the best they can be, and that's something that i think she connects with and certainly that we feel is really exciting. millions watched her transformation from tv actress to royal duchess, but away from the cameras, she was quietly working out which organisations she would be willing to put her name to. having meghan as patron is the equivalent of winning the lottery. what these organisations need is support and profile, and that's exactly what meghan can offer. she takes over from the queen as patron of the association of commonwealth universities. she's spoken previously about her belief in higher education for all. while progress has been made in many areas across the commonwealth, there is always scope to offer more opportunities to the next generation of young adults. here she is, aged 18, in a school production. two decades later, she's now the royal patron of the national theatre. many of the things she's very passionate about are principles

that we hold very close to the centre of what we do at the national theatre. and staff at this dog and cat shelter in north—west london are delighted that animal lover meghan is their new patron. it'll be a huge boost for our service users. we'll be able to do more, hopefully. it's a huge boost for all the staff, students and volunteers who work here. with her baby due in the spring, meghan already has a busy year ahead, but carving her own niche as a working royal is also high on her list of priorities. sarah campbell, bbc news. newsnight is coming up on bbc two. here on bbc one, time for the news where you are. hello and welcome to sportsday. andy murray faces a tough start to his australian open campaign. he's been drawn against the 22nd seed for his

first match in melbourne. 15 people are arrested in spain as part of an investigation into match—fixing in tennis. 28 professional players are implicated. aaron ramsey's set forjuve but arsenal can't spend this transfer window. we cannot sign like, we lose one player. you do all you can. hello and welcome to sportsday. thanks forjoining us. the first grand slam of the year kicks off on monday. the draw for the australian open was made earlier today with, thanks

to the seedings, relatively easy first round matches for the big names like roger federer, novak djokovic and serena williams. but the brits face a much tougher time, both the men and the women. joe lynskey has the details. the last major andy murray clayton was at last years us open where he was at last years us open where he was knocked out in the second round, it's going to be up against it to you can make it that far again. in the first major of 2019, he is up against this man, roberto batista in the first—round of the australian open. the spaniard already some immense titles behind him in 2019. he beat the world number one novak djokovic on the way to winning in doha are at the tabs are open. use the world number 23, and those three previous victories of murray are over him before aren't going to count for much, because since then he's had that hip surgery, last january. now he's just trying to get

back to this australian open. he was doing that in a practise match with novak djokovic overnight, in which he could only take two games in a set and a half they played. this is them doing some of those warm—ups last night, as they say murrayjust not up two games before they had to make their way from the court to the practise matches. djokovic isn't getting any younger, but he will be among the favourites for this tournament after winning the last two majors of 2018, and wimbledon and flushing meadows. his route to the potential final starts here, and flushing meadows. his route to the potentialfinal starts here, a qualifier has yet to be confirmed. vera is one of those younger players looking to break through as a regular grand slam vera. rough in ref nadal has meeting with kyle edmund the british number one amount four. reach the semi finals of this tournament last year, and he's seeded 13th this time around. nadal, if he comes through, it he said to

meet roger federer in the set semi finals. attorney time grand slam champion can he negotiate his way through this route to the semi finals? let's have a look at the women's draw then, all three british players in the women's side, having very tough really in this first round. and down at 37 now in the world ranking, that's after a series of poor tournaments, a poor year and really that anaconda had. she once was a semifinalist here. that's three years ago now, she plays in australia home favourite in the first round. she actually beat her at the start of the month. heather watson, she plays another seat in the first round, one play might want to watch out for is katie balter. this will be her first grand slam away from wimbledon. she hasn't played twice at wimbledon she plays the experienced russian in makkah robot in the first round in melbourne. those britons are all going to need to have a big upturn if they're going to get anywhere near challenging the big three, or

the big number of players in the women's tour really. number one as well as serena williams of course, who was champion here two years ago, while she was pregnant. and caroline watson, pretty comfortable in the first round. she's the defending and incredibly she is claiming were matured arthritis, a condition which can limit her, she's to be the third seat next week, and it's an exciting tournament in this australian open. 15 people have been arrested in a series of raids in spain following a year long investigation into match—fixing in tennis. an armenian criminal gang is believed to be behind it and spanish police say 28 of the 83 people implicated, are professional players, and one featured in last year's us open. our sports correspondent david ornstein has some of the details of today's spanish operation. if we look at this investigation as a whole which was really kick—started 2017 by the tennis integrity unit, it focuses and things to have uncovered a criminal group of armenian individuals who worked with one tennis player,

according to the report — a professional player who was essentially their link person for all of this corruption. there is talk of 11 houses being searched in spain. 167,000 euros in cash seized along with a shotgun. the electronic devices, credit cards, find luxury vehicles, documentation, 42 bank accounts and balances frozen. so this is not a small operation. and you suspect it may only be the tip of the iceberg. arsenal won't be buying any new players during this january transfer window. manager unai emery says the club will only be able to bring players in on loan. arsenal have one of the highest wage bills in the premier league and they've also spent a lot over the last 12 months, bringing in players like striker pierre emerick aubameyang and midfielder lucas torreira. we cannot sign like with one player. we can only sign players like our own.

