welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. and michael matthews wins the second stage of the volta a catalunya while thomas de gendt our top stories: british mps are set to vote on a range of alternative plans maintains the overall lead. for brexit, but can theresa may continue as prime minister? survivors of the so—called caliphate. we report from syria, on the families stranded in camps hello and welcome to the programme, and shunned by the world. where we start with football, and there were seven european championship qualifiers on tuesday. italy hosted liechtenstein in group] as they continue their rebuilding process the longer it goes on, the more after failing to qualify for last year's world cup. but it was a seasoned veteran there is a risk that something could go wrong, they could be instability who scored twice in the 6—0 win with sampdoria's fabio quagliarella becoming the oldest player to score in the region again. unless a plan for the azurri at the age of 36 years and 5a days. is put in place soon, this really is it was also the first competitive start for his country a ticking time bomb. since october 2009. claims of a "whitewash ofjustice", as us prosecutors drop charges elsewhere, conor hourihane scored the only goal of the game as the republic of ireland beat georgia to make it two wins out of two in group d.

in the same group, switzerland were 3—0 up against denmark — and heading for victory until the danes scored three times in the last six minutes to salvage a point. in group f, alvaro morata scored both goals for spain as they won 2—0 in malta. and in oslo, sweden came from 2—0 down to lead 3—2 in norway, but ole kamara scored a stoppage time equaliser for the home side to make it 3—3. chelsea are in france on wednesday as they look to secure a place in the semi—finals of the women's champions league. the blues won the first leg of their quarter—final 2—0 against paris saint—germain in london last week. they're looking to become just the second english club to reach the final after arsenal, who claimed the competition in 2007. you know, of course confident after a great home performance. but we know that psg have been a finalist

in 2017 and 2015, so we know this will be a very difficult game tomorrow. translation: we want to take our revenge to win this match and, most of all, qualify. obviously we will have to change our style of play. we didn't really do ourselves justice in the first leg at chelsea. that happens from time to time and it's unfortunate that it happened to us in the game in london. we shouldn't get stressed if we don't score straightaway, but we have to keep on looking to find a way to get through to the semifinals. whoever comes through that tie will face either wolfsburg or the holders lyon in the semi—finals. the champions will take a 2—1 lead to germany for the second leg of their quarter—final. elsewhere, bayern munich against slavia prague is level at1—1,while barcelona are 3—0 up ahead of the second leg of their tie in norway. on to tennis — and six time champion novak djokovic

has been knocked out of the miami masters, beaten in three sets by spain's roberto bautista agut. the top seed was leading 6—1, 11—5 when rain delayed play for 30 minutes. returning to the court, djokovic surrendered his serve on a second break point in the 12th game to lose the second set but 22nd seed bautista—agut has now beaten the world number one the past two times they've played. the number seven seed and defending championjohn isner remains on course to retain the title that he won last year though after beating great britain's kyle edmund in straight sets. isner served 17 aces as he won 7—6, 7—6 — to seal his place in the last eight. in the women's singles, anett kontaveit became the first player to make it through to the semi—finals. the number 21 seed from estonia came from a set down to beat hsieh su—wei of taiwan. kontaveit won a tough deciding set 7—5 to seal her place

in the semi—finals of a "premier five" tournament for only the third time. mixed martial arts fighter conor mcgregor has announced he'll retire from the sport with immediate effect. the 30—year—old irishman who was the first to have held titles in two different weight divisions has been one of sports most polarising figures in recent times but has decided to call it quits, as our sports correspondent natalie pirks explains. the notorious conor mcgregor... with a nickname like the notorious comment as no surprise conor mcgregor has always had a gift for publicity. i am going to truly, truly love putting a bad, bad beating on this little glass jar. this morning he has been talking again. be took to twitter to tell his 7.5 million followers that he is quitting mixed martial arts, adding

this... fans have greeted the announcement with a healthy dollop of cynicism. after all, he retired once before, three years ago. just last night he was on thejimmy fallon show in the united states chat about his next big fight. where in forjuly. civil ——we will see what happens. a lot of politics going on. i am in shape and iam politics going on. i am in shape and i am ready. he is a complicated character with a turbulent recent history. a world champion in two weight divisions, mcgregor turned his hand to boxing in 2017 to fight and ultimately lose to floyd mayweather in one of the most watched balls in history. he was then charged with assault after taking a bus in brooklyn. his last

match saw him suspended for six months. earlier this month he was again after a row with a selvie seeking fan. mcgregor‘s mother once said he was born with his fists close. with his flairfor the theatrical, we can't rule out seeing those vests in action once more. natalie —— natalie pirks, bbc news. now to claims that world rugby are "out of touch with the smaller nations" — according to one former tongan international. it follows plans for a new nations championship — a competition that would involve the top 12 teams in the world and see promotion and relegation to a second tier. nick hope reports. beauty and brutality. seasonal storms mean life you can change in an instant. but tongans are resista nt, an instant. but tongans are resistant, with an inner and outer strength which has made their rugby union players global successes for generations. but some fear the new world nations championship could change that. it is a swipe, really.

