live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: honours even in the english premier league as tottenham and west ham provide two brilliant goals at wembley in a 1—1 draw. reigning women's champion serena williams becomes the latest big name to withdraw from the australian open. and the tiger woods comeback continues and he could —— as he confirms he will appear in the pga tour event. and we will be live to syd ney tour event. and we will be live to sydney for the second day of the fifth test. stick around for that. hello and welcome to the programme where we start with the footballing news that two wonderful goals at wembley stadium saw tottenham and west ham finish honours even at 1—1 in the english premier league. it was a match that sprung to life late and it was watched by the bbc‘s alastair bruce—ball. west ham one. great result for west ham. pochetino is less pleased with

that. both goals came in the second half, absolute stunners from long—range. equalising with a goal from similar distance at similar speed and similar accuracy. two fabulous goals in this premier league encounter. one point west ham moves them above bournemouth and they are level with newcastle and crystal palace might deem with a late penalty decision when tottenham we re late penalty decision when tottenham were certain they had won but a defeat would have been cool on west ham. a great second half. tottenham one, west ham one. in spain, the holders barcelona drew 1—all at celta vigo in the opening leg of their last 16 copa del rey tie. real madrid eased to a 3—0 win at second tier numancia where gareth bale was among the goals. elsewhere, leganes and levante also picked up wins ahead of the return legs. the liverpool and egypt win mohammed

salah has been named footballer of the year in the capital of ghana, accra. mohammed salah scored 24 goals sincejoining accra. mohammed salah scored 24 goals since joining liverpool at the start of the season. he adds this award to the bbc african football of the year trophy he picked up last month. iam very i am very happy and very proud to win the award. it is the first time for me to win it. i'm very happy and very proud to share this moment with my friend and i'm sure he is going to win it very soon. great feeling of course and i'm very happy and proud about that. thank you. i think i'm just looking for the future in a positive way and i know what i want and i'm sure how i can get it so i'm not pushing myself that hard but i

think this one is helping me a lot but i want to win it for the second time, the third time, fourth time. ifi time, the third time, fourth time. if i can win it 20 times, i would be happy to that is my thinking. england have been dismissed in their first innings of the fifth and final test against australia for 346. they resumed the day on 233/5 with a mixture of poor catching by the hosts and impulsive strokeplay helping them to a reasonable score. our reporter patrick gearey is in sydney and this may be a psycholgical blow for england perhaps reaching that score? how important may the tom curran and stuart broad partnership of 41 runs off 6 overs be? 113 runs added this morning. they will be pretty pleased with that, given where they were going into this morning's play. australia urged from the sublime to the ridiculous. sublime when steve smith took a great catch to dismiss milan 462 but

when pat cummins dropped tom curren, ridiculous and an even worse dropped from josh hazelwood. hazelwood didn't even manage to get a hand on it. ali and eventually got out for 30. stuart broad hit the ball around the park a bit for his 31 and that irritated australia. they did get rid of england short of 350. they arejust rid of england short of 350. they are just about still in this match. this next session, how important could this be to this test match? is this the important session that england could get in this series? it's a crucial session. australia have shown they can bat england out of matches. england has a lot to ——a lot of work to do. it is starting to spina lot of work to do. it is starting to spin a bit. we might see a bit of mason grane as the matchwinners on but it is a very important session.

if australia can get through to tea, they will feel they are right in the box seat but england, because of that fighting spirit, will feel they have a chance. enjoy the sunshine. virat kohli has become the indian premier league's highest—paid player after being re—signed by the royal challengers bangalore. they've paid $2.67 million to retain his services. but kohli's immediate focus is on india's test series in south africa. the world's top two teams go head—to—head in a three—match series which starts in cape town on friday. austin halewood reports. with the ashes drawing to a conclusion is, attention turns to south africa as test cricket's top two nations go head—to—head. india have soared to the top, with captain virat kohli guiding them to nine consecutive series wins but they have never won one in south africa's three matches against a resurgent per year is could be their biggest challenge yet. the conditions don't

matter. it is how we are feeling as a batting group within ourselves that really matters and we work towards achieving that sort of level that we desire. as for the home side, their build—up to the series has been dominated by questions of selection. south africa have an embarrassment of riches at their disposalfor embarrassment of riches at their disposal for the first test. former captain and a bigger villages is back from time away in the game to have their front line bowlers, vernon philander and dale steyn, have returned. dale is the best bowler in the world for me. he hasn't got the overs under his legs that he could possibly have wanted but facing dale, the skill feels like it hasn't gone anywhere, he is batting with the same pace, he feels like he has the same swing. while the first test in cape town could see some big names left out of the south african team, no matter what side they pick, they know they have a big task on their hands. after

