over australia, has been suspended for the last two matches of the series. hello and welcome to the programme, where we start with the footballing news that manchester city have restored their 16 point advantage at the top of the premier league after a 2—0 win over stoke city. david silva scored both the goals and it means that with eight games of their league campaign remaining pep guardiola's side are within touching distance of the title. we are close to our we are close to our target, we are close to our target, we we are close to our target, we created enough chances. we have to try a bit in the first half to defend the long but so happy. the first time after 18 years manchester city is able to win at stoke city away and at home,

and that means how difficult it is to come here and to win. we did well and now we are two games, three games, 01’ and now we are two games, three games, or two games to be champions. city's rivals manchester united will see their captain michael carrick retire from playing at the end of the season. the 36—year—old has won every club trophy in his 12 years with united, including five premier league titles and the champions league, along with 3a caps for england. he's only played four times this season after having a procedure to treat an irregular heart rhythm that was detected in september, and it's expected he'lljoin jose mourinho‘s coaching staff at old trafford for next season. there comes a time when as much as you like it or you don't like it, your body tells you it's time to stop playing football. that's pretty much where i'm at. i wanted to finish on my own terms were at least i could decide and not be forced because of that, so i was determined to get back fit. i understood and i would be getting back fit and i probably wouldn't be playing as many games as probably i might have done

that that's all been understood, i've just been that that's all been understood, i'vejust been training that that's all been understood, i've just been training hard and trying to keep fit and i've managed to play a few games and so far and we'll see what happens towards the end of the season. southampton who are just a point and one place above the relegation zone have confirmed in the past couple of hours they've sacked manager mauricio pellegrino. the argentine was appointed at the start of the season and saints have won just one of their past 17 league matches losing 3—0 at newcastle united on saturday. last year's asian champions league quarter—finalists al hilal were beaten 2—1 at al rayyan on monday, leaving them bottom of the table with just two group d matches remaining. the opener for the hosts came just prior to half—time when this penalty was given away, and abderrazak hamdallah stepped up to make it 1—0 to the qataris. a neat bit of interplay secured the result when rodrigo tabata made it 2—0 with 25 minutes remaining. despite a late consolation al rayyan held on, leaving them second on goal difference.

group d leaders esteghlal from iran missed the chance to move two points clear when leading 1—0 with just over ten minutes remaining they allowed japanese international tsukasa shiotani hit this wonderfully struck equaliser for al ain of the uae. al—duhail secured their qualification to the knockout stage with two matches remaining as they won 2—1 at lokomotiv tashkent of uzbekistan. trailing 1—0 in stoppage time the visitors scored twice through youssef el arabi, the first a penalty before this winning effort in the 94th minute stunned the home crowd. iranian‘s zob ahan remain second in group b despite losing 3—0 in abu dhabi to al wahda. a lacklustre performance by the visitors saw two goals in the first half against them and then mohamed al akbari scored the final goal with 25 minutes remaining although the hosts still remain bottom of the group. defending champion roger federer is through to the last 16 of the indian wells masters in california after a straight sets win over serbia's filip krajonovic.

the swiss raced through his third round encounter and will now face france's jeremy chardy for a place in the last eight as he chases a sixth title at this venue. caroline wozniacki is through to the round of 16 after defeating aliaksandra sasnovich in three sets. wozniacki won the first set after trailing 4—1, but sasnovich fought back to win the second 6—2, but the dane held her nerve to triumph and will now face russia's daria kasatkina. south africa wrapped up a six wicket victory in the second test against australia in port elizabeth to level their four match series at 1—1. kagiso rabada picked up six wickets in the second innings giving him figures of 11—150 in the match as the proteas were set a modest 101 for victory on day four, a target they reached for the loss of four wickets. the third test gets underway in cape town on the 22nd of march. but the bad news for south africa is that rabada won't feature in that match or the fourth test injohannesburg after being found

guilty of deliberately making contact with the tourists' captain steve smith. fast bowler rabada brushed shoulders with smith after celebrating his first innings dismissal and it took the 22—year—old to eight demerit points in a 24—month period, resulting in a two—test ban. india were six wicket winners over sri lanka in game four of their t20 tri—series in colombo, which also involves bangladesh. man of the match shardul thakur took four wickets as india picked up a second win in three matches and lead the series with one group match left for them. probably the way they were going, they would have scored around 165-170 they would have scored around 165—170 runs, but we got upal out, he was looking to go hard at our bowlers, we got him out and the sara hit a few sixes and fours and then i got him out. those crucial two or

three wickets kept coming and we we re three wickets kept coming and we were able to restrict them and probably we cut them down by 15—20 runs. rain also interrupted west indies match against netherlands in their world cup qualifier in zimbabwe. the dutch needed a win while west indies had already qualified for the super sixes stage. chris gayle and evin lewis got them off to a fast start, lewis top scoring with 84 as his side amassed 309 for six the netherlands then lost two wickets for 29 in the first seven overs of their chase before rain stopped play for the day, handing west indies victory by 5a runs on the duckworth—lewis—stern method. day four of the winter paralympics in south korea is under way but day three saw a packed schedule with gold events in cross—country and snowboard. with all the details from pyeongchang, here's our reporter kate grey. today it's the turn of the snowboarders at the jonzon alpine centre, but it was a day full of disruption as the event was moved

