this is bbc news, our latest headlines... interest rates remain on hold for now, but they could rise soon as the bank of england says stronger global growth could mean a rise as early as may. council tax is to go up almost everywhere in england, as local authorities say they're struggling to make ends meet. it could mean more than a0 pounds will be added to the average bill. january was one of the worst months on record for hospital waiting times ina and on record for hospital waiting times in a and the departments in england. according to official figures. one in five people working in parliament have experienced sexual harassment in the past year, a new code of conduct aims to tackle the issue. in a moment it will be time for sportsday but first a look at what else is coming up this evening on bbc news... in beyond 100 days we'll be looking at fake news after a group of mps travelled to washington

for a hearing with senior executives from social media giants twitter, facebook and google. as a study shows that not enough people are being recruited to meet growing care demands we'll be speaking to a care home owner about the difficulties of recruiting and retaining staff. and at 8:45pm, meet the author. that's all ahead on bbc news. now on bbc news it's time for sportsday. hello, i'm olly foster, these are our headlines tonight. broken bones and broken olympic dreams, on the eve of the winter games , british medal hope katie ormerod is out. the teams are in for the second round of the six nations championship. . .just two changes for england and there's a warning for wales. a number of young players, it will

be difficult, we will experience an english side that loves playing at twickenham in front of 82,000 people. and we're at the wearside tennis tournament for girls, where some of the best women in the world have started their careers. good evening, it's the official start of the winter olympics in south korea tomorrow, lizzie yarnold will carry the flag for the british team at the opening ceremony in pyeongchang but another medal hopeful katie ormerod won't be there after a terrible 2a hours in which she broke two bones in training accidents... first a broken wrist but the 20—year—old said that wouldn't stop her, but another fall today saw her olympics come to an end even before her first competition, from her hospital bed she confirmed that she was out

and needed surgery/this time to a badly broken heel. mike hay, team gb chef de mission said: "we are deeply sorry for katie and her fellow snowboarders who have lost a valued member of their close—knit team she's had been targeting two medals in pyeongchang in the big air, an event making its debut and also in the slopestyle. she won medals in both disciplines last year and her potential had definitely been factored into team gb‘s minimum medal target of five it's been an injury—hit career so far, she has snapped her anterior cruciate knee ligament, damaged the meniscus in both knees, fractured her shoulder and both arms, as well as fracturing a disc in her back less than a year ago.

arms, as well as fracturing a disc the british team will be hoping for more positive news over the next few weeks, across all the news for us in pyoengchang is our sports correspondent andy swiss . the winter olympics will be officially under way tomorrow and carrying the flag for team gb at the opening ceremony will be lizzy yarnold chosen by had team—mates for that honour. your arnold won britain's only gold medal at the saatchi games four years ago and has struggled for form but signs in recent weeks she is back to something like our best and she says carrying the flag for her country will be a huge honour. it is an honour that i never really thought about but means so much. because the

flag represents the whole team and we asa flag represents the whole team and we as a team represent everyone in great britain who have watched us, supported us, for our parents to watch us on the tv screen and grandparents at home, that is the moment when they say, great britain, your skin tingles and the emotions begin. the other big talking point is the weather, it is getting milder, a sweltering of —3 here today but some concern still for tomorrow night's opening ceremony. fans will be given blankets and warm conditions as they make their way into the stadium but officials have said with some understatement spectators need to wrap up and prepare properly. we will be getting all sorts of news from him over the next couple of weeks. a few events have got under way today including the mixed doubles curling, and the first session of play had some controversy. entering the final end, switzerland held a 5—4 lead over china. but after the final stone,

it wasn't clear whether china had added one point to tie the match or two to claim the victory. china had clearly picked up one point from the red stone in the middle. the question was whose stone was second closest to the centre, could china nick two points. they moved the centre stone out of the way but nudged a swiss stone in error, so they couldn't measure the rest with any certainty it went to an extra end to decide the winner, with switzerland scoring two points for a 7—5 win. and you can follow the opening ceremony in pyeongchang across the bbc — live coverage begins on bbc one, the red button and online, from 10.30 tomorrow morning. one line of winter paralympic news to bring you skier kelly gallagher

