence exists to support it. but if you‘re going to have a proper investigation, you need to have as much evidence before you start. i think we‘re rather more sophisticated now, and i‘m not saying that our road is perfect, but i think it‘s better than what mr mitchell is accused of saying. former grand slam tennis champion marion bartoli is coming out of retirement. the 33—year—old called it a day soon after winning wimbledon in 2013. she has announced her intention to return to the wta tour in 2018 and follows a long list of former grand slam winners to come out of retirement including martina hingis, justine henin and kim clijsters now to cricket and new zealand are up against west indies in the opening match of their one day international series in whangarei.

the hosts won the toss and elected to field and the windies lost key batsman chris gayle for 22 and are currently 249. mitchell starc will travel to melbourne with the australia squad for the fourth ashes test, despite concerns over an injury. a scan in sydney has confirmed the fast bowler has brusing on his heel. he‘ll be reassessed ahead of the test that starts next tuesday. jackson bird is lined up as replacement should starc fail to be fit. hawaiianjothohn florence made it back to back men‘s world surfing championships on monday. the 25—year—old did enough to claim the title, although beaten in the final of the pipeline masters at a break he grew up with and where he claimed his second consecutive world championship. earlier he told me it was a pressurised time leading up to the event. i think anticipation put a lot of

pressure on it. we had a couple of weekly dub from portugal and just a lot of time to think about it. it was cool. we had a lot of time to prepare. it was a lot of time to think about it. and being at home with the pressure of family and friends and everyone around, there was a lot of pressure. it was more exciting than anything i think. it was kind of like my dream, to win here. you mentioned portugal, you w011 here. you mentioned portugal, you won it last year. how much different is it winning at home? when i won it i was with my mum and she was unable to be there last year when i won. i was bummed about that because she has been here through the whole thing. she has gotten me to where i am today. and so winning and having my brother and my mum right there, just everyone surrounding me, all of the support them and there was so cool and to be able to serve a couple of heats at pipe with the pressure off and just kind of feeling relieved almost. it is obviously emotional when you have your immediate family there with

you, but you are also the first hawaiian since the late andy irons in 2004 to win back—to—back. how does it mean? it means a lot, andy was an idle for me growing up and a lot of people in hawaii, and so, i don‘t know, i had a lot of fun this year, i went into this year more focused on relaxing my surfing and just kind of surfing the way i want to serve more in heats, and so to be able to win with that mindset was really awesome, and that was kind of the biggest competent for me. so you have won two in a row. what is the motivation for the hat trick? the motivation for the hat trick? the motivation is learning more and more and bettering myself as a surfer and asa and bettering myself as a surfer and as a competitor. i think there is so much room to improve still, and, you know gabrielle, and jordy and those guys, know gabrielle, and jordy and those guys, it was really pushing me light at the end of the year here, and i

think going into next year ijust have a lot to kind of workout in my surfing and to better myself in competition. we‘ll finish with the english league cup, and, on wednesday, holders manchester united travel to second tier bristol city. but it‘s a bottle of barca velha from 2004 that is making the news before the game. because the bristol city manager has pulled out all the stops to ensure his opposite number stops for a drink after the match. i‘ve ordered in a very expensive bottle of wine, i must add, very expensive — i had to raid my little girls‘s piggybank and everything, so i would be really disappointed if he doesn‘t come in and it least taste it because it has to be poured specially, it is that good. i hope he puts that money back in his daughter‘s piggybank. to the nba, cleveland at the milwaukee bucs. the bucs currently at six, leading 49— 43, chris middleton with 17 points and three assists so far in that game, six points up, with six minutes

remaining until halftime. from me tulsen tollett and the outstanding sport today team, goodbye. hello. 0ur quiet spell of weather continues apace across many parts of the british isles at the moment. that‘s not to say that it‘s completely dull by any means at all. a glorious end to the day captured by a number of our weather watchers. but elsewhere, well, it was one of those. the cloud sat there, so did the fog in some locations. but there is a sign of a change on the way. already we‘re seeing the cloud and rain associated with this weather front moving into the northern and western parts of scotland. it will continue its journey a bit further south during the course of the night. first thing on wednesday, quite a variety to the temperatures. where the cloud pops away, two degrees or so in the east. 0ut towards the west, fully exposed to the moist south—westerlies coming

in from the atlantic, well, it‘s nine, ten or 11 degrees. here we are first thing on wednesday. hill fog to be had if the cloud is broken overnight. there is the chance of the odd patch of fog. so bear that in mind. and enough about some of the cloud across the western facing hills and coasts for there to be the odd bit and pieces of rain or drizzle, especially near that weather front. to the north of that, a scattering of showers, not many of them, by any means at all. much of scotland getting away to a dry start. i think it‘s here, north of the weather front, that you get the best chance of seeing meaningful sunshine, and eventually that prospect extends into northern ireland, too. all the while, anywhere near that frontal system, you‘ve got the prospect of some hill fog and a wee bit of rain and drizzle. and that goes into the north and west of wales. to the south of it, pretty leaden skies, i‘m afraid. the odd bit of brightness, perhaps. and here we are on thursday. the orientation of the front has just changed here somewhat. the westerly portion, having come south, is starting to move back north.

the best of the brightness, therefore, away from that, where you get the lowest of the temperatures, but the best chance of sunshine. in the south, again, a lot of cloud, some hill fog around. and, do you know what, not a great deal changes you out of thursday, pushing on into friday. we‘ve still got the remnants of a weather front, still clouding things up and producing the odd bit and piece of rain, especially across western and south—western parts. so, again, get away from the remnants of those fronts out towards the east and up into the north of scotland, the lowest of the temperatures again, but at least you get to see a wee bit of sunshine. here we are into the weekend before christmas and many will still be stuck with that relatively mild flow coming in from the atlantic. but you‘ll notice, come christmas eve, we‘re not a million miles away from seeing quite a dramatic change, with some cold and brighter weather coming in. but in the run—up to christmasm generally mild, often really rather cloudy and the chance of some rain, particularly in the north. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe.

my name is mike embley. our top stories: the yeas are 227 and the nays are 203 — the report is adopted, without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table! the most radical tax overhaul in decades is on course to pass the us congress, despite a last minute hitch. in her first tv interview, harvey weinstein‘s former assistant tells the bbc why she‘s breaking a non—disclosure agreement to speak out about him. at least twelve tourists are killed as a bus travelling to mayan ruins crashes and overturns in eastern mexico. and we report on the super—agers, as scientists say they‘re close to finding drugs to help stop people getting old.