forward because of high temperatures and then it became delayed because of issues with the start gates. nevertheless, it was an eventful amongst the medallists, including this dutch athlete, who in 2001 was diagnosed with cancer and had her leg amputated. she went on to win gold at the sochi paralympics but just four months ago she found out that the cancer had returned, this time in her neck, and she had two discs removed. she never believed she would be able to win another paralympic gold but today she did indeed in the boarder cross. there was another cancer survival story in the race followed, this time it was the race followed, this time it was the usa's renard huckabee and she beat her teammate amy purdy, who was favoured for that race, so a lot of emotion amongst the athletes at the boarder cross. moving to the cross country skiing, ca nada's boarder cross. moving to the cross country skiing, canada's brian mcrea the continued his dominance in the visually impaired cross—country skiing, he comfortably won the 21 kilometre race, becoming his

nation's most successful winter paralympic athlete. marcel kittel steered clear of a major crash in the final ten kilomeres on stage six of the tirreno—adriatico to take his second stage victory of the race. a momentary lapse of concentration) saw fernando gaviria clip the back wheel of lead—out man maximilliano richeze during the 153km stage. kittel sprinted to victory, with peter sagan also narrowly avoiding the pile up and somehow chasing back to sprint to second place, here's kittel on the podium, team sky's michal kwiatkowski is the man to catch going into tuesday's final stage. major league baseball champions the houston astros met president trump at the white house on monday as they were honoured for winning the world series last year. houston defeated the los angeles dodgers in game seven to claim the franchise's first ever title and comes after the nba champions golden state warriors avoided the white house on a trip to washington last month. and finally, tiger woods has played all over the world but probably hasn't made it to the norwegian arctic. it's an unusual place

to have a round of golf, especially when it's dark. but who needs daylight when you've got the northern lights to guide you? this 18—hole links course is situated on the remote and rugged coast of gimsoya in lo—foten and boasts unobstructed views to the north. lovely pictures indeed. four matches in the nba to let you know, houston rockets, top of the western conference, they've already qualified for the play—offs, they lead the san antonio spurs 88—67 in the third quarter, almost at three quarters time in that one. to reca ptu re quarters time in that one. to recapture our top story, manchester city are now 16 points clear at the top of the pinilla league after a 2-0 top of the pinilla league after a 2—0 win over stoke city. from me and the rest of the sport today team, goodbye. good morning.

well, i don't know about you, but i wasn't best pleased with the start of the working week's weather. particularly across england and wales it was rather cloudy and with some rain at times. look at this weather watchers picture sent in from wembley. leaden—looking skies. the rain was a real nuisance. that low has moved away. it's allowed this ridge of high pressure to build over the last few hours, and that is just going to give us a chilly start to tuesday, but perhaps tuesday likely to see the best of the drier weather throughout the week. despite temperatures in low single figures in scotland, there will be early morning sunshine, particularly in northern ireland, western scotland, wales and south—west england. eventually the cloud will start to thin and break up in eastern areas with the exception perhaps of the north sea coasts. here a little more cloudy during the day. but not bad, predominantly dry, particularly in comparison with monday with highs of 7—11 degrees. now, as we move out of tuesday, we will be under the influence of low pressure and this low pressure out in the atlantic is actually going to stay with us for the rest of the working week. now, the good news is it is spilling up south—westerly winds, so milder air starts

to dominate across the uk. it will be windy at times and it will see some wet weather spiralling around that low pressure, almost like a catherine wheel, driving up some rain at times. chiefly affecting the south—west, eventually moving into northern ireland and into wales. but for much of the eastern areas, we'll see dry, bright weather. temperatures responding with the sunshine and the southerly wind, highs of up to 1a degrees. a similar kind of story actually on thursday. another front brings rain into northern ireland, wales, the midlands and eventually into the south—east, but much of eastern england, along with scotland, will see some dry, sunny weather, and with that wind direction, it's still going to feel reasonably warm, highs of 7—14 degrees. so if you get the sunshine with those temperatures responding, it could — dare i say it — feel almost springlike at times. but don't get used to it because it looks as though by the weekend we'll see quite a dramatic contrast in the weather, as the wind direction changes its

going to get cold again. that is because we start to see another area of high pressure dominating across scandinavia. the winds clockwise around that high, a cold easterly set to return. it looks as if it will turn much colder as we move into the weekend, and any moisture coming in off the north sea could again fall as snow. so it's certainly something that we're going to have to keep a close eye on. i wouldn't be surprised into the weekend as we start to see a return to snow on the roads. take care. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is nkem ifejika. our top stories — pointing the finger of blame — britain's prime minister says moscow was probably behind the attack on a former russian spy. it is now clear that mr skripal and

his daughter were poisoned. president putin brushes off questions about the attack as moscow accuses the british of telling fairytales. the bbc gains access to a draft un report, which claims some asian companies are violating sanctions against north korea. and a ‘master of elegance' — hubert de givenchy, the man who dressed audrey hepburn and jackie kennedy, has died.