all, i have only lost two tests in the last three years. ——i. to tennis where defending women's champion serena williams has become the latest big name to withdraw from the australian open, the year's first grand slam event of the year due to get underway on the 15th of january. the 36—year—old american former world number one last week played her first match since giving birth in september when she lost an exhibition match againstjelena ostapenko in abu dhabi. the 23—time grand slam winner said she "realised that although i am dhabi. the 23—time grand slam winner said she "realised that although i am super close, i'm not where i personally want to be". williams said: "my coach and team always said ‘only go to tournaments when you are prepared to go all the way‘. staying with tennis. switzerland are through to the final of the hopman cup team event in perth. roger federer brings the fans. 14,000 people packed into this daily

in perth. jack sock provided plenty to keep them entertained after narrowly missing out on lusty‘s final, federer in shoring did not happen again on the swiss‘s watch. after taking the first set, he the second to put them win away from this you ‘s showpiece. it is big and it's got a great attitude. i love that about him. next time might be the one that gets me. i enjoy this one while i can. and for belinda bencic, she needed a win against coco vandeweghe. she will have no chance to avenge that memory as bencic closed out the match. it left the mixed doubles rubber with nothing riding on it. switzerland took that one is well in straight sets. it sets up the first appearance to them in 17 years. in the other match in that group, russia beatjapan 2—1 — but neither team was in contention to qualify for the final. it all came down to

the mixed doubles — and anastasia pavlyuchenkova and karen khachanov beat naomi osaka and yuichi sugita in straight sets 4—1, 4—love. tiger woods has announced that he'll play his first pga tour event of the year in three weeks time. woods — currently at 656 in the word rankings — will play at the the farmers insurance open at torrey pines in caliornia. that's the same course where he won the last of his 14 majors in 2008. it'll be his first official tour event since missing the cut at the same tournament last year. woods has won 79 pga tour titles — 3 short of the sam snead's all—time record. the cleveland cavaliers a leading by 46 points and there is about a cis

the rest are the wet and windy weather that we've seen to start 2018 should be easing away. much quieter weather towards the weekend. this is how we ended the day on thursday in stevenage. clear spells, a bit of cloud and fairly heavy showers that have been moving west to east overnight. they will tend to ease from the south—east on friday. still pretty windy in south—western parts of the country. further north we have still got lingering rain and hill snow in many eastern parts of scotland. so snow accumulating here.

not a bad start in northern ireland. chilly first thing, with frost and fog patches. a similar picture into the south—west scotland and northern england. in the england and wales there will be cloud with outbreaks of rain through the midlands and towards the south—east on friday it should be generally fine dry and fine. further spells of showery rain into the south—west of england and wales. further north, less windy and more sunshine into the midlands, north wales, northern england. a touch cooler than recent days. that cooling trend continues through into the weekend. we've got this north—easterly wind, bringing further snow showers in scotland and northern england, over higher ground. temperatures dropping to close to freezing in towns and cities

by first thing saturday. colder in the countryside. slightly milder, with frost and fog further south. the weekend is dominated by the fact that we've got high pressure building and the wind coming in from the north—easterly direction. through saturday the cold northerly wind will bring more sunshine in scotland, northern england and northern ireland. further south across central, southern england and wales, still cloudy, with a few spots of rain here. highs of 2—7 degrees, so temperatures are dipping. on saturday night we have some cold conditions developing a with clear skies and light winds. perhaps the odd wintry showers around exposed coasts. for most of us it will be a cold and frosty start on saturday. freezing across many northern and western parts in particular. so, high pressure keeps hold of our weather through the second part of the weekend. so for many of us sunday should be a fine day. much lighter winds than we've had after the cold and frosty start. plenty of sunshine developing. top temperatures between freezing and about seven degrees or so. the colder, wintry theme continues into monday, but most of us should see plenty of sunshine to compensate for the colder weather.

bye for now. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: it's being called a "bomb cyclone" — a powerful blizzard that's battered north america, leaving at least 12 dead and knocking out power for thousands of people. publish and be damned — the book which describes a paranoid president and a white house in chaos is being released on friday, despite attempts by donald trump's lawyers to block it. the number of people killed when a train hit a truck in south africa rises to 18.