hello this is bbc news. ireland and a couple the headlines. northern ireland and a couple through northern england and north hundreds of thousands of people have marched wales. in the south, more sunshine through central london, and feeling a little bit warmer. demanding another brexit referendum. protestors gathered to hear speeches from across the political spectrum. this deal pleases no one! if you voted remain, it's a rubbish deal! if you voted leave, it's a lousy deal! there are no winners! only losers! american—backed kurdish forces have declared victory over islamic state after capturing the group's last remaining stronghold in syria. police say a seventeen—year—old boy who was stabbed to death in west london yesterday was chased by a group of men before he was attacked. us special counsel, robert mueller has submitted his report into alleged russian collusion with president trump's campaign during the 2016 presidential election. and police in norway are evacuating more than a—thousand people from a cruise ship

in stormy seas. now on bbc news, it's time for sportsday. hello and welcome to sportsday, with chris mitchell and karthi gna nasegaram. the headlines this evening. in the shadow of the rock of gibraltar, ireland play a euro qualifier in front of around two thousand fans. while over 42 thousand pack the london stadium to watch saracens overhaul harelequins and a canadian teenager kicks dan evans out of the miami open also coming up in the programme. education, education, education, gareth southgate takes time out to learn how to become a better manager

as coaches, we improve, we should improve all of our players, and that is how the system improves. this weekend as has seen the start of qualificiation for the european championships in 2020. we'll be taking a look back at how the home nations have fared so far, but the republic of ireland are in action this evening and chris mitchell. ireland are playing their first euro qualifier, gibralter, anything other than a win for mick mccarthy's side unthinkable, it's his first game back in charge of the side, republic have only won

once in last 11 games, jeff hendrik of burnley finally got one early in the second half, in that same group, group d, switzerland beat georgia 2—nil, steven zuber opened the scoring in the second half. deni zakaria got the second as the group favourites started with a win. here are the days other results and games to come. sweden playing romania at the friends arena in stockholm, spain — who failed to qualify for the uefa nations league finals, finishing second behind england, host norway — their first match against each other for 16 years. italy have only ever lost to finland once.

getting a little used to england success ramon bring it coming off the back of a world cup semifinal. it's all looking very good. a great performance. we are getting a little bit used to england doing well, that said it had to be pointed out that doing well, that said it had to be pointed out czech weren't great, jadon sancho. harry kane and raheem sterling up front, sterling has scored 2a goals for club and country so far this season, it's been quite a turnaround for england's raheem sterling, 3 years ago he was being criticised by some fans but now they most seem to love him, moreso after his hatrick helped get england's euro 2020 qualifying campaign's off to a flying start, joe lynskey reports.

behind the rise of english football is the value of sterling. right now he is the wimbley superstar who grew up he is the wimbley superstar who grew up down the road, a hat trick that highlighted the 5—0 win against the czech republic. the second goal revealed the dedication and a 13—year—old academy player who died of leukaemia last week. the mark of the man inspiring cloud, country and community. very confident, not only on the field but off the field, some mature and comfortable and himself, he can't hide from the fact that he's had difficult moments in england, but he is turn that full—circle. england, but he is turn that full-circle. those dark times came in two tournaments by age 21, last yearin in two tournaments by age 21, last year in france, he called himself that he did one, now still a 2k, those bumps in the road have

toughened up the talent, after a key role in the run to the world cup semifinals, in october, sterling scored his first international goal for three years, it has inspired a stunning win in spain. games like that have brought a change in the narrative, sterling has not let it pass quietly. in december, he took ona pass quietly. in december, he took on a print media, fuelled racism with its portrayal of black players. throughout it all, this season's former manchester city could mix sterling at the player of the year. last night was a second hat trick of the month, the first by an england man and wimbley in eight years. there always needs to be a player with an arm around her shoulder, and i think it's probably got the perfect international manager and south, he is also taking on this role of role model, he's decided to speak out against what he perceives

as mistreatment and has no responsibility to do that, but he has taken it upon himself and showed his maturity. this england team finds new rhythm with every match, this was conducted by sterling. so that was england off to a flying start. france too — the world champions thrashed moldova 4—1. a brilliant opener here from antoine griezmann, paul pogba playing the pass over the top. france too good for moldova, ranked 170th in the world — kylin mbappe rounded off the scoring late on. iceland and turkey are the other main contenders for the qualifying spots in that group. northern ireland play belarus in their next group c game in belfast on sunday. niall mcginn and steven davis both scored on thursday when they won their opener at home to estonia 2—0 but with games against netherlands and germany to come this is a game they need to win.