and her guide gary smith have secured a place in pyeongchang. gallagher became the first british athlete to win a gold medal on snow when she won the super—g in sochi four years ago. she was initially left out of the squad but she nowjoins mille knight and menna fitzpatrick in paralympicsgb for next month's games . the second round of matches in rugby union's six nations championship, take place this weekend. opening wins for wales, ireland and england. the big match is at twickenham on saturday, england against wales. the welsh are unchanged after their big win against scotland, just a couple of changes for england withjonathanjoseph and danny care coming in to the starting 15. here's our rugby union reporter chrisjones . the england boss has been quite quiet this week up until now letting warren gatland and wales do the talking. after naming his side for

saturday's clash, he has cranked the pressure up on the welsh questioned whether they can handle the expectation at twickenham this weekend when they can cope with the step up from cardiff last time out and has pointed the finger at that young fly—half rhys patchell. and has pointed the finger at that young fly— half rhys patchedm and has pointed the finger at that young fly-half rhys patchell. it is a massive step up, he has not played much test rugby at all he is a young quy much test rugby at all he is a young guy who has not got a great deal of experience players, he will have farrell at, danny care, george ford said the pressure on him will be enormous and it is whether he has the bottle to handle it. do you think you does? we will find out. how big is that step up from scotla nd how big is that step up from scotland at home to england away? scotla nd scotland at home to england away? scotland could not handle the expectation, they were red—hot favourites wales went in at the underdogs playing at home nothing to lose and they played with great freedom and now they have expectations and it is interesting,

comments warren has made similar to comments warren has made similar to comments greg made before scotland and wales, now they have to cope with the expectation and a number of young players it will be different. we have to experience england side that loves playing at twickenham in front of 82,000 people, it will pose a completely different question to the welsh. with seven of the starting team having never played an international at twickenham before... ...the welsh were considered underdogs by some prior to the tournament, but produced a brilliant display against a much—fancied scotland side beating them 34—7. and wales forwards coach robin mcbryde believes that the team, and especially rhys patchell, can handle the pressure of twickenham. surrounded by a number of players from his region and that cohesion it brings, that familiarity under the

pressure of international rugby hopefully it will stand up and as we saw last saturday it was good to watch. eddie said he would try and put us under pressure but same goes for us. shaun edwards will be banging the drum, with the stakes are high that is what it will be after all the optimism around scotland, a hammering at the hands of the welsh in cardiff has seen gregor townsend make six changes to his team to face france at murrayfield on sunday former captain greig laidlaw comes off the bench for his first test start in nearly a year. andy burke has the details... after the cardiff calamity on the opening day, the big decision facing gregor townsend was to stick or twist, retain faith in the same players hoping they would deliver better performance this weekend or bring in some fresh blood. six changes tells us he believes

reinforcements are needed for the most eye—catching inclusion is that of greig laidlaw at scrum—half, the former captain starting his first test in scotland in a year. greg has a lot of experience come he has captained the side for a couple of seasons, captained the side for a couple of seasons, he tried the standards fund on the field so having him back in the group is all ready a positive and seeing him play so well and being desperate to be back in the squad and back on the team, yeah, we should get his experience on the field which would help others around them. the other changes to the backline see chris harris and byron mcgregor and dropping out, sean maitland coming into the side. simon berghan, brian wilson returned the pack as scotland had to confront the french physicality and aggression head—on. if they can match france in that area they will believe they are attacking weapons which misfired so badly in cardiff can do some damage on sunday. leinster backjordan larmour is set to make his ireland debut after being named on the bench

for saturday's six nations game against italy. ireland beat france is their opening fixture thanks to that dramatic jonny sexton drop—goal from a huge distance right at the death. six nations debutantjack conan, jack mcgrath, devin toner and dan leavy are drafted into ireland's pack for this weekend. also coming up in the programme. . .from rugby present to distant past — we hear the thoughts of england's oldest living international — as he celebrates his 103rd birthday all that to come, just a couple of headlines for you great britain's mark cavendish has won stage three of the tour of dubai. the dimension data rider held off attacks from nacer bouhann and marcel kittel. he's third overall in the five stage race. mauricio pochettino has called on

the fa to assess the state of rochdale's pitch ahead of their tie in the fifth tie of the fa cup. it certainly is a state...one half of it appears to be completely devoid of grass and more like a sand—pit. if it is like a sore in the picture you cannot play football. that is my point of view but not because we are totte n ha m , point of view but not because we are tottenham, i think rochdale cannot play, too. maybe the fa cup needs to go in and try to take a very good decision football. england's badminton squad for the commonwealth games was announced today in milton keynes. the sport has been given a huge boost by the change of stance in uk sport funding.

