emma vardy, bbc news, at the supreme court. now on bbc news, sport today. hello, this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: olympic gold medallist simone biles speaks out about being the victim of sexual abuse. world number two roger federer survives a scare as he gets his shanghai masters title defence underway. and shane warne tells us that test cricket will be around as long as its star attractions are playing. hello and welcome to the programme, where we start with the news that four—time olympic gold medallist simone biles has told the bbc she feels empowered after speaking out about the team doctor who abused her and other young gymnasts. speaking ahead of the world championships in doha, the american gymnast says she hopes sharing her story will encourage

other people to tell theirs too. our sports correspondent natalie pirks went to her hometown in texas to meet her. the final move of her olympic championships... in 2016, in the heat of rio, simone biles set the sporting world ablaze. how does she do it? five olympic medals was her award, four of them gold. now eve ryo ne award, four of them gold. now everyone knew her name. but what goes up must everyone knew her name. but what goes up must come everyone knew her name. but what goes up must come down. when she returned here, to her hometown spring, in texas, she took an 18 month break to heal her body and mind. she told me she knows her achievements in rio, though, keep the spotlight firmly on her. it's almost more pressure because you know exactly what to expect under pressure that will be put on you, rather than your first time. you kind of us are excited be there. now

you have these expectations. after her break she came back with a bang at the us national scene august, sweeping gold in every event to make american gymnastics history —— national ‘s in august. it was like she had never been away, yet some things had changed. the teal leotard she wore at the national ‘s was in solidarity with victims of abuse, are part of her history she felt she had to speak out about. the us team doctor abused more than 150 young women and girls under the guise of medical treatment. biles confirmed ina medical treatment. biles confirmed in a statement that she too had been one of his victims. earlier this year, he was sentenced to 175 years in prison. your decision to assault was precise and manipulative, devious, despicable. thejudge was precise and manipulative, devious, despicable. the judge was absolutely amazing on her part, so we are very proud of her. and it is kind of a relief, because the kind

of got what he deserved. what prompted you to make that decision, to write that statement? it is kind of hard, but i feel like people who look up to me can think if simone can be strong enough, then hopefully ican do. can be strong enough, then hopefully i can do. and that is part of the message that i wanted to give, but i was kind of relieved when it came out and there was a lot of pressure off my shoulders. it was at the home off my shoulders. it was at the home of this us coach when he abused gymnasts. when biles said it would be heartbreaking to return there, us gymnastics ended the 17 year association with the ranch. had that feel? i don't know, it kind of felt empowering. even though that is an overused word right now, but yes. biles is moving on in the best way she knows how. already the most decorated world genus of all time she could reach new heights this month. but even she admits there are limits. from my first olympic games to walk away with five medals, i think, is kind of unbeatable, even for myself. so we willjust go in

there with an open mind and see what happens. win or lose, the 21—year—old is guaranteed to soar. now to tennis, where defending champion roger federer struggled to make it through to the third round of the shanghai masters with a battling win over russian daniil medvedev on wednesday. the world number two joins novak djokovic in the last 16, as colm harrison reports. there was no doubt who the shanghai crowd were supporting, and their hero looked to be cruising to a co mforta ble hero looked to be cruising to a comfortable victory when he took the opening set against daniil medvedev 6-4. but opening set against daniil medvedev 6—4. but the russian, fresh from winning the japan open last week, bounced back brilliantly by winning the second. this was the first ever meeting between the pair, and federer admitted afterwards that it took him until a third set to figure it out. he won the decider by 6—4, and federer‘s title defence is up and federer‘s title defence is up and running. he plays spain's agut next. nishikori survived an even

bigger scare, having come from a set down against wu. but any hopes of the chinese player completing a victory were dispelled when nishikori completed the second and third sets losing just three games in the process. he now plays a us competitor. the number three seed, del potro, is through to the last 16 and is bidding for a second masters title of the year following his victory at indian wells. the argentinian beat gasquet of france. wednesday's winners also included alexander's varejo. he defeated his opponent in straight sets —— zverev. he next plays the unseeded australian di minaur. there were also wins for kyle edmund. cricket now, and pakistan are closing in on victory in their opening test against australia in dubai, after the visitors saw

a mini collapse put them in a precarious position. australia, chasing a daunting target 0f1162 runs, will resume at 136—3 on day five, after mohammad abbas claimed all three wickets in quick succession. opener usman khawaja is unbeaten on 50, with travis head on 3a, still requiring 326 runs on the final day. former australian great shane warne has told the bbc that test cricket isn't going to die out. warne took 708 test wickets in a glittering career that also included its fair share of controversy, but says, despite the lack of fans attending the longer format of the international game, its star players will see it thrive. i don't think test cricket is dying. i think there's a lot more interest on the tv side of things than attending the ground. i don't think there's a lot of people... i think in england and australia it is still