and manager michael 0'neill says they're ready for belarus in belfast. bad news for wales — aaron ramsey will miss their opening qualifier against slovakia tomorrow. he's returned to his club arsenal for treatment on a leg injury, he didn't play in the i—nil friendly win over trinidad and tobago on wednesday. the pressure is on scotland, already, afterjust one game. they should get some relief against san marino on sunday, but they endured such a miserable start to their campaign earlier in the week when they lost to kazakhstan — ranked 117 in the world all bets are off. so after the biggest defeat in a competitive match as scotland

manager how does alex mcleish prepare for their next qualifier and what do the fans make of it? to be brutally honest, it's embarrassing, an absolute embarrassment from start to finish. lackluster, heartless, ithink embarrassment from start to finish. lackluster, heartless, i think is one of the worst performances i've ever seen. i mean, i'm honestly, i am sitting here looking at my phone all night, that can be read, it's just insane. absolutely not, he he needs to go. i think he is done. just insane. absolutely not, he he needs to go. i think he is donem is never finished until it's finished, we have bounced back from a great performance in israel and

thatis a great performance in israel and that is what we must do after this game. obviously, there is a lot of anger back home, some see this as a second offence, but i would just continue to do myjob and suffice to say, i'm not going to get drawn into that question. no premier league games today because of the international break but a full load of league one games, and take a look at how close it is at the bottom. this was as it stood at noon today.... a real battle to avoid relegation with so many teams just a few points from danger... walsall could have pulled themselves clear with a win at home. but barnsley‘s jacob brown's got a last minute goal and walsall are still stuck in the relegation

zone and barnsley are second. this was a crucial win for them too at the top of the table as you can see from these scenes in the away end — barnsley are now five points clear of sunderland in the race for automatic promotion. this is how the table looks now then at the bottom, a bit less congested than it was this morning... switch attention to domestic rugby union. there was a fascinating game in which saracens had to come from behind to beat harlequins 27 points to 20 in front of almost 43 thousand at the london stadium. ben croucher reports. in unfamiliar surroundings

saracens have not looked like themselves of late, having missed much of there, they would have to eye on it, just turned 20 but soon shifted this game in their favour. danny can expect to join in the plans and after the a0 minutes is up, extending the lead at half—time. made sure the saracens squad catching his attention as well, and irishman stifle the try. wrong place, wrong time. so instead, a south african and an australian had to do the dirty work, got his way through and then will cemented saracens second superiority, not once but twice. and only just. from scrappy to supreme, saracens still riding high, second in the table and they know all too well what it is like to be at the top. elsewhere worcester warriors hung on to win 27—25 at premiership relegation rivals bristol. josh adams went over with the best

of worcester‘s three tries bottom of the table newcastle are in to the second half of their game against sale. score is newcastle six, sale ten. denny solomona with the only try of the first half, just one other result to tell you about in the premireeship and that was gloucester‘s 27 points to 1a victory over wasps to take them up to third in the table. in the pro 1a, fullback daniel evans produced a stunning performance to help the ospreys beat his former side, the dragons. ospreys trailed 17—10 at half time — but three second half tries from evans — adding to one he scored in the first half — helped his side to a bonus point 29—20 victory. he becomes just the second player to score four tries in a pro 12 or pro 1a match. ulster are leading

southern kings 21—12 at the kingspan stadium, stuart mcclos key scored their first try, before rob lyttle got their second — finishing in the corner, billy burns impressively converted, before ulster scored their third, to remain on course for a seventh consecutive win. . .. when world rugby revealed its plans for a new global competition which would introduce promotion and relegation, it did'nt go down well with everyone, with some countries even threatening to boycott this year's world cup. but the sport's chief executive has hit back — insisting northern hemisphere sides should see it as a unique opportunity and back the plan. patrick gearey has more. the international rugby players make decisions, now the sport feels its biggest choice in a generation. which way forward? this is world

by, which way forward? this is world rugby, the nations championship, 12 of the top teams in the world all plank each other every year, the best in the north and south facing each other in a final and the worst facing relegation to another team. new in rugby, in fact, new in all sports. we consider ourselves a major player in the professional sports market when this sort of competition, putting rugby in an international competition across the world, it will be unique and really make a statement about the sport by countries who do not have a team in the competition. getting there is another thing, world rugby early this month, some specific island players threatened to boycott the world cup and the players union said they had major concerns with the amount of rugby and travel the competition would involve, the governing body said they have addressed this but are still worried about the likes of scotland and ireland by the introduction of relegation, while they have to make

