welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. coming up on this programme... my name is mike embley. our top stories: chelsea move through to the last 16 of the europe league, as the pressure eases slightly on under fire maurizio sarri. taiwan's hsieh su—wei claims another upset victory at the dubai tennis championships, this time beating fourth seed karolina pliskova tv actorjussie smollett is charged with falsely claiming to be the victim of a racist, to reach the last four. homophobic attack. ajudge tells him if it's true, it's despicable. and rory mcilroy leads the field venezuela closes its border with brazil, as tensions mount over moves by the opposition by a stroke on eight to bring in foreign aid. at the first ever summit of its kind, in rome, under par after the first pope francis calls on bishops round of the world golf from around the world to take championship event in mexico. ‘concrete measures‘ against child abuse by catholic priests. living with hiv in singapore — hello, and welcome to the programme, we hear from victims of the data where we start with europa league football, and the news that the pressure may have eased slightly on chelsea manager maurizio sarri ahead of sunday's league cup final against manchester city. that's after the blues beat the swedish side malmo 3—0 in the second leg of their last 32 tie. olivier giroud scored

the first of the goals, all in the second half, with ross barkley and callum hudson—odoi adding the others, as chelsea completed a 5—1 aggregate win. it was good because the recent results were not in our favour. so we are happy to go to another round. it's good. it's based on results, so if you don't get results, you get the pressure. not just if you don't get results, you get the pressure. notjust the coach, but the players. so we are trying to get this momentum and go forward. arsenal are also through after a comfortable 3—0 home win over bate borisov. the belarussian champions had a 1—0 lead from the first leg, but that was wiped out after only four minutes of the return match when zakhar volkov put the ball in his own goal. either side of the break there were further goals from shkodran mustafi and sokratis to send the gunners through 3—1 on aggregate.

we didn't consider that a lot, we did not consider the corner, we did not consider the free kick outside of our box. and then, we push and carry on every time. we scored it for the first goal. also because the matches are very dangerous for us if they score in our stadium. elsewhere, the two italian sides, inter and napoli, both former winners of the competition, are through after big aggregate wins. real betis are out after losing 3—1 at home to rennes, but two other spanish sides are through. valencia and villarreal will both be in friday's draw, along with sevilla, who qualified on wednesday. tennis, and hsieh su—wei's remarkable run at the duabi championships goes on. she's through to the semi—finals after beating the number four seed karolina pliskova. for a second successive day, the world number 31 from taiwan beat a former world number one, after seeing off angelique kerber

to reach the last eight. having won the first set against pliskova, hsieh got blown away 6—1 in the second, and it looked like her chance had gone. but she rallied again in the deciding set, and won it 7—5 to seal her place in the last four. she's nowjust one win away from reaching the first "premier level" final of her career. hsieh plays another czech in the semi—finals, the number two seed petra kvitova. the former wimbledon champion and current world numberfour was ruthless in her victory over slovakia's viktoria kuzmova. kvitova won 6—4, 6—love to reach her third semifinal of the year. in other other half of the draw, there was a shock defeat for the former world number one simona halep. the french open champion and number three seed was beaten in three sets by belinda bencic. the world number 45 from switzerland came from a set down to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. and she'll face elina svitolina, who beat carla suarez navarro in straight sets.

rory mcilroy will take a one shot lead into the second round of the world golf championship event in mexico after finishing his opening 18 holes on eight under par. it's been a hectic 2a hours for the northern irishman announcing his plans for the year ahead as colm harrison reports. after confirming that he'd be giving this year because ‘s irish opening cou nty clear this year because ‘s irish opening county clear in this in order to concentrate on winning the open championship on its return to northern ireland, rory mcelroy then set about the more immediate task of trying to win the second event of the season, and hopefully claim in a first tour title in nearly a year. he fired in seven birdies and an eagle, and an eight under par round of 63 that leaves him one shot clear of 63 that leaves him one shot clear of the top of the leaderboard. mcilroy‘s nearest challenger and sometime leader is dustinjohnson.

the american won this tournament when he was first staged in mexico two years ago, and he served notice that he would like his title backed by opening up with a flawless 64. two shots further back in a tie for third place is yet another former world number one, justin thomas. the runner—up to phil mickelson last year, thomas‘s round of 66 included the superb eagle at the 15th. no one has one more world golf championship event has one more world golf championship eve nt sve n has one more world golf championship event sven titled would —— tiger woods was a but his bid for extending 19th w gc title caught up to something ominous —— inauspicious start as he opened up with a double bogey. but he salvaged his round by signing for a level par 71 in the end that leaves him eight shots behind the leader mcilroy. climbing, skateboarding, karate, and surfing will all make their olympics debuts in tokyo next year, but there is a far more surprising proposition