over a year ago they cut their entire olympic programme funding of overfive million pounds....now one of their best medal hopes — the mixed doubles pairing of chris and gabby adcock will receive financial support. as james burridge reports... badminton‘s version of the crossbar challenge. only this bar is a bit thinner and harder to hit. england squad for the commonwealth games at last have something to laugh about. after all, they know a thing or two about hitting targets. it is a big dealfor about hitting targets. it is a big deal for us, about hitting targets. it is a big dealfor us, it is not often about hitting targets. it is a big deal for us, it is not often you about hitting targets. it is a big dealfor us, it is not often you get the mainstream tv. it is a good chance for us to get some exposure into badminton. it has been a big fortnight the babington england, the well—publicised sweeping financial cutbacks of uk sport which took £5 million out of their olympic programme, now they have changed their tune offering £600,000 in support to chris and gabby adcock, one of the leading doubles specialists. how has that changed the landscape? the funding they give

us the landscape? the funding they give us is huge, getting physio to travel with us on tournaments for a start, we have not had that, nutritionists is something we would like to be able to have access to and the list is endless, so all these little things you are trying to gain on percentages when you're at the top of your game makes a huge difference. we spent the last 12 months convincing uk sport that what we said 12 months ago would happen and it did. chris and gabby winning and it did. chris and gabby winning a world championship medal in glasgow last summer was probably the tipping point, it probably prove to them that what we were saying we we re them that what we were saying we were right all along. for chris and marcus bronze medallists in rio the cutbacks hurt. chris has become a father of twins and there has been plenty on his mind. there are so many things inside the centre here in relation to funding, people having to leave and so on and in our

personal lives with me having two little ones, anyone out there who has twins i have a lot of respect and sympathy for sofa me commonwealth been getting sleep which will be nice. six of the squad won five medals at the last commonwealth games, there is every chance they will do that again and in an era when medals equal money, that counts more than ever. some of the best young tennis players in europe are gathering in the north east this week for a major tournament. for the next three days, eight teams of girls from all over the continent will battle it out at silksworth in sunderland. nisha joshi reports. while the cream of britain's female tennis talent is fighting a fed cup campaign in estonia, 1800 miles away with side the next generation are taking their first steps on the ladder towards wimbledon. the young brits are playing in the tennis europe competition for under 12

girls, to tournament which in the past has included the likes of maria sharapova, petric a bit of and a australian open winner caroline wozniacki. this is the best competition for girls there is in europe. i do not think even in the world they do not have the world championships like they do under 111 so this one might be the best in the world. our challenge is to motivate and inspire them to keep going. every tournament there was one winner so as these girls learn about that except to lose are in important parts of tennis development. the battle we have is to keep him going, the game spits you up because there is one winner and hotels were not successful and ourjob is one winner and hotels were not successful and our job is is one winner and hotels were not successful and ourjob is to inspire and keep them going and see if we can keep them going into future champions. helping the home team warm up is tyneside youngster abby kelaher, expect the tenure —year—old

to be soon. and the brits have all ready had to work hard to make it this far. we qualified in estonia to get here but we came second in our group so qualified but lost but then hopefully we can beat them here. our girls are looking forward to having the home advantage and a chance pa rents the home advantage and a chance parents and coaches to come along and see them play and get some lets go chance going. back in 19117... harry walker made his england debut against wales. and today, 71 years later, he still remembers the game with fond memories, because england won 9—6. on saturday, the teams meet again in the six nations championship. and the following day, harry celebrates his 103rd birthday. ian winter's been to coventry to meet him. happy birthday, harry. coventry

rugby club has never seen a party like this one because he will be 103 on sunday and that makes him a living legend. the oldest international rugby player in the world. if anyone deserves the accolade, mr coventry rugby he is. he has given so much to the club, devotion and above all else loyalty. which is something that is missing in the modern game and we admire him for that immensely, we love him to bits. you would not want to play by bits. you would not want to play rugby on a pitch like that, would you? he is delighted to see his old clu b you? he is delighted to see his old club emerging like a phoenix from the flames. he was born during the first world war in february 1915 and rugby has played a huge part in his remarkable life experience. well, i want coventry to get promotion this year and one coventry to have a good

tea m year and one coventry to have a good team in the championship. coventry has always been mine. this is one of nine england caps he won at the end of the second world war, incredible to think his final international appearance was in 19118 exactly 70 yea rs appearance was in 19118 exactly 70 years ago. it was also in 19118 that harry played for the barbarians in theirfamous