them vote for a trapdoor. we understand why there is gnashing to make national interest involved, where the global game i be going as well, and the interests of the global game, finding the balance across the line. money matters as well, on the other side of this is an offer that could make £100 million each from the investment company, but that would mean giving up company, but that would mean giving up some control, world rugby says its offer of a slice of the pie chediak £5 billion pie does not give away any prerequisite. this is the right deal, is guarantee with a big upside, making your decision about what's right for the sport and you can do that you have 100% control of the sport. it is sport and you can do that you have 10096 control of the sport. it is not difficult to see how much the six

nations means, they want that spread over all internationals, now the celebrations in the deliberations go on in the clean—up could be even more messy. british number three, dan evans, has lost his second round match at the miami open to the world number 23, denis shapovalov. evans down at 97 in the world at the moment took the first set 6-4. but shapovalov, the highest ranked teenager on the men's tour then worked out how to combat evans's interesting range of shots and the canadian came back to take the second set 6—1. and he went on to win the decider 6—3. evans double faulting on match point, shapovalov is in to the third round. to formula e next, great britain's oliver rowland has had his best everfinish in a race. he came second at the sanya e—prix in china, with france's jean—eric vergne finishing in first place. nick parrot reports.

the first formula e race was held in beijing after a two year absence, the competition returns to china. it was a beach resort, but it was far from paradise for the championship leader. a poor qualifier saw him start from 16 and he wiped out on the opening lap, after being shunted from behind. the rookie could not keep the raining keep the reigning champion behind him, but he kept in touch with the frenchman, to go on to claim his first podium. racing was suspended for the quarter of an hour after the car had to be rescued and another crash led to the anticlimax of the race finishing under yellow flags, it was his first win of the season, leapfrogging to third in the championship.

there's an exciting finish in store in tonight's super league match between catalans dragons and bottom side leeds rhinos. leeds have led for much of the game — thanks to ash handley who's scored a hat—trick of tries. but catalans have their own danger man — fouad yaha has scored four times to help catalans lead 26—22, with just over five minutes remaining. let's quickly round up some of the day's other stories now. the defending champions chennai super kings have got off to a winning start in the new indian premier league season. they chased down their target ofjust 71 with 1a balls to spare to beat the royal challengers bangalore by seven wickets. team skyjust missed out on winning cycling's longest one day classic race. their polish rider michal kwiatkowski came third in the sprint for the line in the milan san remo in italy. france's julian alaphilippe took the victory.

ross county have won the scottish challenge cup, beating connah's quay nomads 3—1 in the final. josh mullins scored twice for ross county, before jamie lindsay scored the third to seal the win. we mentioned england's impressive 5—nil win over the czech republic a little earlier. that result continues manager gareth southgate's successful time in charge. southgate led england to the world cup semi finals last year and he's been talking to us about some of the unusual coaching courses he's been on to help him become a better manager. david mcdaid has this report: works to free people when a hurricane hit, islander rescue team works to free people from the collapsed building. at least that is the scenario being played out by some of britain's best sport cultures, including the england football manager. yes! she fell! i want to see my mum! run by uk sport, attending alongside

some of britain's best olympic and paralympic coaches. you have the normal coaching qualifications, the standard group, but when you get to the end of that, where do you go for further learning and development? you've always got to be open to new ideas and new ways of working, really. so having really intelligent people to share ideas, it has been a massive help. some of the learning methods have been different to say the least. we've done hostage scenarios, we work with the police, every course, you learn something, how you lead a managing team sense. you been doing this for years, how much did this influence on how you did it? there's been a lot of understanding your own

behaviours and your own responses to this pressure, so that's definitely been helpful in working with the environment you're going to get as a coach. this is going to help us improve his coaches and in the end, it should improve all of your players and all of your athletes and that's of the system gets better. helps the system gets better. what would your parents have said if you had decided to give up your university degree to play football computer games full time? it might sound like the stuff of dreams but for owen venn it has paid off. he is now a professional player and this week will represent southampton in the very first premier league finals in london. all clubs will be represented, and mike bushell as been to find out if it can really be called a sport.

