holders, manchester united, knocked out of the english league cup with a late korey smith goal sealing second tier bristol city a semi—final place. bayern munich knock holders borussia dortmund out of the german cup and move through to the quarter—finals. hello. a lot to come. in the night's other tie, alvaro morata scored a late winner for chelsea as they beat bournemouth 2—1 at stamford bridge. chelsea will now face arsenal in the semi—finals, while bristol city's reward for beating manchester united is a two—legged semi—final against manchester city. what a night at ashton gate. lee johnson's bristol city was superb.

they rose to the occasion. manchester united hit the woodwork twice in the first half. luke steele made a few good saves. city matched their opponents. the first, a rocket shot from joe brian cancelled out by zlata n shot from joe brian cancelled out by zlatan ibrahimovic‘s fierce drive. but when the chance came, smith showed great composure. bristol city could not contain themselves. you can understand the jubilation and i°y can understand the jubilation and joy after a night like that. in the night's other tie, alvaro morata scored a late winner for chelsea as they beat bournemouth 2—1 at stamford bridge. chelsea will now face arsenal in the semi—finals, while bristol city's reward for beating manchester united is a two—legged semi—final against manchester city. bayern munich are through to the quarter—finals of the german cup after knocking out the holders, borussia dortmund. it was the pick of the night's ties in the last 16, and bayern took the lead whenjerome boateng headed them

in front after only 12 minutes at the allianz arena. bayern have won the trophy a record 18 times, and just before the break, robert lewandowski set up thomas mueller, who made it 2—0 to the home side. late in the second—half, dortmund's ukrainian international andriy yarmolenko pulled one back for the holders, but bayern held on to win 2—1 and seal their place in the last eight. there was a shock in the last 16 of the coppa italia with torino winning 2—1 at roma. atlanta are also through to the quarter—finals, and so are the holders, juventus, who beat genoa 2—0 with goals from paulo dybala and gonzalo higuain. in france, there was a full programmes of games in ligue one, including wins for all of the top four. cavani and mbappe were among the scorers as the leaders paris saint—germain beat caen 3—1. they're still nine points clear of monaco who beat rennes 2—1.

lyon remain level on points with monaco after winning 2—1 at toulouse, and marseille beat troyes 3—1. in spain's primera division sevilla missed the chance to move fourth and above champions real madrid losing 3—1 at real sociedad who won for the first time in five league matches, while in the night's other match getafe have moved up to seventh after a 2—0 win over bottom club las palmas. the head of us soccer says north america will be the perfect place to host the world cup in 2026. the united states, mexico and canada are putting together a bid to stage the first edition of fifa's expanded 48—team tournament. sunil gulati spoke to our sports news correspondent, richard conway, in new york. it is not long until we know who will host the 2026 world cup. in the us, they have dreams of retreating what they did back in 1994, us, they have dreams of retreating what they did back “119911, the us, they have dreams of retreating what they did back in 1994, the last time the tournament was staged here.

now, the decision is due injune. in the next 10 months we will see conversations across the world. the bidding process has changed. the voters will have to make the final choice. in new york i have been speaking to the current head of the united states soccer federation, one of the men leading the bid for the 2026 tournament to come back here. if it is the us, he says it will be the biggest ever. the 1994 world cup had fewer games than any other but is the largest ever in terms of attendance. this will be an 80 game world cup. i cannot think of anywhere better to take on the expanded size and challenge. he will be handing over the reins to a new

president in the new year. that person will have a big decision to make, not least, will be the new coach for the men's team. there has been talk that mr blanc, the former manager of psg, was in the frame. perhaps that is not so. we are not at the level of the brazilians and so on. at the level of the brazilians and so on. we will have to wait for european and south american seasons to finish so others are available. the us will allow competition to win the 2026 world cup hosting rights. it will come in the form of morocco, which will have its supporters. but calm june, a decision will be made. —— come. in the us, the hope is they

can —— come. in the us, the hope is they ca n start —— come. in the us, the hope is they can start planning for a landmark competition. now to tennis, and the news that marion ba rtoli announced that she would be returning to the court in 2018 having not competed at wta level since retiring less than six weeks after winning the 2013 wimbledon title, citing persistent injury problems. the frenchwoman won eight wta titles and reached a career—high world ranking of seventh in 2012 but speaking to her a short time ago i think serena williams and the muslims are good examples. venus has been able to play two grand finals this year. i think ithinki i think i am not too old for this. i think 33 is a good age to still perform on the tennis court. i will not pay the same schedule as when i