i know the club is working for the possibility. who player can help us with this condition? fast. with a big part from us, like we need now. juventus are leading the race to sign arsenal midfielder aaron ramsey when his contract expires at the end of the season. it's thought his preference is to join the italian champions but he's yet to make a final decision and will continue to consider offers from a number of europe's leading clubs, including paris st—germain. manchester city women are through to the last four of the continental cup after thrashing brighton 7—1 this evening. lauren hemp got two but the rest of the goals were shared between five other players. city scored four of them in the last ten minutes. theyjoin chelsea, holders arsenal and manchester united in the last four, with the draw taking place on saturday. stoke city were, for ten years, premier league constants.

fa cup finalists, a europa league team, and for three successive years, finishing in the top ten in the league. even when they were relegated at the end of last season, they were favourites to bounce back up. but they're 14th in the championship with just eight wins in 26 league games — patrick gearey looks at what's gone wrong, and what the new manager nathanjones needs to do... stoke city seemed built to last, a premier league staple with stars and stability. but the potters were dealing with flimsy material than they thought. now they have brought in a new man to remould. their fourth permanent manager in a year. what we have to do is make sure we install a philosophy and mentality here, and an environment and culture, that takes the club forward long time. i would like short—term success which would lead into medium—term success which hopefully would lead into long—term success, that the plan. but i don't think there's a timescale on it.

i had not been told that time scale. injones, stoke city energy and identity that the lacking, it shown throughout his luton town team in recent seasons. of course, once they had a clear philosophy of their own. they got into the premier league for the first time and into the cup final in 2011. they were tough and awkward. a wet wednesday in stoke became shorthand for discomfort. under mark hughes, they added duels to the cement. they finished ninth in three seasons in a row. no one expected them to be sucked into the trap door but last year hughes went and paul lambert can pull them out of the cel spellman, relegated. —— tailspin. they are currently 14th in the championship after failing to beat shrewsbury town they dismissed gary rowett. they seem to have all the gear but not enough ideas. we are a premier league side, with a premier league training facilities,

a lot of premier league standard players. but a lot more of them are just not good enough, for whatever reason, maybe its attitude, maybe they are past it, maybe theyjust don't fit in at ourclub. something needs to change. hopefully nathanjones can change that. jones said moving to stock will be a gamble, as it will be for them to. another spin of the roulette wheel in the hopes of turning the potters wheel their way. now, let us introduce you to the next big thing in darts. 13 —year—old leighton bennett, who is the youngest player ever to win the bdo world youth championship. ending on a 121 checkout which included a bullseye finish. he picks up a cheque of £5,000 and said he was "over the moon". as you can see! that's all from sportsday. coming up in a moment, the papers. hello and welcome to our look

ahead to what the the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. with me are our guests henry zeffman, political correspondent at the times and the daily mirror's political editor pippa crerar. many of tomorrow's front pages are already in. the independent reports that theresa may called the leaders of britain's biggest unions in a bid to salvage her brexit deal. the times says theresa may had ever first ever talk with the unite leader, len mccluskey for the first time as she attempted to build support across party lines for the plan. the financial times says that the japanese prime minister is giving his backing to the deal, but it leads on the news that jaguar land rover and ford are to cut thousands ofjobs

across europe as they struggle with falling sales and tougher emissions rules on diesel vehicles. the daily telegraph carries details of its investigation which found that hospitals allow male patients to share female wards if they self identify as women. the daily mail says the prime minister has called on the speedboat killer, jack shepherd to give himself up — in what she described as a shocking case. the guardian leads on research by the world health organisation which suggests that eating far higher levels of fibre as well as nuts and pulses, will cut people's chances of heart disease and early death. well that's it for the up some. let's start shallowly on it, with the front page of the times? theresa may callsign union chiefs in a bid to save her brexit deal. henry, 11th

hour, talks. there's something extraordinary about the spectacle of teresa matt, about the spectacle of teresa matt, a conservative prime minister calling on the mccloskey, the firebrand anti—tory general secretary to unite, popularly known as redland, certainly to drop lots of teresa mays parties mps. in asking for his help to save her brexit deal, saying can we make a deal, can what can your member support, what might you encourage mps to support? as with so much else of maize in weeks. it's amazing she didn't think of this before. she might have done this when she became prime minister in the summer of 2016, i think there was a lot of goodwill then, in the country, i sense that she'd been handing a sticky wicket and people might pull together and make it work. but now people will just see together and make it work. but now people willjust see her as what it is, which is jesper people willjust see her as what it is, which isjesper preminger who's got a chance of passing the deal next week, trying to every plea back everything she can. is that the timing that is the timing that is a problem? it might have made sense given that tradition party lines and allegiances have broken down of her

brexit. yes, this came yesterday with our story in the mirror. by theresa may pitching labour mps. those mps she had them over in christmas, to chat, one of them it said today was complaining that she had to wait five months, sitting by her phone, waiting for the call to find a comfortable stop after she made it clear she was prepared to do business with the government, and she could even support theresa may at's deal. it's astonishing, when i think of last summer, and they were ready at that point putting that union approaching labour mps, but it presumably for political reasons decided to hold back. now it appears desperate. she has in a matter of days to go before the vote next week. and certainly the labour mps that i've spoken to suggested those that i've spoken to suggested those that leave packing seeds that potentially feel they might want to deliver