it might not look like it at first and the spark, but i am with some premier league football is a can tour the world potentially with hundreds of thousands of pounds, and this week we are in the league title for their teams. taking centre stage, rather than centre circle, it is the game players, hoping their fingers and mental agility will help them find the back of the net in the first ever premier league final this week. owen put his bournemouth university degree to play for southhampton. my dad was really supportive, i think the hardest thing was telling my mum i had to move back into live at home and try and pursue a career in this and she was like what the, she has been fine with that but really supportive.

saying that they're spent too much time on the xbox or playstation, but they also to be physically fit, outsider in the gym or in many have special diets, healthy diet is a healthy mind. training with a lot of focus on if you make a slight mistake it can really hinder how the game actually turns out and i think something that's coming into it for me, my nutrition in my living. yes, deafening tech dedication, probably the same dedication it takes for any sport. once the clubs of picked their two players to complete in the turned the finals week and will take place here in the studio cinema, shown all of the world with presenters, going over each of the movements. still him to go full time, despite not making a burning tea m time, despite not making a burning team this year. i've been watching them play the premier league will be

a dream to play for them, and to be here with this is where the special. growing as a big business with small fortu nes growing as a big business with small fortunes up for grabs in some tournaments around the world and roaring you on in the theatre or online, and now it has premier league backing with the help of the former executive of manchester city as well. and manner a young lady who would come to play and represent the team, as the audience continues to grow because of the digital trend, this is an extension of all of that and that is why i have to commend the league for taking the step. the speed and skill of the game, apologies to the fans, i'm warming up apologies to the fans, i'm warming upfor apologies to the fans, i'm warming up for next week's finals of the 5— mill thrashing in southhampton, despite the heroics of my keeper, here. compared to the real premier league, it's more of a level playing field, money can't buy you success in this game, the team is only as

good as the person in the controls. away from the digital megatrend, the republic of ireland have beaten gibraltar but only by a goal to zero. we will keep you updated with that's all from sportsday. we'll have more at half past seven. hello there. it has not been too bad to start to the weekend, high—pressure nearby, settled for many of us and i think that we saw a lot more sunshine today than we have seen lot more sunshine today than we have seenin lot more sunshine today than we have seen in the past few days across england and wales. quite mile, we do have low pressure in the north of the uk, bring strong winds and showers, mainly some snow on the hills and when you're close to this area of high pressure, it's good to

be settled for most of us, clear skies like wind, like chilli with frost and what are two places, will continue with the showers across the north and west of scotland and then will be quite heavy, blustering with winds and i'll be furthest on the hills, for the south, we have the clear skies and later weight and thatis clear skies and later weight and that is a perfect recipe for a chilly night on the town. a touch of frost and potential below freezing for three or 4 degrees in the towns and cities, we start tomorrow on a chilly note but many dry and bright, lots of sunshine and more sunshine across england and wales and today we did see quite a bit of sunshine. there'll be plenty of showers some will be quite heavy and snow on the hills, quite cool in the northwest winds comes on the showers pushing into northern ireland in england, but for the rest of them, england and wales, to be addressed straight to the afternoon with the temperature is around 13 or 1a degrees, above the seasonal average. high—pressure with us as we had two next week, you will see whether

systems just tend to flirt with the far north of the uk at times, before most of us is looking fine and settled mainly dry, variable amounts of sunshine and also a bit of cloud as well and it will be chilly at night, pressure will be clear. some cool air around the north of the country, but through next week as pressure builds in, the temperatures reach the high teens towards the end of next week, but starting up again ona of next week, but starting up again on a chilly note, dry bright lots of sunshine and a bit more cloud across the north and west of scotland, perhaps one or two spots of rain here but it is going to be dry and to for most of us into the low teens in celsius, and the breeze and sunshine. for the rest of the week though, staying dry for most, because the high—pressure. we could see temperatures around 17 or 18 degrees on thursday across southern and eastern parts, it is good to be may be a touch of frost and also if

few minced and fog. this is bbc news, i'm ben bland. the headlines at seven. hundreds of thousands of demonstrators rally in front of parliament, demanding another brexit referendum. today we make our voices heard and what our voices are saying loudly and clearly is this, put it back to the people! american—backed kurdish forces declare victory over islamic state, after capturing the group's last remaining stronghold in syria. police in west london launch a murder investigation — following the fatal stabbing of a teenager last night.

rescuers in norway are evacuating more than thousand people from a cruise ship in stormy seas. scientists hope the technology behind these unprecedented and detailed images of a baby inside the womb — will help improve