was 18— 20 years old. it will be a lighter schedule. but i still think ican lighter schedule. but i still think i can compete with the best in the world. others have come back from similar situations. have you spoken to them about what it requires?” spoke to kim quitea bit about it. when she came back she was able to win grand slams. she was open about it. i cannot compare myself to her. she is better than myself. she is physically more gifted than myself. but she explained to me the process is important and ifeel that but she explained to me the process is important and i feel that way as well. making sure you enjoy everything will day to come back in shape is important. i will not come back to the court until i feel fully ready for it. i have given myself that date because it is important to

have a time in my head. but i am not 100% sure it is miami, it could be three weeks later, a month later, i don't know. but it will be the year to come back on the tennis court and i cannot wait for it. the english city of birmingham is set to be named as the host of the 2022 commonwealth games, with organisers finally confirming their backing. durban in south africa was initially due to host the games but was stripped of the event in march. and birmingham was the only city to bid before the original deadline. the games are set to cost a billion dollars, which will make it the most expensive sports event in the uk since the london olympics in 2012. russia's hopes of sending for teams to the winter paralympics have been dealt a blow. the international paralympic committee dealt a blow. the international pa ralympic committee has dealt a blow. the international paralympic committee has decided to maintain their ban from last year after revelations of widespread doping be some russian athletes could compete as neutrals. ——

doping. the final decision will be made next month to bite the international olympic committee has revealed 13 guidelines for uniforms. this is the proposed logo they will have to wear if they wish to compete. in krkic news, india have gone 1—0 compete. in krkic news, india have gone1—0 up compete. in krkic news, india have gone 1—0 up against sri lanka. —— cricket. they are hoping to add this to their list of victory is. india made 183. sri lanka were dismissed forjust 87 in text in overs. 12 games taking place in the nba now and over coming hours. austin —— and

one that is all we have time for. from me and the team, goodbye. hi there. the cold weather that we had during the first half of december is a long way behind us, and, really, for the run—up to christmas, including christmas day, the weather looks pretty mild. at the moment we've got a weather front wiggling its way across central areas of the uk. extensive cloud being wafted across the uk on westerly winds — those winds are fairly light. and we've got some mist and fog patches around the coast and the hills across england and wales. some patches of light rain and drizzle to start the day as well. a risk of that for northern ireland, for england and wales. slightly drier weather for scotland although the far north again could see a bit of rain.

so one way or another, as we start off thursday morning, it's going to be a murky start to the day with fog around the coast of wales and south—west england. up over the hills of the downs and chiltons, a few patches of light rain or drizzle tending ease away quite quickly during thursday morning. some damp weather as well, there or thereabouts in northern ireland. but further north in scotland, for many areas, it's a dry and bright start to the day. high cloud in the sky and there should be some hazey sunshine coming through that across many areas. through the rest of thursday, this wiggling weather front is going to push its way a little bit further northwards and eastwards. it's just going to stay cloudy for most of us. the cloud perhaps thinning a little bit through the afternoon, to allow brighter spells in the east. but always, the thicker cloud across wales, north—west england, northern ireland, threatening some spots of rain. the brightest weather across scotland but this is where we've got the slightly cooler air. temperatures 6 or 7 degrees in the north. otherwise, for most of us, it's a day of double—figure temperatures. and those mild conditions continue through thursday night and on into the first part of friday morning. the cloud though is going to thicken up then through thursday night.

with a bit of rain working in again across wales and southern counties of england, on into the midlands for a time, too. cooler across the far north—east of scotland. then for friday, again, it's a rather disappointingly cloudy kind of weather picture. weather becomes drier and brighter for most of us through the afternoon. with a bit more in the way of wind blowing across the mountains of scotland, it is probably the eastern side of scotland that will have the best of any limited breaks in the cloud. for many of us it's a mild one, though. temperatures, what, 10, 11, 12 degrees celsius across western areas. that mild theme set to continue as we head into the weekend and indeed for christmas day, with the winds generally coming in from the west or the south—west. to start off the weekend, again, it's a lot of cloud around for most of us. thick enough to give us a few spots of light rain across western coasts and hills. perhaps something a little bit more wet across the north—west of scotland. slightly stronger winds, so again a better chance of seeing some cloud breaks for eastern scotland, running into eastern england and then, right up to christmas day itself, it stays mild, but often cloudy perhaps a little bit brighter for most of us for

christmas day itself. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: britain's prime minister, theresa may, sacks her deputy, one of her closest allies, over allegations that he lied about pornography on his work computer. he is calling it a big, beautiful tax cut. donald trump gets his first major legislative win, as republicans approve the biggest tax overhaul in a generation. we report from barcelona ahead of crucial elections which could decide the catalan independence debate. uganda's mps vote to scrap age limits for the presidency, meaning yoweri museveni may be able to run for a sixth term in office.