for 2024 with break dancing. here's our sports news correspondent, richard conway. it is enough to make your head spin. break dancing, or breaking, as it's more commonly known, has risen from the basements and streets of new york in the 19705 and is now headed to the dizzying heights of the paris games in 2024. breaking has come from such a small thing and in such a small amount of time, it came from just people in the bronxjustjamming and stuff, and it's come up to this huge thing, and people are going to see it in the olympics and be inspired, like, you know, i want to do this. but while it requires strength, agility and dedication, is it really worthy of a place at an olympics? this dance is so focused on competition. for the last 20, 25 years, we have seen people choreographing and dancing as though their moves are weapons. for me, it makes sense, you know what i mean, there's no reason why it shouldn't go up to that level. breaking is going from the streets to the stadium, and it

will get its chance to shine in paris in 2024. whether it can remain on the podium at the olympics, that remains to be seen. big respect for each of them. breaking featured at the youth olympics in buenos aires last october, and pulled in the crowds. more traditional sports, such as karate and squash, appear to have lost out for 2024 and that, it seems, is all part of an effort by officials to keep the games relevant to a younger audience. now the decision to include breaking in paris has given b—boys and b—girls across the country golden ambitions for the future. when you saw like usain bolt or mo farah, and they run and win, they get that medal, and they stand up on those things, that's what i want to feel like. i want to be like them, but in breaking kind of style. the olympics is welcoming a new generation to its age—old ethos of faster, higher, stronger. as the world turns, so,

too, must the games. worth doing just to get one of those funky names, isn't it? now to cricket — south african batsman hashim amla was dismissed without scoring — in a test match — for the first time in his career on thursday as sri lanka hold a slight advantage heading into day two of the second test in port elizabeth. amla who made his test debut in 2004 had never failed to score but was bowled by vishwa fernando ending his 123 game streak. the proteas were dismissed for 222 in their first innings with quentin runs. de kock top scoring with 86 — while in response sri lanka lost three wickets late in the day leaving them still trailing by 162 runs. elsewhere, afghanistan beat ireland by five wickets in the first t20 international of their three—match series in india. george dockrell top—scored with 34 not out as ireland made 132 for six in their 20 overs. in reply, afghanistan were trouble on 50 for five, but an unbeaten stand of 85 between mohammad nabi and najibullah zadran saw them home

with four balls to spare. the nba has returned on thursday after the all star break, with teams jostling for play off spots as the post season approaches. lebronjames and the los angeles lakers host the houston rockets shortly in what is one of six games. the four—time mvp missed 18 games with a groin injury, and when he was out, the lakers dropped out of a playoff spot and are now tenth in the western conference standings. and james knows it's the small things that need improving. it starts with not turning the ball over, which is been a huge downfall for ourteam. over, which is been a huge downfall for our team. and also free throw shooting, we have to get the number of those up there. we are a team that plays a lot... we are going to get failed, so we need to do better. that match gets under way at 330 a.m. . garden state warriors host...

milwaukee bucks are currently hosting the boston celtics who are fourth in the commons, that one is 35a fourth in the commons, that one is 35 a piece. fourth in the commons, that one is 35a piece. heading fourth in the commons, that one is 35 a piece. heading towards half—time. but from me and the rest of the sport today team, goodbye. hello there. this very mild, spring—like weather for february is set to continue this weekend and into next week. on thursday we saw a top temperature of 18.3 celsius in aboyne in aberdeenshire. this has broken the scottish february record of 17.9 celsius. so very mild indeed for the time of year. this warm air is rooted in the canary islands and is being brought up to our shores on a fairly brisk south or south—westerly wind, as denoted by those orange or yellow colours. starting this morning will be a largely dry and quite breezy

across the northwest with a few showers. we could see the areas of fog developing across england and wales. temperature wise, a few spots across northeast of england, otherwise temperatures generally between 6—9 celsius. that fog could be quite extensive across the midlands into east anglia. now it may take a long time to clear through the morning, it could even hold on to 1—2 spots across the southeast through the day, and some areas could have a great day, while others have bright and sunny. it will feel very warm indeed for the time of year. quite windy across the far northwest corner, generally 13—15 celsius, a few spots 17—18 celsius. high—pressure still with us as we head into the weekend, bringing southerly winds. these weather fronts always try to encroach from the atlantic, it will bring more clouds and outbreaks of rain

to northern ireland and western scotland, with heavier bursts of wind. eastern scotland for most of england and wales away from the west, another fine day with hazy sunshine after mist and fog clears away again. extremely mild 14—15 celsius, 16—17 celsius. mist and fog to start off. the west country where it will be breezy, and temperatures just a degree or so down the board, looking at 12—13 celsius, the odd spot 14—15 celsius across the southeast. into next week, this area of high—pressure still dominating the weather, trying keep these weather out of the bait but occasionally breezing into the northwest with a few spots of rain. generally speaking into next week, high—pressure with warm days. fairly chilly nights, sunshine by day with also the risk of fog in the mornings.