very strong with people attending the venue of where the test matches are, buti the venue of where the test matches are, but i think around the world is more eyeballs watching on the tv. i think as long as the superstar players like virat kohli say that test cricket is the pinnacle, and he wa nts to test cricket is the pinnacle, and he wants to achieve things in the test match arena and he is leading the way that, then i think i'll always stay there, and we have to trust the players, that they want to play test cricket. it is very easy to take the money and do the t20 side of things, andi money and do the t20 side of things, and i don't begrudge any player doing that, but i hope that when we look back in ten, 15 years' time, we look back in ten, 15 years' time, we look into the future and we say wasn't it great that all these players still love test cricket? because it is the hardest form. you play for five days, the best team will always win. to the shorter formats of the game, and the first one day international between england and sri lanka was abandoned in dambulla on wednesday because of rain. england reached 92—2 before constant rain meant the outfield was unplayable. the next match in the five—game series gets underway on saturday at the same ground, weather permitting. it looked like the end

of the world was coming. it was the right call at the time. it was the right call at the time. it isa it was the right call at the time. it is a shame that there was quite a lot of overthrow in three or four particular areas which were turning into mud. when you're playing 20 over, reduced game, which is high impact. a lot of turning. players' safety is paramount, and i think the umpires made the right call. onto cycling — france's thibaut pinot won the 99th milano to torino race on wednesday, narrowly avoiding a crash that saw his path to victory become clearer. miguel angel lopez of astana, one of the favourites, lost his bearings and crashed at low speed into david gaudu, and the damage was done as pinot zoomed off, leaving fellow rival alejandro valverde unable to keep pace, and he eventually finished third. the search is on for geraint thomas's tour de france trophy, which was stolen

from a cycling show last month. it was on loan from team sky to their bike supplier, pinarello, when at the end of the event in the english city of birmingham it was taken. thomas has pleaded with whoever has it to do the right thing and return it, after the 32—year—old became just the third british rider to win the race. australian wildcard ryan callinan produced a stunning performance on wednesday in the world surf league, to throw the overall title contest wide open. callinan, who received a replacement wildcard for the event in seignosse, eliminated current men's leader filipe toledo, leaving gabriel medina with a golden opportunity to overtake his fellow brazilian in the overall standings. you know, iwas you know, i was pretty lost in the moment, to be honest. i kind ofjust built through the heat, and i was...

the two waves that came to me happened to be beautiful, open faced waves. it is amazing out there. it is so fun. we don't get to surf enough when i am on tour, so i am just stoked to be out there. why wouldn't you want to be there? voth women's and men's events are going down to the end of the season. you can get all the latest sports news at our website. but, from me and the rest of the sport today team, goodbye. hello. wednesday brought some unseasonably warm if somewhat breezy weather to the shores of the uk. a big contrast with what we saw piling into florida — into the panhandle here, we saw hurricane—force winds,

torrential rain, and a big storm surge around the coast thanks to category 4 hurricane michael. that system, now moving over land, will start to weaken significantly, but it's still going to bring a lot of rainfall, particularly to the carolinas and parts of virginia, before eventually weakening into an area of low pressure that pulls offshore into the atlantic by friday. back closer to home, and for us today, quite a mixture, actually. some showers around in the east first thing, rain coming into the west, and decent sunshine between times. breezy, but not quite as warm as yesterday. but it will still be mild first thing, and our temperatures look like the figures we typically expect in the afternoons at this time of year. there are the showers across eastern england first thing. i think they'll quickly move off into the north sea. into the west, though, some wet weather for the start of the day for the south—west of england, for south wales, also for western scotland some showers around initially, and then more persistent rain, really, as the afternoon wears on. central and eastern areas may escape, then, with a fine day. east anglia and the south—east of england, for example,

and there will be some sunshine behind the rain for wales and the south—west of england. still getting up to 22, 23 in the south—east, cooler to the west of this front. some showery outbreaks of rain for central and eastern england out of the tail end of that front thursday evening. some heavier rain pushing north across scotland, and then look out towards the south—west, because this really is the low to watch. now, this is callum. it's a named storm, it's a very deep area of low pressure, it's been named by met, and as it rolls across the uk on friday, we can expect gale—force winds, with severe gales in exposure. gusts in excess of 70 mph, likely to be damaging winds. some pretty heavy rain piling into the west through friday, as well. again, eastern areas definitely spared the wet weather, i think, for much of the day. but that wind is going to be the biggest problem, in association with this system on friday. still quite mild, even warm in the east, temperatures 19, 20, but much cooler weather eventually coming in behind callum. we've still got the trail of the weather front behind that system, though, with us for saturday. so some quite wet weather

towards the north and west, pulling away at the moment, it looks like, eastwards for sunday. that should be the drier and brighter day of the two this weekend. still, though, a lot of uncertainty in the detail. it will be worth keeping regularly up—to—date with the forecast. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: hurricane michael strikes the florida shore — the most powerful storm to hit the south—west coast of the us in a century. thousands have been evacuated and police say that one person has been killed. new evidence emerges about missing saudi journalist and government critic jamal khashoggi. president trump says he's asked top saudi officials for answers. we cannot let this happen — to reporters, to anybody, we cannot let this happen. and we are going to get to the bottom of it. extradited from belgium — a chinese intelligence officer appears in an american court charged with spying. police in nepal smash a major smuggling ring

trading in baby chimpanzees, stolen from the wild in west africa.