rugby union risk losing thejonah lomu's of the future. rugby union will spiral downwards. as an stems from the six nations would join with the four from the southern hemisphere rugby championship, lost two other countries, likely to be japan and fiji. it means potentially fewer high—profile matches for second—tier nations against the world's elite. rugby grows more and more as it is televised and the likes of tonga, if they not shown on the international stage, you could slowly fa d e the international stage, you could slowly fade in the distance. the international stage, you could slowly fade in the distancem the international stage, you could slowly fade in the distance. it is swaying towards the countries that have money. that's not fair. it is being a little bit too elitist about it all. world rugby are yet to clarify how those in the second—tier, like tonga, witty promotion. but insist the format would benefit all. we have allocated money for a second division. that needs to be at a higher level than it has ever been full up both in

terms of if any team gets relegated at any point, they want to be relegated into a meaningful and strong competition with performing teams and good stadium. i think it will provide a good opportunity for the pacific islands. there are some real concerns in the rugby union communities in tonga and other pacific nations. but wallalong code feel threatened, another is thriving. —— but while one. there area thriving. —— but while one. there are a record number of young people taking part in rugby union, which has been on the rise of the men finished in the semifinals the last world cup. everyone can see there is a pathway for rugby league. after the world cup normally we would have ten the world cup normally we would have te n clu bs the world cup normally we would have ten clubs participating, it is out to 30 clubs. everyone was to play by to 30 clubs. everyone was to play rugby league. league looks after them a little bit better. whereas i think rugby union is out of touch, listening to our concerns. we risk losing was made rugby a well sport. it will be sad. many believe both codes can survive. but the most talented players are likely to be touching down in a legal rather than union in the years to come. nick

hope, bbc news, in tonga. to cycling, where australian michael matthews sprinted to victory on stage two of the volta a catalunya on tuesday, just edging world champion alejandro valverde into second on the line. four—time tour de france champion chris froome lost over seven minutes on the day after a crash left him chasing the peloton. matthews was part of a large bunched sprint going into the finishing stretch and he timed his move perfectly to snatch the win while belgian thomas de gendt finished safely in the peloton to maintain his overall lead. ten games in the nba. the most high profile is the milwaukee bucks top of the eastern conference. they have qualified a central division champions. 90—71 up to the houston rockets. you can get all the latest

sports news at our website — that's bbc.com/sport. but from me and the rest of the sport today team, goodbye. hello there. don't expect any major changes in our weather over the next few days. there is more dry weather to come, some spells of sunshine and patchy cloud as well. one subtle difference, it is going to turn a little bit milder for a time at least. high pressure then sitting to the south of the british isles. the winds allowing cloud to feed in over the top of that area of high pressure so we will continue to bring areas of cloud from the north—west towards the south of the uk through the first part of wednesday. best of the clear spells as we start off the day across southern and western parts of england and wales, that's where we have the lowest of the temperatures. a touch of across parts of the west country. south—east wales, the south—west of england. further north, not as chilly because there is more cloud. through the day, we continue to bring these areas of cloud south—eastwards. a mixture of patchy cloud and sunshine for many. the best of the sunshine across wales in the south—west. equally the cloud across the far north and far north—west of scotland. temperatures generally 11—14 degrees, may be 15 in aberdeen if we get some sunshine and shelter

to the east of high ground. as we move through wednesday night and into thursday, not as much cloud potentially by this stage but that could allow some mist and fog to form. again, some pockets of frost, temperatures widely holding up between three and six degrees. thursday, once again dominated by high pressure sitting just to the south of the british isles. the winds around high pressure moving in a clockwise direction so introducing something of a south or south—westerly flow of air for most of us as we move towards the end of the week which will lift the temperatures a little bit. those day, areas of low cloud and some mist and fog patches as well. we should get to see some spells of sunshine. away perhaps in the far north—west of scotland, where there will be more cloud and breeze. temperatures 15, 16, we could get up to 17 degrees. similar temperatures could be achieved on friday, particularly the eastern parts of england and scotland. further north and west, for northern ireland and scotland, thickening cloud. outbreaks of rain creeping in. a frontal system approaching, and that is going to change the weather a little bit as we head into the weekend. as we move through friday and saturday, that front will slowly, painstakingly slowly slide south—eastwards, taking cloud and rain with it but are behind, the winds round to northerly. things are looking a little bit cooler for the weekend and into next

week, those temperatures are expected to drop further — 00:12:02,462 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 we may even see some wintry showers.